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THE 
 
 AND THE 
 
 RESUEKEOTION, OF THE PAST. 
 
 A SERMON; 
 
 The Sixth of a series on these subjects, 
 
 By Kev. THOMAS RATTRAY. 
 
 •»"'j,. riEB. A. .il.-AljortVs version. 
 
 f i^ucKo. j\tv. A. /. — Alfords version. 
 n^^thMst, and he shall re:g:. for ever and ever."-R.v. XI. l.-,.-^//o,,Z'' 
 
 tne dead to be judged, a»d to give their reward unto thv se.vants th« 
 prophets and to the saints, and them that fear thy nan,e tC ." and 
 the great ; and to destroy then which destroy the earth. --k^^ X 8 _^ 
 
 4 
 
 TORONTO 
 
 PIUNTKD BY I,. K. WIN 
 
 DF.n, MACJILL STRKKT. 
 
 1 878. 
 
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 times 
 
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 in this 
 
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 But 
 viz., th 
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 before 
 wrought 
 faithful , 
 ning of 
 this final 
 and witl 
 glorified 
 ^n aJ? futi 
 doctrine i 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 ■''lie incaualioii of •, ,i,- 
 fe.luire cx„la„,„i„„ "' " "'■7"'-* 'he sixth of a ,c.,u-, ,„ 
 
 " !.». fi,,,,,,,, ,„^ ...0 °e^, ,^'=''-*"S- I had Loped 
 loiind the review of Se,i,„„„ ' ^ ""^ ""'■ "ow given ,„, 
 
 Jn publishing the one ,v 
 ^^e advice of friends :;;Lf-;„^ '-- --what ,i.ded to 
 co:mct.ons. The subject of the r "? /^ ^"'^'^^ ^^^ '">' own 
 A. D. 70, ,s not a novelty I'l? '"' ^' ^ccomj>hshed in 
 
 ;-n'h century, and so. 'othe L'^r' "^^^'"^ °^ ^'- be- 
 times advocated it. m the hst 1 '" '''"^ ^"^ «"bse,,uent 
 em.ne„,ewhoadn.itted th for fof S^? '"" ^^ '-" 
 
 "s:-----'".>-2itrorati-" 
 v«!te^srar;rfar"''"*^<'''^'™«"™p-se„ted 
 
 •he acco™p,i,h„,e„ „f T ^^ "f "?"'" "*»' "^ Chri &; 
 Wore the then living g,™™ "^ "'"-^en, and ,.ropieiat ion 
 '"ought on, by the Son of p'h """""^ '^'"y- *' ^Ivation' 
 tahfu, dead of forn,er ,1: °° ..aT'?, ""^"""""W on aU Z 
 "■"g of the kingdom of G^d J? ""^ »»^ «»« at the besTn 
 *'s final kingdom began TtstTu^! "f ' "^^ "^ *« "rid. S," 
 »d "fth all the faithful deXf o! !" •^^' »' *'°- -nisLd 
 Slonfieda, („ „„,,,„^^ ,^ which I addeT" I""" '"''^ "" -" 
 '" ^'.'^""■re I'mes to the end is a „„ , """"'"ow*, the faithful 
 doctnne is concerned. At t at it"r:'L'° '" " ^™"'-'«<' 
 
 '"o, so far as I can discover. 
 
If any person can refer to any book which contains it, I will 
 rejoice in the fact, and in the removal of my ignorance. To the 
 present I can only say, I have found the substance of the doctrine 
 in Scripture, and there not merely as an inference essential to 
 the doctrine of the regal advent as of A. D. 70, but stated by 
 itself, and as synchronous with the judgment, and the regal advent 
 
 But why disturb the prevalent faith at this late day ? Why face 
 the accepted Eschatology with a doctrine apparently subversive of 
 it ? For several reasons, the first of which might be sufficient as 
 an apology, viz., the authority and harmony of Scripture ; 
 Secondly, to be better able to come to a true knowledge of the 
 dispensation of the fulness of times," in its king as reigning 
 and in its nature as "the ministration of the Spirit and of ife^ 
 Lesser reasons maybe furnished, as the simplifying of the con- 
 ditions of salvation and communion, now in Christendom various 
 and all beyond those revealed in the New Testament. Also the 
 action of the doctrine here advocated, as conducive to a belief m 
 Christianity as spiritual and supernatural, and to faith as the eye 
 of the mind to discern the supernatural. 
 
 The reader will please remember, that the evidences from 
 Scripture for the doctrines here advocated are far from being fully 
 p esented in this discourse. They are spread over the series of 
 Ihich this discourse is the sixth. This one is now given to the 
 Christian people, because it presents in some degree an ep^ome of 
 the evidence from Scripture in the others ; because dealing chiefly 
 with the writmgs of St. Paul, the chief writer of the Apostles, and 
 the one most embued with the spirit of Messianic Fophecy and 
 the spirit of the Lord of the prophets, it has a larger field of 
 enquiry on the leading subjects relating to the kingdom of God 
 Z I may add because of the wish of friends for a critical 
 examination of the apostacy mentioned in 2nd Thess. n. chapter 
 and the account given in ist Thess. iv. chap. 13th to the end of 
 ,the resurrection of the dead in Christ, and the translation of the 
 living. 
 
 This discourse is now presented to suggest to the Christian 
 people a course similar to that followed by the people at Berea in 
 
apostolic times, it is saJH " ,u 
 
 whether those things' we e so -' /'"''''' ^'^^ ^^^P^^^es daily 
 '^ere ,s a loud call fo reH e from h " ""^ ^"^'' '' '^^ P^ese ' 
 however ancient and influ „ ^a ^^^ ^P-'^-ns of the' Word' 
 °" -t as the basis of all truth col '""' ,°" "^'^ Scripture J 
 ^ -e ,s a pressing need in hese time"'"? ''' ''"^^^"^ °^ ^-d. 
 -hen deep '"^ calling unto deep and t P.'' ""^^'^' ^"^ "Ph^aval, 
 -■d uneasy concerning the lctl^ r'f''" '"'"^'^^''^^^^'^^'d 
 calmly and Pe^sistently^he mind of he U ? '"^ ''"'''' ^" -^^^ 
 ^now h,m who is over all GoTbLL r '^ ^P'^'^' ^^^^^^^y to 
 
 of the final age over which he is nlw '""' '"' '""^ ''^' "'-^ture 
 the God-head. "^ " ""«' ''e'Sn.ng in all the fulness of 
 
