HERALD
OF THE
KINGDOM AND AGE TO COME.
“And in their days, even of those kings, the God of
heaven shall set up A KINGDOM which shall never perish, and A DOMINION that
shall not be left to another people. It shall grind to powder and bring
to an end all these kingdoms, and itself shall stand
for ever.”-DANIEL.
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JOHN
THOMAS, Editor. RICHMOND, VIRGINIA, April,
1852-
Volume 2-No. 4
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THE WORLD’S PROSPECTS.
That the age is, in many respects, a
needy one, few will wholly question. Even the self-satisfied and vain-glorious
enthusiasts of progress feel that there is much awanting. They scoff at any symptom of what they call retrogression;
they smile at those who are disposed to stand still; and they urge on progress,
with all the buoyancy of young hope, fearing neither precipitancy nor
impetuosity. Impatient of the past, save as a repository of antique relics;
hardly tolerant of the present, except as a necessary round in the upward
ladder, they press forward into the future, (man’s future, alas!) and dream or
prophesy of infinite progression spreading wide before them: and all achieved
by their own wisdom and strength!
It
is strange to hear these men boasting of what is lying before them as the
result of modern enlightenment. Each morning, as they look forth at their
window upon the world and its prospects, the horizon seems to widen, the
atmosphere to clear, and the sun to gather intenser and more healing radiance.
“Glorious prospect!” they exclaim, in rapturous musing. “Glorious
prospect!” Intellect has now come of age; and having attained its
long-deferred majority, it is going forth in the ripeness and freedom of its
manhood, to do battle with evil and ignorance and misrule, assured of
returning, ere long, laden with the spoils of victory, —these spoils a
regenerated world!
The thought of their heart is, that
the world’s true day has dawned at last—light has arisen—darkness must
make way for it; —the progress, once begun, must accelerate in speed; —the
wave, once set in motion, even far out in mid-ocean, must swell and rise,
sending out on every side its bright circles, nor resting till its far-spread
ripples have laid down their freight of blessings upon every shore of earth.
These things they predict with ready confidence, —becoming prophets themselves
while condemning others for venturing to pry into the prophetic Word of God.
Visions of splendour float out before them, and they cannot away with those who
suggest that possibly these may be but man’s visions, —nay, perchance pictures
conjured up by the god of this world, in order the more surely to mislead their
hopes, and, by bewildering their fancy, to entangle their steps more cruelly in
his snares.
Yet even with them there is at times
a misgiving. Their confidence wavers, if it does not wholly give way. An uneasy
feeling steals over them that there is perhaps more of show and less of
solidity—more of surface and less of depth—more of hollowness and less of
reality—more of galvanic impulse and less of natural vitality about the present
state of things, than they are at other times willing to admit. Some untoward
circumstance, some disastrous stroke of evil, crushing fond hopes and laying
bare abysses of evil hitherto undreamt of startle them into the unwelcome
suspicion that their hopes were too high and full. Some strange occurrence,
bringing out awfully to the light the deep and unchanged selfishness of man,
shakes their confidence in the rapid progress of the race. Some terrific
discovery, in some corner of one of our vast cities, for instance, of masses of
suffering and pollution, undissolved and undiminished by the enlightenment of
the age, nay, augmenting and fermenting, alarms them. Some overwhelming
personal calamity, making their heart to bleed at every pore, convinces them
that sorrow is still the condition of our being here, that the curse is still
unrepealed, and that there is an incubus lying upon our race, which sets limits
to all progress, and must continue to weigh us down till lifted off by an
Almighty hand.
Of this class, some still remain
confidently hopeful, in spite of disappointment and retardation. Lighthearted
and buoyant, they refuse to look at anything but brightness, and easily laugh
off all symptoms of rising gloom. They have cast their theory of the world in
the mould of their own sanguine nature, and to part with that gay theory would
be parting with half their nature—would be cutting off a right hand or plucking
out a right eye. They hold fast their self-flattery—their world-flattery, in
spite of adverse events, however numerous and dark.
But there are others whom sore disappointment
has sobered, if not solemnised. Hope deferred has made their heart sick; and
though still in a measure clinging to their theories of progress, they are more
diffident and less boastful than heretofore. Sharp experience has schooled them
into patience, and pulled down their high conceits. They are more willing to
believe that the age’s progress is less rapid and unbroken than once they
imagined. The checks to this progress, the fallings back, the want of
proportion between the parts, the counteractions, —these have now a more
prominent place in their thoughts than they used to have. The bud that swelled
so fully and promised so fairly, some ten or twenty years ago, has not expanded
according to expectation. It has become sickly in hue, nay, seems to wither, as
if blight were on it. Instead of opening, it seems to close and give token of
decay. A chill has nipped it, or a worm is at its root. They have anxiously
watched its progress, and, with heavy hearts, they begin to suspect that they
were premature in their rejoicings, and to despair of its ever ripening here.
In their case there is danger of
misanthropy. They begin to despair of a world whose maladies will not yield to
their skill. They are on the point of saying, “There is no hope.” Progress in
man’s way, upon man’s system and by man’s strength, they see no prospect of;
and they have not yet learned God’s system of the world, the Divine theory of
progress. God’s thoughts as to the future they have not received—his way and
his time of healing the long-sick creation, they have hardly thought of
inquiring into.
Something of this becomes visible in
the great literary thinkers of the day. They once hoped, nay, were confident;
now they begin almost to despair. Democracy and despotism, kings and people,
learned and unlearned, are all brought under their satire and scorn. Let us
listen to one of them. * His complaints and cries are, if not wholly
inarticulate, at least sadly confused and contradictory. He looks abroad upon
the world, but it is without a Bible in his hand. He speaks eloquently of the
world’s evils, but the “everlasting Gospel,” the good news of the death and
resurrection of God’s incarnate Son, are not within the circle of his remedies.
# He points, though with trembling finger, to a “New Era;” but he has not
learnt that that era is to be introduced by no less an
advent than that of the King of kings. Thus he writes of our day: —
“In the days that are now passing
over us, even fools are arrested to ask the meaning of them; few of the
generations of men have seen more impressive days. Days of endless calamity,
disruption, dislocation, confusion worse confounded: if they are not days of
endless hope too, then they are days of utter despair. For it is not a small
hope that will suffice, the ruin being clearly, either
in action or in prospect, universal. There must be a new world, if there is to
be any world at all! That human things in our Europe can ever return to the
old sorry routine, and proceed with any steadiness or continuance there; this
small hope is not now a tenable one. These days of universal death must be days
of universal newbirth, if the ruin is not to be total and final! It is a Time
to make the dullest man consider; and ask himself, Whence
he came? Whither he is bound? —A veritable “New
Era,” to the foolish as well as to the wise.”
This is a true picture, so far as it
goes. But the artist could not paint the real darkness of the present nor the
glad radiance of the future, not only because he does not seem to know, from
the oracles of God, either the one or the other; but because both are alike
beyond the intensity of any colours that earth can furnish.
* *
*
*Latter-day
Pamphlets, Edited by Thomas Carlyle. No. 1. The Present Time.
# This is the theological definition of the Gospel. The “death
and resurrection” of God’s Son are facts upon which the conditions of the
Gospel are predicated, and not the gospel itself. This exists in promise only,
and announces that “in Abraham and his Seed all the nations of the earth shall
be blessed.” The writer should have said “the everlasting gospel, the good news of the kingdom of God are not within the
circle of his remedies.” This is true not only of Carlyle, but of the clergy
also, national and non-conformist. —Editor Herald.
* *
*
After a striking sketch of the reforming Pope and his doings, and as
vivid a sketch of the successive European explosions of 1848, intermixed with
contemptuous sarcasms, pointed alike at rulers and ruled, le lets us know to
what kind and class of men Europe owes these convulsions: —
“The kind of persons who excite or
give signal to such revolutions, —students, young men of letters, advocates,
editors, hot inexperienced enthusiasts, or fierce and justly bankrupt
desperadoes, acting everywhere on the discontent of the millions and blowing it
into flame, —might give rise to reflections as to the character of our epoch.
Never till now did young men, and almost children, take such a command in human
affairs. A changed time since the word Senior (Seigneur, or Elder,)
was first devised to signify “lord,” or superior—as in all languages of men we
find it to have been! Not an honourable document this either, as to the
spiritual condition of our epoch. In times when men love wisdom, the old men
will ever be venerable, and be venerated, and reckoned noble: in times that
love something else than wisdom, and indeed have little or no wisdom, and see
little or none to love, the old man will cease to be venerated; —and looking
more closely, also, you will find that in fact he has ceased to be venerable,
and has begun to be contemptible; a foolish boy still, a boy without
graces, generosities and opulent strength of young boys. In these days, what of
lordship or leadership is still to be done, the youth must do it, not the
mature or aged man; the mature man, hardened into sceptical egoism, knows no
monition but that of his own frigid cautions, avarices, mean timidities; and
can lead nowhither towards an object that even seems noble.”
