| 21 gifts, knew but in part, and prophesied in part. And in the 10th verse he congratulates himself and them, with the prospect of being one day delivered from this partial knowledge. So also in the 12th verse, that although they now saw only through a glass darkly, the time should come when they should see as they were seen, and know as they were known. Now it is a plain and incontrovertible conclusion, that if Paul spoke of the time when the gifts were actually taken from the earth, we must look to that period also for the perfection which he described. But instead of that, what are the facts? In his 2d epistle 2d chapter to the Thessalonians and 3d verse, we hear him hold this language, speaking of the second coming of Christ. "Let no man deceive you by any means; for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition," &c., and in verse 7th-"For the mystery of iniquity doth already work." John, written in the year ninety-six, we see that God sent a warning message to the seven churches in Asia, commanding them to repent of the sins which had crept in among them, or he would come unto them quickly and remove their candlestick; spew them out of his mouth &c. &c.
The "mystery of iniquity" spoken of by Paul, which began already to work in his time, no doubt elicited from him this prophecy, that "that day should not come, except there come a falling away first;" which began to be accomplished when the man of sin, the son of perdition began to reign and reveal himself.
Daniel also refers to this period in his 7th chapter beginning at the 21st verse. "I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them, until the ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the Most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom," &c.
But there was an end of antichrist predicted, and an end of his dominion, at the time when all the kingdoms of the earth are to be given to the saints of the Most High; whose kingdom shall be an everlasting kingdom. See verses 26th and 27th. This chapter covers the whole ground from the early persecution and apostacy [apostasy] of the church, until it shall be again restored, and the kingdoms under the whole heaven, (which is yet in the future,) shall be given to the saints.
But let us return from our digression, and make the inquiry; if Paul had no allusion, when speaking of the cessation of the gifts, to the time when they did cease, to what time did he allude? I answer, that that time has never been yet. For we know of no age of the world in which, not only individuals, but the whole church was as far superior to Paul, as a whole is superior to a part, or as far superior to him, as he was, when he penned this, to infant Saul, when a child.
But he had emphatic and direct reference to our immortal state when we shall have been delivered from this mortal body with all its weakness and imperfection, and put on immortality; when we shall have taken up our abode in the bright mansions of bliss, in the presence of our Heavenly Father. Then, and not till then, shall that which is in part be done away. Then, and not till then, shall we see face to face, and know as also we are know. Then God shall be all in all.
But faith, hope, and charity or love, being eternal principles, shall abide the "wreck of matter and the crush of worlds." and pervade the heavenly host, and dwell in the bosom of the Father.
Having already transcended my intended limits, I fear I shall intrude upon your patience, and shall therefore hasten to a conclusion.
Having, as I think, abundantly shown, not only that the church was first organized by the appointment of certain officers, (some of whom are not found in any of the modern churches, and enduing its various members with supernatural gifts, but that both offices and gifts were to attend the church, and continue, in point of duration, commensurate with it, as parts of the body: "For the body is not one member but many." "And if they were all one member where were the body? But now are they many members, yet but one body:" I say, having shown that the primitive christians, endued with some one or more of the spiritual gifts, were considered, individually, as members of the body; and when taken collectively as the whole body; it devolves upon those holding and teaching a different doctrine, to give some plain and positive authority for dispensing with, and setting at naught the ordinances which God has set in his representative church on earth.
In law, a statute or ordinance enacted by the proper authorities, continues in force until it is repealed or a substitute adopted. And I contend, with regard to the case under consideration, especially as it relates to things sacred that nothing short of a positive repeal or substitute, can justify the least departure form first principles and established usages.
I must be permitted to draw a short, but as I
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