From this it will be seen, that the first government, or covenant, as it is called, necessarily required external institutions to beget and direct its force to compel obedience to its enactments and edicts. And these institutions were necessarily authoritative; and persons belonging to their plane of administration were compelled to submit to them, as to the authority of God. The second government or covenant which ignored force, and governed by love, had no use for such institutions, and hence returned the sword to its sheath. Under its administration, swords were to be beaten into plowshares and spears into pruning-hooks. Men were to “call no man master.” But it must be noticed that this second government pertained only to those who had come under the rule of charity and love, and thus had put off the old man and his deeds. So long as the individual, in his affections and lusts, continued in bondage to the impulses of his animal nature, he belonged to the first dispensation, and must be continued under tutors and governors until the coming into him of Christ. Here, then, we see the two classes of errors into which mankind have fallen, the first by supposing that the laws of selfishness and force were applicable to all planes, and that the Christian could find authority under Moses. The second, by supposing that the laws of selfishness and force were to be abolished in every plane, not thinking that such law is just as necessary at one time as another, so long as man continues under that plane of impulse. Herein we can see the wisdom of Jesus in his teachings. He came not to destroy the law, or take it away from man, but his mission was to take man away from the law, and thus to fulfill or consummate the uses of the law. He condemned not the law of force as applicable to those who, in their selfishness and lusts, were under its dominion. And he did not propose to emancipate them by destroying the law. But he did propose to redeem them from under it, by calling them to a higher plane of impulse and action. He proposed to lead them out of Egypt, not take Egypt away from them. Herein is to be found one of the fundamental errors of Christendom, in not perceiving the true meaning of the _first_ and _second_ covenants; that is, in not perceiving the true sphere of the Mosaic and Christian governments. Each are of divine appointment in their respective spheres; and neither have respect to time or place of administration, but to condition. The Mosaic, which is a figure representing the governments of force addressed to man as a selfish being, will never be at an end so long as society is in a condition to require that kind of administration. It will not be at an end in the individual until his moral nature is in the ascendant, until he keeps that new commandment of “Love one another.” And the Mosaic dispensation will not be at an end in society until the kingdom of heaven is established in the hearts of the members thereof.