What, then, is our inevitable goal? Democracy!
“The gods have appointed it so,” says he, speaking the language of heathenism,
as if ashamed to use the name of the one Jehovah, God of earth and heaven. Yet
let us listen to the doings of this democracy, and to Mr. Carlyle’s estimate of
the praises of its loud-voiced worshippers: —
“O Heaven! one of the inevitablest
private miseries, to an earnest man in such circumstances, is this
multitudinous efflux of oratory and psalmody, from the universal foolish human
throat; drowning for the moment all reflection whatsoever, except the sorrowful
one that you are fallen on an evil, heavy laden, long-eared age, and must
resignedly bear your part in the same. The front wall of your wretched old
crazy dwelling, long denounced by you to no purpose, having at last fairly
folded itself over, and fallen prostrate into the street, the floors, as may
happen, will still hang on by the mere beam-ends, and coherency of old
carpentry, though in a sloping direction, and depend there till certain poor
rusty nails and worm-eaten dovetailings give way: —but is it cheering, in such
circumstances, that the whole household burst forth into celebrating the new
joys of light and ventilation, liberty and picturesqueness of position, and
thank God that now they have got a house to their mind?”
What are his feelings in looking
around him upon the present condition of the world? He gives utterance to
thoughts which show a mind ill at ease in reference to all that is now going
on, either abroad or at home: —
“This is the sorrow of sorrows: what
on earth can become of us till this accursed enchantment, the general summary
and consecration of delusions, be cast forth from the heart and life of one and
all! Cast forth it will be; it must, or we are tending, at all moments, —whitherward
I do not like to name. Alas! and the casting of it
out, to what heights and what depths will it lead us, in the sad universe
mostly of lies and shams and hollow phantasms, (grown very ghastly now,) in
which, as in a safe home, we have lived this century or two! To heights and
depths of social and individual divorce from delusions, —of “reform” in right
sacred earnest, of indispensable amendment, and stern sorrowful abrogation and
order to depart, —such as cannot well be spoken at present; as dare scarcely be
thought at present; which nevertheless are very inevitable, and perhaps rather
imminent several of them! Truly we have a heavy task of work before us; and
there is a pressing call that we should seriously begin upon it, before it
tumble into an inextricable mass, in which there will be no working, but only
suffering, and hopelessly perishing!”
Then there comes a glimpse of
the truth. But it is only a glimpse—no more. With what vagueness he tries to
point in the direction whence the only hope for the world can come! —
“To prosper in this world, to gain felicity, victory and
improvement, either for a man or a nation, there is but one thing requisite,
that the man or nation can discern what the true regulations of the Universe
are in regard to him and his pursuit, and can faithfully and steadfastly follow
these. These will lead him to victory; whoever it may be that sets him in the
way of these, —were it Russian Autocrat, Chartist Parliament, Grand Llama,
Force of Public Opinion, Archbishop of Canterbury, M’Croudy the Seraphic Doctor
with his Last-evangel of Political Economy, —sets him in the sure way to please
the Author of this Universe, and is his friend of friends. And again, whoever
does the contrary is, for a like reason, his enemy of enemies. This may be
taken as fixed.”
Another glimpse of the truth then comes, yet, like the last,
only a glimpse—a mere faint glimmering—no more. England
needs kings—the world needs kings ay, kings and priests! But where are they to
be found? —
“England, as I persuade myself, still contains in it many kings;
possesses, as Old Rome did, many men not needing “election” to command, but
eternally elected for it by the Maker Himself. England’s
one hope is in these, just now. They are among the silent, I believe; mostly
far away from platforms and public palaverings; not speaking forth the image of
their nobleness in transitory words, but imprinting it, each on his own little
section of the world, in silent facts, in modest valiant actions, that will
endure forevermore. They must sit silent no longer. They are summoned to assert
themselves; to act forth, and articulately vindicate, in the teeth of howling
multitudes, of a world too justly maddened into all manner of delirious
clamours, what of wisdom they derive from God. England,
and the Eternal Voices, summon them; poor England
never so needed them as now. Up, be doing everywhere: the hour of crisis has
verily come! In all sections of English life, the godmade king is
needed; * is pressingly demand in most; in some, cannot longer, without peril
as of conflagration, be dispensed with.”
* *
*
Yes, these needed godmade kings are
far away from platforms and public orthodox palaverings. They are the believers
of the gospel of the kingdom who have obeyed it, and illustrate it by their
self-denial and devotion to truth. The world knows them not, for they are not
of the world, but of God. When the time arrives, the Eternal Voice will summon
them to a cooperation in the social and political
regeneration of mankind. —Editor Herald.
* *
*
Thus,
with wild inarticulate moanings does one of the best representatives of the age
utter his misgivings, nay, despondency. One cannot
understand what he points at. It seems almost certain that he does not know it
himself. A feeling, profound and pervading, coming up from the very depths of
his being, that all is wrong, and that the world’s endless convulsions are
abortive efforts to shake off a curse that cleaves to it as part of its very
nature, seems to labour to unburden itself in his pages. Strange, sad wailings,
from a soul so gifted! They are by far the strongest and the saddest of
creation’s groans.
Yet with all this vagueness of
complaint, and this still greater vagueness in pointing to a remedy, we gather
from him such conclusions as the following: —
- This world is thoroughly disordered.
All things are out of course. The true cause he sees not. The moral evil,
“the ineradicable tint of sin,” he has no idea of; nor does he
understand how it is that this should poison all its fountains and blight
all its verdure. This darkness, this sorrow, this toil, this pain, this
weariness, this misrule, —whence come they, save from sin? But this
one root of bitterness is not in his philosophy.
- All things in the world are hollow.
They are but semblances, shows, falsehoods. Yes, most true, but in a
deeper sense than he dreamt of. “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.”
Each man “walking in a vain show.” “The fashion of this world
passeth away.” Creation has truly “been made subject to vanity.”
But of this deep, sad hollowness, he does not speak. It is not easy to
understand what he means by reality and what by unreality. In the Bible
this hollowness is plainly enough declared. God
himself is awanting. God himself, we say, —no mere system of truth,
—that fills no void; no mere heap of abstract attributes, —that fills
no void; no mere speculation about “wisdom” or “nobleness,” or the “Divine
message” or the “eternal voices,”—that fills no void; no burning
invective against “shams” and “simulacra,” and “semblances,”—that
fills no void; no waving of banners over the downfall of cheats and the
“bankruptcy of imposture;” this, alas! is the mere shout of bemazed and
bewildered men, who, dissatisfied with their present habitation, are
exulting in the conflagration that is levelling it, while they have not
the very slenderest idea of what is to come in its stead, or of what roof
they may have to shelter them from shower or storm.
- It is wisdom that this world needs.
Men have been plunging into thicket after thicket, and the world has been
a misruled and miserable outfield, because wisdom is awanting. The
foolish have wielded the sword and sceptre; now the wise must seize them
and save the world from self-annihilation! True, —yes, most true. It is
wisdom that earth so sorely is feeling the want of. But where is it to be
had? Science says, It is in me; let me ripen, and
I will right the world. But do we believe it? Philosophy says, It is in me; let me dive a little deeper and bring up a
few more profundities, and the world will find a sufficient ruler in me.
But do we believe it? No. We believe not these nor
any of their fellow-boasters. They have been tried in the balances and
found wanting. Their wisdom will not do much for such a world as ours. We
need something deeper and broader, —higher and holier than they can
furnish. It is Divine wisdom that we need. Wisdom, it must be, that comes
from God himself; not speculation, but truth; not an opinion, but a
certainty; not expediency, but eternal principle. Without this “wisdom that
cometh from above,” what is “earnestness,” of which so much is spoken?
It is a feeling without an object. And what will such feeling do for a
world composed of such materials as ours? Without this wisdom, what is the
detection of “shams” and “cheats” but the discovery that all is wrong,
—most thoroughly wrong. But will that set us
right? Will the knowledge of my poverty bring riches in upon me like a
flood?
- We must ascertain the true law of
the universe; and until this “new rock-basis” comes to light, all must be
confusion worse confounded. What more true than this? Yet what this true
law is, or where this rock-basis is to be found, Mr. Carlyle does not
inform us. Evidently he knows not. Jehovah’s purpose, —that purpose which
man is fighting against, but which is holding on its steadfast way in
spite of man, —this is the law of the universe, and it shall stand. In so
far as our purposes are coordinate with this, —in so far as we have been
brought to be at one with God in reference to the movements and prospects
of this world, to that extent we have discovered this true law, —this law
of laws to which this world shall yet conform, —a law apparently turned
aside for a season; nay, thwarted and defied, but which is moving on as
steadily to its issues and developments as this system of ours, in the
midst of apparent crossings and recrossings, is moving round its great
central sun! Jehovah’s purpose! The purpose of the God only wise! His
purpose to bring good out of evil, holiness out of sin, honour out of dishonour;
his purpose to make this sad earth comely and blessed, more than Canaan
under Solomon, or Paradise under Adam; his purpose to glorify his
Incarnate Son on this earth, where his blood had been shed, his grace
rejected, his name cast out as evil, and his authority set at nought. This
is the purpose round which all present events are clustering, however
rugged they seem, towards which all movements are tending, and in which
the history of man and his earth shall be consummated! (God’s purpose is
to set up a kingdom in Palestine under Christ, to whom and his brethren he
will give the dominion over all nations with eternal life and glory. —Editor
Herald.)
