THE GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD. 



119 



name, in the world, I cannot but disagree with the author in his 

 statement that it might not have been spread long ago and that 

 thus the purpose of God would long since have been achieved. He 

 would have us believe that a definite time having been fixed by the 

 Almighty for the advancement of human good, Christ could not 

 have come again before the end of that time, and therefore it was 

 not to be expected that the Gospel would have spread over the 

 world till the end of that time. But we do find in the Scriptures 

 that God modifies His plans. He would have had the Israelites 

 enter Canaan in two years ; and they came to the borders of 

 Canaan within the second year : but, because they had not faith to 

 enter the land, He compelled them to wander thirty-eight years 

 more, until all that generation was wasted away, with the sole 

 exception of the two believing spies and Eleazar the priest. 



Again, when the Lord Jesus was on the earth, he spoke of John 

 the Baptist as being Elias, and yet he said that Elias was to come 

 and restore all things (Matt, xvii, 10-13, et pll. cp. Mai. iv, 5, 6). 

 How are we to reconcile the two expressions 1 except that if the 

 Jews had accepted John the Baptist as the man sent to prepare the 

 way for the coming of the Lord, they then would have received 

 Jesus as the King, and the Kingdom then would have been set up 

 in the world (cp. Luke i, 17). So, too, just after His ascension, the 

 apostles thus appealed to the Jews: "Eepent . . . that the 

 times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord : and 

 He shall send Jesus . . . whom the heavens must receive until 

 the restoration of all things." (Acts iii, 19, 20, K.V.) Therefore, 

 if they had then repented, " The restoration of all things," that is 

 to say, the visible establishment of God's righteous kingdom over 

 the whole earth, would then have taken place. 



Nor can we suppose that God meant Christian men to stop their 

 missionary efforts. The author makes a slip in saying that 

 missionary efforts have never ceased. That is a mistake. McLear, 

 who, I judge, is a good authority on this subject, distinctly states 

 in his book,* that from the time of the commencement of the 

 Crusades down to the Reformation there was but one missionary ; 

 that was Raymond Lull, a man who received very little support 



* The Apostles of the Middle Ages. 



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