California Conference of Seventh-day Adventists · Oakland, Cal. · Apr 15, 1875
The Sermon.
By John Harvey Waggoner
THE LAW AND TESTIMONY.
According to Rev. 12:17 war will be made with the remnant who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus. This shows both the perfect agreement between keeping the law and having the power of the Spirit, and the opposition which will exist, and already exists to a great extent, against the law and the testimony. It is a truth well known that the indignation of the world and a worldly church are quickly aroused against those who keep all the commandments of God in all things, just as they were written and spoken by the Lord. But nothing seems so readily to arouse the prejudice, yes, the hatred and malice of the carnal mind, as the manifestation of the Spirit of prophecy. The world bestows its incredulous smile as if it pitied the folly of those who could embrace the promise of God as a reality; that incredulous smile often proving more cutting than the severest language; while a proud and worldly church cannot restrain its feelings of scorn or abhorrence of those who humbly and reverently claim "the promise of the Spirit" according to the words of both Christ and his apostles. Surely the fulfillment of the prophecy, Rev. 12:17, is no mystery to those who are intently watching the signs of the times, and have noted the feelings of popular religionists toward those who dare to reprove the lukewarmness of the present age in which so many have "the form of godliness, but deny the power thereof."
This connection between the law and the means and benefits of the gospel is logically deduced from the preaching of the apostle on the day of Pentecost. That the law was not abolished at the crucifixion is proved in this, that not a sermon was preached—not a duty made known between the crucifixion and the day of Pentecost; and the first duties enjoined on that day were that of repentance for sin, and of baptism for the remission of sin. Now it is plain to see that if the law was previously abolished, and if men were to look to the apostles for the proclamation of a new code, then the whole transaction was a failure, inasmuch as "where no law is there is no transgression," and of course no call for repentance. Again, "sin is not imputed when there is no law," and therefore to preach baptism for remission of sin when no law existed would be a sheer absurdity. If the law which had existed were abolished at the cross, no one could be convicted under it, and as no law for the new dispensation had yet been given by the apostles, it would follow necessarily that no one was at that time bound by any law; sin could not be imputed to them at all. Therefore, according to this antinomian notion the preaching of repentance and baptism at that time was a nullity—mere sound without sense. Thus it is easily shown that the doctrine of the antinomians—the no-law theorists—more than perverts the gospel; it subverts it; it saps its very foundations, leaving it destitute of life and power. It is virtually a rejection of the gospel both in its facts and its promises.
It has been remarked that baptism has not only its form, but also its order and relations. It is often urged that if its form be changed—if it be no longer immersion or a burial, as the word signifies and the illustrations of Scripture indicate—it ceases to be the baptism of the gospel; and when administered under such change it is not valid. But let us consider its necessary relations. We learn that baptism is for remission of sin; also that sin is the transgression of the law, and that sin is not imputed when there is no law. Therefore if no law existed from the cross to the day of Pentecost, as must have been the case if the law was abolished at the cross, then there could be no sin imputed at that time, of which to repent or for which to be baptized. Now as baptism stands related to sin, and is related to an existing law, it follows that the law did exist, for sin was imputed to them. Thus it is shown that Peter's preaching would have been groundless and of no force if the law had been abolished. Even so now, all who preach the abolition of the law, preach a gospel (so-called) without any basis; it is a nullity. As it is a nullity, and not the gospel in fact, not being a system of salvation from the transgression of the law, the baptism enjoined in such preaching is not truly gospel baptism; it is deprived of its relations and of its significance, and therefore, of its efficacy. And all who administer baptism under such teachings are offenders against the gospel.
This conclusion is logical; it is unavoidable, and is not drawn from this text alone. In Rom. 6:1–6 baptism is called a burial, and, of course, should be subsequent to death, for all must admit that it is wrong to bury before death. But the death which precedes baptism is death to sin, to the transgression of the law. It is expressly said in verse two that we cannot be dead to sin and live in it; but we do live in it as long as we continue to transgress the law. We do not die to sin until we cease to transgress the law, and therefore baptism or burial cannot properly take place while we continue to transgress the law. We are to be buried in the order or likeness of Christ's death which is thus stated:— "For I declare unto you first of all, that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day, according to the Scriptures." 1 Cor. 15:3, 4. Now if ceasing to transgress the law is dying to sin, as all must admit, then no one can be planted in the likeness of Christ's death who has not ceased to transgress the law, from the evident truth that Christ died before he was buried. There is no mistaking this point. He that transgresses the law lives in sin; if he lives in sin he has not died to it; if he has not died to it he is not prepared to be buried; and if he is so buried he is buried alive, that is, without a death to sin, and hence not buried in the likeness of the Saviour's death. Such baptism is not in the order of the gospel—it is only a perversion of gospel baptism. And this is still further shown in Rom. 7:1–6. This scripture says the law holds a man as long as he lives, and the woman who marries a second husband before the death of the first is guilty of adultery. In the application of this fact Paul says to his brethren: "Ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ, that ye should be married to another, even to him who was raised from the dead." Rom. 7:4.
