There is nothing more beautiful than holy union. It is beautiful in a family, beautiful in a parish, beautiful in a nation, and above all beautiful in a church. That such a union ought to exist amongst the people of God on earth none can deny; that it is the joy of heaven, and is about to fill the coming kingdom with overflowing peace, is the happy conviction of every student of the Scriptures. Nor can we be surprised that men of vivid imagination and ardent minds should be powerfully attracted by the idea of a visible oneness in the church of Christ. There is something so truly grand and heavenly in the thought of a holy succession of devoted men, combining apostolical authority with an apostolical spirit, and handing down from age to age, untainted and undiminished, a complete system of apostolical truth, that it is only natural for men to look with reverence on such a picture.

But, before we are caught gazing on the imagination, we are bound to pause awhile to examine into facts; and, before we allow the mind to become unsettled in the ardent pursuit of a lovely theory, it is the imperative duty of all sober-minded, truth-seeking, men to look first at the word of God and learn whether, in the present dispensation, there is any hope that the vision will be realized.

To decide this point, we have to examine into the predicted condition of the visible church of Christ. The question is, are we warned of a state of division, or are we not? Does prophecy represent the visible church of the latter days as giving an undivided and unerring witness to the truth; as dwelling harmoniously “in the unity of the Spirit, in the bond of peace, and in righteousness of life,” and so prepared to welcome Christ with a united hymn of thankful joy? or does it foretell a state of things the exact opposite, viz. division, seduction, and vice, amongst professors? If the former be the state predicted, we may well sink into despair from its plain contrast with present facts: vice, heresy, and schism, are rampant in the body of baptized professors; whatever men think of the cause or remedy, all are agreed as to the fact. If the latter, we may look away from present anxieties and, falling back on God’s revealed purpose, may learn, even from the distractions of the church, the wisdom, the knowledge, and the unfathomable counsel of its Head.

May God the Holy Ghost guide us into the path of truth.

There are two ways in which we might profitably pursue our investigation. We might either take a wide range of Scriptural evidence, and give a cursory notice of many texts; or we might take one single passage and sift it thoroughly. We will adopt the latter method, and confine our attention almost exclusively to the third and fourth chapters of the second Epistle to Timothy. Three subjects will naturally arise in our examination of this prophecy.

I. The period to which it refers.

II. The persons to whom it refers, i.e. whether it speaks of men within or without the visible church.

III. The state of things which it foretells.

I. The period to which the prophecy refers is described distinctly (iii. 1) as “the last days:” “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come;” or, as it is said, 1 Tim. iv. i., where a similar apostacy is foretold, “the latter days:” “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils.” The exact extent of the period expressed by “the last,” or “latter days,” it may be difficult to determine; but one thing is plain; they must reach up to the advent of our Lord. There is nothing else to follow them before his coming. They may cover a longer or shorter period, but that period is the last of the present dispensation. They may commence earlier or later, but they must end with the advent. The prophecy carries us, therefore, right on to the coming of the Lord: it contains a picture of the visible church as Christ shall then find it; it is not a description of its early days alone, the first efforts of its infancy; but rather of its old age, when man shall have done his all, when churches have been established, bibles circulated, and all done that can be done through man’s instrumentality; then—at the very end—will the church be surprised in the exact condition foretold in this chapter of the Apostle.

II. The persons to whom it refers.

Does it speak of men within or without the visible church?Upon this entirely depends our present use of the prophecy. If it is to be understood as referring to the heathen world, or to those who openly reject the name of Jesus, it would of course throw no light on our present subject. Before we can really apply it to our argument we must ascertain clearly that it speaks of those within, and not without the visible church of professed believers.

A slight reference to the words will suffice to set this point at rest.

(1.) In v. 5, the persons described are said to retain “the form of godliness:” “Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof; from such turn away.” There is no rejection of the outward rites of Christianity. They are not like socialists, infidels, or heathen idolaters, persons who make no profession of a faith in Jesus, but they have all the specious appearance of true religion; they are members therefore of the visible church of Christ.

(2.) In v. 7, they plainly lay claim to “the truth:” “Ever learning, and never able to come to a knowledge of the truth.” By “the truth” is meant the pure truth of Christ’s Gospel, the message of salvation which God has given us in his word. The study of the truth implies an outward avowal of it. They do not attain, but they profess a knowledge of it. So also in v. 8, they are described as “reprobate concerning the faith:” possessed of the appearance, but devoid of the reality. They look like men of faith, but when proved by divine tests they are found fictitious and defective. They are like false coin which cannot stand the refiner’s fire. But all this implies profession, and it once more appears that the persons described belong to the visible church of Christ.

(3.) The same may be gathered from the Apostle’s charge to Timothy, as given in ch. iv. 1–4.—“I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.”

