KINGDOM AND AGE TO COME.
“Earnestly contend for the Faith, which was once delivered to the Saints.”—Jude
Volume 1—Number 3 (March 1851)
From The Voice of Israel.
THE RESTORATION OF THE JEWS.
(Concluded.)
“So many of the prophecies of the Old Testament do evidently refer to the reduction of the Jews into their own land as the people of the Messiah, that I can by no means doubt of the certainty of that event.”—Doddridge’s Comment on Romans 11: 12, Note a.
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In our former article on this subject, a prophetical passage occurs, respecting the application of which to the restoration of the Jewish people, doubts may exist in the minds of some of our readers. We refer to Isaiah 49: 8; and, in order to remove scruples regarding our views of that text, we shall here give Bishop Horsley’s note on the words, which is as follows: —
“The mention of people here (am) in the singular, clearly proves that the land * to be restored is the land of Canaan; and that the latter part of this, and the whole following verse, contain a promise of restoration to the natural Israelites. For the distinction between am (people) in the singular and amim (peoples) in the plural, the one denoting the single people of the Jews, the other all the peoples of the earth promiscuously, is I believe, without a single exception.”
Attention to this peculiarity of the prophetic language will frequently enable the student of prophecy to apprehend the scope and meaning of passages in the Hebrew prophets, which would otherwise appear obscure and perplexed.
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* (In place of the common rendering, “to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages,” as in the common translation, the Bishop translated the original thus, “to restore the land, and give possession of the desolate heritages.”)
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We shall now proceed to take a general view of the testimony of the other prophets. In Ezekiel 20: 40-42, it is written,
“For in mine holy mountain of the height of Israel, saith the Lord God, there shall all the house of Israel, all of them in the land serve me: there will I accept them, and there will I require your offerings, and the first-fruits of your oblations, with all your holy things. I will accept you with your sweet savour, when I bring you out from the people, and gather you out of the countries wherein ye have been scattered; and I will be sanctified in you before the heathen. And ye shall know that I am the Lord when I shall bring you into the land of Israel, into the country for the which I lifted up mine hand to give it to your fathers.”
That this prophecy refers to the final restoration of Israel, is clear from the 35th, 38th, and 40th verses. Again, chapter 28: 25-26:
“Thus saith the Lord God; when I shall have gathered the house of Israel from the people among whom they are scattered, and shall be sanctified in them in the sight of the heathen, then shall they dwell in their land that I have given to my servant Jacob. And they shall dwell safely therein, and shall build houses, and plant vineyards; yea, they shall dwell with confidence, when I have executed judgments upon all those that despise them round about them; and they shall know that I am the Lord their God.”
Nothing of this has Israel yet enjoyed, nor will enjoy, until the time here spoken of is come—namely, when the Lord shall have executed judgment upon all those that that despise them: for be it observed, Israel’s enemies are not to be won, not to become Israel’s friends; the time will never arise when Israel shall dwell among the nations in peace and security. Let Israel’s sons attend diligently to the voice of their prophets, and not suffer themselves to be deluded by false expectations.
In chapter 34 of this same prophet, the present condition of the Jewish people is set forth under the expressive image of a flock of sheep which has been scattered over the face of the whole earth, and become a prey to every beast of the field; and the Lord presents himself as their owner, gathering his sheep, which have been thus dispersed, constituting them one flock, leading them to their fold, providing for them rich pasture over the mountains of Israel, and setting over them a great and good Shepherd, under whose wise government and watchful care they shall greatly prosper, and no more be a prey to their enemies.
“Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep and seek them out. As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. And I will bring them out from the people, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers, and in all the inhabited places of the country; I will feed them in good pasture, and upon the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be: then shall they lie in a good fold, and in a fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel. . . . And I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd. And I the Lord will be their God, and my servant David a prince among them; I the Lord have spoken it. And I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land: and they shall dwell safely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods. And they shall be safe in their land, and shall know that I am the Lord, when I have broken the bands of their yoke, and delivered them out of the hands of those that serve themselves of them. And they shall no more be a prey to the heathen, neither shall the beast of the land devour them; but they shall dwell safely, and none shall make them afraid,”—verses11-14, 23-25, 27-28.
And in chapter 36, the mountains of Israel, which are about to receive the Lord’s people, are thus addressed:
“Ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God; Thus saith the Lord God to the mountains, and to the hills, to the rivers, and to the valleys, to the desolate wastes, and to the cities that are forsaken; ye, O mountains of Israel, ye shall shoot forth your branches, and yield your fruit to my people of Israel, for they are at hand to come. For, behold, I am for you, and I will turn to you, and ye shall be tilled and sown: and I will multiply men upon you, all the house of Israel, even all of it: and the cities shall be inhabited, and the wastes shall be builded: and I will multiply upon you man and beast; and they shall increase and bring fruit: and I will settle you after your old estates, and will do better unto you than at your beginnings: and ye shall know that I am the Lord. Neither will I cause men to hear in thee the shame of the heathen any more, neither shalt thou bear the reproach of the people any more.”
It is truly astonishing that any who are acquainted with Jewish history, and reflect on the condition in which this people existed from the period of its return from Babylon until they were utterly ruined by the Romans, can for a moment entertain the idea, that these and other similar prophecies received their accomplishment in that event, and in the state of things which followed. A Jewish writer, referring to the state of the people subsequently to the restoration from Babylon, observes, “Who can peruse the wonderful details of Ezra and Nehemiah, respecting the condition of the people, and their accounts of the imperfect organization of the second state, and regard such times as an example, either of Jewish excellence, or of religious perfection? Tracing the course of history from that period to their final dispersion, it is one unmitigated account of cruel warfare, wicked luxury, and lawless depravity. The immense revolutions produced from time to time by foreign invasion, and domestic feuds—the vicious morals of the people, and the abandoned spirit of their rulers—added to which, the return of but a few after the edicts of the enlargement, and the subsequent emigration, are, certainly, no state of things to be regarded as the unsullied medium of historical and literary transmission, or traditional faithfulness, or of legislative or judicial purity.”
In chapter 37: 1-14, we find a remarkable vision relating to the whole house of Israel; who are represented to the prophet under the striking image of “a valley full of dry bones,” expressive of their condition as having been for a long period politically dead. He is instructed to prophesy, and say unto them,
“O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God unto these dry bones; behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live. Prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, thus saith the Lord God, Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe, upon these slain that they may live. So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up on their feet, an exceeding great army. Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel; behold, they say, our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts. Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.”
This vision contains a strong assurance of the restoration of the whole house of Israel to a state of civil and political existence in their own land, after a long period of dispersion and degradation.
In verses 16th and 17th of the same chapter, the Lord thus addresses the prophet.
“Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and the children of Israel his companions (i.e. those of the ten tribes associated with Judah and Benjamin): then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions. And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand.”
These two sticks were, by a miracle, to become one in the prophet’s hand, to typify that miraculous interposition by which the future union of Judah and Israel into one kingdom shall be effected. Verses 21-22,
“Thus saith the Lord God; behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land: and I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all. Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions: but I will save them out of all their dwelling places, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them: and so they shall be my people, and will be their God.”—Verses 23-24.
An eminent critical writer observes, “It is in vain to look for purity of religious worship answerable to this prophecy among the Jews returned from the Babylonish captivity. It is said, indeed, that after the return from Babylon, the Jews scrupulously avoided idolatry, and have continued untainted with it to this day; but generally as this is asserted by all commentators one after another, it is not true. Among the restored Jews, there was indeed no public idolatry patronised by the government, as there had been before the captivity, particularly in the reign of Ahaz. But from the time of Antiochus Epiphanes, to the last moments of the Jewish polity, there was a numerous faction, which in everything affected the Greek manners; and this hellenising party were idolaters to a man.”
Let us now turn to the first chapter of Hosea, where the Lord reveals his purpose respecting Israel; and declares unto the prophet, that he will reject and disown them, because of their transgressions.
“I will cause to cease the kingdom of Israel. . . . I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel; but will utterly take them away. . . . Ye are not my people, and I will not be your God.”
That this rejection of Israel, however, is not final, but only for a season, is obvious from what immediately follows in verses 10th and 11th.
“Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, ye are the children of the living God. Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together, and appoint themselves one head, and they shall come up out of the land: for great shall be the day of Jezreel.”