 The righteousness fn ru ■ 
 Of the Scribes and' PhaWstrThe '°^%"°' -uch exceed that 
 mattered abroad. l.o here and^o tl"', "'^ ""' ^°^ '^ "°- 
 d-vis,ons come from imperfec" cl„ '' " '"^"'^ °"^ ^^^^^ Our 
 the kmgdom of God. TWare wh^f ""^ "' ^^"^"^ ^""^^rning 
 «P'r.t of Scripture. The W r. "^ "^P"^^'^ ^^ the letter and 
 
 -ggesttheneedof unitv. ?L S"' "" '" '^-' ^^^ -- 
 righteous of former dispen-lH ""^^ ^O'^prehending all th; 
 
 •" the past times of the 1"^°"^' '"^ "^^ ''^«^*^ "' '^ht un » 
 - ^^^^^' unto Z:^,:Z^;^'y ? — -I^if^^Ce 
 the v,s,on and company of the elonfiV-'^ us up then to 
 
 CW.I^XI^T:,':^!?: ?'''°'- '» *e notice of , he 
 *e h.ma„ element in uZ^L''T'' '''"- *'«'l^nce concemin' 
 
 ac,ua,n,ance™h.herti„g3 ofteTi™^::™:: "'"'"'" 
 
 I' m 
 
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 crisis w 
 
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THE REGAL ADVENT 
 
 "Ui,. oix.,,,,, „,, 
 
 I 
 
 HRRATA. 
 
 <^n P-^ge 31 cr>j/*«r, is blurred" 
 
 On page 37, and fourth line from b„ r„mf f 
 
 read, physician heal "hyS ' "' P^cian thyself » 
 
 On page 39, third line from too "snn"l„.u .1, 
 
 on:^:SJir::^:::--Lsi^^^-- 
 
 On page 6„ last line, " Sovereign » lacks ' 
 
 On «e ^64, on the thirteenth line ,r„™ the top. "Sovereign" 
 
 "'*. "^^^^ unto salvation T?„f 
 -nsis which .ntimated either theTvt ' '^'' ""'"'y '^^^ ft>r a 
 
I wi 
 
 take 
 
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 self. 
 
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THE RKGAL ADVENT 
 
 2,,,/ 77 , -^ "^ '"y no man 
 
 The discourses of our J orrl .n i ■ Z 
 recorded in John's (Jospe/ ,a , ° ^ ^^''''^'^ b'^'"^^^-' i^is j,assion 
 "'ost heart of Jesus. n 't, e /m ' . "'''''''''' '^'-'^^ theTnne^' 
 J« a brief interval of al senc d "^'^''' ^''^ ^""^es irecuemlv 
 7-' to be roilowedThs ::tl?"^^''^^^'^-''^4a d 
 ^"'T-ermgs and sorrows. He .v 'M , ' ^""^ ''^ '"^^^'•^aJ of their 
 . ''because I go to the Father "hV'^-'"'" '°^ '^ ^^^^ -a -n 
 
 annoil;/''^'"^^ of the Fath r H. ''"''" "'S'' ^"^^t 
 
 appointed to the sin hearer once !; /^ ^^' '° ^ie, for it was 
 
 f '^ case unto salvation fi ' ."' ''^"^ ^^'^^ '^'^t a crisis .n 
 
 -----^^atonin;t^----.h^^ 
 
8 
 
 the Father eternal redemption for us, to be invested with all power 
 in heaven and on earth, to remain in heaven " until the restitution 
 of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy 
 prophets from ancient times ; " and then come forth as the day star 
 from on high, to shed forth the light and heat of life on the region 
 and shadow of death of former ages, and irradiate with the light, 
 of life, " the dispensation of the fulness of times " onward to the 
 end of time. In view of all this, Jesus said to his disciples " ye 
 now therefore have sorrow, but I will see you again, and your 
 heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you." In 
 view of this Paul said " now we beseech you brethren by the 
 coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together 
 unto him." To the Ephesian Church he said, " having made 
 known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure 
 which he hath purposed in himself. That in the dispensation of 
 the fulness of times, he might gather together in one all things in 
 Christ, both which are in lieaven, and which are in earth, even 
 in him." 
 
 In the first discourse of tliis series, I proposed a fresh and care- 
 ful survey of Scripture to see if the prevalent views of the second 
 advent, the resurrection and the judgment, are there sustained, 
 and to ascertain whether tiie difficulties which encumber the 
 accepted Eschatology, and which are felt by many as seriously 
 affecting the harmony of Scripture, are not inherent in Scripture, 
 but have arisen from a false method of interpretation. Having 
 previously, by an inductive method, drawn from Scripture an 
 Eschatology which placed its subjects at the end of the Mosaic 
 age, a;^d not as generally understood at the end of time; I was led,, 
 in this series of discourses, to present the evidences for a -con- 
 clusion, so different from wiiat has been, and is now, held in 
 Christendom. 
 
 I presented my conclusions in the first discourse, viz., that 
 shortly after the first or priestly advent of Christ, for the accom- 
 plishment of a work of atonement and propitiation, before the 
 then living generation passed away, the salvation wrought out by 
 the Son of God was consummated on all the faithful dead of the 
 past times— on all the pious of the P.itriarchal and Mosaic ages, 
 
9 
 
 J^f ^:f ';r;;;.'tru;^r^ '^r " '- --'^s or 
 
 glonfied Son of God be.an hi^. ^'"'■'^' °^^-''- ^^-'"'ch the 
 
 end of ,n.e. That the^., ngZ' ^ ' •'" ^°"""- ^° * 
 o[ Moses vanished, and with afl th /'?. "' '^"^'^^ ^''^^" 'hat 
 a-^ed up and glorified as It^ '^'^'^'"' °^ Previous times 
 
 -ousI,,theaith.UofantSr-::j:rtti'^^'^^^-"- 
 ^n the first and second d , t 
 
 prophecies in the Old Testament ft "'' '"'^^"^^ '"^^"^ the 
 ^^-""g they had on the leTeZ\ "l' ^'^'^^' ' ^'^owed the 
 