These words describe the danger as falling within the range of the church’s discipline, as arising in the midst of that very body in which Timothy was then called to labour as a Bishop. The church at Ephesus, with Timothy at its head, was the type or representative of the church in the latter days in the heart of which this evil should arise. Nor is this point unworthy of our careful observation, for it proves the important fact that we must look for error in the midst of the most perfect ecclesiastical arrangement. In the church at Ephesus we see the church’s order in its purest and most perfect form. The whole was arranged under Apostolic authority. St. Paul himself gathered in the converts, ordained the first elders, and placed the Bishop in his diocese. There was needed no long chain of questionable links to establish the fact of Apostolical succession; the whole came from the fountain head. The machinery of the church was perfect; the ordination, government, and discipline were Apostolic. Bearing in mind, therefore, that Timothy was addressed as the representative of those who in the latter days should fill his office, we are brought to the conclusion that we must look for the great defection in the very midst of Apostolical order. The most perfect ecclesiastical authority will be insufficient to secure the truth. Danger will arise not merely within the visible church, but within its purest and most Scriptural form.

III. The state of things which the words foretell.(1.) A wide-spread departure from Christian morals. “For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;” iii. 2–4.

How sad a picture, but how true! It is surely drawn from what God foresaw in present life! We have here a class of men sealed unto Christ by baptism, and, while they bear his name, dishonouring his kingdom. There is no evidence that they are born again of God, no fruit of the Spirit, no sign of his inward guidance. Love they have, but it is absorbed by self, and become hateful. For heavenly-mindedness, they are carried on by worldly covetousness; and, instead of wrestling for God, they are grasping, labouring, speculating for money. In the pride of wealth and intellect they grow boastful of their successes, and blaspheme the Lord who gave them. Parents are neglected and disobeyed; and, as is usually the case, when the earthly parent is set at nought, the heavenly Father is disregarded also; for self-confidence and self-pleasing reign in the unthankful and unholy heart.

Natural affection falls next, and the vile temper vents itself in savage fierceness even against the wife, the child, the brother. Promises are broken, slanderous reports are circulated, wives are neglected, profligate companions are adopted; and the children of God are despised and scoffed at, as absurd in their peculiarities, and contemptible in their faith.

Governments again are disobeyed, political factions plot against the state, dignities are evil spoken of; and, strong in their own conceit, heady and high-minded men regard their own intellect as their only guide, and their own will as their only law. Meanwhile God is forgotten in a wide-spread thirst for pleasure; sabbaths are broken in pursuit of pleasure, souls endangered, and all for pleasure. Pleasure is the idol; the phantom before which they bow; the vain idea on which they fix their hearts’ best love. They are “lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God.” Such, saith the Scripture, is to be the moral character of vast multitudes of professed believers in the latter days.

(2.) And now look at what may be termed their religious character.

We have already remarked they will retain the form of godliness. There is no open rejection of the name or the outward acts of Christianity: in appearance their standard is high, for it is a form of godliness. But, with all this, they deny its power; they do not like its soul-searching message. They would not for the world be accounted any thing but serious, they are regular and attentive at the round of the church’s services; they welcome your words so long as you speak of the externals of religion; but, when you search into the real matter, the new birth by the Holy Ghost; pardon through the Lamb’s blood; justification freely given through his righteousness; the deep humiliation of those who live by grace; the weaning of the affections from the world, and the fixing them unreservedly on Christ; then it is that the natural man rises up, and, if not by words, they will by facts deny its power. They will live as much in the world as ever. They will have the form of godliness at the sacrament on Sunday, they will deny its power by their eager thirst after gain and pleasure through the week. They will approve the form when the services are reverently conducted in the church: they will deny the power when called upon to cleave anew to Christ in life.

And, even when there is not this cleaving to the world, there may be the denial of its power in conjunction with the form of godliness. Such is the case when the church and its forms are made more prominent than Christ and his grace. There may be the form of godliness in the expression of peculiar reverence for the things of God, in frequent bowings, in the constant use of the epithet “holy,” and in humble submission to the church’s teaching. But with all this there may be the stopping short of the power of a lively faith. The church may be like the painted window disguising the true colouring of the sun; the soul may be resting on the church’s ordinances rather than the cross; baptism may be exalted, and the new birth by the Holy Ghost forgotten; while the mind becomes so subjected to the church’s teaching, that it dares not presume to make a fearless use of the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. When such is the case, we have the form of godliness without the power.

(3.) A third feature of the character of the church in the latter days, as here described by prophecy, is an ignorance of, and aversion to, the truth as it is in Jesus.

In chap. iii. v. 7, there is a description of future ignorance: “Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.”

