he Church shall increase in steady and
cumulative progression, and realize in herself all the "glorious things"
which by the holy prophets were "spoken of the city of God." And in this
matter God has not left himself without a witness. The present existence
of the Church, after it has encountered and outlived all varieties of
opposition, is in itself a proof which even its enemies, if they were not
stupid and indocile learners, might ere this have discovered, that the
eternal God is its refuge, and that the Highest will establish it for
ever. From its institution it has had in the heart of every man a
natural and inveterate enemy. The world has uniformly opposed it, and it
has been unable to repel that opposition with weapons out of the world's
armoury; for it is forbidden to rely upon the strength of armies or upon
the forces of external power. Fanatics have entered into unholy
combination. Herod and Pilate have truced up a hollow friendship that
they might work against it together. Statesmen have elaborated their
policy, and empires have concentrated their strength; the banners of
battle have made hideous laughter with the wind; the blood of many
sainted confessors has been shed like water, and the vultures of the crag
have scented the unburied witnesses and have been ready to swoop down
upon the slain. And yet the Church is living, thriving, multiplying;
while the names of its tyrants are forgotten, and their kingdoms, like
snow-flakes on the wave, have left no trace behind. No inborn strength
will account for this mystery. No advance of intelligence nor
philosophic enlightenment will explain this phenomenon. The acute
observer, if faith have cleared his eye or opened an inner one, will go
back for the explanation to an old and unforgotten promise, and will
exclaim when he sees the Church struggling, but triumphant, like the
fire-girdled bush at Horeb, "God is in the midst of her, she shall not be
moved; God shall help her, and that right early." And not only in the
preservation from her enemies but in her unfailing progress among men in
every age, has God shown that his purpose is to build up the spiritual
house. The rapid spread of the truth in primitive times was a marvel and
a mystery to those who saw not the arm which upheld it and the power
which bade it multiply and grow. The whole history of gospel extension
is indeed a succession of wonders. It began with a Pentecost, local, but
prophetic of a u