 -:°" all in it referring to hf k, ll"". .°' "" ^^^"' '^-'--"ent 
 ";'nute examination of J,^" ,• f ^"f ?^ ^^"^ ; and then made a 
 ;^- Testament, and «; si' ^^1;, ''' --'^"'e of the 
 he fourth, I dwelt chieflv on L Pf^opheces of Christ. r„ 
 
 Matt. .,th, Mark .3th,':nZ utT;th Ir'T '' ^''^^ ^ 
 fifth I presented an analysis of aLT'^^'P''''- ^" the 
 ogether with notices of he p r.bt r' f' ''"' ^" '""^ ^^d, 
 a^nts a„, u.at memorable re'Iof fef " "'■^'"■^ '^"^ ^he 
 . Withm a little while ye shall 3 Ve"' '^ ''^^' "■gh Priest 
 "ft hand of power, aL o ," '^the",^^'''^" •^'"'"^^ ^^ 'he 
 what I have done, I have no n ? ^ ''°"^' «^ heaven." j„ 
 passage of Scripture, nrso^LTr;^ '"?' '^^^^^^^^'^ host 
 undue stress on particular wo d 'L e "r^"''^" ' ^^'''<' any 
 -eaning, which, from the contrjT •"''^^^ ^^°- 'he 
 • was manifested. As rea.rdr u "'^ '?"''' "^ the passage 
 
 .guidedbyacanonof S^r 1"! ^^-^°'--. ^ ha e bein 
 ooked, which demandfr " :f ;^^ ''' '-" strangely over 
 figures in one 'of two ways, t ' " "* '^' '^^'"^ words or 
 w at is to transpire in the'm 1 ' Jrt^ " "'^^"^'^ -'^'-^ " 
 -;" -Hustrate the action of th t bv I ' '"P""'^^"^'^' ^'-^h"- ^ 
 -here .s a prophecy of what ould t;V"^' '''''^''P" ^-' ^erse, 
 palpable ; and also of wha Jou^ 1 ^'^'l ^"^ be visible and 
 and supernatural nature, could 1,7^",: "'"' '"" ''' ^P'^'tual 
 '"■nd. It is said of the ,^ne 'then '" ^' '^' ^P'"^"^' 
 
 pass "and ot the other, •' klw^Tha^thT^r T '^'"^^ ^^ ^ 
 hand. The one, referring to the h , ^^"^""^ "^ ^od is at 
 ^en^ands the literal understan^di^; X::::Z:' ^^T''"'' 
 
 ^ee, m the sense 
 
 I 
 
1(^ 
 
 of a visual bodily Dercemion -ri, , .1 
 
 nature of its suhject the kl , ^ f-"'' """'^^ ^''''' ^'^"^ ^^e 
 
 from a belief o he ' ^^1'?^" •"'''' '°"^^^ ^™'" '"^''h. or 
 
 difference o be h"l . H I''^' '"'^^ '''' ^'^^' ^--" "^ 
 
 inH - I » i " "'*' "'^ '^^''■^^ 'ii'ide of the verbs " sep" 
 
 -nfeof thtodnrri .''*■'' H°''""-, ''» '"""-"''"S =he chief 
 spirit™, pe4° i on To " L" < t'Tf " """'"« '"™"' ^'"' 
 
 ■ loud with great power incl 1, ■■ ! , '"" "'"""'■' '" » 
 
 so CO., and ,„ Le and^e.^;::^:. d,; "^.y-r " ■"" "= "- 
 
 ^T:!'!r::L:: «f J;,-Vf-^'<>V'"'"« -rere„ce to a future 
 spiritual or .uper^ra, F^rrt h""'' "' "" """■"'" """ ""= 
 interpretation of th „m ' "f "\"""°' "' '" "'""'""■^ 
 »nce of the rule before' ^en „ Id for" ■ f: T""" '" ''^'■ 
 Biblical prophecy refer, t" evim!t ? ^'^"'"' '■'"''°" """ 
 
 the propriety of so doing, yet he will not if h^ h , ' """' 
 
 life, doubt of the necess fv ""'' '" " '"""•= 
 
 present and th f«" I fa, L ".Tf"" 'T ■'"' '''""'■ "- 
 the senses on the one V„H s "" ''""""S 'I": action of 
 
 tlte actio ai h o" .hT ' Tt '"""'""'' "' "" o*" '" 
 
 «.v.ho,is™, in its'tter^Ll irsfbe'grr byMr'*?'"' 
 predicted, and that it is the wilrW hn,, ''y,"'" subjects 
 
 tlgures of prophecy which hLtf::'::',!;:!'''".' ','" 
 
 supernatural h'ternllv c;^ a ■ spiritual and the 
 
 .he subjects 'of 'r.;«„,t:;:Se "nT:;-"!: """'"r "•"= ^'^-^ 
 
 -o3 nr tiie .nd ot utnc, and pre-miliennar- 
 
»<•*' 
 
 n 
 
 '■'-'"s pJace them in the futnr. 
 
 result I r '-^' ^"^ Permeates nil v ■'^^'nptiire which 
 
 prophecies of Ch ^ ''^'^'""^ °^ ScripLe 1 ^''"'^'^"^ 
 
 former were ,n ' '"""^^'"'^d that the at'ter ''^f'""^ '""^ 
 
 anrJ , I- V -'"g^ioin of r;nd 3nH ;' T ^"^ ^" ^'^'-^ "ormal 
 
 ' -^^'^"^ened a^e, so abh .,.:^ ^".j " J^^ .P--nt advanced 
 
 '" ^'Tist.an heart, as to 
 
 T 'T! 
 
 ? ' m 
 
12 
 
 call forth efforts at reformation, without regard to the long past, 
 either as respects time honored doctrines, or ecclesiastical systems. 
 