It is here declared, that in the land of Judea, where this prophecy was delivered, and where the execution of the sentence took place, —there, in that very place, they, the natural Israel, to whom it was said, “Ye are not my people,” shall be called “children of the living God.” And since they are to be acknowledged again as the children of the living God, in the same place where this sentence was pronounced and executed, the prophecy clearly promises their restoration to their own land. Moreover, this prophecy cannot be accommodated to the return from Babylon; for the number of those who returned were not, as has been already observed, so much as one hundredth part of the whole Jewish race; so little were they to be compared with the sands of the sea.
In chapter 3, it is written,
“The children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without Teraphim: afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their king; and shall fear the lord and his goodness in the latter days.”—Verses 4-5.
And to encourage them to confide in his promise of restoration, the Lord, in chapter 6, puts words in their mouth expressive of his purpose of favor towards them;
“Come, let us return unto the lord: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight” (i.e. his presence). —
Verses 1-2.
The Lord who has departed will return, and again exhibit the tokens of his presence among his people.
Again, the Lord by the prophet Amos, after uttering his judgments against his people Israel, shuts up all, with these words;
“And I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the Lord thy God.”—Chapter 9: 14-15.
In reading the prophets, it is peculiarly interesting to observe how all the Lord’s threatenings against his people are immediately followed by promises of mercy, and restoration to his special favour. Further, in Micah 2: 12, the Lord declares,
“I will surely assemble, O Jacob, all of thee; I will surely gather the remnant of Israel; I will put them together as the sheep of Bozrah, as the flock in the midst of their fold; they shall make great noise by reason of the multitude of men.”
The restoration of Israel is here predicted under the image of a shepherd gathering together his flock, and bringing them into the fold. And the gathering is not a partial gathering; for it is expressly said,
“I will surely assemble all of thee.”
And in chapter 4,
“In that day, saith the Lord, will I assemble her that halteth, and I will gather her that is driven out, and her that I have afflicted; and I will make her that halteth a remnant, and her that was cast off a strong nation: and the Lord shall reign over them in Mount Zion from thenceforth, even for ever.”—Verses 6-7.
The language of the prophet Zephaniah is to the same effect. In chapter 3, the Lord thus addresses his people:
“Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel; be glad and rejoice with all thy heart, O Jerusalem. The Lord hath taken away thy judgments, he has cast out thine enemy: the king of Israel, even the Lord, is in the midst of thee: thou shalt not see evil any more. . . . Behold, at that time I will undo all that afflict thee: and I will save her that halteth, and gather her that was cast out; and I will get them praise and fame in every land where they have been put to shame. At that time will I bring you again, even in the time that I gather you: for I will make you a name and a praise among all people of the earth, when I turn back your captivity before your eyes, saith the Lord.”—Verses 14-15, 19-20.
None will surely say that anything like this has ever yet happened in the history of this people, but just the reverse. The time, however, is approaching when this promise shall be accomplished in all its amplitude.
Moreover, the prophets who prophesied after the return from Babylon, testify in like manner, to this great and glorious event. In Zechariah 8 we read,
“Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, behold, I will save my people from the east country, and from the west country, and I will bring them, and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem, and they shall be my people, and I will be their God in truth, and in righteousness. It shall yet come to pass, that there shall come many people, and the inhabitants of many cities, and the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, let us go speedily to pray before the Lord, and to seek the Lord of Hosts: I will go also. Yea, many people, and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of Hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the Lord. Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, in those days it shall come to pass that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.”—Verses 7-8, 20-23.
We would here ask those who refer this and like prophetical predictions to events already past, when it was that many people and strong nations, formed such resolutions as are here mentioned? and when the universally despised Jews were thus esteemed and honoured? To say that these promises have had their accomplishment in the past history of the Jewish people, is to say that the prophets described things comparatively small under the greatest images; and this being once granted, what assurance have we that the magnificent promises to the faithful will ever take effect in the extent of the terms in which they are conveyed? That all the great and precious promises which the Lord hath made unto his ancient people, will receive a visible and literal accomplishment, we have no ground to doubt; for He hath declared,
“Like as I have brought all this great evil upon this people, so will I bring upon them all the good that I have promised them.”—Jeremiah 32: 42.
A little while, and it shall be said,
“Not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the Lord their God spake concerning them; all are come to pass unto them, not one thing hath failed thereof.”
Before concluding this article, we must further observe, that the restoration of the Jews to their own land, is not to be brought about by the common operations of Providence, but by special Divine interposition. This is evident from the many passages of prophecy where the Lord appropriates this work unto himself. Every reader of Scripture must have observed how very frequently it is declared that the Lord will do this; —“the Lord thy God will gather thee”—“the Lord will bring thee into the land”—“Behold, I will bring them from the north country”—“Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen.” In other passages the Lord is represented as being personally present with them:
“The Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rereward.”—Isaiah 52: 12.
Again in Ezekiel 34: 11,
“Behold, I, even I (rather, Behold, here am I): I will both search my sheep and seek them out.”
It is spoken of as a work which will afford an extraordinary display of the Lord’s power. It is ascribed to his hand, his right hand, his mighty hand, and his out-stretched arm (Isaiah 11: 11; Ezekiel 20: 34,) expressions signifying an extraordinary exhibition of Divine power, as may be seen by referring to Exodus 15: 6, 12: Deuteronomy 5: 15. The effects of God’s power on this occasion are spoken of (Micah 7: 15-17):
“According to the days of thy coming out of the land of Egypt will I show unto him marvellous things: the nations shall see and be confounded at all their might: they shall be afraid of the Lord our God, and shall fear because of thee.”
What the marvellous things here referred to are, may be seen by turning to Psalm 78: 12-16. The same marvellous display of God’s power, in the day when He shall restore His people, is likewise mentioned in Isaiah 41: 18-20:
“I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys: I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water. I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the shittah-tree, and the myrtle, and the oil tree; I will set in the desert the fir-tree, and the pine, and the box-tree together: that they may see, and know, and consider, and understand together: that the hand of the Lord hath done this, and the Holy One of Israel hath created it.”
See also chapter 42: 19-20. “These,” says Bishop Horsley, “are images of God’s power displayed miraculously, in effects out of the course of nature, and out of the reach of human power and human policy. They are images of such effects of God’s power, or they have no meaning. And I cannot but think it would be a matter of just wonderment, if such images were applied to events, for the compassing of which no miraculous means were employed.” This manifestation of God’s power in the final restoration of Israel is implied in Jeremiah 16: 14-15. And it forms a part of the subject-matter of that triumphant song provided against this great occasion: Psalm 98.
“O sing unto the Lord a new song; for he hath done marvellous things: his right hand, and his holy arm, hath gotten him the victory. . . . He hath remembered his mercy and his truth toward the house of Israel: all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.”
Arise, O Lord, and do as thou hast spoken, that we may see the good of thy chosen, that we may rejoice in the gladness of thy nation, that we may glory with thine inheritance.
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THE RETALIATION. —The noblest revenge we can take upon our enemies is to do them a kindness; for, to return malice for malice, and injury for injury, will afford but a temporary gratification to our evil passions, and our enemies only will be rendered the more bitter against us. But, to take the first opportunity of showing them how superior we are to them, by doing them a kindness, or by rendering them a service, the sting of reproach will enter deeply into their souls; and, while unto us it will be a noble retaliation, our triumph will not unfrequently be rendered complete, not only by blotting out the malice that had otherwise stood against us, but by bringing repentant hearts to offer themselves at the shrine of friendship.
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Men dare not, as bad as they are, appear open enemies to virtue; when, therefore, they persecute virtue, they pretend to think it counterfeit or else lay some crime to its charge.
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WHAT OUGHT TO BE DONE AT THIS CRISIS.
I. A FEW FIRST PRINCIPLES.
1. “The just shall live by Faith.” Habakkuk 2: 4; Romans 1: 16-17.
2. “Without faith it is impossible to please God.” Hebrews 11: 6.
3. “Faith comes by hearing the word of God.” Romans 10: 17.
4. “Faith works by love, and purifies the heart.” Acts 15: 9; Galatians 5: 6.
5. “The One Faith,” is “the assured expectation of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Hebrews 11: 1; Ephesians 4: 5.
6. These things are “the things concerning the KINGDOM of God, and the NAME of Jesus Christ.” Acts 8: 12.
7. “All are the Children of God in Christ Jesus through the faith. FOR as many as have been baptised into Christ have put on Christ; and IF Christ’s, then Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” Galatians 3: 26-27, 29.