In chap. iv. vv. 3 & 4, this ignorance is turned into actual aversion. “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” And this is the more remarkable if you observe that the ignorance of truth does not arise from neglect. They are not like persons who pass it by as a thing of no importance, who turn aside from the whole matter; but they are “ever learning.” They will make the thing their study, they will have many books and read them, they will ransack human literature, they will be able to quote human testimonies, they will strive to unravel the tangled mazes of patristic theology. And, what says the prophecy respecting their success? They are “never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.” Why is this? How can it be, that with all this fair form of godliness, with all this deep research and learning, they are yet outstripped by some simple cottager who knows only his bible and his Lord? The prophecy must again reply, and it shows that the defect is rather in the heart than in the head; for (iv. 3) “they will not endure,” they do not like, “sound doctrine;” and again (iii. 8) “they resist the truth.” Truth is presented and resisted, and then they will turn to fables. They are blinded, because they will not see; their mind is turned unto fables; just because their heart has never been turned in true repentance to the cross. They are exactly like those whom St. Paul describes as led astray by the man of sin: “And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness;” 2 Thess. ii. 10–12. They have pleasure in unrighteousness, and therefore cannot love the truth. The result is a strong delusion, a judicial blindness, an incapacity of receiving Christ. In their latter stages they really think they are conscientious; they are not hypocrites or infidels, but have schooled their understanding into the belief of the fables to which their heart is turned. Having begun by disliking the truth, they end by believing lies. “For this cause shall God send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie.”

(4.) But there is a fourth remark from the prophecy of no small importance; viz. this; the apostacy will be found not merely amongst the laity, but the clergy, i.e. amongst those who exercise the office of the ministry in the house of God.

Ordination cannot effect regeneration. The Bishop’s hands may give the pastor’s office, but they cannot give the pastor’s spirit; and thus there will be amongst the clergy the same leaven of corruption that there is amongst the flock. Like priest, like people. Thus you will observe in the prophecy that there is to be no lack of teachers in the latter days. There will be deceivers as well as the deceived, and men will “heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;” iv. iii. Nor will these be mere upstarts rising up without legitimate ordination, for let us turn to the parallel prophecy, Acts, xx. 29 & 30. These words were addressed by St. Paul to the elders of the church of Ephesus, the very men over whom Timothy presided as a bishop. They are therefore closely connected with the epistle, the only difference being that they are addressed to different officers of the same church. It is only consistent therefore to suppose them to relate to the same apostacy. Nor can there be any doubt as to the ecclesiastical position of the persons addressed; they had authority higher even than Apostolic; for the command was given them “Take heed unto yourselves and to the flock over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers.” And now what says the prophecy? It contains the description of a two-fold danger, from without and from within: some shall arise without and break in upon the church’s fold, “I know this, that after my departing, shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock;” v. 29. But others shall spring up within, in the very midst of a rightly ordained ministry, corrupting the faith without attacking it. “Also, of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them;” v. 30.

And this makes the latter days so pre-eminently perilous; seduction within is vastly more dangerous than attack without. How much more when it arises amongst the consecrated guardians of truth! If the defection were limited to the laity, the believer’s path would be comparatively easy; but here lies the danger, that the truth will be resisted by the very men whose sole office it is to teach it; perverted by those who are solemnly entrusted with its maintenance; that there will be traitors in the very heart of the camp of God; that men holding the church’s orders, and thereby winning to themselves the church’s confidence, will draw away disciples after them, and, retaining their ecclesiastical position, will employ its influence as the secret antagonists of the truth. [41]Such being the predicted condition of the visible church in the latter days, it remains only that we draw from the prophecy two or three important practical conclusions.

(1.) There is no Scriptural warrant for expecting infallibility in the visible church.

We need not pause to examine into the frail and feeble arguments on which the claim to such a gift is based, nor need we attempt to follow controversial writers in their contradictory endeavours to ascertain its seat. Let that seat be what it may, whether popes alone, or councils alone, or councils summoned under pontifical authority, we are prepared to prove from the prophetic Scriptures that there are no circumstances whatever under which any body of uninspired men can claim to be received as unerring authority by the church. If ever there has been a necessity for an infallible living voice to preserve the truth, and to cut off heresy by decrees, that necessity, all must admit, will be vastly multiplied in the latter days. Then there will be the false Christs foretold by our Lord; then the three unclean spirits will go forth to seduce professors; then the man of sin will be seated in the temple of God, and then, if ever, the infallible decree will be needful to assert the truth. But who at such a time is to decree it? There will be, as we have shown, a body of men within the church, corrupting the truth, resisting the truth, turned unto fables, believing lies. Are such persons to be admitted to the church’s councils, or are they not? Are they, or are they not, to take a part in the decision? If they are, there is too much reason to fear it would be vitiated by their fables, that the dead fly would cause to stink the apothecary’s ointment. But, if not, how are they to be excluded? By what tests is the council to be purified? They will all retain the form of godliness; they will appear with all the weight of ecclesiastical position, and apostolical ordination; there will be nothing wanting in the regularity of their orders, the validity of their sacraments, or the apparent godliness of their life; they will subscribe to any forms, and sign any articles; nor will there be any visible, tangible, criterion, by which they can be excluded from the church’s ministry or council chamber; but yet, if admitted, they will draw away disciples after them, and by speaking perverse things will vitiate every decision in which they are permitted to take a part.