 In placing the subjects of a scriptural Eschatology at the end of 
 the Mosaic age, and at the beginning of the kingdom of God, I 
 am aware that I am advancing a method of Biblical exegesis 
 which strikes at the root of the prevalent theologies, and demands 
 their reconstruction. I am aware that the theology presented in 
 this discourse is hostile to the received sense of Scripture in nearly 
 universal Christendom, and will have to meet an united and fierce 
 opposition or cold contempt. A cumulative mass of evidence 
 however from Scripture supports it, gathered from Messianic 
 prophecy uttered ins the dusky dispensation of Judaism, by those 
 who sitting in the valley and shadow of death, shed gleams of 
 light, by their foresight of the expected Life-giver, on all the 
 spiritual minds around them. To this light in a dark place there 
 is added the increased light which, on the threshold of New 
 Testament revelation, beams forth in the inspired songs of 
 Zacharias, Mary and Simeon, and in the messages of the Baptist, 
 forecasting the greater light shed forth by the priestly servant of 
 Jehovah, when he came to be the fulfiller of the law and the 
 prophets, and by his suffering and atoning work, lay the basis of 
 the future, yet near, kingdom of God. We have gone over his 
 prophetical words, we have seen their accordance with previous 
 prophecy, we have observed his prophetic words as the concentra- 
 tion of all previous Messianic prophecy, centered in their fulfilment 
 on the passing away of Judaism, at the desolation of Jersualem, 
 and the destruction of the temple — the sign when before the then 
 living generation lapsed, "all these things shall be fulfilled." We 
 have in the words of the Lord of the prophets the testimony of 
 Jesus, which is " the spirit of prophecy." We might here rest 
 our case, for in the words of Him who said " ont is your teacher 
 even Christ," there is the perfect demonstration. Here we might 
 rest and calmly face an united Christendom and all her theologies, 
 and say the words of Christ are more than all. With Him we can 
 face the world of mankind ; with Him on our side we can dismiss 
 all our fears of discomfiture, and all our painful feelings of regret 
 at the undoing of the theological labours of many centuries, and 
 say, " let God be true, and every man a liar." Let Christ and the 
 
13 
 
 r^^:J:'::^:^x:::^ tr"^ '-' ^™''^ -- - - 
 
 whose decisions over-r Se a Id nnul ,/1'' T '" ^•°"'--^«-«. 
 the exposifons of note/t olc^" , d:^^^ T'f'l ^"' ^" 
 acceptance with Him, in whom dwe leth nn i f ^' '" '" ""^ 
 of the God-head, and as they foil o 1 '^^^"'•^^!^"^"^' f"'"^«« 
 which is the law of his reign ' "'°""-' "'''' '^'"^ ^^^^ 
 
 the disciples would be engaJd lem M , ' '"'''■^^^' "'"^^^ 
 
 1 • J , engaged Jieraldmg the tJooH npwc ^r fU 
 
 kingdom and of a wonderful transformaLn^fen - I sLi ' 
 you agam"-a transformation so great that sorrow . I, ii a 
 "and your heart shall rejoice and vot inl , ' ''''^■' 
 
 you." When was this to be ' "ve read n thT "T '^'"'^ '"" 
 in that day ye shall ask me nod. n^ vX^:^'^ " ^f 
 you, whatsoever ye .s'lall ask the FatlJr ■■. ^' T ^^ ""'° 
 it vou " " Tn tL A u "'^' '" '"y name, he shall give 
 
 "you. In that day," a phrase expressive of the dav of fnli 
 
 pa Jon, .., 1 ni/airhtjx:?^, 'itiAr "^ 
 
 vc you comiortless, I will come unto you. Yet a little 
 while and the world seeth me no mnr. u . J^et a little 
 
 the Father, and ye in me, and I in you." That "at L\!i 
 
 . 4, uiat aay as the day of the Lord " 
 
 •'11 
 
14 
 
 IS mentioned. In 2nd. Tliess. i. 10, we read, "When he shall 
 come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them 
 that believe, because our testimony among you was believed in 
 (or concerning) that day. In 2nd Timothy, i. 12, we read, " For 
 I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he 'is able 
 to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day " 
 Paul prays for Onesiphorus. "The Lord grant unto him that he 
 •may find mercy of the Lord in that day;" and for himself when 
 about to suffer martyrdom for the name and cause of (^hrist he 
 looks calmly forward to that day, the day of Christ's regal advent, 
 for the crown of righteousness, and for the accomplishment of the 
 words of his Lord, "ye now therefore have sorrow, but I will see 
 you again, and your hdart shall rejoice, and your joy no man 
 taketh from you." 
 
 That the words of Christ leavened the thoughts and words of 
 the Apostles admits of no doubt. He told them of an interval in 
 which they would be as orphans, that condition alleviated by the 
 presence and gifts of the Holy Spirit the comforter, that they 
 interpreted the interval as enduring to the end of time, or 
 that they understood the coming of Christ, as to be' at 
 death, and the life then to be received as affecting only 
 a part of their being, the other ])art remaining in death 
 until a resurrection at the last day of time, cannot be sup- 
 posed. The words of Christ, " Because I live, ye shall live 
 also," followed by, " At that day ye shall know that I am in my 
 Father, and ye in me, and I in you," bear on their face the 
 promise of an early and a full redemption. The notion of a sal- 
 vation of a part at death, and of the remaining part after an 
 interval of thousands of years, so long, and until now, the 
 prevalent faith in Christendom, is not discoverable in Scripture. 
 " At that day " they would live as Christ lives, is the only fair 
 inference from 'lis words. "At that day" they would know of 
 their perfect union with Christ— an union as perfect as that of 
 Christ with the Father. " That day," as the day of the bright 
 appearing of the Son, was to them, and to all the faithful of the 
 past ages, the day of full redemption. 
 