- We must have kings and priests to
rule. But who are they? According to Mr. Carlyle, philosophers such as
himself; according to Scripture, the “redeemed from among men.”
According to Mr. C., the true kings are the men of intellect and genius;
according to God, they are men who have become fools for Christ’s sake,
who have identified themselves with his despised Son, and are content to
wait for their thrones till the day of his return. According to Mr. C.,
the true priesthood are the men who have entered the sacred groves and
temples of science or philosophy, or song, —conversing with nature,
uttering mysterious oracles, and so “fulfilling their mission.” According
to God, they are men who have taken their stand beside the altar of the
Divine burnt-offering, who have washed their robes and made them white in
the blood of the Lamb. (By believing the things concerning the kingdom of God, and
the name of Jesus Christ, and being immersed, both men and women—Acts 8: 12—Editor Herald.) It is worth our while to notice that
the philosophers of our day seem to have got some glimpse of the idea of a
royal priesthood, —a conjunction between the offices of priest and king.
Of God’s purpose in this respect they know nothing. Yet king and priest
seem to be united in their minds as the true conjunction by which the
world is to be ruled. Somehow or other they have caught a passing gleam of
this mighty truth, and some of the truest things they write are concerning
this; —vaguely enough, imperfectly enough, yet still as if groping their
way darkly to this great idea yet to be developed in the world’s coming
history, when God brings in, not merely his royal priest, his Divine
Melchizedek, but his royal priesthood, the glorious band of ransomed men,
by means of whom he is to rule this world in righteousness and show the
wondering universe what true kingship is, what true priesthood is, and how
the holy union of these two sacred offices is the perfection of all rule,
the eternal basis (Millennial basis.—Editor Herald.) of a happy
earth, the eternal link between himself and creation, between the things
above and the things beneath, the things celestial and the things
terrestrial. Now that union is impossible. It is fraught with
unspeakable peril. Such offices cannot be trusted in the hands of
imperfect men. The attempt to unite them has been the root of the earth’s
heaviest and most intolerable woes. But then the union shall be effected,
when the true Melchizedek arrives to ascend the priestly-royal throne,
and, under him, the perfection of all government shall be exhibited in the
hands of holy men, of men who passed through humiliation like his own,
knowing nothing here but obedience, patience, sorrow, weakness; and then
shall it be truly seen how they only can rightly rule who have learned to
suffer and obey.
In conclusion, let us say, that we have seldom heard such a cry of
despair as comes from this strange pamphlet. It is one of the saddest and most
affecting signals of distress hung out in these last days in behalf of a
wrecked and sinking world. He who raises it has done and spoken the utmost that
his philosophy can devise for the last twenty years. But it is all in vain. The
world lies broken and helpless. Its men of might cannot find their hands. The
crisis is approaching when, its utter ruin having been demonstrated and its
utter powerlessness made visible, God shall interpose to renew it, —sweeping
off the long curse, —brightening its sad skies, —binding its rebel prince, and
introducing the glad age of righteousness under the sway of the Virgin’s Son. —Quart.
Journ. Proph.
* *
*
BIRTHPLACE OF TRUTH.
“When were the boundaries of
knowledge ever enlarged without patient and persevering effort, or without
exciting the antagonistic influences of Ignorance and Scepticism? We must
remember that, “Every new truth is born in a manger.”—S. H. W.
* *
*
EXCURSION TO HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA.
ANY GOOD IN NOVA SCOTIA? —RICHMOND
MENTALITY UNCONGENIAL TO THE TRUTH—OBLIGED TO SPEAK IN THE WOODS NEAR LITTLE
PLYMOUTH AND DUNNSVILLE—THE PUBLIC’S FREE MEETING HOUSE COVERTLY SEIZED UPON BY
THE CAMPBELLITE LEADERS—ARRIVE IN BALTIMORE—SPEAK AT COCHITUATE HALL IN
BOSTON—OUR COMMISSION TO PREACH—ARRIVE AT ST. JOHN’S, NEW BRUNSWICK—SOON LEAVE
FOR WINDSOR IN NOVA SCOTIA—ARRIVE IN HALIFAX—SPEAK AT THE NEW TEMPERANCE
HALL—OUR OPERATIOND THERE—OUR DOCTRINE REGARDED AS SOMEWHAT TREASONABLE—WE
EXPLAIN—NATURE OF OUR RECEPTION AT HALIFAX—RETURN TO BOSTON—ARRIVE IN NEW YORK
STRANGE VOICES THERE—LECTURE AT HOPE CHAPEL, BROADWAY—A WORD TO ADVENTISTS—AN
IMPORTANT QUERY—RETURN TO BALTIMORE—THENCE TO RICHMOND.
On Friday before the 4th Lord’s day in September, we set out from Richmond on our
journey to Halifax in Nova Scotia, to which place we had been invited by a friendly community,
styling itself “The Christian Association”—a name signifying a
company of professors claiming to be christians. This is the character assumed
by the congregations of all sects, except the Jews; and is therefore not
distinctive. But the congregation in Halifax styles itself “the
Christian Association,” from which it may be inferred that whatever are the
pretensions of other Haligonian assemblies, that meeting at the Harmonic Hall
is the only genuine one in Halifax—its own members being judges. This is high
ground, and the assumption should operate as a motive to superior excellence,
which, if not yet attained, will, we hope, be the
laudable ambition of every one there who has the interests of the truth at
heart.
Having been invited, then, we
departed as we have said, on an exploring expedition. “Oh! go
to Nova Scotia with you,” is vernacularly about as kind a wish as “Go to Jericho!” We had no very exalted ideas of things going by the name of Nova Scotia. We
had heard that the British steamers touched there on their way to Boston—a sort
of “touch and go” once a week in summer; and that an eccentric sort of
judge, one Sam Slick, of the Haliburton species, of the genus homo, and
class mammalia, applied the law when thought expedient and safe among
the fogs and fisheries of the inhospitable north: —but what mammoth steamers
and literary judges, things pertaining to the civilised world, could want in
the modern Jericho, we could not pretend to say? We concluded, however, that we
would go and explore the country, and see how the land lay, if there were any
save when the tide were out.
But before we could get there we had
to make our way over some thousand miles of river, land, and sea; and to pass
through Baltimore, New York, Boston, Eastport, and St.
John’s; the last being in the province of New Brunswick,
another outlaying region of Yankee civilisation. Richmond, then, was
at one end of the expedition and Halifax at the other; but Richmond, though “a fine city,” is no more to be compared to Halifax, than is
the mentality of Constantinople with the quidnunckery of ancient Athens. Here the
minds of the people are in a perfect lethargy. There is no spirit of inquiry
among them. What they shall eat, what they shall drink, wherewithal they shall
be clothed, and how they can make money, appear to be the loftiest flights of
which their “immortal souls” are capable. Our experience of this place in connection
with the word of truth is too grand for the comprehension, too self-denying for
the carnality, too exalted and refined for the ignobleness of the people. We
have had persons here, too numerous to mention, who have professed a zeal for
it, that have done more to injure it, and those who advocate it, by their
malpractices, than they could possibly have done by the most overt and fiercest
hostility. The truth is not to blame for this. It is good seed, incorruptible,
and calculated to bring forth good fruit; but, however good the seed, it will
be choaked and perish if the soil into which it is sown be foul with thorns,
briars, weeds and pebbles. Educated in superstitions, strong fleshly
propensities and the love of the world pre-occupy the soul, sear the conscience,
and render it callous. This is the soil for the most part that has hitherto
presented itself for tillage in this Bethsaida of the
South. It has all, with but few exceptions, been broken up, or fallowed, by the
husbandmen of the Bethanian Vineyard here. Instead of preparing the land well,
breaking up the clods, fertilising it, and sowing it with good seed, they just
skimmed over the surface with the rudest implements, and sowed the ground with
cheat. The consequences have been most calamitous. Most of those we have had
the misfortune to do with seem to be pre-eminently incurable. The truth has no
power over them. They have professed it so long as it has served their turn;
and when this hath been answered they have thrown off the mask, and turned aside
to Satan. O Lord, thou God of truth and righteousness, how long ere thou will
arise and vindicate thy way in all the earth? Shall thy truth for ever be the
sport of fools, a mantle for hypocrisy, and reproached by evil-minded and
wicked men? Thou hast for a long time kept silence and refrained thyself, as
thou hast said; O that thou wouldst rend the heavens and come down, and utter
thy voice out of Zion as on Sinai in the days of old: that the ungodly and the
sinners may no more insult thy holy name!