8. Such “will be presented holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight, IF they continue in the faith grounded and settled, and not moved away from the HOPE of the GOSPEL which was preached (by the Apostles) to every creature which is under heaven; Colossians 1: 22-23: and “patiently continuing in well-doing” and so “seeking for glory, honor, and immortality.” Romans 2: 7.
9. “Behold what great love the Father hath bestowed upon” such “that they should be called the Sons of God; and it doth not yet appear what they shall be: but we know that, when Christ shall appear, THEY SHALL BE LIKE HIM; for they shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as Christ is pure.”
1 John 3: 1, 3. Hence,
II. A BIBLE CHRISTIAN
is one, who understandingly believes “the things concerning the Kingdom of God and the Name of Jesus Christ,” with the humble, affectionate and obedient disposition of a little child; is “immersed into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit;” and henceforth walks in “denial of the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life, in hope of the gift to be brought to him at the glorious appearing of Jesus Christ in his kingdom.”
III. OF AN ASSOCIATION OF BIBLE CHRISTIANS.
The duty and privilege of an association of such Christians is,
1. “To observe all things whatsoever Jesus hath commanded his Apostles to teach.” Matthew 28: 20.
2. To advance from the principles of the doctrine of Christ and go on to perfection. Hebrews 6: 1. “Pressing toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3: 14. “And so making itself ready for the festival of its union with the Lord.” Revelation 19: 7-8.
3. To “earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered to the saints.”—Jude 3; and to “make known unto the principalities and powers in high places the manifold wisdom of God.” Ephesians 3: 10.
To fulfil the first indication, such an association of Christians must “continue steadfastly in the Apostles’ doctrine, fellowship, breaking of bread, and in prayers.” Acts 2: 41-42.
1. “In the Apostles’ doctrine,” by diligent investigation of the Scriptures, that all its members may qualify themselves to speak unto men to conviction; also to the edification, and exhortation, and comfort of believers. 1 Corinthians 14: 3, 24, 31; Acts 8: 1, 4.
2. By doing what they command, or by following the example of the faithful, who were taught of them, and whose practices are recorded in the New Testament. “He that heareth you, my apostles, heareth me;” says Jesus. “We,” saith one of the Apostles, “are of God; he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God, heareth not us. Hereby we know the Spirit of Truth and the Spirit of Error.” 1 John 4: 6.
IV. HOW THE SCRIPTURES MAY BE SUCCESSFULLY
SEARCHED AND WITH FACILITY.
The following course of reading will very much conduce to a systematic comprehension of the Apostles’ doctrine.
I. Read attentively the family history of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, taking especial note of the promises made to these fathers; such as,
a. The making A GREAT NATION of their descendants through whom all the Nations of the earth shall be blessed. Genesis 12: 2-3; 17: 4-7; 18: 18; 222: 17-18; 26: 4; 28: 14.
b. The manifestation of A GREAT RULER in the midst of said nation, who, with it and them, should possess the land in which these fathers tended their flocks and herds. Genesis 12: 7; 13: 14-17; 17: 8; 26: 3; 28: 13-15; 35: 12.
c. The Confirmation of this EVERLASTING COVENANT, by which the promises were ratified to Abraham’s satisfaction, 430 years before his descendants arrived at Mount Horeb under Moses. Genesis 15: 7-21.
d. Observe that Isaac becomes the allegorical representative of the Shiloh of Israel in the substitutionary sacrifice, and figurative resurrection detailed in Genesis 22. Jacob refers to Shiloh’s death by Levi, Genesis 49: 6. In verse 10, he foretells his dominion over the world.
Hence the Faith of Abraham’s Family consisted in these particulars.
1. That his descendants in the line of Isaac, Jacob, and his twelve sons, would become a great and mighty nation;
2. That when this should be accomplished in the full sense of the promise, they, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, would be living witnesses of it;
3. That at the time indicated in No. 2, they and their nation would be in actual possession of the land of Israel from the Euphrates to the Nile;
4. That there should be a great and powerful ruler, or king, arise out of the nation, whom they styled SHILOH, or the giver of peace;
5. That he should be “Heir of all things,” of the nation, the land, and the dominion of the world;
6. That He would descend in the line of Judah;
7. That He would be slain; but, on the third day (Genesis 22: 4,) from the sentence passed upon him, be raised from the dead in the land of Moreh, as prefigured in the case of Isaac;
8. That He would be slain by the descendants of Levi; therefore, exclaimed Jacob, “O my soul come not thou into their secret; unto their assembly, mine honor be not thou united!” and,
9. That Faith, or a full persuasion, that what God had thus promised he would perform, would be counted for righteousness to all to whom Abraham became the father; and that to realise the hope of righteousness, the righteous must rise from the dead.
Such was the faith and hope of the Gospel believed from Abraham to Moses, Galatians 3: 8; but which that generation of the Israelites did not believe whose carcases fell in the wilderness of the land of Egypt; and on account of which faithlessness, “Jehovah has sworn in his wrath, that they shall not enter into his rest.” These things appeared so improbable, that those who believed them were esteemed by their contemporaries as worthy of reproach. This was styled “THE REPROACH CONCERNING THE CHRIST,” to which was, and is attached, “the recompense of the reward:” on account of “the Christ,” Moses refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, and cast in his lot with a nation of slaves. Let us therefore also go forth unto him bearing his reproach.
II. Having acquired an understanding of the promises made to the fathers, become acquainted with the history of their descendants.
1. In their deliverance from Egypt: Exodus 1 to 14.
2. In their organization as a body politic during the forty years in the wilderness. Exodus 15 to Deuteronomy 34.
3. In their conquest and settlement of Canaan; Joshua 1 to 24.
4. Under judges for life: Judges to I Samuel 10.
5. As an united nation under kings. 1 Samuel 11 to 1 Kings 12: 15
6. As two separate nations and kingdoms—the one under the house of David: the other under Jeroboam, the son of Nebat. 1 Kings 12: 16, to 2 Chronicles 36.
7. As to the overthrow of the kingdom of the Ten Tribes by the Assyrian, 300 years after their revolt from the house of David, and in the sixth year of Hezekiah. 2 Kings 17: 5, to 18: 12. Here it should be noted, that the Ten Tribes have been in dispersion ever since. Hence, all prophecies relating to their restoration and future glory remain to be fulfilled.
8. As to the subversion of the kingdom of the Two Tribes under the house of David. 2 Kings 24: 10, and 25; Jeremiah 39.
a. In relation to the captivity of Jehoiachin, &c., in the eighth year of Nebuchadnezzar.
b. In regard to the destruction of Jerusalem, &c., in the 19th of his reign.
The history of these two kingdoms should be well understood, or great mistakes will be made in the interpretation of the prophets.
It should also be remarked that David’s kingdom and throne have never been restored since the overthrow by the Chaldeans: but numerous prophecies declare that they shall be in more than their former glory when Solomon occupied them. Therefore, this remarkable event remains to be fulfilled.
9. The history of Israel should also be studied as to the 70 years captivity.
a. From Jehoiachin’s captivity to the destruction of the city. Ezekiel 1 to 24.
b. From the same to the overthrow of Babylon. Daniel.
10. As to the restoration from Babylon; especially concerning the decrees of the Persian kings, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther.
The Commonwealth of Israel continued in vassalage to Babylon, Persia, Grecia, till B.C. 165, being 430 years from the desolation of the city, B.C. 595. It then became independent under the Asmonean dynasty during 129 years, when it became subject to the Romans, who set up the Idumean, or Herodian race of kings. Under these the Shiloh was born. Afterwards, Judea was converted into a procuratorship. The sceptre had departed from Judea and been transferred to the Romans. The Levitical authorities arraigned the Christ before Pilate, and extorted the sentence of death against him. He was crucified, and in about 37 years after, the Romans took away the daily; cast down the place of its sanctuary; destroyed the city; cast down the truth to the ground; destroyed the mighty and the holy people; and carried them captive into all nations; where they still remain, waiting for “the restitution of all things” belonging to their nation. Daniel 8: 11, 22, 24; 9: 26; Luke 21: 24.
In studying the records of Israel, that passage in the biography of David inscribed in 2 Samuel 7: 12-17, is of great importance, and essential to the right understanding of the truth. The promises contained in it are styled “THE SURE MERCIES OF DAVID” in Isaiah 55: 3; Acts 13: 34. i.e. The gracious promises made to David. These are offered to Shiloh and the saints. They are the nucleus of “the joy set before him” and them, on account of which “he endured the cross and despised the shame.” They promise—
a. A seed to David, who should be the sovereign of a kingdom;
b. That He should build a temple for Jehovah; Zechariah 6: 12-13, 15.
c. That His throne should be everlasting;
d. That he should be Son of God as well as Son of David;
e. That he should suffer for the iniquity of men, but mercy should not forsake him:
f. That David’s house, throne, and kingdom should be established for ever before him, i.e. he should be a living witness of its perpetuity:
g. That therefore he should rise from his sleep with his fathers, and live forever.