The wages of sin is death. There would be no death if there were no sin. Thus we see that Paul is arguing concerning man in his sinful condition. The law would thus hold man unto death if he had not sinned—if his life was not forfeited. The death here referred to is on account of sin; the same that is spoken of in chap. 6—there called a death to sin. But without this death they cannot "be married to another," even to Christ. Marriage to another without such death would be spiritual adultery. This is the force and intent of this scripture. The old man must be crucified, the body of sin destroyed—chap. 6:6; and every effort to unite this body of sin to Christ must meet with his decided disapproval. On this subject it is said in another text:— "For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ." Gal. 3:27. As union with Christ is represented by the figure of being married to him, so baptism is the ordinance by which that marriage is said to be consummated. The marriage ceremony does not unite the hearts of the parties; if there is no previously existing union of hearts the marriage ceremony is but mockery. So baptism does not in spirit unite us to Christ, but it is the legal right by which that union is acknowledged and ratified. It is an established rule in all governments that he makes himself guilty who solemnizes the rite of marriage without legal authority, or where there are impediments and disabilities which forbid the marriage, while the parties suffer the shame of an illegal union. This is exactly the position of the parties where baptism is administered before the candidate has died to sin; while he is yet living in transgression of the law. The rite is illegally administered; the marriage is a nullity, and the administrator is liable to indictment.178The arguing of this point is not a digression from our subject. Its bearing on "the promise" of Acts 2:38, 39, is easily seen. "The gift of the Holy Ghost" is promised to those who repent of sin, and who are baptized for the remission of sin. But it is proved that antinomianism ignores genuine repentance and the burial of him who is dead to the transgression of the law, by ignoring the law itself, by which is the knowledge of sin. Therefore it has no just claim to "the promise," not being the legal fulfillment of the condition. Thus it is shown that antinomianism, or a denial of the perpetuity of the law of God shuts out the Spirit of God and neutralizes the promise of the gospel. "Where there is no vision the people perish; but he that keepeth the law, happy is he." Here we will state an interesting fact and notice an objection. In a work on the relation of different church doctrines to moral obligations, we recently read the following words:— "The Methodist conference under Wesley in 1770, declared that the universal immorality then prevailing was because of the widespread opinion that Christ had annulled the moral law, and that evangelical freedom dispensed with the ten commandments." "Wesley's Notes" on this conference drew forth upon him and upon the work of the Methodists severe criticisms from certain dignitaries of the established church. And these in turn brought out "Fletcher's Checks to Antinomianism;" a work worthy of the careful reading of every searcher for Bible truth. This is an interesting item of ecclesiastical history, and it serves to prove the statement we have made that antinomianism has been deprecated by the thoughtfully pious of all ages. But an objection has been raised upon it which well deserves notice. It has been said that while the Methodists condemn the no-law theory, and advocated the ten commandments as God's great rule of morality, they did not themselves keep the law for the law says : "The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God : in it thou shalt not do any work;" but they called the first day the Sabbath and kept it instead of the day indicated in the law; and that they therefore really occupied a ground similar to that of those whom they reproved.
Admitting the correctness of the statement concerning the teaching of the law, to argue which is not our present purpose, the reply is thus made: There is a very wide difference of position between those who acknowledge the authority of the law, who make it the avowed and actual intention of their lives to keep the law, even though they are mistaken in some points of duty enjoined therein, and those who deny the authority of the law, who declare it to be the object of their lives to repudiate and to disregard its claims. The position of the former is that of loyal citizens laboring under certain mistakes in regard to duty; while the latter are disloyal, virtually denying the constitutional authority of the government. If the ideas of the latter could be carried out to their legitimate results, the government would be entirely overthrown.
On this consideration we readily vindicate the early Methodists and all others who recognize the existence and the claims of the law of God, from the reproach which must fall upon those who repudiate the law and deny its authority. And the providence of God has justified our position in regard to this, for he has often blessed with his Spirit the former, while he has as generally withheld it from the latter.
But this vindication must not be abused, and made to favor selfishness in religion. When God in his providence calls our attention to any truth of his word, and gives us light thereon, there can be no excuse for rejecting or neglecting it, however sincere our former lives may have been, or however unpopular that truth may be, or to whatever extent it may cross our feelings or clash with our worldly interests.
Among those who have a form of godliness, but deny the power thereof in the last days, are said to be "false accusers." One false accusation raised against those who plead for the power of godliness and for the divinely appointed means of Christian unity is, that to claim to be led by the Spirit, or to possess gifts of the Spirit, is to claim infallibility. If any should make such a claim, or try to avail themselves of the benefits of such a claim, they would abuse the promises, and forfeit the favor, of God. The accusation might lie against such persons, but not against those who hold and rightly use the truth on the subject. God never inspired any one so as to make him infallible. To do this would be to take away his individuality or his freedom of will, and consequently to remove him from probation. Peter, Paul, and Barnabas, were all highly gifted of the Spirit, and yet they all erred. Of the gifts of the first two there will be no question. Of Barnabas the record says: "He was a good man and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith." Yet he and Paul so differed in judgment that they had a sharp contention and as a consequence separated in their labors. This was wrong, it was contrary to what Paul wrote by inspiration. Peter seriously erred and was rebuked by Paul. 'And thus is shown that they who were most highly gifted were not always under the immediate influence of the Spirit so as to be preserved from erring. They were fallible and dependent upon Heaven for help and strength which they received only through faith and prayer.
When the apostles were first sent forth with power over unclean spirits, they could not cast a demon out of a certain child; and the Saviour said it was because of their unbelief. Paul said they prophesied "according to the proportion of faith." Rom. 12:6. God never endowed any one so that he could live at ease, or in carelessness, without constant zeal, and yet be in possession of supernatural power, which he could exercise according to his own will. It is God that doeth the work, and he will work to his own glory, and through such only as are humble enough to seek his glory. When "holy men of old spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost," their speaking was the speaking of the Holy Spirit, and it must be infallible, even as God is true. But the men themselves were not infallible.
It is so far from being true that the manifestations of the gifts of the Spirit lead to a claim of infallibility that they who take the opposite ground are really the egotists. For that is egotism and self-esteem which leads any to profess the ability within themselves to do all that God requires, to perfect holiness and to glorify him without his aid, and independent of the means which he has ordained and set forth in the gospel. Without Christ we can do nothing; and we are only strong when strong in the might of God. "Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord." The accusation is as unreasonable as it is unjust.
May the Lord Jesus fulfill to us his promise, and be with us and lead us to his own glory. J. H. WAGGONER.
The Night Cometh.
TIME's sun is fast setting,
Its twilight is nigh,
Its evening is falling
In cloud o'er the sky;
Its shadows are stretching
In ominous gloom;
Its midnight approaches,
The midnight of gloom.
Then haste, sinner, haste! there is mercy for thee,
And wrath is preparing—flee, lingerer, flee.
The vision is nearing
The Judge and the throne!
The voice of the angel
Proclaims, "It is done."
On the whirl of the tempest
Its Ruler shall come,
And the blaze of his glory
Flash out from its gloom.
Then haste, sinner, haste! there is mercy for thee,
And wrath is preparing—flee, lingerer, flee.
With clouds He is coming!
His people shall sing;
With gladness they hail him
Redeemer and King.
The iron rod wielding,
The rod of his ire,
He cometh to kindle
Earth's last, fatal fire.
Then haste, sinner, haste! there is mercy for thee,
And wrath is preparing—flee, lingerer, flee.
—Sel.
The Sinner's Fate.
By D. M. Canright
NOTHING is more reasonable than that the wicked should be utterly destroyed and cease to be a curse to themselves and to others; and no doctrine is more plainly and pointedly taught in the Bible than this. We invite the reader's attention to the following condensed but comprehensive statement of the Bible upon this subject.
THEY SHALL DIE.
To die is thus defined by Webster: "To cease to live; to expire; to decease; to perish."
Death, then, is a loss of life, a cessation of existence. In this sense it is familiarly and repeatedly used in the Bible. Take four examples: Speaking of the flood it says: "And all flesh died that moved upon the earth." Gen. 7:21. Of his cattle Jacob said: "If men should overdrive them one day, all the flock will die." Gen. 33:13. Again: "And the fish that is in the river shall die." Ex. 7:18. Of Dorcas it says: "It came to pass in those days, that she was sick and died." Acts 9:37. The simple meaning in these instances cannot be misunderstood. It means an utter loss of life. And so it is used in hundreds of places all through the Scriptures. This familiar word is the one which the Lord has chosen more frequently than any other to describe the end of the wicked.
Take a few examples: "The soul that sinneth it shall die." "For his iniquity that he hath done shall he die." Eze. 18:4, 26. "When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die." Eze. 33:14. "He that hateth reproof shall die." Prov. 15:10. "He that despiseth his way shall die." Prov. 19:16. "The end of those things is death." "For the wages of sin is death." Rom. 6:21, 23. "To be carnally minded is death." Rom. 8:6. "Shall save a soul from death." James 5:20. "Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death." James 1:15.
THEY SHALL BE DESTROYED:
Destroy: "To demolish; to pull down; to bring to naught; to annihilate."—Webster. Destruction, then, is utter ruin, complete annihilation; and so it is used in the Bible. At the flood the Lord said: "Every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth." Gen. 7:4. Wild beasts shall "destroy your cattle." Lev. 26:22. "The trees . . . thou shalt destroy." Deut. 20:20. "He sent forth his armies and destroyed those murderers." Matt. 22:7.
With a Concordance, the reader can readily find scores of texts where the word destroy or destroyed is used as above, where there can be no question about its meaning. This strong but simple word the Lord has repeatedly used in naming the punishment of the wicked. Thus: "All the wicked will he destroy." Ps. 145:20. "I will early destroy all the wicked." Ps. 101:8. "Fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." Matt. 10:28. "The transgressors shall be destroyed together." Ps. 37:38. "All the workers of iniquity . . . shall be destroyed forever." Ps. 92:7. "Whoso despiseth the word shall be destroyed." Prov. 13:13. "Is not destruction to the wicked." Job. 31:3. "Destruction shall be to the workers of iniquity." Prov. 10:29. "The indignation shall cease, and mine anger in their destruction." Isa. 10:25. "Vessels of wrath fitted to destruction." Rom. 9:22. "Whose end is destruction." Phil. 3:19. "Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction." 2 Thess. 1:9. "Which drown men in destruction and perdition." 1 Tim. 6:9.
THEY SHALL PERISH.
Perish: "To die; to lose life in any manner; to be destroyed; to come to nothing."—Webster. Here is another word, the very strongest that can be found to denote an utter destruction, used times without number to denote the end of the wicked.
Take a few passages to show its Bible usage. Of Saul David said: "He shall descend into battle and perish." 1 Sam. 26:10. Of Jonah's gourd it is said, "Which came up in a night, and perished in a night." Jonah 4:10. "And the bottles perish." Matt. 9:17. The "swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea and perished." Matt. 8:32.
So the Lord declares the wicked shall end. "Let the wicked perish at the presence of God." Ps. 68:2. "But the wicked shall perish." Ps. 37:20. "Whosoever believeth in him should not perish." John 3:15. "Thy money perish with thee." Acts 8:20. "Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish." Acts 13:41. "The cross is to them that perish foolishness. 1 Cor. 1:18. "In them that perish." 2 Cor. 2:15. "With all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish." 2 Thess. 2:10. "He that speaketh lies shall perish." Prov. 19:9. "Except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish." Luke 13:3. "As many as have sinned without law, shall also perish without law." Rom. 2:12. "Shall utterly perish in their own corruption." 2 Pet. 2:12.
SHALL BE BURNED UP.
The meaning of the word burn is too familiar to every reader to need a definition. Look a moment at its use in the Bible. Sampson's firebrands "burnt up both the shocks and the standing corn." Judges 15:5. Job's servant said, "The fire of God is fallen from heaven and hath burned up the sheep." Job 1:16. "Our holy and beautiful house . . . is burned up with fire." Isa. 64:11. The king "burned up their city." Matt. 22:7.
And so in numerous places. A thing burned up is totally destroyed and reduced to ashes. The Lord says "he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." Matt. 3:12. "Whose end is to be burned." Heb. 6:8. Gather together "the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them." Matt. 13:30. "For, behold, the day cometh that shall burn as an oven: and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble; and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch." Mal. 4:1.
THEY SHALL BE CONSUMED.
Consume: "To destroy by separating the parts of a thing by decomposition, as by fire; to destroy and annihilate the form of a substance."—Webster. When a thing is consumed it is reduced to ashes. "There came a fire out from before the Lord and consumed upon the altar the burnt offering." Lev. 9:24. "And cast it into the fire that was on the hearth until all the roll was consumed in the fire." Jer. 36:23. "The gates thereof are consumed with fire." Neh. 2:3.
Knowing what the people would understand by this word the Lord often tells them that the wicked shall be consumed. Thus: "They that forsake the Lord shall be consumed." Isa. 1:28. "Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth." Ps. 104:35. "The enemies of the Lord shall be as the fat of lambs; they shall consume, into smoke shall they consume away." Ps. 37:20. "Consume them in wrath, consume them that they may not be." Ps. 59:13. "Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet; and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth." Zech. 14:12.
THEY SHALL BE DEVOURED.
Devour: "To eat up; to destroy; to consume with rapidity and violence."—Webster. A couple of passages will show its Bible use. "There went out fire from the Lord and devoured them." Lev. 10:2. "Some evil beast hath devoured him." Gen. 37:20. This word again the Lord uses to describe the condition of the wicked. "Fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them." Rev. 20:9. "Fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries." Heb. 10:27. "The fire shall devour them." Ps. 21:9. "They shall be devoured as stubble fully dry." Nahum 1:10.
SHALL GO INTO PERDITION.
Perdition: "Entire loss or ruin; utter destruction."—Webster. This again is a very strong word to denote utter destruction. "None of them is lost but the son of perdition." John 17:12. "Which drown men in destruction and perdition." 1 Tim. 6:9. "We are not of them who draw back unto perdition." Heb. 10:39. "Against the day of Judgment and perdition of ungodly men." 2 Pet. 3:7.
"They shall soon be cut down like the grass." Ps. 37:2.
CUT UP.
"As thorns cut up shall they be burned in the fire." Isa. 33:12.
CUT OFF.
"I will early destroy all the wicked of the land, that I may cut off all wicked doers from the city of the Lord." Ps. 101:8. "For evil doers shall be cut off." "They that be cursed of him shall be cut off." "The seed of the wicked shall be cut off." "When the wicked are cut off thou shalt see it." "The end of the wicked shall be cut off." Ps. 37:9, 22, 28, 34, 38. "The wicked shall be cut off from the earth." Prov. 2:22. "Every one that stealeth shall be cut off." Zech. 5:3.
"The transgressors shall be rooted out of it" (the earth). Prov. 2:22.
CHASED OUT.
"He shall be . . . chased out of the world." Job. 18:18. "He shall be chased away as a vision of the night." Job. 20:8. They "shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind." Isa. 17:13.
BLOTTED OUT.
"Whosoever has sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book." Ex. 32:33. "Let them be blotted out of the book of the living." Ps. 69:28. "Let their name be blotted out." Ps. 109:13.
PASS AWAY.
"As a snail which melteth, let every one of them pass away." Ps. 58:8.
THE PUNISHMENT OF THE WICKED IS COMPARED TO THE DESTRUCTION OF THE MOST PERISHABLE MATERIALS.
They are to be dashed "in pieces like a potter's vessel," Ps. 2:9; to be consumed "as the fat of lambs," Ps. 37:20; to perish "like the beasts," Ps. 49:20; to pass away "as a snail which melteth," Ps. 58:8; to be driven away "as smoke is driven away," and to perish "as wax melteth before the fire," Ps. 68:2; to be no more, "as the whirlwind passeth," Prov. 10:25. They "shall be as an oak whose leaf fadeth, and as a garden that hath no water, and . . . as tow," Isa. 1:30, 31; "as the burnings of lime, as thorns cut up shall they be burned in the fire," Isa. 33:12; "like moth and worm-eaten garments," Isa. 51:8; and "as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumeth the chaff, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust." Isa. 5:24. They shall be burned as tares, Matt. 13:30; as dry branches, John 15:6; as wood and hay, 1 Cor. 3:12; as thorns and briars, Heb. 6:8. "They shall be as the morning cloud, and as the early dew that passeth away." Hosea 13:3. "They shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb." Ps. 37:2. "His roots shall be dried up beneath, and above shall his branch be cut off," Job 18:16; and his light "shall be put out." Job 18:5.
How could the utter destruction of the wicked be more clearly stated or more forcibly illustrated than in the above scriptures? Added to these are the declarations over and over made that the soul itself shall die, and that the wicked shall be no more. Thus: "The soul that sinneth it shall die." Eze. 18:4. "And shall consume the glory of his forest, and of his fruitful field, both soul and body." Isa. 10:18. "Fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." Matt. 10:28. Equivalent to this is the declaration that the wicked shall be burned up, so "that it shall leave them neither root nor branch." Mal. 4:1.
Several times it is directly stated that the wicked shall be as nothing. "Behold, all they that were incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded; they shall be as nothing; and they that strive with thee shall perish. Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find them, even them that contended with thee; they that war against thee shall be as nothing, and as a thing of naught." Isa. 41:11, 12. Obadiah's language is still stronger. He says, "They shall be as though they had not been." Obd. 16. And so the Psalmist says, "For yet a little while and the wicked shall not be." Ps. 37:10. Again he exclaims, "Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth and let the wicked be no more." Ps. 104:35.
Such an array of positive testimony as there is for the utter destruction of the wicked, can hardly be produced for any other doctrine of the Bible, even though it be the plainest one.
D. M. CANRIGHT.
Petaluma, Cal., April 1.
Pre-Millennial Advent.—No. 1.
About the year 1847, Charles Beecher wrote a series of letters to his brother, Henry Ward Beecher, on the Pre-Millennial Advent of Christ, and the return of the Jews. These appeared in the Watchman of the Valley, a Presbyterian paper, published in Cincinnati. Such portions of these letters as had a direct bearing on the question of the pre-millennial advent were republished in the Voice of Truth, commencing March 24, 1847. Copying from that, we now lay them before the readers of the SIGNS, to whom they will be of exceeding interest.
Eighteen hundred years ago, there lived a man upon the soil of Palestine, whose whole career was an inexplicable enigma to the generation in which he appeared.
Himself the center of all prophetic oracles, he yet seemed to reverse every expectation prophecy had created. Probably no man ever excited such intense and universal expectations. Certainly no man ever so completely changed expectation into bitter disappointment. The nation and the world expected a conqueror and a king. They received only an executed convict, an expiatory sacrifice.
Yet the results of that first appearing, humble as it was, and utterly subversive of the wishes of a world, have developed themselves for ages, and are yet shaking all nations.
If, then, a second advent of that same singular personage be nigh, how much greater disappointment of a nation's, yea, a world's anticipation, may it involve! How much more tremendous consequences may it not produce!
That that "same Jesus shall so come in like manner as they saw him go up into Heaven," we distinctly believe. And if that coming should prove to be the beginning of the cause of millennial prosperity, while the universal church are thinking it only the consummation and the close, would not their astonishment exceed that of the church, before his first appearing?
And if that first appearing, without splendor, without judicial authority, without the manifest assertion of regal power among the nations, has wrought results of wonder, what results might not ensue, should millennial hours be ushered in, not only by the mighty movings of the Holy Ghost, but by earthquake shock, and trumpet note—by the flaming apocalypse of Him whose face is as the lightning, conveyed by angels of his might, descending with the clouds of heaven, to stand upon the Mount of Olives?
And if to the previous expectations of the Jewish mind the after developments of the gospel dispensation were a mystery, inscrutable, into which scarce the prophetic gaze of an apostle might penetrate, how much more may the developments of the regal era, the millennial reign, be expected to be a mystery to the professing church and to the world, until the very splendors of the day itself flash upon their startled eyes.
But is that second coming of the Son of man so nigh at hand? Is it, in other words, the commencement and the CAUSE, or the climax and the product of the millennium? This is the simple question now in the providence of God first claiming the solemn attention of the churches. That he shall return in majesty to judge the earth, we all believe. "For God hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that MAN whom he hath ordained." The simple question where we differ, is, Is that coming pre-millennial?
To the answer of this question, I believe the church is solemnly called. Do you say that it is in vain to pry into unfulfilled prophecy? There is a mode of interrogating prophecy, I am aware, in regard to days and hours and minute details, which savors of presumption. But such is not the nature of this great inquiry. It is a subject on the contrary upon which the church has already pronounced; upon which the popular strain of modern preaching has uttered oracular decision. And it is no longer a question whether it be a legitimate subject of opinion, but which of two opinions already formed and boldly expressed, is legitimate?
It will be my object in succeeding letters, to show by scriptural argument that the coming of Christ to Judgment is pre-millennial; and consequently near at hand. In prosecuting which intention, I pray that the Holy Spirit may grant me aid, and enable me so to exhibit his mind and will, contained in Scripture, as to arouse attention and inflame the ardor of all true believers, to prepare for the coming of their Lord. And I pray God, that our whole soul, and Spirit, and body, be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord.