n eternity.

And surely there is a great truth here. The perfect image of it, as
Plato said of the polity of which he dreamed, abides only in the
heavens; and we need to refresh both courage and hope, when we see the
blots and fractures of the kingdom here, by contemplating the pure form
of it which abides in the heavens with God. But dreams and
contemplations will never bring it down from the heavens; it is here, or
nowhere. It is this earthly image which is to be translated into that
heavenly likeness; and if we would be near to and like the King, we must
follow Him into the very heart of the world's business and throngs, not
that we may seek His chosen there and rescue them from the world, but
that we may rescue the world from all that makes it other than Christ's
kingdom, by driving out of it "everything that defileth, or worketh
abomination, or maketh a lie," and thus purify its atmosphere, cleanse
the ducts and channels of its life, invigorate its energy, and
consecrate its activity, till it grows like its ideal in heaven.

And what has been the history of the kingdom? Since the first hour of
its establishment, perpetual intervention in an action upon the worldly
affairs of men. It is literally true that Dean Milman's history of Latin
Christianity is the completest history of the Western European world
during the middle ages, extant in our language. And why? Because during
the middle ages, and until now, the Church has been the backbone of
human society. All man's dearest interests and hopes have gathered
around the kingdom; over its destinies, and under its banners, all man's
deadliest battles have been fought. "Yes!" it may be answered; "but this
is just the corruption of the kingdom; because it mixed itself with
worldly affairs, and suffered worldly men to administer it, it became
the centre and pivot of all the movements of human society." But this
state of things was at any rate the confession that the men of this
world could not get on without the kingdom, that when it was once
revealed it inevitably tended to gather around itself all the vital
activity of the world. Since Christ appeared, men have felt everywhere
that they must place themselves and their concerns in some kind of vital
relation to the Church. And this has been the key to the public life of
Christendom; in fact it has made Christendom in opposition to
heathendom, as the province of all the most cultivated and progressive
races of mankind. Th