 It was " the end of ihe days " to Daniel. " The last day " of 
 
 whicj 
 
 day," 
 
 ness, 
 
 shall 
 
 fully 1 
 
 am in 
 
 .state 3 
 
 rejoict 
 
 and in 
 
 and Sc 
 
 cation 
 
 which 
 
 unto th 
 
 any on 
 
 them ni 
 
 of my ] 
 
 Can 
 
 epistle, 
 
 believers 
 
 coming ( 
 
 unto hin 
 
 neither b 
 
 day of C 
 
 He tells ( 
 
 t- be rei 
 
 sume wit] 
 
 Wghtness 
 
 iniquity al 
 
 Rome, ye 
 
 Empire so 
 
 his true na 
 
 initiate the 
 
 Mosaic dis 
 
 tion of the 
 
 of the Son 
 
 the kingdoi 
 
 There 
 
 wa 
 
15 
 
 which Jesus said " r 'ii • 
 
 day," at which Paul expec^rto''!" ^'"^ 'T'""^^ '^'' ^^ " that 
 ness, all comprehended in the ldTnf% "'"" "'" ^''s'^^«°"«- 
 ;hall live also." ■< i .,•„ co.e V to yo:^^!:r;h?r " -^ ''^^ ^^ 
 fully redeemed and glorified as snn fV> , ''^ "^^y' ''^'^'^d and 
 am in the Father, and ye in n Z '' ^ '^^" '^"^^ ^^^^ ' 
 
 «tate ye have sorrow, but I „ • ''o v " '""• " '" >'°"^ "^P^^n 
 rejoice, and your joy no man tZJ.T '''^'""' ""^ ^'''''' ^eart shall 
 and indestructible' f.Te encirHed T '"•" ^"■'■'-' '"defeasible 
 and Son. A full rede-^Hion of , 7 X' T''''''''''' ^' ^^'^^^ 
 cat.on of the whole man A fulfil f "^''"^ ^^ '"^''' ''eatifi- 
 
 which in the interval of orptn i' Z '^ " '' ""'' "' -^"^ ^"' 
 -to them eternal lif., andl .'^l 'iT'^' '-- ^- " ^ ^-e 
 any one pluck them out of mv h , T ^''"'^' "^'^^^^'- ^hall 
 them me is greater than nil 7 '^'- ^^ ^^'^''^ ^vhich gave 
 
 of my Father's h d x d 'T T '' ^"^ ^° '^'"^'^ ^'^^ « 
 
 1 ana my Father are one." 
 
 Can we wonder that Paul in \ n 
 epistle, the date of which is uncertain ';°'. ''^'" ''' ''''°'' '^'^ 
 believers at Thessalonica, " Now we ' '° '''' '"'P^^^'^"* 
 
 coming of our Lord Jesus ChnV 7^' ' '"'' ^'''^''^''' '^>- 'he 
 -to him, 7'hat ye be n't rn T , >""• '''"^' 
 neither by spirit, nor byword'" '" '" '"'"'' '' ''' ^-""^'^'d, 
 
 day of Christ is come " ' ' ^' ^'"'^^'' '' ^^'^ »'^' '-^^ that the 
 
 He tells Of an int^^inj:;::;,:;;^ ' Of t '''^': ''' ''^ --•" 
 t-- be revealed m a brief ttr^". UK '"'''^ or lawless one 
 sume with the spirit of hi. , '"' '''" ^'^'^ ^^all con- 
 
 brightness of l^Jc:X'''rT' T' 1"- '^'''^y ''^'^ ^'^ 
 iniquity already at work, but hindered bvTh'"""'^ "^'^^">' «^ 
 Rome, yet shortly in the inte^^fn ^ P""'"' °^ ""Penal 
 
 Empire soon to happen to have a^h ?*"'"°^'"- '" the Roman 
 his true nature, and to ^reci^tate a '"'r '" "'^'^'^ ^" ^^P'^y 
 initiate the crisis of the XL "^^r''\ ^°-^' -hid. would 
 
 Mosaic dispensation, a^r'tt"'"! '"'' ''^^^■"^^" «^ ^"e 
 tion of the temple, g ve t le ou 1 h "^J"^!^"''''^''" '-^"d the destruc- 
 of the Son of M^n'Z\t Z^J";' -^■^'-'^-f the coming 
 
 the kingdom of God, and '" r t LtT' .t' ^''^'^^^"^ ^f 
 
 ^atnenng together with Christ " 
 
 ™"° "" ° ™" °^ ■"= -™^ -"■". or Chris. „,„. ,.,d by 
 
16 
 
 some at Thessalonica, no doubt very like to that of some at 
 Corinth, who said " there is no resurrection of the dead," and to 
 that of Hymenaeus and Philetus and others, of whom Paul says in 
 his second epistle to Timothy, " who concerning the truth have 
 erred, saying, that the resurrection is past already, and overthrow 
 the faith of some." The coming of the Son of Man, and the 
 resurrection of the dead to such, were completed in conversion 
 and regeneration. " Risen with Christ " to them was the whole of 
 the faith concerning " that day, and our gathering together unto 
 him." " Christ in you the hope of glory," " Christ is in you 
 except ye be reprobates," fulfilled as they thought the coming, 
 the '.w,^»„J« the bright appearance of the Son of Man in the 
 glory of the Father. They confounded the means with the end. 
 The earnest with the future harvest. The germ with the perfect 
 plant. The promise with the fruition. Paul well said of such, 
 " they overthrow the faith of some." He saw in this view the 
 overthrow of the central doctrine of the Christian faith threatened, 
 and like John, regarding those who denied that Christ had come 
 in the flesh, he unsparingly denounced those who interpreted the 
 words of Christ by conversion and regeneration, and so doing 
 diverted attention from the outward and visible sign of his coming : 
 the desolation of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple, 
 and the final end of the Levitical dispensation— all comprehended 
 in the visible sign of the coming of the Son of Man in the clouds 
 of heaven, the establishment of the kingdom of God, *' and our 
 gathering together with him." Paul well understood from the 
 prophetic words of Christ, that his coming would be signified by 
 overwhelming judgment on Jerusalem and the temple, and by the 
 end of the Levitical rites ; and that to look for the regal advent 
 before the special sign given by Christ, was tantamount to a 
 rejection of his predictions. Hence he spake of the intervening 
 apostacy, and the rise of a lawless power adverse to the Divine 
 purpose, already in its incipiency, yet hindered, and for a season 
 so to be, then to be manifest, and to perish at the regal advent. 
 
