“And if not war, suffering,” said Mr. Allison.  “This man is sustained by a community of uses among the members.  In the degree that each member performs his part well, is the whole body served; and in the degree that each member neglects his work, does the whole body suffer.”

“If each worked for himself, all would be served,” answered Mr. Markland.  “It is because so many will not work for themselves, that so many are in want and suffering.”

“In the very converse of this lies the true philosophy; and until the world has learned the truth, disorder and unhappiness will prevail.  The eye does not see for itself, nor the ear hearken; the feet do not walk, nor the hands labour for themselves; but each freely, and from an affection for the use in which it is engaged, serves the whole body, while every organ or member of the body conspires to sustain it.  See how beautifully the eyes direct the hands, guiding them in every minute particular, while the heart sends blood to sustain them in their labours, and the feet bear them to the appointed place; and the hands work not for themselves, but that the whole body may be nourished and clothed.  Where each regards the general good, each is best served.  Can you not see this, Mr. Markland?”

“I can, to a certain extent.  The theory is beautiful, as applied to your man of common society.  But, unfortunately, it will not work in practice.  We must wait for the millennium.”

“The millennium?”

“Yes, that good time coming, toward which the Christian world looks with such a pleasing interest.”

“A time to be ushered in by proclamation, I suppose?”

“How, and when, and where it is to begin, I am not advised,” said’ Mr. Markham, smiling.  “All Christians expect it; and many have set the beginning thereof near about this time.”

“What if it have begun already?”

“Already!  Where is the sign, pray?  It has certainly escaped my observation.  If the Lord had actually come to reign a thousand years, surely the world would know it.  In what favoured region has he made his second advent?”

“Is it not possible that the Christian world may be in error as to the manner of this second coming, that is to usher in the millennium?”

“Yes, very.  I don’t see, that in all prophecy, there is any thing definite on the subject.”

“Nothing more definite than there was in regard to the first coming?”

“No.”

“And yet, while in their very midst, even though miracles were wrought for them; the Jews did not know the promised Messiah.”

“True.”

“They expected a king in regal state, and an assumption of visible power.  They looked for marked political changes.  And when the Lord said to them, ‘My kingdom is not of this world,’ they denied and rejected him.  Now, is it not a possible case, that the present generation, on this subject, may be no wiser than the Jews?”