We directed our course from this
city to Tappahannock, in Essex county, where we took the steamer for Baltimore. On our
way thither we addressed the people at Acquinton, and in King
& Queen, and Essex counties. The interest created by our former visit to these
sections of the State, had operated unfavourably upon the peoples’ leaders, who
in all ages have ever caused them to err. As they could show their displeasure
in no other way, they determined to pit their neighbours to all the
inconvenience they could, and to compel them as much as possible to stay at
home. In this policy they succeeded to a considerable extent; for having
excluded them from the meeting houses, there was no alternative but to betake
themselves to the woods, or remain at home. The majority, who wished to hear,
absented themselves, fearing to sit in the forest for two hours in the sickly
season. We drove twenty miles on Monday morning to a stopping-place about three
miles below Little Plymouth, where we found a gathering of people in the woods,
within a few hundred yards of two ample meeting houses belonging to the
Baptists and Methodists. A stand had been prepared, but as it faced the wind,
which was rather fresh, it was demolished, and another erected of cord wood,
that happened to be on the ground, over-laid with the boards. Here we took up
our position, and, with our hat upon our head, after the Jewish synagogue
fashion, addressed an attentive audience about two hours. It may be a
gratification to the Methodist and Baptist leaders of that circuit to know,
that they inconvenienced us as well as their fellow-citizens greatly. Our
health was much deranged by the Fall weather, having been seized with emesis at
the moment of departure from Richmond, with loss of appetite and debility; so
that a two hours’ discourse in the open air, where the voice was unconfined,
and the wind maintained an incessant rustling of leaves and branches over-head,
was a very disconcerting, annoying, and fatiguing condition of affairs. It was
difficult to speak and difficult to be heard. Both, however, were accomplished;
and none materially suffered from the incidents of the case, but the
dog-in-the-manger party whose bigotry is condemned and despised by the more
liberal of their own friends. We hope our friend down there, by whom we were
induced to break ground in that locality, will get Elpis Israel or
the Herald, or both, well circulated among his neighbours. The way to break up
the clerical monopoly is to enlighten the people. This is better than building
meeting houses. The loss of a day or so, occasionally, in getting subscribers,
would not be felt. “No one,” it is said, “can read these works attentively, and
not become intelligent in the Word of God. If the people would
only study Elpis Israel, and compare what is written there with the scripture references, a
great revolution would be effected in their views of religious men and things.”
From this opinion we do not dissent; and whatever may be its demerits, of this
we are certain, that the clergy cannot refute it. We should like to see them
try!
On Wednesday we had to betake
ourselves to the woods again, about a hundred yards, or thereabouts, from the
Campbellite meeting house, as it is called, styled also “the Rappahannock.” Oh, the
lamentations that used to ascend, with upturned faces and uplifted hands, to
the skies, about Baptist persecution and illiberality in shutting “Us,”
the pure-hearted, the meek, the much-abused, the prove-all-things, the
courageous, yet peaceable, “reformers,” out of their pulpits and conventicles!
The public never heard the last of these Jeremiads until their own conduct
convicted them of the same “unrighteousness.” They now know experimentally how
the Baptists felt respecting them. They are now the illiberal and
unrighteous persecutors, to use the style of the late I.M.H., our zealous
adversary, and apostle of their faith. The public was dinned with their tales
of suffering for conscience sake until its sympathy was excited, and it
responded to their appeal to build a meeting house which should be free to all
who would preach with the privilege of reply to what they said. Could anything
be more liberal and just? Surely that public deserves commendation that stood
between the persecutors and their victims, saying, “O ye Sects, ye shall not
prevent the people from hearing both sides of all religious questions. If ye
shut your doors, we will open others. We will have a house of our own in
which truth and error may be canvassed freely; and as we are not selfish, and
have no pecuniary interests at stake which the truth can jeopardy, we invite
you, and all who differ from you, to address us under our roof, that we may see
the light if any shines among you.” Generous and enlightened public, worthy art
thou of praise! All gratitude to thee for securing to the
truth an open door, which timid errorists can never shut. Thou hast
provided poor wandering, homeless truth a shelter, and none henceforth can turn
her out of doors, exposed to sit upon the ground, scorched with the noonday
sun, or chilled by the shivering blast. Ah! Reader, the children of error are
wiser in their generation than the friends of light. The public that built “the
Rappahannock” has been duped, cheated, mocked! The Campbellite leaders, no
better principled than other sectarian leaders, having induced the public to
build “a free house,” have secured it to themselves, and had it recorded
as their own in the clerk’s office at Tappahannock, where Mr. A. B. Magruder, a
lawyer, and our co-worker and fellow-traveller, ascertained the fact by
examining the record on the following Friday. The gospel of the Kingdom and
name of Jesus, which is the truth, and no man can refute it, is shelterless in
sight of the public’s free house. It is denied admittance by those who used to
boast of their earnest desire to “prove all things,” and their readiness to hear even Satan himself, so confident were they
that “the ancient gospel,” or the truth, was with them! But O how the times are
changed, and the reformers with them! They, who used to be always talking about
their religion, now talk of nothing less. They have shut themselves up in their
houses, and turned the truth as a houseless beggar from their doors!
Mr. M. and ourself having addressed
the people under our hats in the woods, gave notice
that we would meet them next day at Tappahannock. This appointment we fulfilled
at the old Episcopal church there, he in the morning and we in the evening of
Thursday. Next day at noon we embarked on the steamer for Baltimore, where we
arrived next morning, and proceeded forthwith to quarters under the hospitable
roof of our friend, Mr. William Lemmon, who is not only a believer of the word,
but also a doer of its work—James 1: 22-25. He has “looked into the perfect
law of liberty,” and now rejoices in being “free indeed”—John 8: 31-36.
He made us as comfortable as it was possible; we only had to regret that our
impaired health unfitted us for the full enjoyment of his goodness. Expecting
us a day earlier, the public had been invited to meet us on the previous evening;
but as we did not appear, our host had to entertain the people with viands from
his own larder, where there is always something for them who hunger and thirst
after the righteousness of God—more, we suspect, than he has hitherto found a
demand for; for, if Baltimore be any thing like Richmond, there will be no
commodity there less sought after than “the bread which comes down from
heaven.” But this is characteristic of the times, and a sure indication
that “the fulness of the Gentiles” hath almost, if not quite, “come
in”—Romans 11: 25.
Having fulfilled our appointments in
Baltimore, we parted company with our fellow-traveller, and embarked on board
the steamer for Philadelphia. Next morning we left this city for New York via Camden and Amboy
railway, and arrived there in the afternoon. Our stay here was brief; for we
left on Saturday morning for Boston, where we arrived about 5 P.M. On Sunday morning we were
waited on at our hotel by two friends, Mr. P. Dickenson, of that city, and Mr.
Joseph Pierce, of Rochester, who proposed our accompanying them to Cochituate Hall, where their
brethren met for worship. We agreed with pleasure. We were invited to address
the meeting; but before we took the stand to do so, a Mr. Needham, well known
among the Advent friends, not aware of the proposal just made to us, entered
and took the chair. He spoke morning and afternoon on the Throne of David, and God is love; and at night we addressed them on
the “so great salvation.” After the congregation was dismissed, a person
remarked to us, before several, that we had spoken with so much assurance of
the truth of what we had said, that he wanted to know
if we had a call to preach the gospel? We replied that we had, and would read
him our commission; upon which we read these words—“Let him that heareth (understandeth)
say Come!”—We believe we understand the matter, therefore we
speak assuredly; and say, “Let him that is athirst, come. And whosoever
will, let him take the water of life freely”—Revelation 22: 17.
On Monday, October 13th,
at noon, we embarked on board the Admiral for Eastport, in Maine. We passed
the night at sea, which was rather rough, but not enough to make us sick,
though some of our company were not so fortunate. As we neared the land, we had
an interesting view of the iron-bound coast, against whose rocks the impetuous
billows burst, and in divers places rushing up the
precipices fell back into the sea in beautiful cascades of foaming waters. The
weather being clear and pleasant, we enjoyed the scene much from the steamer’s
upper deck. This is a dangerous coast, with wind and water in shore. It would
not be a mere stranding, but a crash to atoms instantly to the unfortunate
vessel that should be wrecked there. Having steamed along the coast for some
time, and passed Machias Bay, we came between the mainland and Grand Menan island,
belonging to Britain. We continued on this course until we arrived off the light-house,
when we passed between two rocks and entered the beautiful land-locked harbour of Lubec, formed
by the Maine shore and the British island of Campobello.