David styled this “THE LAW OF THE ADAM,” which related to his house for a great while to come. In his last words—2 Samuel 23: 3, —he informs us that God spake to him about this personage, laying down this general principle in relation to the kingdom he had promised, namely, that “HE THAT RULETH OVER MEN MUST BE JUST, RULING IN THE FEAR OF GOD.”
But, that the members of his house were not of this character, yet, that “God had made with him an EVERLASTING COVENANT, ordered in all things and sure,” and that such a character would arise out of his family to “rule the world in righteousness.” Therefore, said he, this Covenant “is all my salvation, all my desire” although appearances at present do not indicate its accomplishment. Read Psalm 89; 132: 2-18; Acts 2: 25-31.
“THE KINGDOMS OF THIS WORLD SHALL BECOME OUR LORD’S AND HIS CHRIST’S: AND HE SHALL REIGN FOR EVER AND EVER. —
Revelation 11: 15.
“And the Lord shall be King OVER ALL THE EARTH, in that day shall there be one Lord, and his Name one. —Zechariah 14: 9.
Where then will be the thrones, principalities, and dominions which now oppress the world, sitting as a night-mare upon the nations, and binding them in the fetters of ignorance, superstition, and political chicanery. A resounding joyous shout, as the roar of a multitude of waters, will reverberate through the heavens, saying “destroyed, abolished, gone for ever, to be found no more at all.” Then will come a reign of peace and righteousness and wisdom and knowledge will become the stability of the times, when the nations will glory in their King, in whom they will be blessed and free. The glorified Saints will possess the dominion of the world. Daniel 7: 14, 18, 27; Revelation 5: 9-10.
III. To advance still further in the Apostles’ doctrine, such an association as that before us must proceed to the investigation of the plain and unsymbolic prophecies. Such as the Psalms, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Micah, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. Their contents may be arranged as to generals under the following heads; namely:
1. The calamities predetermined upon the two nations of Israel.
2. The restoration of the house of Judah from the Chaldean captivity—Haggai;
3. The restoration from its present dispersion:
4. The bringing back of the ten tribes and re-union of all Israelites into one kingdom and nation in the land of Israel;
5. The glory, power and blessedness of the Israelitish nation during one thousand years, during which all other nations will rejoice in Israel’s King;
6. The birth, life, sufferings, moral, sacrificial and pontifical character, &c., of the King of Israel;
7. His resurrection and ascension to heaven, there to remain a limited time;
8. His return and subsequent glorious and triumphant reign on the throne of his father David, from the time of the restoration of God’s kingdom again to Israel until “there shall be no more death”—“he shall be a priest upon his throne,” “after the order of Melchizedec,”—Zechariah 6; Psalm 90: 4;
IV. These things being understood, the personal testimony of the Apostles, evidential of the rightful claims of Jesus to the Messiahship, or regal, imperial, and pontifical sovereignty over Israel and the world, may be next proceeded with.
This testimony is contained in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John’s writings. They were written that men “might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing they might have Life through his Name.” They show—
1. That Jesus is the hereditary descendant of David, in whom is vested the sole right to his kingdom and crown;
2. That He is the acknowledged Son of God by paternity of first birth; and by being born again of his spirit from the dead;
3. That He possessed two natures; first, that of mortal flesh; secondly, that of his present one, which is holy, spiritual flesh, —“the Lord, the Spirit;”
4. That without the shedding of blood there can be no remission of sins, —Hebrews 9: 22;
5. That the blood of animals cannot take away sins, —Hebrews 10: 4;
6. That for a sin-offering to be an efficient atonement it must not only be slain, but made alive again; which constitutes it a living sacrifice;
7. That Jesus was such a sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, and without blemish—that is, “without sin,”—Hebrews 4: 15.
8. That the blood of Jesus is “the blood of the New Institution, shed for many, for the remission of sins,”—Matthew 26: 28:
9. That He rose from the dead: and ascended to the right hand of the Majesty in the heavens and that he will return in like manner as he departed, and to the same place,
10. The attributes of Jesus constitute his NAME.
11. That through this name, repentance, remission of sins, and eternal life, are offered to all intelligent believers of child-like disposition.
12. That if men would receive the benefits of the Name, they must believe in it, and put it on.
13. That this Name is inseparably connected with the institution of immersion—so that if a believer of the Gospel would put it on, he must be immersed into the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, —Acts 2: 38; 10: 44, 48.
14. That the Gospel is the glad tidings of the kingdom in the name of Jesus, if therefore a man would be saved, he must believe this gospel and obey it, —Mark 16: 15-16.
15. That if an angel preach any other gospel than this he is cursed, —Galatians 1: 8-9.
16. That all who obey not this gospel shall be punished, —2 Thessalonians 1: 7-10.
17. That it is the law by which man shall be judged, —Romans 2: 12-16.
18. That the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God, —1 Corinthians 6: 9-11.
This outline of the Apostles’ Doctrine may be still further condensed into these four propositions—
1. That when the Christ should make his first appearance in the world he should appear as an afflicted man;
2. That having drank the cup of bitterness to the dregs, He should rise from the dead;
3. That Jesus of Nazareth was He: and—
4. That there is no other name given among men whereby they can be saved. —Acts 17: 3; 4: 12.
V. To understand what genuine Christianity is, in its associational and individual relations, men must make themselves thoroughly acquainted with the Acts of the Apostles. It contains an illustration of the manner and order in which they executed the commands of Jesus. A Christianity in doctrine, spirit, and practice will be found in this little tract written by Luke, such as the present generation of the human family hath no conception of. It narrates also the concise history of the establishment of the religion of Christ in the Roman Empire.
VI. The next step in the course may be the study of the apostolic epistles. From these and the Acts may be learned the origin of that GREAT APOSTACY from primitive Christianity which constitutes the superstition of Europe and America; and styled by the Apostle “a Strong Delusion.” Its elements are termed by Paul “The Mystery of Iniquity,” which were secretly at work in his time; but openly from that of Constantine until they brought Europe to what we find it in all its mischievous and debasing forms of impiety and spiritual absurdity. In its beginning, this mystery of iniquity was concocted out of—
1. A combination of Judaism with Christianity. Acts 15: 1-5.
a. Teaching that the immersed believers must be also circumcised;
b. Thereby showing that ‘baptism in the room of circumcision’ was not thought of in the apostolic age.
2. A further combination of Gentilism with this Judaized Christianity; from which resulted a compound of the three—a fourth something unlike either of its constituents.
VII. Lastly, we may proceed to the investigation of the symbolic prophecies, such as those of Daniel and the Apocalypse. To master these, the inquirer must acquaint himself with,
1. The scriptural and symbolic speech;
2. The things revealed in it;
3. The history of Assyria, Persia, Macedon, Rome, and Modern Europe, from the extinction of the Western Empire to the date of this document;
4. The right interpretation of these prophecies by persons versed in items 1, 2, and 3, depends—
a. Upon their freedom from all dogmatic-theological bias;
b. Upon their having their senses exercised by reason of use—
Hebrews 4: 14.
c. Upon their skilfulness in the word of righteousness:
V. THE APOSTLES’ FELLOWSHIP.
To have fellowship with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ, men must have fellowship with the Apostles. This is accomplished only by believing and doing the truth promulgated by them. This is styled “walking in the light as God is in the light by which we have fellowship one with another”—1 John 1: 3, 6-7. A man might be in approved fellowship with all ‘Christendom,’ papal and protestant, church and dissenters, and yet have no fellowship with God; “for if we say we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness (ignorance,) we lie, and do not the truth.” Hence Papalism, and Protestantism are a great lie; mere antagonist evils, claiming fellowship with God, while they are mantled in the darkness of human tradition, and pervert and persecute the truth. It is the duty, therefore, of all who would embrace the christianity of the Bible, to lay hold of the things we have already indicated, to separate themselves from all papal and protestant sects, [for they are but the aggregations of all worldliness, and fast asleep] and either to maintain their own individuality, or, if sufficiently numerous, associate themselves together as A COMMUNITY OF WITNESSES “who keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ,”—Revelation 12: 11-17. Such an association would be entitled to the scriptural appellation of
“THE LAMB’S WIFE,”
Which is called upon to prepare herself for the approaching consummation. —Revelation 16: 15; 19: 7-8. She must be “sanctified and cleansed in the laver of the water by the word;” that she may be “holy and without blemish.” Such a body must “edify itself in love;”—Ephesians 4: 16; and meet every Lord’s day to commemorate his death and resurrection, to show forth the praises of God, to make their united requests known to him through Jesus Christ, to proclaim his goodness to the children of men, and to convince them of the judgment which has come upon the world at last. All which is benevolently submitted to the public, by the—EDITOR.