 That the words of Paul had no reference to an apostacy and 
 lawless power thousands of years afterwards is evident, in that he 
 speaks of the " mystery of inicjuity " already at work, and of its 
 destruction at the /fgal advent, which he cnlls " the brightness of 
 
17 
 
 his coming "—and Thess ii 8 U ,u . 
 
 why did the Apostle endeavou; todrr rfl? '•' '' ^'^ ^"^ °^^''"^' 
 '"g It as of the past, by a reference t ^^''^"^P''"«'°» concern- 
 
 Was that apostacy to Loulder Jor thn '" T'''' '''''^y ^' ^^^^ ? 
 in the 6th and 7th verses 'AnH ''"'^' "^^^''^''^ ^ ^s we read 
 
 he (or it) ™a/be ^eLd n T ^^rtr'^^ '^"^^^^'^h- 
 niystery of lawlessnes doth al L ^^ °''" ^™^- ^"^ ^^e 
 
 hindereth be taken out oTth 4:"":";/;!^' ""''' ^^ ^^^t 
 appeals to those he addressed th,^ <r f"'"'^ ' '''''"'"■ ^^ul 
 He alludes to the death of him ?. ^!>"°^ ^^'^^^ ^'"dereth.'. 
 words " until he be takei out o h'^'l-t^^^ '" ''' ^'°^^"« 
 shall the lawless one be revealed whl I' t ' '''^'' " ^"^ ^^^n 
 sume with the breath of Usi^T / u''' ^^^"^ ^'^^" con- 
 brightness of his coming" Those r J'" ^^stroy with the 
 aware concerning what hindered u'" ^"' ^^^^^^^^d were 
 the power hindering were not .t M . ■ """'"^ '^^^ ^^^^ been if 
 hindering power nothing but dea h cnnir^ '"^''''"^ ^ ""^ ^^^^^e 
 the way » evidently poiL to tt rf '■'"'°''- " Taken out of 
 Nero. What is sa'id'b fore ref rs to , °' '" ^""^" ^^P^^- 
 and to be so as long as he ^ T^" T '" ''"'^""^ P^^' 
 t^me which are recorded by JoseohuJh f °' ^'^^^^^^ ^^ ^^at 
 the fear of him and of his power " ' ''^"' ^^^° "^^<1. 
 
 What this historian pr'senrLr r!,' " ''^" ^^^ ^--"ces! 
 mystery there is in the Aoostl*^''. ? ^, deciphers whatever of 
 fhe mystery of iniquity 'of tLT?'°"' ^'^ ^^^^^"^ «"-' or 
 
 immediately after he las :< taken oJrofT' °' "'''^^ '^PP^"^^ 
 death in A. D. 68 inteshn. ^^^ "'^^- After Nero's 
 
 Empire. As ChristTrp^^S^ 'T'''' ''^ ^-- 
 and rumors of wars, see thaT ve bJ ^ ''''' °' ^^^^' 
 
 thmgs must come to ^ass, but he end "" ''°"'^''' '°^ ^" ^^ese 
 -Id, " For many shall come n ' „, " °°' '"''" ""' '^^ ^^^-- 
 shall deceive many." To Vhl J ^ ' '''^'"^' ^ ^"^ Christ, and 
 epistle ii. chapter, f 8th vers '?< L S1"h?/°'" "^^^^ ^ ^^^ -t 
 and as ye have heard that AntH t'^'^f"' " '' ''' ^''^ tin>e, 
 ^ere many Antichrists, whe^ ^ \tw r\"^" "°^^ ^ 
 The judgment on Jerusalem wis ? ^ " '' *^^ ^ast time." 
 to be immediately precedeTby, T"' '° ''' ""-^'^ ^^ Christ, 
 
 1 1 
 
18 
 
 ences, and earthquakes in divers places." He adds, " All these 
 are the beginning of sorrows." 
 
 I have before assumed A. D. 52 as the date of 2nd Thessa- 
 lonians, as to that time general consent is given. To what I have 
 said of Nero as the hindering power to the manifestation of the 
 lawless one, exception may be taken on the ground that Nero 
 only became Emperor in A. D. 55, and if the epistle was written 
 m A. D. 52 there is a manifest anachronism in the c:, e here pre- 
 sented. There is, if the epistle was written in A. D. 52, in the 
 reign of Claudius Caesar. I do not know, and no one else does, 
 that this date is correct. ; Apart from the internal evidence, and 
 from what we learn of the journeyings of Paul in the Acts -of the 
 Apostles, there is nothing to determine the date. If any one 
 prefers the Emperor Claudius to Nero, that the commonly 
 accepted date of the epistle may be sustained, let him do so. 
 For myself, I think a later date, probably A. D. 58 or 60, more 
 consonant with the internal evidence. I rest greatly on the 
 words " until he be taken out of the way," as referrible to Nero, 
 and as determining the later date of the epistle. There is a 
 harshness in the words which has its justification in their appli- 
 cation to Nero, the greatest monster of cruelty of all the Roman 
 Emperors ; and the words authenticate the general desire for his 
 death, which existed for several years before it happened. Nero 
 was the first Emperor that enacted penal laws against the Christians. 
 In his reign Peter and Paul sufi'ered martyrdom, and John was 
 banished to Patmos. But his cruelty was not confined to any 
 religious sect or Province. His savage heart left its impression on 
 the whole Empire, and everywhere the hope rested on .he antici- 
 pated time, when he should " be taken out of the way." During 
 his reign, the lawless one, or power, had its rise, and limited 
 action, but the general tranquility of the Empire hindered its 
 growth, and compelled the delay of the intended out-break, until 
 the troublous times which preceded and followed the death of Nero. 
 It was tlen that the Jewish war began, which in three years and 
 a half, ended with the capture of Jerusalem, the destruction of the 
 temple, and the scattering of the holy people, foretold in Daniel 
 xii, 7, and more plainly by Christ, in his prophecies recorded in 
 Matthew xxiv., Mark xiii., and Luke xvii. and xxi. These events 
 
;-son of '<our gathering 1" " j; '^' T «^ ^-"^^ ^^ the 
 '■"^-."in which all things .v°tne, " "l ' """ '"^""-- o*" 
 ^^■h'ch are in heaven an^in.a;h::;;;:1:":tn-^^ 
 