From this we passed through a strait into the Eastport harbour. The scenery
here is very fine. Both these harbours are in Passamaquoddy Bay, which heads
up at the St. Croix river, dividing Maine from New Brunswick, and is studded with small islands in various directions. At
Eastport we changed the Admiral for the Creole, which steams between this
harbour and St. John’s, N.B. After getting out of Passamaquoddy into the Bay of Fundy, there is nothing
remarkably interesting in the route. We arrived at St. John’s about 9 P.M.
The tide rises here some forty or fifty feet, and in other parts of the Bay to
sixty or seventy feet, and that with such rapidity that cattle feeding on the
shore are often overtaken and drowned.
Our travelling bag being chalked
(for it was not examined) by the custom-house officer, we were permitted to
leave the Creole. We were soon after in bed at the St. John’s hotel at
the head of King’s street. The accommodation was respectable and the charge
moderate. The table was well furnished with excellent viands, well prepared,
attentively served, and eaten by the guests with a deliberation not usual in
the States. All the talk we heard was about New Brunswick
politics, for it was election time, and the question of the railway from Halifax to Quebec, through
N.B., was to be acted on at the ensuing session of the provincial legislature.
The pro and con, with respect to this, was therefore the test of fellowship
between the electors and the candidates who solicited their suffrages.
We had no acquaintances in this
place, and were therefore anxious to get on. We heard that a steamer was to
leave for Windsor in Nova Scotia on Wednesday at 11 P.M. It was quite dark when
we descended some twenty feet from the wharf, to what we were told was the deck
of the boat. About ten feet more down a narrow gang-way brought us to the lower
deck; and about eight feet still lower, to the cabin floor. In this descent by
lantern glimmer, we could discern that we had got into a vile place; but we had
paid our four dollars and there was no help for it. All we can say is, that it is a disgrace to St. John’s, or Saint Anybody’s city, to allow such a crazy, filthy,
unseaworthy boat to leave its wharf as a passenger craft. She had been used to
convey cattle all the summer. She had been on the rocks once, on shore another
time, and run into by a vessel a third. One of her paddles was broke, her
bulwarks were stove in, and her engine exceedingly asthmatic. We were
consoled, however, with the assurance that it was her last voyage, as she was
condemned to be broken up! She had two passengers, and a chest of drawers for
freight; quite a profitable trip when it is considered that it cost the owner
£17 to coal her for the trip! We were seventeen hours creeping along from St.
John’s to Windsor, with the tide in our favour from 10 A.M. to 4 P.M., about
150 miles, a little over eight miles an hour. The scenery and weather were fine
enough. We found the tide very strong against us between Holt’s island and Cape Blow-me-down.
It is said to run there about seven miles an hour. On rounding the cape, we
entered the Basin of Menas, on both sides of which the country is highly improved. The region
around Windsor is styled “the Garden of Nova Scotia.” It is certainly deserving of the name. It is as pleasant and
pretty a country in the summer as can be found in North America. Short seasons,
however, are felt to be a serious hindrance to a satisfactory pursuit of
agriculture.
Arrived at Windsor, the
residence of the author of Sam Slick, we desired to push on to Halifax, about 45
miles distant. But this was impracticable. The stage did not leave till next
morning at 10; so that we had to exercise patience, and make ourselves as
contented as we could. Morning came, and with it the stage from Annapolis. This was
the signal for us to prepare. This did not take long, and we were soon on the
road, drawn by six in hand, to the capital of the peninsula. At the end of the
first stage, which was fifteen miles, as the weather was so pleasant we
proposed to mount the roof that we might see the country through which we
passed. The driver said there was no objection, if we did not mind sitting with
Indians. As for that, we had as soon sit with them as with the pale-faced
driver himself; so we took our place with the Micmacs, who were as well behaved
as could be wished. The elder Indian said he was going to Halifax to get some
advice from the doctor for palpitation of the heart. He didn’t look like a sick
man. His palpitation, we suspect, was either brought on or kept up by drinking
liquor, for which he seemed to have a considerable relish. This was observable
when we halted at the “Ten-Mile-House,” the last stage on the route. He
went to the Bar and asked for some gin. The landlord, a rough sort of a man, at
once a teetotaller and a vender of spirits, poured him out half a tumbler full,
at the same time denouncing the use of liquor. The Indian, without regarding
our suggestion that it would set him on fire, drank it down at a draught as if
it were only water. Why, surely that is enough to make your heart palpitate!
“Oh,” said he, “I take him twice a day: the doctor tell
me so, for the good of my stomach.” A strange “medicine man” that same doctor!
This “Ten-Mile-House” is at the inland extremity of Halifax harbour, by
navigators said to be “the finest in the world.” The road winds round the bay,
affording a beautiful view of its shores. About three miles from the city we
passed a dilapidated residence of royalty, a present type of what it will be
itself in a few more years—royalty in ruins. Many years ago the Duke of Kent,
father of the present Queen of England, resided here as commander of the forces
in Nova Scotia. For the last fifteen or twenty miles we had found the country
exuberantly prolific of rocks, abounding in building materials of this
character as much as New England itself. The nearer we approached to Halifax, the more
productive the hidden soil appeared; so that in clearing the land, the labour
seems not to have been in hewing down the forest, but in picking off rocks to
find it! But, here we are at the terminus at last about 6 P.M.
Halifax is the
capital of Nova Scotia, situated on a descent from the table-land to the margin of the
sea. It is a strongly fortified place, with a garrison, if we remember right,
of about 3500 infantry. From the Common overlooking the Atlantic arises
a hill on which the citadel is built, commanding both the land and sea. Being
the seat of government and a garrison town, society is more aristocratically
constituted than in other parts of the province, or in larger towns of the United States. If the troops and government were removed, Halifax would soon
degenerate to an inconsiderable fishing town. These, however, are its life, and
will doubtless continue to be so, until its railway to Quebec comes into
operation, when it will derive new vigour and enlargement from this great work.
Its religious constitution differs little from other towns in America,
except that the Church of England is by law established. From what we could
learn, the people are not much devoted to their ecclesiastical organizations.
They are not generally satisfied with their teachers. If they read the
scriptures and think at all for themselves, how can they be satisfied! It is
impossible.
We commenced operations at the
Temperance Hall on Sunday, October 19th. This is an ample place,
newly erected, and able to contain about 1400 people, and well lighted with
gas. Much of the time we remained in Halifax was very
stormy; nevertheless, audiences very respectable both for numbers and social
position convened to listen to the things we had to speak. On Sunday evening
there may have been a thousand present, and on week-nights from six to seven
hundred of all classes, civil, military, and ecclesiastical.
We broke ground by showing that the
subject matter of the gospel was a kingdom and the things related to it,
which God intended to manifest in Palestine. It was therefore styled “the Gospel of the Kingdom”—glad
tidings to every one that believes them concerning the kingdom, through which
blessedness comes upon all nations; and glory, honour, and eternal life to all
who shall possess it. We spoke also of repentance and remission of sins through
the name of Jesus, to all who lovingly believed this gospel and were baptised
into the name of the Holy Ones. We unfolded the nature of the kingdom; where it
was to be, who were its subjects, and rulers, and what its covenants and
dominion. On week nights we called the attention of the public to Russia
and the mission assigned it in the prophets; and to “England,
its Future in relation to Russia
and the Jews.” These lectures, the latter especially, brought out the men of
war. Several of the officers of the garrison attended; and at the conclusion of
that on England, two of them tendered us their thanks for “the interesting lectures
by which they had been so much edified and instructed.” The impression thus far
seems to have been generally pretty good, if the following notice in one of the
papers may be regarded as a criterion:
“LECTURES.
—We beg to call the attention of the public to the Lectures of Doctor Thomas,
at the Temperance Hall. The Doctor appears to be intimately acquainted with his
subject, and both as an eloquent orator and a scholar will well repay those who
feel inclined to attend. We recommend all who are interested in the Great
Question, what is to be the destiny of the world, to avail themselves
of hearing the Doctor, as his sojourn among us will be short.”
On the following Lord’s day we
continued the subject of the former Sunday; and at night spoke of the
approaching overthrow of all governments, which were essentially usurpations of
the rights of God, and political embodiments of the evil and sin of the world
wherever they existed. They were incorporations of the power of those who, as
the scriptures say, “destroy the earth,” that is, the people.
That the purpose of God is to take possession of them, and to destroy the
destroyers; and to assume the government of the world Himself, when the
kingdoms will become His and the King’s whom He shall appoint to rule the world
in righteousness: for the first time it will have been so ruled since nations
and kingdoms have existed upon the earth.