From the Gospel Banner Extra.
DR. THOMAS’ CRITIQUE ON MR. CAMPBELL’S NOTICE OF THE BANNER.
(Concluded.)
1. I will submit a few items in relation to the charges against the Banner, as I am implicated in them, and my statement, therefore, seems necessary for the perfection of your own vindication.
I cannot see how you can be charged with sailing under a false flag, seeing that you believe in the gospel preached by Messrs. Campbell and Wallis, and which I regard as not the gospel, but as “another gospel;” and that believing thus, and before I set foot in Britain from America, while you were in full and unquestionable fellowship with “the Reformation,” you hoisted the flag under which you sail. You have no flag of mine to unfurl, and can have none until you believe the gospel of the kingdom, and obey it; the flag you may unfurl then, however, will not be mine, but the Banner of the Gospel indeed.
The charge against you of being the English Judas, as I am alleged to be the American Judas of “this reformation,” is absurd. If you were to republish all that Mr. Campbell has ever penned it would never betray him and his into my hands. He has never demonstrated the Gospel of “the Kingdom of God, and the Name of Jesus Christ” in any of his writings, as I have defined it; or I suppose (though of this I am not certain) he would not now denounce it. I say, “I suppose;” for Mr. C. advocated in his debate with Owen, and elsewhere, the personal return of Christ to the earth, in or about 1847, to reign here, though now he denounces it as a worldly Jewish conceit! This is not the only thing Mr. C. ridicules now that he has advocated before. The somersets he has made are so notorious in America, that some have proposed to collate from his writings what he advocated a few years ago, and what he pleads for now, and to publish it with the title, “Campbell against himself.” It is an honor to a man to change as often as he is convinced; but it is dishonest and hypocritical to change, and yet to pretend that he is still advocating what he always believed. If this be so, as Mr. C. would have us believe, then in former years he was pleading for what he had no faith in at the time, which is indefensible and iniquitous. My views of the word have changed, and I rejoice in the confession. While I believed with Mr. Walter Scott I earnestly contended for the views he had presented, and with them, views of the word I had acquired afterwards by my own scripture reading. I pleaded for those views as truths that might or might not be believed without affecting a man’s position in relation to eternal life; truths that I had not the remotest conception of when immersed by him. In 1847, however, I came to perceive that these truths might not be treated so indifferently, inasmuch as they constituted the Hope of the Gospel, without which any thing called the gospel is not the gospel, or God’s power to salvation. Perceiving this, I was self-condemned; for when immersed the views instilled into my mind were defective of the “one hope of the calling.” Without delay I acknowledged my errors, and was forthwith baptised into the hope of Israel, on account of which Paul was carried a prisoner to Rome in chains. Compare Mr. C’s. conduct with mine, and then say if it be possible to betray him and his into my hands until they be converted—yet not into my hands, but into the power of the truth that has captivated me.
From what I have here stated your readers will discover how impossible it is for a coalition to have been formed between you and me. It is impossible for us to coalesce unless we believe the same things. You do not plant your foot and say, “Here I stand, and from this position I will never be moved;” but you say to me, in effect, “our views of the truth are not the same: I edit a paper to advocate Mr. Campbell’s views, which I regard as the truth; nevertheless, I am willing that my readers should hear what others may have to say, be they Independents, Irvingites, &c., or even yourself.” Here then I, and those who believe with me, meet you. So long as you act upon this principle of impartiality they purchase the Banner; but when you depart from it, and plead only for Mr. C’s views in the Banner, seeing that they know all about them, their interest in the Banner ceases, and they discontinue its support. This is all the coalition that subsists between John Thomas and the Banner, —a coalition which exists as much between you and “churchmen,” as between me and you.
2. I come now to say a word or two concerning the allegations against myself. Mr. Campbell says I am “erratic.” I admit that I am; but justify my wanderings by the example of the fathers, of Jesus, and the Apostles. They were all an erratic set of men, many of them “having no certain dwelling place.” Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were exceedingly erratic. The Lord Jesus wandered all over his native land, having no place of his own to lay his head, although the whole land belonged to him by virtue of the covenant made with his father Abraham. The Apostles were like their master only that their erraticism was more extensive than his. Their advocacy of the truth made them poor, as it has all who have advocated it to this day. The advocates of error get rich, because they please men; and Paul says, “If I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.” Mr. Campbell has become rich by his religious enterprises; Jesus was born rich, being heir to the throne of Israel, and of the world; but “he became poor, that men through his poverty might become rich,”—let Mr. C. go and do likewise, and he will become as “erratic” as he and his Apostles, and their humble imitator whom he loves so well.
A materialist is one who does not believe in “spirit,” in a future state, or a resurrection of the dead. I believe in all these, though not in Mr. C’s sense of them. I need only refer to Elpis Israel and the pamphlet recently published in proof of this. No one who is acquainted with my writings, or understands what he has heard me speak, will give Mr. C. credit for speaking the truth under this head.
As to my “no-soul memory,” this is a reputation Mr. C. has sought to affix to my name. Because I do not believe in the existence of such a soul in man as he, and the old heathens believed in, he jumps to the conclusion that I believe in no soul at all. On the contrary, I believe in “body, soul, and spirit,” as the constituents of a living man; but I say none of these exist as the person when their union is dissolved by death. For man to be immortal, in any sense, he must rise from the dead. In the present life he is a mortal soul; when he stands bodily upon his feet by resurrection, clothed with glory and honor, he is an immortal soul, and not before. For further explanation see Elpis Israel, and pamphlet.
The item, “e,” under No.2, is charged against you and me by Mr. C. He says, “they have no right to garble my writings, and to deceive their readers by seemingly to fraternise in order to delude.” I am charged in this under the supposition of a coalition existing between us. But this is as truthless as all the rest.
It is all news to me about the flock. There is no flock in Virginia of which I am the constituted shepherd. I belong to a small church in Richmond, Virginia, but it is neither dispersed nor withering that I have heard of. I hold no office in it, but contribute with others to edify it. In leaving them for a time I have not therefore deserted my flock; nor the flock of God, for he has sheep in Britain as well as America, I believe. On the supposition that the flock is mine, hereby I cannot be said to have deserted it by an absence of two years and three months, seeing that Jesus the Lord has been bodily absent from his for more than seventeen centuries past. They know enough of me to be assured that I will return, and they know this too, that while I have been labouring here, without fee or present reward, I am secondarily promoting the truth in America. They have written to me and said, “don’t return till your work is finished.” This has made my mind easy about home, though my enemies have been very active with their evil tongues; but my answer to their malevolence will be found in my, by them, unwished for re-appearance among them. Their prediction that I shall never return, that I have deserted my flock, &c., will then be falsified, and themselves, one and all, proved to be “Cretans.”
Mr. C’s extra on Life and Death is too visionary for a serious refutation. A friend of mine, however, thinks that because others who regard Mr. C. as an oracle have a high opinion of it, it is worthy of a refutation; he has therefore written me word that he intends to review it. As to myself, I am tired of refuting the stale arguments it contains, about the rich man and Lazarus, the thief on the cross, Jesus and the Sadducee, &c., which by pen and mouth I have expounded times without number. The key to them all is “the Word of the Kingdom.” This Mr. C. neither understands nor believes, how then can he interpret parables which were given to illustrate the things of the kingdom of God? So long as he regards the throne of David as at the right hand of God, where Jesus is now, he must remain in the dark. A man to talk about writing an unanswerable extra on Life and to treat the prophets as “an old almanac,” and to be ignorant of the doctrine concerning the Land of Promise, and the throne and kingdom of David, as I have proved Mr. C. to be in my last article, and as he displays in his own confessions to the conviction of all who know the prophets, is ludicrous in the extreme! However, for the benefit of his readers, I am ready at any moment to interpret all the knotty points presentable in the case, provided he will allow me to untie them in the Millennial Harbinger. In this way those who have read “the Extra” will be the very persons who will read my reply; but they would not and could not read it were I to publish it in a pamphlet by itself. I have no list of the subscribers to the Millennial Harbinger, and therefore could not send the answer to his readers; but according to the plan proposed justice could be done to both, and the ends of truth would be subserved. I know of no proposition fairer than this.
