IN the wisdom of God great national governments have been utilized in the promulgation of His truth. Ever since there has been a great nation the opportunity has been offered to the administrators of government to be instruments in His hand for making known the true God, and the way of eternal life. And the more the “powers that be” have yielded their influence to the encouragement of true righteousness, the greater has been their prosperity in material things. “Righteousness exalteth a nation; but sin is a reproach to any people.”
British Houses of Parliament.
WHEN the king of Egypt made Joseph the wise ruler in his kingdom, because the Spirit of God was in him, the result was a wise administration of affairs through a most trying period of overflowing productions, followed by another trying ordeal of devastating famine. And, further than this, Joseph inaugurated wise systems of agriculture, and his magnanimous dealings with other peoples during their time of want (Gen. 41:56, 57) gained their good-will to such an extent that Egypt enjoyed many years of peace and prosperity. This continued all the eighty years of Joseph’s life after he became ruler, and until a new dynasty disregarded the principles he had established.
IN the providence of God, Nebuchadnezzar extended the realm of Babylon far beyond that of any preceding nation. Daniel said to him: “The God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath He given into thine hand.” But when, after all that God had done for him, he took the glory of his success to himself, the Lord humbled him to a level with the cattle of the field. Then, when he turned his heart to the Lord and acknowledged his absolute dependence upon the Most High God, his reason and the glory of his kingdom were restored. Then went forth a genuine proclamation of the majesty of “the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and His ways judgment.” When, however, Nebuchadnezzar’s successors refused to acknowledge the God of heaven, and altogether turned to idolatry and unrighteousness in general, the hand of the Lord was withdrawn from the support of the kingdom, and the dominion passed to other rulers.
MEDO-PERSIA succeeded Babylon in world-wide dominion, and when Darius the Mede took the throne the angel Gabriel “stood to confirm and to strengthen him.” His successor, Cyrus, had been especially named in prophecy as the “shepherd” of the Lord, to perform all His pleasure; “even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid.” It was also said that the Lord would subdue nations before him. All this was fulfilled, and as long as Medo-Persian and Persian kings could be utilized in the furtherance of God’s eternal purpose, that kingdom survived and prospered. But when idolatry and human ambition came to hold sway throughout the kingdom, the dominion was again transferred to another.
GRECIA succeeded Persia, also in the providence of God. Her first king, Alexander (styled, “the great”), was instrumental for2 (482)good only in that he put down a world power that could no longer be utilized in the promotion or the preservation of truth. Beyond this calling, Grecia, under succeeding rulers, did the cause of God a great service in translating the Scriptures into Greek, the then best-known, and most extensively-used language in the world. But Grecia’s factions became tyrannical toward the people of God, both in Egypt and in Palestine, and the Lord withdrew His protecting hand.
ROME rose from western obscurity on the wings of sympathy for the oppressed. She made her hand felt in the protection of an infant king (Ptolemy Epiphanes) of Egypt, whose kingdom was about to be seized by the kings of Macedon and Syria. Then the people of God in Palestine made a league with Rome, and thereby secured a measure of relief from the oppressive exactions of the Syrian king. In about a hundred years, however, instead of a mere alliance, Rome took possession of the country, and made the Jews a tributary people. No power ever had a grander opportunity to be a blessing to all the world than Rome, principally for the reason that, in her day, the Prince of Righteousness, bearing from heaven a message of peace and good-will toward all classes, sojourned among men. Like her predecessors, Rome was providentially made an instrument in the chastisement of other powers and people who had enjoyed opportunities for doing good, but had outlived their usefulness. But she herself became imbued with a spirit of such exceeding cruelty, pride, and arrogance, that her greatly extended period of grace can be comprehended only from the standpoint of God’s unbounded patience and long-suffering.
OF modern nations none have been so highly favored with opportunity in the Lord’s great, universal cause as Great Britain. Perhaps we might except Germany, which was allowed the gracious privilege of being the “cradle of the Reformation.” It is possible that England’s greater present opportunity and blessing is somewhat owing to her greater appreciation and activity in carrying out the work that came providentially to her hand. Germany’s Luther gave her people the Word of God in their own language; and he and his colleagues did much to establish the Reformation in that and in some other countries. But England had her Wycliffe and his English translation of the Scriptures two hundred years before Germany had her Luther and his German translation. England’s scholars and missionaries and Bible societies have given the Bible to the world in more languages than all other countries combined. The British flag has hovered over and given protection to more missionary work than any flag that ever floated. Under no flag is there a greater degree of religious liberty than under that of Great Britain; and this is the secret of Gospel progress in those countries where the British Government holds sway.
THIS is not to disparage the work done by men of our own country, which has had, and yet has, its golden opportunity. But it is yet a child as compared with the “mother country.” Much of the missionary work of Americans has been accomplished within the jurisdiction of the British Government. But while, in the providence of God, America became an asylum of the oppressed of all lands, who sought here “freedom to worship God,” many of whom fled even from British tyranny, yet our national councils had begun to turn toward church and state dogmatism, while Great Britain was making favorable progress in the right direction.
LET it not be forgotten that the nation that does the most to further the cause of God in the earth is not the one that undertakes to enforce the observance of the Christian religion by direct compulsory laws to that effect. It is the national protection of absolute liberty of conscience, and the free circulation of Gospel truth, that gives true Christianity its greatest triumphs. Contrast the work done by Great Britain in times of religious tyranny, and in the periods when liberty of conscience has been recognized by her lawmakers. Also contrast the work done in the world since the Reformation with that of many centuries before. Such a contrast is enough to demonstrate that true Christianity needs, and asks of any government, only to have free course with the people, and no direct hand in the control of political affairs. Christianity will more than repay, in peaceful influence and the attendant blessing of God, all the expense of the protection that is the just due of every citizen. Any government can best serve the cause of God by simply doing justice to all classes of people in temporal administration. The Spirit of God, through the Word, will do the rest.