This discourse seems to have fallen
with some effect upon the sensitiveness of a portion of our hearers, being
particular friends of the Queen’s government. On Monday, October 27th,
we received the following note from the Province Building, or
Palace of the Provincial Majesty: —
“Dr. Thomas was understood by some
of his hearers on Sunday evening to reflect on existing governments,
including that of Great Britain, in terms unfavourable to the allegiance of the subject or the
support of authority. From such an imputation the writer has, to the extent of
his influence, defended Dr. T., although believing that his language might bear
the construction mentioned.
“Perhaps Dr. T. will not object to
remove, in a brief manner, on Tuesday evening, the impression which his words
conveyed, as it is presumed, unintentionally.”
The above was without signature; but
from the messenger who brought it, it was ascertained whence it came. On
Tuesday evening, which was our last lecture, we gave the explanation sought. We
readily admitted that we did reflect upon every government extant, imperial,
regal, and republican; and should rejoice in succeeding to detach many people
from allegiance to them. By this, however, we did not mean to say, that we
would advise them to rebel against authority, or, if in a state of rebellion,
that we would promote it. We inculcate the duty of all we succeed in detaching
from their allegiance, being peaceable and quiet subjects of whatever
government they may happen to live under; for the apostle saith, “Let every
soul be subject to the higher powers.” We seek to transfer the allegiance
of their hearts from the god of the world, his governments, and their honours
and glory, to the God of the future state, to his King, and to his kingdom and
glory. We do reflect upon the world’s governments. They are all absolutely
evil, and only relatively to one another good, better, and best. They are
usurpations of the rights of God, who, being the creator and benefactor of men,
has alone the right to rule them for his own glory and honour, which is
impossible so long as the dominion of the world is in the hands of its present
rulers. He gave men “dominion over the fish of the sea,
and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth and
upon every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth”—Genesis 1: 28; but
He reserved to himself the sovereignty over man whom he had “created in his
own image after his own likeness.” But they rebelled against Him, and the
result thus far is the history of the past. We reflect on all governments
because, furthermore, they rule for the aggrandisement of their own
selfishness, and not for the promotion of truth, righteousness, and the good of
the people. Still, evil and wicked as they are, we do not wish to see them
dethroned by the people, who would probably do no better; yet if they did
rebel, we would do nothing against them, neutrality in respect of all
belligerents being the duty of a Christian until the Lord come. We desire the
establishment of a holy, righteous, and just government over all the earth—a
universal dominion that shall comprehend all nations, and make them sing for
joy and gladness of heart, because of the blessedness they experience under its
reign. But this is at present impossible; for neither have the world’s rulers
nor the people, intelligence, wisdom, virtue, or power enough to accomplish it.
We, therefore, and all we can induce to swear allegiance to Jehovah’s King, are
passive and calm observers of events. We take par5t neither with the people nor
their oppressors, but protest against the wickedness of both. In Rome, Vienna, St. Petersburg, or Constantinople, though we abhor
all their tyrannies with profound disgust, we “render to them all their
dues,” if their demands do not necessitate the violation of the divine law,
for “it is better to obey God than men,” come
what may. We bide our time. We wait with patience the coming crisis—the time of
action for the saints. The people and the governments will have fought out
their battle when the Day of the Lord shall come. Down-trodden, crushed,
destroyed, the ruled will be hopeless of redemption by the hand of man. The
triumph of evil and its wickedness will be great—Joel 3: 13;
but the power of Him who shall bind and punish it—Revelation 20: 2—will be
greater. A glorious day will that be to them whom he shall honour “to
execute the judgment written”—Psalm 149. The period of inactivity will
have passed away; and the power of the enemy shall no longer “prevail
against” the Saints of God. The sword of the avenger will then be committed
to them, and “they shall take away his dominion to consume and destroy it
unto the end”—Daniel 7: 26.
After this manner we removed
briefly, or, perhaps, deepened! the impression which
our words conveyed on Sunday eve. We know not which, but in conclusion, we
added, that the note in hand was quite an interesting and somewhat gratifying
incident. It proved to us that we must be preaching a doctrine identical, or at
least very much like that taught by Paul in days of yore. Thus, he went to
Thessalonica to preach Christ unto them, and in doing so they raised a clamour
against him, declaring that he “did contrary to the decrees of Caesar,
saying that there is another King, one Jesus”—Acts 17: 7. What would Caesar
or his friends have cared about Paul’s announcing “another king,”
if they did not understand him to teach that the country of his dominion was
that already ruled by Caesar, and that consequently the contemporary existence
of Caesar’s power and Christ’s was impossible? Paul did preach “another king”
for the nations than the Caesar, or the Czar, who shall be found oppressing
them at his appearing; and he went on first to Berea, and then to Athens,
proclaiming the commandment of the God of Israel that they should repent, or
turn to Him, because He was going to rule the world in righteousness by another
king whom He had prepared for the purpose. If the clergy were to preach the
true gospel, they would not be so popular with the
Caesars as they are. In fact they would not be tolerated by the latter; for it
was only when they confined King Jesus to the skies, and gave the world to Constantine and his
successors, that they ceased to be persecuted by the imperial power. Let them
preach the gospel of the kingdom, (but how can they preach that of which they
are ignorant,) and they will soon find that Absolutism would pass decrees
against them; and Democracy bribe lewd fellows of the baser sort to accuse them
before the rulers: for persecution in some shape or other has ever been the
fate of that proclamation which neither glorifies the great, nor flatters the
people, but announces the purposes of God without respect to either.
Our reception at Halifax was a very
cordial one, and was not confined to a particular party. We found as warm
friends among the Baptists as we would wish to meet any where. There are several of that sect deeply interested in the Gospel of
the Kingdom, and consequently exceedingly dissatisfied with the utter absence
of gospel from the ministrations of their doctors or teachers. Could we devote
ourselves to one place, we doubt not a very respectable society might be formed
there that would do credit to the truth. This was the opinion of many who would
have had us pitch our tent among them forthwith. They were sure they could raise
more than a thousand dollars per annum for our support. But this, of course,
could be no temptation to a man to leave the Union who rejoices in such a
princely cooperation there as that indicated in our Statement-Balance of
December last! We neither said we would nor that we would not; for we make no
vows lest we should be unable to perform. We are waiting the further
verification of our interpretations of the prophetic word as exhibited in our
writings and addresses, with which the British public to some extent is
familiar. We desire to be at liberty that we may revisit Britain, and by
convincing them of our accuracy, urge this as the earnest of our correctness in
defining the Gospel and stating the conditions upon which alone believers can
be saved. Our welcome at Halifax was in striking contrast with the lethargy and indifference of
people here in regard to the great things in the Word of God. Why should it be
so—is it climate, flesh, institutions, or what? Who can tell? We hope that the
friends there will bestir themselves in behalf of “Elpis Israel,”
and the Herald. If our next visit there is to be effective, they must prepare
the minds of their fellow-citizens by our writings. They will then be better
able to understand us, and to appreciate what we say as the true interpretation
of the Word.
We bid adieu to Halifax on
Saturday, November 1st. On that day at noon we sailed
thence for Boston in hope of arriving at that city in three days, but our voyage was
extended to five. It was far from being an agreeable one. The brigantine was
too much crowded, and we entered our name too late to secure a berth. There was
no help for it. First come, first served; and as there was nothing to serve us
with, we had to serve ourselves. The fare was good and substantial for a marine
appetite; but our comfort being marred by nausea, we picked at it with
considerable caution and daintiness. As there was no berth, we slept in our
clothes, wrapped in our rug upon a mattress extended on a pile of trunks. But,
though it was hard times, we did not complain, seeing that there were others
worse off than ourselves, and that we insisted on going even if we were
conveyed as freight. We were glad when we saw Cape Cod, but more so when we
stepped upon the Fort Hill wharf, Boston. A good breakfast at the United States Hotel on terra firma
placed us in happy forgetfulness of the miseries of the past.
At 5 P.M. that
evening we left Boston by rail for New York, via Providence, Rhode Island, and Stonington. At this place we embarked on board a steamer for “the City.” It
was a powerful and truly “splendid” boat. The upper deck saloon, the cabin, the
berths, the service, and the eating, were all excellent and princely. Nothing
seemed wanting that luxury or convenience could demand; and probably we enjoyed
it more, having so recently emerged from the discomfort of the brigantine.
We were once more in New York after
nearly a month’s absence, enjoying the hospitality of our friends there. But
this is not the end of our locomotion. We visit a city to see if any thing can
be done for the Gospel of the Kingdom. While every form of error has multitudes
to preach it, scarcely a voice is to be heard in behalf of this. The phrase is
in the mouths of more persons than is the understanding of the thing. There are
a few in this great city who, when they speak of the gospel of the kingdom, are
prepared to give a scriptural explanation of what they mean; there are,
however, none that we know of who are able to devote their time to its
interests so as to raise up a company of believers who will obey it and labour
for its support. It is not fashionable to labour for the gospel, but for
ourselves and families; nevertheless, we do occasionally hear a believer say,
“Can you not come and take up your abode in this wilderness and try what can be
done; I will work for the gospel, if you will write for it and preach it.” We
do occasionally hear such strange voices as this; and they are so strange that
we can scarcely believe our ears when we hear them. We heard an utterance of
this kind when we were in New
York, and another similar to
it: “If you will come here,” said another—a poor man, and a member of the
Campbellite church there too, which makes it the more remarkable—“I will
subscribe fifty dollars a year to the enterprise, and pay the first year in
advance.” So that it appears that there are some souls in New York that have
some appreciation of the gospel of the kingdom which we preach. Alas, alas,
what would have become of this gospel if it had not been embraced and sustained
by the poor! It would have long since been dead without the hope of
resurrection.