The prophetic Scriptures, therefore, are in perfect harmony with the remainder of the bible and lead us like it to the one infallible rule of faith, the written word of the living God. To this St. Paul directed Timothy; for, after having foretold the seductive errors about to arise and advance within the church, he leads him to the bible as the only sure resting place, and says, “And that from a child thou hast known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works;” vv. 15–17. He seems here to place the infallibility of the word in direct contrast to the fallibility of men. In the course of his prophecy he has shown that amongst those who retain the form of godliness there will spring up many who deny its power; but then, turning to the written word, he says, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God;” every sentence is infallible, every word inspired. On this alone is there any sure footing for those that would stand the shock of the latter days. If they lean on tradition, on councils, on popes, or even on devoted ministers whose characters they revere, and whose ministry they have found a blessing to their souls, they are leaning after all on man, on man who may fail them at the very crisis of their peril; but, when they draw truth from the fountain of truth, they may receive it with unreserved reliance, for God himself has given it, and declared by the Holy Ghost that it “is able to make us wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.”

(2.) The people of God should not be shaken in their faith by the dangers which they observe within the church.

In saying this, it is not intended to under-rate the deep anxiety of the times in which we live. On the contrary, we believe the conflict now rising amongst professors to be one of so vast a moment as to have been the subject of prophetic warning no less than eighteen hundred years ago. But, at the same time men should not be soon shaken in mind or troubled. Our faith should rather be confirmed than weakened; for, as the fulfilment of each prophecy gives additional strength to our confidence in the prophet, so the rise of each new danger within the visible church should only add to our unshaken reliance on the divine authority, and unaltered infallibility of the word. If the guide through some unknown country were to warn us at the outset of our journey that, as we approached the close, we should find the path narrow, the bye-ways many, and the guides divided, we might feel distressed when his words were verified, but each new danger would increase our confidence in his guidance. So it is with the church. The path is narrow, the journey difficult and dangerous, but we must remember that the Guide told us of it at the outset, and the one result should be that we trust him more unreservedly, and lean with more peaceful security on his word. This is the use which our Lord himself has taught us to make of rising dangers. For mark his words: “When these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh;” Luke, xxi. 28. Believers are not to look down in discouragement, but to look up in hope. They are to take courage and be cheered on to fresh victories; they are to rejoice in the unfailing character of the word, and witnessing the progress of predicted dangers, are to look joyfully for predicted joys; they are to regard these fearful times as forerunners of their coming glory, and, fear being absorbed in hope, are to watch in joyful expectation for their crowning blessedness at the advent of their Lord.

(3.) How precious are the promises of a Saviour’s preserving grace!It has been shown that the latter days will be days of peril, that there will spring up seducing teachers even in the very heart of Christianity in its purest form, that no articles or ecclesiastical system can avail to prevent their rise and progress, and that no human tests can separate the reality from the form of godliness. As these latter days approach, we are bound to apprehend these spiritual perils for ourselves and our little ones; we must expect our sons and daughters, as they grow up into the world, to be attacked by this deadly pestilence, and, unless preserved by grace, blighted and withered ere the lovely bloom be formed. In perilous times we live; for perilous times we are training our families. Oh! the blessedness of those precious promises which assure us that he will keep his own children to the end! Oh! the peace of being able to fall back upon those gracious words, “I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand!” Keeping to them we need not tremble at the subtle and skilful combination with which the enemy leads on his mighty hosts against the truth; nor need we shrink from the struggle in the deep consciousness of weakness, insufficiency, and ignorance. No! Believers! ye are in the right hand of the Lord; ye are purchased by the blood of Jesus, and loved with an everlasting love; ye are under the sacred teaching of the Holy Ghost, and by him called, preserved, taught, and sanctified; ye must therefore be content to cast away all earthly dependencies, to cease from every arm of flesh, to throw yourselves without either reserve or doubt on Him who has redeemed you by his blood; resting on his word as alone infallible, and abiding in his grace as the one and all-sufficient source of life, strength, peace, and holiness. “Of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.”