 In many i)laces in f), . 
 Apostle uses lang.ag: con. r^j J^IT^ ^"/^^ Thessnionians, the 
 'f-^ nearness, and any interpr'tatbn of i'' '.'^'"^ '"''' ''"I^"-- 
 ^""e, or to a lapse of eighte n o 1 '''"""^' ^" ^^^ ^"^1 of 
 ""natural, m ,stThess. 1. 3, we 17 V'"'"""^' '^ '""--^ '"^nd 
 ""••_ Lord Jesus Christ." More c. ?'"■ '''''^'^"'^^' "^ ^ope in 
 1-t.ence of your hope of our' o , uTX ' ""^^' " ^^-' ^^ 
 ^PPeanng patiently exercised n I ?u'''" '''^^' ^'''^^^ '" hi-s 
 read, " How ye turned to ( od fron , ? '"'^ '°^^ ^-^^^ we 
 rue God. and to wait for his Son V° ^'^"^ '""^ ''^'ng and 
 
 from the dead, even fesu which h ^°"' ^"'''"' ^^°"^ ^e naised 
 
 de ..vereth us fron, the comin, wrlth ' < T"''" "■^^^'^">'' " -'^o 
 Mattheu- lu. 7. .„ .^ .^^ ^'-^^^ - the impending wrath •> „f 
 
 -"hy of God who hati c^d^lTV^;^'' '' "'^'^ -'^ 
 And to wa,t for his Son from he.ven ' .V'^^'^'-'-'^'-^ding chapter, 
 I^uke XX,. 3x, « When ye see he^ thi "' '''^'' '^^'''' '''^<^ 
 
 that the kingdom of God is ni'h . l.Jl '°'"*-^ ^° I^'^^'^' ^now y 
 how us sense would be reXd^d ,n ,h ' '"^ "^ ^'^" ""derstand 
 ^yhe .,thand.cth ::::^t^'^':i^'^^--^s.,,resj 
 joy, or crown of rejoicing ? a e Z "'^"^ '^ «"'■ hope, or 
 
 -J-d Jesus Christ at' histlirgM:/!'" ^^^ P-- of 
 oj. Here the Apostle anticipates " n ./-'"'^ °"'' S'^'-J' '''"d 
 «J the regal advent, and himsel .nd th '1 '"' °' '""^ ^^-^'nts 
 rhessalonica. No allusion to death "s L% '■ "' ''^ '''^^^"r^ ^^t 
 advent of the glorified S( osThr '^°°'' '"^° S^ory, but the 
 
 «ame thought fn iii. .3 : To ,1 JT °' '"" ^^-^demption. Th, 
 -blameable in holing ^Lt^^^^j^^ -^ ^tablish your helrt 
 -nnngof ourLordJesu^Chr .Hth "h" °" ^^^^^^' ^^ the 
 
 - ^5, .. read, not <<the," but ^ri:;:;^-^ ,^r'^^"^ 
 
 ^ '""e, and remain 
 
20 
 
 unto thf turning uf the l,ortl." 'I'hc nearness of the regal 
 advent, is fonihly set forth in chapter v. 2, " Kor yourselvc-s know 
 I>erfectly, that the day of the Lord so conieth as a thief in the 
 night." In the predictions of Christ there are many exhortations 
 to watchfuhiess and caution, concerning that day ; its sudden 
 ajjproach hkened to the act of a tliief, and to a snare which would 
 entrap the unthinking. Peter says, " 'I'he day of the Lord will 
 come as a thief in the night." The glorified one said to the 
 Church in Sardis, " I will come on thee as a thief and thou shalt 
 not know what hour I will come upon thee." Why .hese cautions? 
 and why the knowledge of the brethren at Thessalonica con- 
 cerning the uncertainty of the time, and its unlooked for apjjroach, 
 if the subject in its manifestation was in the far distant future 
 thousands of years f-'ward? And why no allusion to death 
 as the real object, which would come as a thief in the night, and 
 for which we should watch ? And whj? does the Apostle at the 
 end of this epistle say, " I pray God, your whole spirit, and soul, 
 and body, be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ ? " Why does C:hrist and Paul so dwell on the regal 
 coming, and their cautions, and prayers centre on it, as the crisis 
 of destiny to those they addressed? There is but one answer. 
 The regal advent was near. 
 
 The language of the Ajiostle in ist Tliessalonians, iv. 17, 
 seemingly represents the end of terrestiai uan^i. TheApostl.; 
 had said, " And the dead in Christ sha'' lino iu;, ,' and adc, 
 " Then," ''EvtCta " afterwards, sooner or laui. '1 he sense as 
 immediate, or soon afterwards, or a long time afterwards, shows 
 the flexible use of "ETrn'/ae which in its ordinary sense means a 
 sequence earlier or later, as the spirit of the context demands. 
 The word occurs sixteen times in the New Testament. In some 
 repr, • cntative of a very brief interval. In others of an interval of 
 : :,::iy years. In James iv. 14 of a lifetime, and in ist Corin. xv. 
 7 3rd and 4c r.. verses, it represents in the first, an interval according 
 to the theory here advocated of forty years, and according to the 
 prevalent theory thousands of years, even to the end of time 
 According to the pre-millenial theory, eighteen or more centuries. In 
 the second, it signifies the interval from the creation of Adam to 
 the resurrection. What indication is reasonably to be found in the 
 
SI 
 
 tWr ,as,i„„ rt„„|,5 /,,"■' "«''"'""' 'I'"' living »i>l,,„„ 
 or .hat the rcurroui, „ ,. '""''>■ ™"'^'™' ""'^ •-" "-""'I. 
 
 generally. Vet i, i, I, L ' ";, „ '"' ""t"' " '''''' '" C^^'i^"" Joni 
 
 .0 the >ear„::'o; "''.r, ":Z 'tuirf"'^' ""^"'"« 
 Ai.o.stolic times. It is held is th. rcsurrcrt.on m 
 
 against whirh is irrl 1 Ir '' "' """' ''"" °'" ^^"il'^"'---. 
 