Brother G. B. Stacy was very
desirous that the people should hear about the Kingdom the God of heaven
purposes to set up; and about the great reward which they shall obtain who are
accounted worthy of possessing it; and also about the fate of those kingly and
republican governments which now occupy the territory on which the dominion of
its king is to be established as “a Great Mountain”—Daniel 2: 35. He
thought he could get a goodly number together to hear about these interesting
matters; so to work he went. He engaged the lecture-room of Hope Chapel in
Broadway at ten dollars a meeting; and then advertised the intended discourses
in four of the city papers: and besides this, they were notified at the Crosby
Hall, and the Campbellite, places of worship; at the latter place, by our
friend Dr. S. Shepard’s good will, for though he does not believe in the gospel
of the kingdom as we demonstrate it from the word, he is neither a persecutor
nor a bigot; but liberal and courteous in his disposition, which is more than
we can say of the leaders of his sect with whom we have had to do.
The result of the means employed
shows either that the New Yorkers care but little about the prophets,
or that newspaper advertising is not the thing by which to get the people
together. We do not think that more than 150 attended each lecture; but even
those few would have been a good beginning, if the friends had possessed a
place where meetings could have been continued regularly with some one capable
of instructing and interesting them. On Lord’s day
evening we spoke at the College Hall in Crosby street
on the question, “What is the Gospel?” This is the most important
inquiry that can be mooted in these times; and one which it is absolutely
necessary our Advent friends should take into their most serious consideration.
If a man be right on all other scripture subjects, but wrong in this, he cannot
be saved; for it is “he that believes (the gospel) and is baptised
shall be saved”—Mark 16: 15-16; because it is “the gospel which is the
power of God for the salvation of every one that believes”—Romans 1: 16. If
then a man believe something called gospel which on examination turns out not
to be the gospel, he finds that he has been deceived, and is no heir of
salvation, however “good” he may have “felt.” A professor can
know nothing as he ought to know it if he be mistaken concerning the gospel.
Our friends we fear have taken this question too much for granted; and instead
of being planted in this, that they may be rooted and grounded in it, have
grafted their wild olive branch upon a withered stem. Let our friends who
believe in the personal return of King Jesus from afar, and in the existence of
his kingdom in Palestine in all the Age to Come, (and with whom we have a
sincere and abiding sympathy,)—look into this matter. The definitions of the
gospel published by Methodism, Presbyterianism, Episcopalianism, Baptistism,
Campbellism, Universalism, Romanism, Mormonism, Millerism, and other isms,
immersed and unimmersed, too numerous to mention, are none of them the true
definition of the gospel, as we are prepared at any time to demonstrate from
the Word of God. What an array of isms is this! And all of
them claiming to be Christianity and orthodox exhibitions of the gospel of
Christ! Not so, however. They are but the stem, the withered stem, of
the olive by nature wild. If a man would inherit the kingdom he must purge
himself of these. The belief of their crude dogmas, however sincerely
professed, can never be counted to a man for righteousness before, in, or after
the formality of immersion into the name. Abraham’s faith was not “the
substance and evidence of things” such as make up these isms. It embraced the
promises of God recorded in his history by Moses; and our faith must embrace
the same things if we would be saved by faith as he. Abraham’s children by
faith will all believe the same things as their father, to wit, the
things of the Kingdom of God and the Name of the Christ. Since
the Day of Pentecost they will not believe less, but their faith will be more
ample than his. They will believe all he believed, and with this addition, that
Jesus is that Christ—the promised Seed, in and through whom “all the
nations of the earth shall be blessed.”
In dismissing this subject for the
present, we would propound the following question to our friends—IF “the
kingdom to be restored again to Israel”—Acts 1: 6; Matthew 19: 28; Luke 22:
29-30—is to be set up by the God of heaven in their land—Jeremiah 33: 15, 17;
Micah 4: 8, and it be the subject matter of the gospel, as it unquestionably
can be proved to be—Matthew 24: 14; and if the Twelve Tribes of the natural
Israel are to be its subjects—Exodus 19: 5-6; Isaiah 51: 4, and the spiritual
brethren of Jesus its rulers, as is also demonstrable—Revelation 2: 26-27; 3:
21; 20; 4; 21: 24, 26—how can a man who, before and long after his immersion,
believed that the gospel-kingdom is beyond the skies; that the Twelve Tribes
were not its subjects and would never be restored; that the nations would all
be destroyed at the coming of the Lord; and that there was no Age to Come of a
thousand years duration, during which nations in the flesh will live under
their own vines and fig-trees blessed in Abraham’s Seed—how can such a man, we
earnestly and respectfully inquire, have believed and obeyed the Gospel of the
Kingdom? We submit this question to the
calm and deliberate examination of our friends, especially of the editor of the
Advent Harbinger, who is the most liberal and candid conductor of a paper we
know. If he do not himself respond forthwith, will he
be kind enough to republish the question for the examination of his readers? By
so doing, it is thought he will subserve the cause of truth which he loves.
Having finished our affairs in New York, we
departed, and arrived among our friends again in Baltimore on Friday
the 14th of November. On Saturday we had the pleasure of attending
our believing host to the water, and of assisting him in yielding a spontaneous
obedience to the gospel of the kingdom. We are not sure but this is the first
immersion of the kind in this Romish city of the Gentiles. We trust there may
yet be many; and that the Kingdom will yet reckon among its inhabitants
sufficient heirs at least to administer its affairs there in the Age to Come.
On Lord’s Day we spoke thrice—in the morning on “He that believes (the gospel)
and is baptised shall be saved;” in the afternoon, on “Repentance and Remission
of sins in the name of Jesus;” and at night, on “Except a man be born of water
and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” On
Tuesday evening we reluctantly bid our beloved friends adieu; and in the
morning left in the Washington cars for Richmond, where we arrived without
accident, with health improved, and gratitude to God for all his mercies, at 5
P.M., having been absent seven weeks, and very well satisfied that banishment
to Nova Scotia would be far more agreeable than “going to Jericho!”
PLAGIARISM
DETECTED:
OR
EPISCOPALIAN EVANGELICISM
IMMERSED AND POPULARISED.
“We are amazed that our ancestors should so long have been deluded
by absurdities; and we are very little aware how much some future age will pity
and blame us, for follies, of which we imagine ourselves perfectly clear.”—MILNER.
In the seventh and last of a series of self-complacent
interrogations contained in dissertation “No. 1,” on the Acts of Apostles,
published in the Millennial Harbinger, of February 1852, Mr. Campbell thus delivers
himself: “I will receive it as a favour from any person, to be
informed of any people or preacher, on this Continent or in the European world,
that clearly or definitely stated or announced, in unequivocal affirmation,
that the Christian Church did not commence, and consequently, was
never organised, till the first Pentecost after the crucifixion,
death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and glorification of the Lord Jesus
Christ; that, THEN placed upon the Throne of David, AND upon the
Throne of God, he commenced his reign PERSONALLY in heaven and spiritually
upon earth, by the mission of the Holy Spirit to his Apostles, and through them
to his church, which is now his earthly body—the fullness, or manhood
development of him who fills all things, in all places, with life, and beauty,
and happiness. Here I shall pause with my interrogations for the present.”
We have italicised and capitalised all the words in Mr. C’s
question, except “personally” and “spiritually,” which he has printed in
italics. The self-complacency of the above is found in the implication that Mr.
C was himself the first to state or announce in clear, distinct, and
unequivocal terms, that the Christian Church did not commence till the
Pentecost he indicates. As we are ever ready to do our amiable friend a favour,
(with thanks or without them matters not,) we beg leave, as we feel called upon
by him in his appeal to “any person,” to inform him, that there was a
learned Episcopalian historian and divine in the European world who has preceded
him in all the points in which he pretends to originality.
The Rev. Joseph Milner, A.M., wrote a work which he styled “The
History of the Church of Christ;” and which after his decease was
published at the expense of the University of Cambridge in England.
He was what is styled there an “Evangelical Clergyman” of the
Established Church, in contradistinction to the “High Church”
ecclesiastics of that communion. The object of his investigations was to
“search out the real church from age to age;” and having found it, he purposed
to write a work, in which he says in his preface to the second volume, “I mean
to exhibit historically what real Christianity is.” This is just what is
demanded in the premises before us.
