Page:The Last Judgement and Second Coming of the Lord Illustrated.djvu/73

 in the natural world, and especially among those with whom the Lord's Church professedly exists.

All the cases which have been cited, because upon the one hand they were attended by the removal of certain evil influences from the world, and upon the other the revival of some religious sentiment for the benefit of the people, contributed to prolong the existence of the Jewish dispensation among those who accepted it. But notwithstanding those efforts of the Lord to maintain for Himself and His Word some sensible recognition among that community, we find that they went on from bad to worse. In defiance of checks and hindrances, each generation sunk lower and lower in the seale of religious intelligence. The revelations of God were supplanted by the traditions of impostors: hypocrisy grew into an institution; the eyes of the people were blinded so that they could not understand, and their hearts were hardened so that they could not believe. And who can seriously contemplate that period, as it is presented in the gospels, and not perceive that an infernal influence had set in upon the minds of men; and, consequently, that a time had arrived for the special coming of the Lord to execute a last judgment upon the Jewish Church? for by that coming and judgment that dispensation was brought to its end, and the establishment of Christianity began.

But this brings us to another phase of our subject. The principles involved in what has been said will be more fully defined and more amply illustrated in future chapters of this work.