Page:The Last Judgement and Second Coming of the Lord Illustrated.djvu/265

 His laws, and thus be virtuous. A Church is corrupted so far as it renounces those heavenly principles; and it is at an end when it accepts the teachings of men in place of the revelation of God. By its "end" we mean the cessation of its light and spiritual vitality; the obscuration of faith in consequence of the paralysis of charity: thus its termination as to essential principles, and not as to outward appearances. A fallen Church may profess itself to be upright and true—it may retain its ceremonies with care, defend its errors with ability, and for centuries mistake a languishing existence for a condition of spiritual health; but such professions and external appearances are no proofs that it has within it the intelligent, living, and acting principles of a pure and unperishable Church. Every Christian believes that the Jewish Church was brought to its end in consequence of the people having rendered the Word of God of none effect by their traditions. Nevertheless we find that it has its professors, synagogues, priests, worship, and institutions, and that it appears to live nearly two thousand years after the departure of its vitality was announced. A Church may exist as to its externals, upon the same principle that sepulchres may appear beautiful without, and yet have within them dead men's bones and all uncleanness. And so a dead Christianity may profess itself to be a living institution, and, as to externals, may continue to exist long after its spiritual principles have departed. Indeed, such circumstances are to be expected, for as the Church in its decline recedes from the influences of Heaven, it will interweave itself with secular interests and so become a worldly establishment. To know its character as a religious institution it is necessary to look at its doctrines as they are taught by its authorities and accepted by the people. A fallen Church becomes a house of creeds which men have