Mr. Joseph Milner’s History, edited in 1810, by his brother Dr.
Isaac Milner, the Dean of Carlisle, and President of Queen’s College,
Cambridge, is a standard work with the Evangelicals; because it exhibits
historically the things belonging to “persons whose disposition and lives have
been formed by the rules of the New Testament; men who have been real,
not merely nominal Christians: who believed the doctrines of the Gospel,
loved them because of their divine excellency, and suffered gladly “the loss
of all things, that they might win Christ, and be found in him”—Philippians
3: 8-9. “It is the history of these men,” says Mr. Joseph Milner, “that I
write.” “Nothing, but what appears to me to belong to Christ’s kingdom, shall be admitted: genuine piety is the only thing
which I intend to celebrate.”
We apprehend then that Mr. Campbell can have no objection to our
author. He was as evangelically orthodox as can be wished, only that he was not
an immersed divine; which, according to Mr. C’s theory, is no bar to
remission of sins, and translation of the soul to a sky-kingdom after death;
but only to the present conscious enjoyment of remission, actually
possessed, but not certainly known. Though believing that immersion was the
baptismal action in primitive times, he had not been immersed; with this
exception. Mr. Campbell’s system reflects the episcopalian original
of the First Chapter of Mr. Milner’s History. This is not to be wondered at,
when the premises are considered. Milner’s exhibition of real Christianity, not
original with him, indeed, but ably set forth by him historically, is the basis
of the lectures delivered on Ecclesiastical, or Sacred, History at Evangelical
schools of Divinity. Mr. Campbell was a student at one of these in Scotland;
where, if he had not read Milner, he imbibed through a Presbyterian stratum the
same theory. Intoxicated by it in youth, he may have forgotten all about the
origin of his present ideas; and in happy forgetfulness of all antecedents,
really imagined that he is the discoverer of things currently believed and
taught before! This hallucinated state of mind is not unfrequent in those who
have drunk deeply of that “Old Tom,” which is dispensed “above proof” to all
the cherished sons of college matrons in all lands. The Maine liquor law
has not yet become the rule of Universities and Academic Groves, of
whatever name; so that, as our facetious friend, Mr. Campbell, used jocosely to
remark, it is very difficult to purify a man from the smell of the old cask.
This is a great mystery, nevertheless true, as is singularly exemplified in his
own case; for, though upwards of forty years have elapsed since he quaffed
potations deep at “the old cask” in the land of hobgoblins, ghosts, and
witches; and during that long period has been battling against the system of
his old mother and her sisters, yet, strange to say, he still sees sights in
“outer darkness,” and with desperate leap “beyond the skies” seeks refuge in
immensity!
But to return to Mr. Joseph Milner. He believed in the sky-kingdom speculation in all the fulness of
spiritualism, or more properly mysticism. Speaking of the apostles, who
for three years and a half had been instructed by Jesus in “the mysteries of
the kingdom,” who also conversed with them for forty days after his
resurrection on “the things pertaining to the kingdom of God,” causing
them to put the question to the Lord, saying, “Wilt thou not at this time
restore again the kingdom to Israel?”—though thus divinely instructed for
so long a time, he regards them in effect as still more untaught and unteachable
than a student of his University, or Mr. Campbell would a Magister Artium
of his own college; to whom he would grant a degree in divinity, or a license,
or introduction, to preach “Evangelical,” or “Ancient-gospel” doctrine; for of
them he says, “What the Holy Spirit was to do for them, they seemed little to
understand; if one may conjecture from their last question to their
master. It is natural to apprehend, that they were feasting their imaginations
with the delightful prospect of a splendid kingdom attended with all the
circumstances of external pomp and grandeur. Principalities and lordships were,
in their fancy, soon to be assumed in the room of fishermen’s nets and boats,
and they pleased themselves with the notion of their Master’s external dominion
in the world. Not that they were without a genuine taste for something
infinitely better, &c.” This is the doctrine Mr. Campbell teaches. But the
apostles were right in their expectation, and Mr.Milner and his disciple wrong.
The error of the apostles was not in regard to the nature of the
kingdom; they only erred in supposing that the time for the God of
heaven to set it up had come. In speaking of Peter and John’s visit to the
temple, he says, “Peter exhorted them to repentance and conversion, and lays
open to their view the prospect, not of a temporal, but of a spiritual kingdom;
in the hope of which they were to rejoice, and patiently to bear the
afflictions of this present life.” “Such was the effect of the effusion of the
Spirit. We hear no more of their dreams concerning a temporal kingdom.” The
hope of a spiritual kingdom in the life after this, according to Mr. Milner, is
the hope of the Christian! This hope realised after death by the christian’s ghost beyond the skies, is also Mr. Campbell’s
endorsation of Mr. Milner’s exhibition of the gospel hope! These gentlemen of
course are wide awake, it was the divinely instructed apostles only who were
dreaming when they inquired of the King of the Jews, “Wilt thou not at
this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?” But why does Mr. Milner suppress the
word “again?” He knew that apokathisteemi signifies, not only to
restore, but to restore any thing to its former state or place, as Amos says, “as
in the days of old.” “Again” is well inserted by James’ translators
as emphatic. The apostles knew that the kingdom of Israel had once existed
unitedly of the Twelve Tribes; that Jesus had promised that they should rule
the twelve with Him: now, said they, wilt thou not “restore it again”—not
simply restore the tribes, the Ten Tribes; but restore the kingdom to the whole
twelve as it was under David and Solomon? But Mr. Milner is dead; perhaps Mr.
Campbell, as his representative, can answer for him.
These two divines being one in hope, a hope that repudiates the Hope
of Israel, continue to breathe the same spiritual atmosphere of pious errorism.
Now, Mr. Campbell, hear the answer to your seventh interrogatory in the words
of your more pious predecessor and brother in faith and hope: “That
repentance and remission of sins should be preached in the name of Jesus
Christ, beginning at Jerusalem,” is a passage of Scripture, which at once
points out what the Christian Religion is, and where we may look for
its beginning and for its character.” This is orthodox doctrine, is it not,
which you and your co-labourers have immersed as “Reformation Doctrine?” But
hear him again. He devotes two octavo pages to the sermon of Peter on
Pentecost, and in conclusion says, “The design of the whole sermon was
evidently to produce conviction of sin in the hearers; and it pleased God to
crown it with success. Multitudes were pricked in their hearts: they found
themselves guilty of murdering the Christ of God; and so powerfully were they
struck with a sense of their extreme unworthiness, that they found themselves
also destitute of all resources in themselves. They cry to Peter and the rest, “Men
and brethren, what shall we do?” Peter said unto them, “Repent and be
baptised every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of
sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” Thus the doctrine
of repentance and remission of sins in the name of Jesus,
began at Jerusalem; and thus did St. Peter convince his hearers of sin, and instruct
them in the way of salvation. They, whose hearts God had smitten with a sense
of guilt, were consoled by the grace of forgiveness; and “with many other
words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save
yourselves, &c. Then they that gladly received his word,
were baptised: and the same day there were added to them about three thousand
souls.” This great multitude appear to have been
fully converted to Christianity; For “they continued steadfastly in the
apostles’ doctrine, and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.”
Here we see the regular appearance of the first Christian Church. These
men were not Christians in name only; they understood and believed the
apostolical doctrine concerning “repentance and remission of sins in the
name of Jesus Christ.” Speaking of the personal ministry of Jesus, he says,
“No regular churches were yet formed.”
Thus we have conferred on Mr.
Campbell the favour sought of “any person.” Mr. Joseph Milner “clearly or
definitely stated or announced, in unequivocal affirmation,” that there were no
regular churches before Pentecost, that repentance and remission of sins in the
name of Jesus is the Christian Religion, that it was first announced on
Pentecost, and that the first Christian Church, regular or organised, was
commenced on that day. He adds, the members of that church “understood the
apostolic doctrine,” which, we regret to say, neither Mr. Campbell nor his
co-workers have yet begun to do, or can even hope to do, until they have come
to comprehend “the gospel of the kingdom of God.”
EDITOR.
A REVIEWER REVIEWED:
OR THE
PALM AWARDED TO THE RIGHT.
Palman qui meruit ferat
Our enlightened friend, the
Professor of “Sacred History,” that is, of DIVINITY sub rosa, in a
certain institution in western Virginia, announces his hope of “still enlarging the empire of truth by a
more rapid consumption of the Man of Sin and Son of perdition,” through “a few
essays on the Acts of the Apostles.” The hope is certainly a courageous one
when the feebleness of the means is compared with the magnitude of the work to
be accomplished. It is truly hoping against hope; still, as we earnestly desire
the consumption of the Old Man of Western Rome, we should rejoice if our
chivalrous friend’s few essays shall only so palsy his vitality as to evolve
but one new symp