Homilist Daniel 7:18 But the saints of the most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever. "There is a good time coming," so says the poet, so saith the Scriptures. The golden age of the world is not in the past, it is in the future, the age of immortal light, liberty, peace, virtue, religion, and blessedness are all ahead. The text indicates the political character of that golden age. I. IT WILL HAVE A GOOD GOVERNMENT. "The saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom." The word "saints" has become a by-word. They say, "Look at your mitred saints, using evermore their political power against freedom, justice, and the public good. Heaven deliver us from the government of saints!" Be calm! You mistake the counterfeit for the genuine coin. The man whom God calls a saint is a man whom you are made to love, in whose wisdom and goodness you would place your utmost confidence. True saintliness means honesty, brotherliness, disinterested philanthropy, and elevated piety. Sainthood means goodness. A kingdom under such rulers would: 1. Be an educated kingdom. The works of nature, the events of, history, the facts and doctrines of revelation would be universally studied. "All would know the Lord," etc. It would: 2. Be a virtuous kingdom. Christ is the model and the master of the saints. By His principles they would shape all their laws, by His Spirit they would be inspired in every legislative act. They would not mould their code after Greece or Rome, but after Calvary. 3. It would be a free kingdom. Saints are lovers of freedom. 4. Be a peaceable kingdom. Every subject would do unto his fellow what his fellow would do unto him. II. IT WILL HAVE A PERMANENT GOVERNMENT. "And possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever." Now the expression may not express eternity, but it undoubtedly represents an indefinitely vast period of time. Three considerations support a belief in its permanence. 1. The length of time in gaining it. The instinct of true sainthood is aggressive and imperial. The saints from Abel down have been endeavouring to sway the minds of men by their Heavenly thoughts and aims. After all this, is it not probable that when universal power comes to them, it will be a permanent possession? 2. The firm hold which the morally true takes upon human nature. The false, the unrighteous, the immoral, though recommended by imperial pageantry and enforced by the invincibility of arms, can never take a firm hold upon human nature. Hence the mutation and fleetnees of all human governments. But the government of the saints being that of truth, equity, honour, love, humanity, religion, will take an unrelaxable grasp upon the intellect, heart, conscience, and soul of the people, and will endure from generation, even unto generation. 3. The mediatorial life of Jesus Christ. Why did Christ come into the world, teach, suffer, labour, pray, and die? Why did He rise from the dead, ascend to Heaven, and send down His Spirit? Why? To destroy the works of the devil, to establish rectitude on the earth, and to set up "a kingdom that shall never be moved." (Homilist.) Parallel Verses KJV: But the saints of the most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever. |
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