Afterwards the Prophets held an intermediate place between the material dispensation of Moses and the pure spirituality of that of Christ. In the prophetic books, especially the later ones, there is an evident departure from a reliance upon the external forms, and an application of the ideas connected with those forms to internal states of mind. Their views of the old dispensation were more spiritual than the views of those who lived near the origin of the institution. And in the dispensation of the Messiah, the Prophets evidently expected clearer light and purer spirituality. The state of the case, then, is this: The old dispensation was necessary and indispensable in itself, and in its place; but it was neither designed nor adapted to continue. The knowledge of Divine things which it generated was necessary for all men, but as yet it was circumscribed to a small portion of the human family. The point of inquiry now presents itself: _How could this essential knowledge concerning the Divine Nature and attributes be extended throughout the world?_ There would be but two methods possible--either the same processes, and the same cumbrous machinery (which were a 'burden' that an apostle affirmed neither he nor his fathers were able to bear) must be established in every nation, and kindred, and tribe of the human family, and thus each nation be disciplined and educated by itself, or one nation must be prepared and disciplined, their propensity to idolatry destroyed, the ideas coined in the die prepared by Jehovah thrown into their minds, and then, being thus prepared, they might be made the instruments of transferring those ideas into the languages of other nations.[22] If the Almighty were to adopt the first method, it would exclude men from benevolent labour for the spiritual good of each other; and besides, the history of the process with the Jews, as well as the reason of the thing, would indicate that the latter method would be the one which the Maker would adopt. [22] There is a common, and to some minds, a weighty objection against the truth of revealed religion, stated as follows:--If God ever gave a religion to the world, why did he not reveal it to all men, and reveal it at once and perfectly, so that no one could doubt? If this had been possible, it might not have been expedient; but the nature of things, as we have seen, rendered it impossible to give man a revelation in such a manner. But, in order to the diffusion of the knowledge of God by the latter method, some things would be necessary as pre-requisites, among which are the following: