2 8o LECTURES AND ESSAYS [1870- 



because it is a special peculiarity of prophecy that the 

 time of fulfilment is always vague. The teaching of the 

 prophets takes this shape. These things God will bring 

 about ; but the first step must be the people s repentance. 

 And when that might be they did not know. It might be, 

 often they seem to have hoped that it would, be soon. 

 Thus Joel seems to see the glory of the latter days in 

 direct connection with the great national repentance he 

 himself had witnessed. And if this was so, the background 

 of the theocracies would always be of necessity drawn 

 from those present circumstances, which as the prophets 

 hoped and prayed would really be the very vestibule of 

 the latter-day glory. We must, then, always aim at 

 distinguishing this mere background from the spiritual 

 hopes and promises that rose from it. 



I do not say that it is easy to do this in detail. But 

 in general it is plain that to the prophets the real kernel 

 of the theocracy which was the true centre of their 

 promises lay in the spiritual things of God s Kingdom. 

 To the prophets, even as to the New Testament, the great 

 hinges of the whole development of God s Kingdom are 

 sin and grace. Would they not always be ready to admit 

 that that is the true theocracy which fights against sin 

 most manfully, and which contains the strongest forces for 

 the subjugation of the world to God ? It may be that 

 they always associated the victory of God s Kingdom 

 over sin with the victory of Israel over the Gentiles, that 

 the continual gracious presence of God with redeemed 

 man could be conceived by them only in a form derived 

 from Jahveh s glory enthroned on the Cherubim, and so on. 

 But if the spiritual things of their prophecies are accom 

 plished in Christ in a fuller sense without these accessories, 

 would they not themselves have rejoiced to acknowledge 

 that in Him the true fulfilment of their oracles is 

 found ? 



The true theocracy is found wherever those forces are 

 found, organised by the hand of God Himself and obeying 