Mr. Campbell thinks “Elpis Israel” a somewhat whimsical title for a book and a theory. I am sorry that even here I am obliged to differ from him. The book recently published by me undertakes to show God’s “theory” as revealed in his word. The testimony every one can read for himself, but what the system, or scheme of things to be developed as taught by that testimony is, every one or rather few are able to discover by their own efforts, owing to the bias their minds have received from the false theories into which they have been indoctrinated from their cradles. The divine “theory” exhibited in the oracles of God, is demonstrated in my book to have constituted the faith and hope of the Twelve Tribes—a hope implanted in the Jewish heart and mind by the Spirit of God himself. This Hope of Israel was the hope of Jesus and his Apostles. Israel was to realise it through a renowned Jew, who was to be at once Son of Abraham, Son of David, and Son of God; and because he was to be “Jehovah’s Anointed,” He was called the Christ or Messiah. This was a “political” question, or “Elpis,” with the nation; for the Jew who could prove that he was the true Messiah, proved also that he had a right to be “the King of the Jews”—“the King of Israel’’—Sovereign of the united Twelve Tribes of the nation; and consequently, to sit upon the throne of David for ever according to the covenant made with him, and on record in 2 Samuel 7: 12-16; 1 Chronicles 17: 11-15; Psalm 89: 3-4; 19-29; 34-37; 132: 1-18; Acts 2: 29-31; Hebrews 1: 5. The appearance of Jesus originated a controversy, not as to the National Hope, but as to whether he was the Jew through whom that hope was to be realised. The party in power rejected the claims of Jesus to the Messiahship; but the Apostles advocated it, and God attested it by the miracles which accompanied their word, and the personal ministry of their Lord. The appearance of Jesus did not alter the nature of the hope; but only the conditions of attaining to it. Before he came it was attainable “by faith” in it; but afterwards “through the faith,” or belief of it with a recognition of Jesus as the Messiah. Hence, the proclamation of the Apostles on and after Pentecost was the Hope of Israel in the name of Jesus; so that many years after Pentecost, when Paul was a prisoner in Rome, he said, “For the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain.” Now, with all deference to Mr. C., I submit that a book unfolding such matters as these is not whimsically, but most appropriately, entitled Israel’s Hope, or “Elpis Israel.”
Instead of proving the Apostles all wrong, I have proved them to be wholly and only right; and all divines, college systems, and denominations wrong. I advocate “the hope and the resurrection of the dead;” and have not substituted “the hope of a terrestrial paradise” for any thing they teach. Elpis Israel is a triumphant refutation of such unfounded and malicious calumnies with which it is a sort of fashion to bespatter me on both sides of the Atlantic.
3. Mr. Campbell disgraces himself; for “he that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him.” Mr. C. declares he has never read Elpis Israel; and yet he has the unblushing effrontery to affirm what I do not teach. Shame, shame upon the man, who sitting in judgment upon others, has no more good conscience than this! What moral right has Mr. C. to pretend to state an author’s views while he avers that he has not read his book? Is not this “the exceedingly oblique morality of an exceedingly oblique theory?” Has such a man who commits such things, to say nothing of his “faith,” any right to style himself a “christian,” as opposed even to “worldly Jews?” I trow not.
But if Mr. C. have not read Elpis Israel, it is not because it has not been sent to him. I sent six copies to the United States which have all arrived there safely. Among these was one for Mr. Campbell; and I venture to affirm from the wording of the article before me, that it was within reach while he was writing it, if he were at Bethany at the time. “True,” says he, “I have never read the new book, or the newly-discovered ‘Elpis Israel,’ but am informed that it is that maintained by some Jews of the present day, as a substitute for the resurrection of the just.” Will he say he has not received it, and might have read it if he pleased? Who informed him falsely that it maintained such a substitute? Did Mr. James Wallis, who bought the book only “for reference,” and in the first quotation he made from it, stopped short before the passage was concluded? There are only six copies in America, and I know that the five others did not inform him any such thing, for they very much approved the work, which they could not do if it contained any such substitution. Was it not some evil genius at Mr. C’s right hand who pretended to have read it, and imposed upon Mr. C’s credulity by the misrepresentation quoted? This probably is the case.
By his own words, then, Mr. C. is condemned as in a state of foolishness and shame; and such is the man who avers of himself and his co-believers—“we christians,” “ours is the veritable hope.” A christian is one who believes “the things of the Kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ;” whose disposition is that of a little child, one of an honest and good heart; and who upon this faith, hope and love, has been immersed into the name of the Holy Ones. If this definition be scriptural, how can Mr. C. and such as he, claim to be christians when instead of believing the “things of the kingdom” as testified in the prophets and Apostles they ridicule them: instead of love, they persecute those they call their enemies, (and they say I am their greatest) and try to destroy their characters: and instead of baptism into the hope of Israel they treat it with contempt. Mr. Wallis’ agent in New York, a friend of mine, stood up in the church there after one of my visits, to call their attention to the Hope of Israel. The “elders” said nothing at the time, but when he rose the next Lord’s day he was forbidden to speak unless he apologised for what he had said the week before, and promised in future to say no more about the Hope of Israel! Yet such men profess to be christians, believers of the Ancient Gospel, and friends of the liberty of speech, and an untrammelled investigation of the word of God! These are the “elders” who denounced me in the British Millennial Harbinger about two years ago!
Lastly, in words, Mr. C. and myself would after all seem to agree. He says, he and his co-religionists hope for the resurrection of the just, and the New Heavens, &c. So do I. I hope for the resurrection of the just, and of the unjust. Of the just, because they can have no part in the New Heavens until they rise from the dead incorruptible; of the unjust, that they who have killed the prophets, put to death the Lord Jesus, slain the Apostles and persecuted the saints, may receive according to their cruel and evil deeds. But “the just” hope to attain to the resurrection, not as the end of their hope, but as the means to the end: for many will rise from the dead who will never possess eternal life and the Kingdom. They hope to rise that they may become “equal to the angels,” and inherit the kingdom. This is the hope which is the end of their faith, even the salvation of their souls in the Kingdom of God.
The New Heavens and the New Earth is a divine constitution of society upon the earth, in which “Jerusalem shall be created a rejoicing and her people a joy.” Mr. C’s New Heavens have no place within the bounds even of the solar system! Somewhere then, probably, in the Milky Way! But of such New Heavens there is no testimony within the lids of the Bible. I advocate a theocracy on earth in which the kingdoms of the world will become the kingdoms of Jehovah and of his Anointed; when, the thrones being cast down, “the saints of the Most High will take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom,” even “the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven,” “for ever, even for ever and ever,” “reigning with Christ a thousand years upon the earth.” See Daniel 7: 9, 18, 27; Revelation 11: 15; 5: 10; 20: 4. These are the New Heavens and New Earth I advocate; an imperial constitution of things under a law from heaven, which, testified by the prophets, compels the faith of all whose minds are not spoiled through “the philosophy of vain deceit” taught by presidents and professors, divines and academicians, in their pulpits, colleges, and schools. Mr. Campbell, who belongs to this perverse, stiff-necked, and infidel fraternity, unhesitatingly declares that he does not believe it! Daniel, the prince of prophets, is to him a mere “worldly Jew;” and John the beloved Apostle, but a somewhat “plausible sophist!” They both testify that a theocracy shall be established within the limits of the solar system, yes, and upon our planet too. What has been may be again. A theocracy has existed among the nations of the earth for many centuries; and though suppressed for the present, Jehovah and his Anointed have both declared that it shall be re-established in the Land of Israel, under a covenant based upon “better promises” than the old. Glad tidings, or gospel, have been proclaimed in the name of Jesus, its sovereign Lord and King, to the nations concerning it; informing them of God’s purpose, and inviting them, both Jews and Gentiles, to its glory and honor upon condition of believing what he has testified concerning it; that is, believing the gracious and, “the exceeding great and precious promises” he has made, —acknowledging Jesus, his anointed Son, and heir of the world, as its chief in his several relations of prophet, sacrifice, priest, and king; of being immersed into the Holy Name; and of a subsequent patient continuance in well doing. Thus “he that believes the Gospel, and is baptised, shall be saved.” These are “the wholesome words of the Lord Jesus Christ” himself. This Gospel is concerning the Kingdom of God and the Name of Jesus. Mr. Campbell proclaims his infidelity in this Kingdom, not as it is expounded by me, for not having read Elpis Israel, he knows not how I expound it, but as testified by the prophets, as every one who runs may see. To redeem if possible his reputation for literary and moral honesty, I pray him to read the book he has denounced unread. Let him read it dispassionately; and comparing my exposition with the testimonies referred to, let him correct his own iniquitous misrepresentations, and refute it if he can.
