SKETCHES FROM THE by C. C. Crisler

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Jun 13, 1916

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 43, No. 24.

SKETCHES FROM THE

By C. C. Crisler

LIFE of BENGEL

The Early Prophetic Expositor Who Labored to Make Plain to the Common People the Prophecies of Revelation

By C. C. CRISLER

HALF a century after the death of Mr. Joseph Mede, the Cambridge professor who gave the best years of his life to the exposition of the Apocalypse, God in His providence raised up on the continent of Europe another instrumentality through whom He wrought mightily in preparing the way for the proclamation of the advent message throughout the world.

Struggled with Doubt

JOHN ALBERT BENGEL was born in a village near Stuttgart, Germany, in 1687. He early became a diligent student, giving much time to mathematics and metaphysics. After taking his literary degree in the university of Tübingen, he devoted himself to the study of theology, to which the grave and religious tone of his mind, deepened and strengthened by early training and discipline, naturally inclined him.

"Like other young men of thoughtful character, he had to struggle with doubts and difficulties of a religious nature; and he alludes, with much feeling, to the 'many arrows which pierced his poor heart, and made his youth hard to bear.'" ("Encyclopædia Britannica," ninth edition, article "Bengel.") But a careful study of the Scriptures gave to him a firm faith which ever afterward served as an anchor to the soul.

At the age of twenty-one, Bengel became junior divinity tutor at the university of Tübingen, where he continued to make progress in sacred learning. Five years later, having been invited to become head tutor of a newly established theological seminary at Denkendorf, he spent several months in an extended tour, at government expense, to various theological seminaries in Germany, Catholic as well as Protestant, that he might the better be fitted to head the new seminary.

A Providential Awakening

IT was during this tour that Bengel's attention was particularly drawn to the importance of the prophetic portions of Scripture. While at Halle, he heard some of Dr. Anton's lectures on the Apocalypse, and afterward secured a copy of the complete course. Professor Lang, also of that university, drew Bengel's attention for the first time to Vitringa's "Anacrisis ad Apocalypsios," or "An Impartial Examination of the Different Opinions of Writers upon the Interpretation of the Apocalypse." Vitringa was at that time still living, and occupied the chair of theology and sacred history in the university of Amsterdam. His work on the Apocalypse, published early in the eighteenth century, had been inspired at least in part by the earlier work of Mr. Joseph Mede, from whose exposition Vitringa quotes.

Bengel, in the enthusiasm of early manhood, had several conversations with the little group of teachers and others in the university of Halle who believed that the time of the ushering in of God's kingdom was approaching.

"These conversations," says one of his biographers, "suggested to his inquiring mind a train of ideas which formed the germ of his important system of apocalyptic exposition." (J. C. F. Burk, "A Memoir of the Life and Writings of John Albert Bengel;" translated from the German by R. F. Walker; London, 1842.)

An Earnest Teacher of Truth

UPON his return to the newly established seminary, Bengel threw himself heartily into his life work as a teacher of young men preparing for the ministry, and as a pastor and author. "For twenty-eight years—from 1713 to 1741—he discharged his important duties as head of the school at Denkendorf with distinguished ability and success, devoting all his energies to the religious and intellectual improvement of his students. It is impossible to read the extracts from his diary and correspondence, which have been preserved, without being struck with the spirit of fervent piety, combined with sagacity and good sense, which characterized his management of the institution." ("Encyclopædia Britannica," article "Bengel.")

Bengel was a prolific writer, not because of a craving for notoriety or fame, but because, as a teacher of youth and as a minister of divine truth, he felt his accountability before God as a wise and faithful minister. He realized that souls were in peril, either through ignorance, or by reason of the undue influence of false teachers; and so he felt impelled by the Holy Spirit to bear plain testimony in defense of truth. He also regarded it as his duty to give to the world the best of that which he had learned in his study of the sacred text. The fruits of his extensive researches and ripe scholarship in the fields of prophetic interpretation and of textual criticism, have been benefiting the world for well-nigh two centuries, and are still proving an inspiration to thousands. "His 'Gnomon,' upon the whole of the New Testament, and his German translation of the Greek Testament, with its annotations, comprise his general researches; and those which we might term special are found in his chronological and apocalyptic writings, and in his several defenses of them." (Burk, page 251.)

"Bengel's chief principle of interpretation, briefly stated, is to read nothing into the Scriptures, but draw everything from them, and suffer nothing to remain hidden that is really in them. His 'Gnomon' exerted considerable influence on exegesis in Germany, and John Wesley translated most of its notes and incorporated them into his 'Annotatory Notes upon the New Testament' (London, 1755). In 1740 appeared Bengel's 'Erklaerte Offenbarung Johannis,' often reprinted (Eng. transl. by John Robertson, London, 1757); in 1741 his 'Ordo Temporum,' and in 1745 his 'Cyclus sive de anno magno consideratio.' In these chronological works he endeavored to fix the 'number of the beast' and the date of the 'millennium,' which he placed in the year 1836. In 1741 he was made prelate of Herbrechtingen; in 1749 member of consistory and prelate of Alpirspach, with residence at Stuttgart; and two years later Tübingen honored him with the doctorate." (Dr. A. Hauck, in "The New Schaff-Herzog Religious Encyclopedia," volume 2, page 53.)

Making Plain the Scriptures of Truth

THE burden that Bengel bore closest to his heart was that of making plain to the common people, as well as to the learned world, the prophecies of Revelation; and his principal works were prepared with this object in mind. His "Exposition of the Revelation of St. John" was followed by "Sixty Practical Addresses on the Apocalypse," a development of his Sunday evening prayer meeting lectures at Herbrechtingen. In these "Addresses," he avoided largely the details of historical and prophetic chronology, and sought rather to make the book of Revelation intensely interesting as a help to practical piety. This collection of "Addresses" was translated into the English language, and obtained a good circulation in Great Britain, largely under the patronage of John Wesley, one of the founders of the Methodist Church. In later editions of his works, however, his comments on the Apocalypse have been largely suppressed by those who have attempted to edit his works by the faith-destroying methods of modern criticism.

The leaders of the advent movement in Germany and Scandinavia received great help from the works of Bengel. New editions of his expositions appeared; and these, with the writings of Hengstenberg, of the university of Berlin, and of Leonard Heinrich Kelber, led many in Europe to proclaim with mighty power the message, "Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His Judgment is come." Rev. 14:7.