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Christmas-boxes are said to have originated with the Romish priests, who had masses for almost everything: If a ship went to the Indies a priest had a box in her, under the protection of some saint, in which money was collected for mass to be said to that saint on the ship’s return, which was called Christ-mass. Servants also had the privilege of asking for box money, that they might be enabled to pay the priest for his masses. Other modes also of obtaining money, under the pretence of relieving the people of their sins, were resorted to by the priests, which forcibly illustrated the proverb, “No penny, no Paternoster.”
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OUR VISIT TO BRITAIN
Some how or other information of our intended visit to England arrived in that country before us. Soon after reaching London we found the following manifesto figuring in the “notices to correspondents” on the cover of the “British Millennial Harbinger,” edited by Mr. James Wallis of Nottingham.
“Mr. John Thomas. —We have heard through the medium of some of the second advent proclaimers, that Mr. John Thomas, M.D., from Richmond, Virginia, is on his way to England, if he has not already landed. We feel justified in stating to the brethren, and to our readers, that Mr. Thomas, in his magazine, some time ago, publicly abjured all connection with the churches of the Reformation in the United States, more especially with Brother Campbell and his associates. He not only renounced what he had learned from them, but also what he taught whilst among them, as being altogether erroneous. He has also been re-baptised, or baptised for the first time into what he calls the hope of Israel; so that he has discovered not only that the baptism of all others of our brethren is faulty, but that his own also which he received some years ago from the hands of Brother Walter Scott, and for which he has pleaded so strenuously, has no foundation in truth. What is the express object of Mr. Thomas in visiting this country, we do not know. In his writings he still appears very confident of the none resurrection of infants, idiots, and heathens, and at the same time he is shortly expecting (he says within twenty years) the coming of the Lord Jesus, to set up the everlasting kingdom, the seat of government in the land of Palestine, for at least one thousand years—introductory, as we suppose, to that glorious and eternal rest which remains for the people of God. With these views and feelings, we conclude that Mr. Thomas is coming to England to lift up his warning voice, that a people may be prepared for the thousand years’ glorious and triumphant reign of Messiah with his resurrected saints, which is the true hope of Israel. But we may be mistaken in this supposition as to the object of his visit. He has friends residing in London, and it may be only a friendly visit on family matters. Be this as it may, the Second Advent brethren—or those who believe in the personal, literal, visible reign of Christ for a thousand years in this world—are anticipating a high treat on the occasion. Now we ask, as none of our brethren emigrating to America, are received into the fellowship of the churches there without a well-attested recommendation from brethren in this country, ought not the same principle to be adopted in reference to all parties coming from America to this country? —J. W.”
The above was a sort of intimation of what was yet to come from the same quarter. Mr. Wallis’ policy was to make the impression upon his brethren of the Campbellite faith in Britain, that we had ‘publicly abjured all connection with the churches of the Reformation in the United States.’ This charge against us was subsequently so often repeated in his magazine, that it came at last to be believed as a fact that was indisputable. The testimony adduced to sustain the accusation was alleged to be contained in our ‘Confession and Abjuration,’ dated March, 1847, and published in the Herald, No. 4, Vol. 3. By referring to the document, however, it will be seen that the charge is a false one. We did not abjure ‘churches,’ but a certain ‘transaction,’ ‘mistakes,’ errors of compromise, the dogma of the immortality of the soul, and ‘other things’ of a kindred nature. After giving six reasons for regarding our immersion by Mr. Walter Scott, in 1833, as ‘no better than a Jewish ablution,’ as Mr. A. Campbell styles an invalid immersion, we add, ‘these, we consider, are sufficient reasons why we should abjure the whole transaction’—a transaction between Mr. Scott and ourselves before we knew any thing at all about ‘Mr. Campbell and his associates,’ or their churches.
Again, the word abjuration occurs in the following connection—‘Had we been properly instructed, we should not now have had to make this confession and abjuration of our mistakes.’ In the October number of the British Harbinger for 1848, Mr. Wallis accuses us of especially ‘asserting that the leading men of the Reformation held damnable heresy.’ This is a perversion of our words. We said nothing about ‘the leading men of the Reformation;’ we wrote in general terms, our words being as applicable to the leading men of all denominations and to all who held the heresy, as to ourselves on the supposition of our having also once entertained it. Our words are, ‘We do not remember that we ever taught the existence of an immortal soul in corruptible man, and the translation thereof to heaven, or hell at the instant of death; if we have, so much the worse: no man can hold this dogma, and acceptably believe the Gospel of the kingdom of God and his Christ: we abjure IT as a ‘damnable heresy.’ In the next paragraph we say, ‘ there may be other things—errors—which have escaped our recollection; whatever they be &c., we abjure them all.’ Then, referring to the treaty of peace and amity between Mr. Campbell and ourselves at Paineville in 1838, in which so long as we were not misrepresented we consented to hold certain inferences from a great truth in abeyance, because of the prejudices the publication of them was supposed to create against what we then all considered ‘ the Ancient Gospel’—referring to this, we say, ‘We erred in holding in abeyance the most trivial inference from the truth on any pretence whatever; we abjure all errors of this kind, &c.’ Then lastly, we finish our ‘Confession and Abjuration’ of the things confessed by saying, ‘Had our opponents let us alone, &c., we might have been teaching the same fables: which, however, would have deprived us of the pleasure of confessing our errors and mistakes, and of publicly renouncing and bidding them adieu.’
Upon the last citation, it is probable, Mr. Wallis founds his charge against us of ‘publicly abjuring all the churches of the Reformation in the United States.’ But it is obvious that the utmost he can make out of it is a renouncing and bidding of our opponents adieu. The grammatical construction of the text, however, will not even admit of this. The public renunciation and adieu is the ‘errors and mistakes’ confessed; for these, and not ‘them and their leaders,’ are the antecedent to ‘them.’ Our ‘pleasure’ consists in renouncing and bidding our errors and mistakes adieu; our sorrow, in having to turn from men who, like Messrs. Campbell and Wallis and their associates, prefer darkness to light, and will not come to the light lest it should be discovered that their deeds are not wrought in God. But we have not altogether turned from and renounced them even yet. Our duty is to endeavour to open their blind eyes that they may see the truth of the gospel of the kingdom; at all events so to deal with them that by enlightening the people their power and influence for evil may be restrained, if not entirely destroyed.
The impression made upon many minds by Mr. Wallis’ illiterate construction of our ‘Confession and Abjuration,’ was that we had renounced christianity itself. So far did he carry his underhand machinations in relation to this document, which some evil genius in this city, we have reason to believe, sent over to him for machiavellian purposes, that he had a number of copies printed and circulated among his co-religionists to prejudice their minds against us. He did not send us a copy or inform us of what he had done. The first we knew of it was by a friend in Glasgow who had received one, handing it to us at the epoch of the convention there—of which more hereafter—and archly inquiring if we knew anything about such a document as that? We recognised it at once as a reprint of our ‘Confession and Abjuration.’ But the iniquity of the thing was in the publication of this apart from our ‘Declaration,’ which we intended should always accompany the ‘Confession and Abjuration.’ Had this been done, no one could have come to the conclusion that we had renounced the gospel. But this candid proceeding would not have subserved Mr. Wallis and his associates’ crooked policy! We will do him the justice, however, to state that on the question being put to him by the Secretary of the Glasgow Cooperation meeting—who has since obeyed the gospel of the kingdom—why he did not reprint the ‘Declaration’ of the things Dr. Thomas now believes and teaches as well as the ‘Confession and Abjuration?’ he replied, that ‘he had not got it.’ This, however, could only be true in part. He could not have reprinted the last page of the ‘Confession and Abjuration,’ without also possessing nearly a whole page of the ‘Declaration,’ because these two pages are upon the same leaf. He possessed enough of the ‘Declaration’ to convict him of injustice in publishing our ‘Abjuration’ by itself. The first paragraph of the ‘Declaration’ connects it inseparably with the ‘Confession and Abjuration’ in these words: ‘Having presented the reader with our confession and abjuration of errors, the fitness of things requires, that we should declare to him what we believe the Holy Scriptures teach in lieu thereof.’ Here the necessity is expressed that he who reads our abjuration should also be acquainted with the position we now occupy. If Mr. Wallis could not do this for want of the whole article, he had no right to publish the abjuration at all. But then he could have made no capital out of a reprint. The articles would have spoken for themselves, and shown that if the Campbellite faith were rejected as imperfect and unscriptural, we did not therefore abjure ‘the truth as it is in Jesus.’ He might have delayed the publication till he had procured the entire ‘Declaration;’ but instead of that he hurried out a partial statement of our case, which from ignorance or malice he misconstrued, and in so doing made himself a false accuser.
Mr. Wallis also affirms in the above notice that Dr. Thomas renounced ‘what he taught whilst among them—the Reformers—as being altogether erroneous.’ This is not true; for while among them we taught what we still teach concerning the ‘covenants of promise’ made with Abraham and David concerning the Land of Promise, and David’s throne. We also taught that Jesus is the Christ foretold by Moses and the prophets, and that there is repentance and remission of sins through his name alone. Mr. Wallis knew this, yet dared to affirm that we had renounced what we had taught as ‘altogether’ erroneous. If he had said some things we taught he would have stated the truth; but to say ‘what’ without limitation or qualification, or rather made universal by ‘altogether,’ gives his assertion the character of an untruth. The notice is evidently one designed to forestall public opinion, and at the same time to give vent to some of his spleen against the Second Adventists in Nottingham, who at the time were a kind of thorn in his side, by identifying them with an individual he was endeavouring to render obnoxious to his own party and the public. In thrusting at them he was classing us with an antagonist party; for between the ‘Millerites’ of 1843, and the ‘Campbellites,’ there are no more dealings than between the Jews and the Samaritans. This, doubtless, he thought an effectual means of placing the reformers in opposition to us in England; but he was taken in his own craftiness, and utterly failed in all his devices. The animus of the notice is manifest from his concluding inquiry. ‘Now we ask,’ says he, ‘as none of our brethren emigrating to America are received into the churches there without a well attested recommendation from brethren in this country, ought not the same principle to be adopted in reference to all parties coming from America to this country?’ The ‘all parties’ was aimed at us. But we had ‘well-attested recommendation from brethren’ in fellowship with himself and those he calls his brethren in America, one of whom he styles ‘our much esteemed brother’ in a letter to us dated July 5, 1848. We sent one to him, another to Mr. Hine, and delivered one to Mr. Black in London, from another much esteemed brother; and had other recommendations from ‘brethren’ to ‘brethren’ in our portfeuille which we made no use of, having discovered how little practical utility they were of in securing the cooperation, good will, or even common courtesy of those to whom such epistles were addressed.
On our arrival in London we forwarded the letters of personal introduction to Messrs. Wallis and Hine we had received from one who had been a member of their church, and was then a member in the Campbellite body assembling at 80, Green street, New York. The latter gentleman, whose maxim in grinding the face of the poor in his employ, is, that ‘religion has nothing to do with business,’ or with courtesy either, he might have added, took no further notice of the letter addressed to him, than to join Mr. Wallis in subscribing his name to an epistle purporting to emanate from the church in which that body is represented as declining to have any thing to do with us. These letters have already been published in the Herald p. 58, Vol. 4., and need not therefore to be re-inserted here. We learned while in England that the Campbellite church in Nottingham is most unhappily situated. The members are for the most part poor, and dependant upon Messrs. Hines and Wallis for their daily bread, being to a considerable extent in their employ. It is well known in Nottingham that very great dissatisfaction prevails among them at the way things are managed and conducted in their church. Mr. Hine is ‘the divinity that shapes their ends,’ while Mr.Wallis executes his will. Both these men are reputed rich, and notwithstanding their much ado about primitive christianity, they are no exceptions to the question of the apostle James, “Do not rich men oppress you?” Messrs. Hine and Wallis are their masters, and the relation between master and man in the manufacturing towns in England, is well known to be dependence of helpless poverty upon purse-proud and hard-hearted luxury. With those who understand the nature of things in the Barker Gate Congregation, a decree in its name is well known to be the will and pleasure of Jonathan Hine and James Wallis. Other men sign the decrees for lack of independence, and no because they enter heartily into the letter and spirit of the allocution. Illustrative of this we may refer to the alleged letter of the Barker Gate church addressed to us in reply to our introductory letter to him, which church-letter he calls his in two places of the same epistle to us. The reader has seen the pretended church-letter on page 58, referred to above. It is signed by six persons in behalf of the body: and is dated July 5, 1848. Now, if he turn to page 64 of the same volume, he will find that Mr. Wallis, speaking of said letter under date of July 26th, says, ‘your reply to mine of the 5th;’ and again, ‘I waited for an answer to mine of the 5th instant.’ There was no letter of the 5th July but the church-letter, which was in Mr. Wallis’ handwriting. His claiming this letter as his divulges the secret that the church is nothing but a convenience, and used by Mr. W. and his adviser as their policy may require. They made their co-signers believe and do what they pleased contrary to the inclination of some of them. There were only 40 members including themselves out of upwards of a hundred present at the adoption of the letter as the letter of the church; and although they are made to say, that it would be ‘inexpedient and improper on our part, either to invite you to Nottingham, or in any way to lend you our influence in furthering the object of your visit to this country,’ one of the signers told us with his own lips that the declaration was not in accordance with his disposition or wishes. That this was the reality, he evinced by lending us all his influence among his brethren and others in furthering the object of our visit to England, in coming to hear us, bringing all he could, and testifying to the truth of what we taught. Why then did he sign? Because he lacked independence, and feared the consequences of refusal. When we spoke at the Nottingham Assembly Room the congregation at Barker Gate was notably diminished, thereby indicating that the policy of Messrs. Hine and Wallis, though submitted to, did not comport with their better judgment in the case.
Providence does all things well. The Campbellite leaders in Britain are the enemies of God’s truth, even as they are in this country. They err probably through ignorance, and therefore some day or other may obtain mercy, but while they continue in hostility they also cause the people to err in all sincerity of mind. Sincere ignorance, however, will not justify them unto life. The Second Adventists in Nottingham differed from Wallis’ party in being friendly to the truth. Even as we found them, they were more enlightened than the pure Campbellites. But though more enlightened they were ignorant of the truth, as they have since confessed. They were disposed to hear. They had heard Mr. A. Campbell and were satisfied that little as they might know aright, he understood less of the “sure word of prophecy” than they. After hearing him, they concluded that his repudiation and proscription of a person and the doctrine he taught, though countersigned by Messrs. Hine & Wallis and their party, were no guarantee of the heresy of the proscribed. They wished to hear us also, and had no mind to be baulked in their wishes by Mr. Wallis’ illiberality. When we review the past, we rejoice that providence opened this door for utterance, and closed that of Barker Gate against us. An introduction to Nottingham in connexion with Mr. Wallis would probably have been fatal to our enterprise. Mr. Wallis’ religious influence is nothing beyond the walls of Barker Gate; had we therefore been introduced to the public upon his platform, the probability is the townspeople would have disregarded the invitation to come and hear, under the impression that our expositions were only Wallisiana in a new dress. Mr. Campbell had good audiences there; it was not Mr. Wallis’ influence, however, that procured them, but a curiosity to see the man of whom they had heard so much. They heard, were satisfied, and disappointed. He philosophised, added nothing to what was already known; and therefore left no distinctive and permanent impression behind him. His visit to Britain dissolved the spell of his magic name, even in the estimation of many who esteemed him ‘great’ before.
(Continued in our next.)
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HERALD
OF THE
KINGDOM AND AGE TO COME.
RICHMOND, VA., MARCH, 1851.
We invite the particular attention of our readers to the article headed “What ought to be done at this Crisis.” We printed several hundred copies of it for circulation in Britain, which were nearly all distributed gratuitously. It was suggested, however, when they were nearly all gone, that it would be better to charge something for them to make sure that they would be read, and not destroyed without a reading, which they might probably be if given away without money or price. The suggestion was a good one; for no one will pay for what he takes no interest in. If a man purchase he expects to get something for his money; and he reads to see i