 Christ, the ^L:i:i:^:^t^::zr'''''f' ""^''^^'""^ "^ 
 
 If the average of testiln/^ f "''■''•'^''''■'' "^'^'^"l^'"•■^• 
 
 Jesus, which is the si \ ''"''"• "' '^ "^^' '^■^'''"^"y o'" 
 
 this i^ssage o s- ,)tu n ("'' "'^■' '^ ^'"' ""•^^''"^- '^'--'M 
 but is apn rent t "' hT ' \". '''"^^'"^ '"^'^'^'"""^ ^ '""-'"blc 
 
 genera, IC^ .r ^^^^ C^?;:^^'^ ''^^ :\'''- ^" 
 as linking the events m.cVuf) ' > ' ""^'^'''•^'ood by readers 
 
 preceding, and . tciT h /^'^^ '''' ^^"^ ^ ^'-' "- 
 
 iiving believers in the whole "th . . b'T'"" "' l'^' ^'^''^^' ^^^^ 
 through death chin^eH.n^ '"' °"'"" "'"^'""^ ^'^^^^"g 
 
 table tnfer^e bdnf i " u ' ''"''''"' ^'^"''''""- ''''-' '"^v. 
 bc-^nds of n.e 'uf. ' TT""'^ ^' '^^' ^^''-^^ --'^^ the 
 proves thar he a-sur e - " ' "u ' '^'^ ^^''^^^''^°'^" ^^ ^'^"pture 
 assumption illvr"'; 't "' ')' ''""' °' '""^' ^ "^"^ ^^^ an 
 Paul. Ld a tess " which I ' ''' ,""^ *^^ ^'"" '"-^l"'"^-" °^ 
 Ing plenary insp nt of '< F .K '"''"^"'^'^ ^"'^ ^^'°^^'^ ""P'y- 
 
 alive at t e " d of i m r 7 ''' "'"^'" "°' '^^^^ ^^o shall be 
 are alive, and renain unto h' '' • '"-^^ ''' ''"^^ " ^^'-^^i^h 
 
 prevent (^ prec ) he^ h t '""'"^ "' ^'^^ ^°^^' ^^all not 
 \"i precede; them which are asleei) " Ar,A ;„ ^u 
 
 ev.de„cefro.„«erip.„reih1rS;rit4r„f-;tS-: 
 
 f ri 
 
 *''*. 
 
and the end of the Levitical dispensation as the season of the 
 second advent and the resurrection. In the light from Scripture 
 concerning the time of these events, we can readil)' perceive the 
 propriety of the Apostle's words, " ^Ve which are alive and remain 
 unto the coming of the Lord," and seek their solution in some 
 other way, than by denying their inspiration, or referring them to 
 the end of time, or according to the pre-millenarian view, to a 
 distant future. 
 
 The prevalent view of the resurrection of the dead in Christ, 
 which refens the event to the end of time, or to a period far in the 
 future, confounds the true sense in verses 15 and 17. To under- 
 stand it, we should place ourselves as near as possible to the 
 bereaved believers who were sorrowing over the departed "as 
 others which have no hope." We can only perceive the force of 
 Paul's exhortation in verse 13, by supposing the existence of a 
 belief at Thessalonica in the regal advent as near, and in its bless- 
 mgs as to rest on the living to a far greater extent, than on the 
 dead. We need not think that there was no faith in the resurrec- 
 tion of the dead, although the words in the 13th verse, where the 
 Apostle tells the bereaved not to sorrow for the departed " even as 
 others which have no hope," either intimate this, or refer to an 
 inferior place in the coming kingdom for those who had died before 
 its appearance. There nay have been in the mind, the carnal 
 Jewish view of the kingdom of the Messiah, that which prompted 
 one to say, " Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of 
 God," and which led the sons of Zebedee to crave the chief places 
 there ; or perhaps the words of Christ placing John the Baptist 
 above all the prophets ; and those, "Nevertheless he that is least in 
 the kingdom of God is greater than he," suggested the inference, 
 that a lower place in the kingdom would be given to all those who 
 had lived and died in the inferior dispensations. We can readily 
 see, that to live until the regal advent, it then being so near, apart 
 from all the considerations now mentioned, would be the desire of 
 every one, while in the belief of them the desire would be greatly 
 intei.Mfied. AVe can also see, that to die just before the grand crisis 
 then impending, would, even with the belief of a joyful resurrection^ 
 be regarded as a calamity. We should not lose sight of the human 
 element even in the child of God, or suppose that the faith of the 
 
r 
 
 'as 
 
 23 
 
 gospel wholly removes it. We can place ourselves in the midst of 
 
 .a..i„gdef,h enter £S ht^^' ft i:/"™' -V"*""' 
 look back to such time, SI r '""^ °' "^ '^''" 
 
 or less testffv ,1?^ u ' "^ °'"' <"™ e-MJerience. more 
 
 the enrl nf f),^ u . , "^ °' ^ '^"^ m verses m to 
 
 Id «:?»<, surSn"" '.: '" H'n"!= ""^ ^'"' "°' '° - 
 
 - near a. ha^d ^ JTonltd rtt" T '"' •'" ""'= ^^ 
 abolition of W„ i„hT. ,) •-" d^pensation of life, the 
 
 .he subject „ft:i:;i:=;t;7/„ h:t*.'"'^=!""' '° "-'o 
 
 and remain to the earning „f ?h° Lord l;'lr''"V"'=f'' 
 
 ::-::7ti;x'tr'f\si'r^- 
 
 co..of.hf., —L^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 
 ^enro",;?; ct finS'tt S' l=c ' ."™i" "- -'^ 
 
 AnotLr' »?o;S,-i re'TsTc """' """ f'^'"' °' '^"■""'-■ 
 
 blance. " We sM «% .1 ,' "• "' '""' "°'""^ "f «^«- 
 I, i. , 1 " ''''•■"P' l"" »■= shall all be chanced » 
 
 It .s to be regretted the principal MSS. here di/Ter »readv One 
 
 chatwd. ■ Tl ere is such f f '"'• '"" "'^ ■''» ='»« I": 
 whictcemingly'f „m 1 oad'^rfAlT v'"" '"'"ri ""' P'^'^Se 
 .here is nothing ,„ be had^tc&l*^;} iV '?:t? *=^£: 
 
 I 
 
 m 
 
24 
 
 iv. 13 to the end, in the belief of the regal advjent as near, and 
 It as introducing a reign of life, gives to me the only satisfactory 
 exegesis. It presents the resurrection of the dead, in or by Christ, 
 as at its commencement. More, it shows that •' we which are alive 
 and remain unto the coming of the Lord," and all the faithful from 
 then to the end of time, are not, as were the faithful before, to 
 remam under the power of death until the life-giver came, but 
 when their work of service here is done, are at death caught up to 
 meet the Lord, and with all the dead in Christ raised up at his 
 coming, shall together with them be ever " with the Lord." The 
 difference between the former dispensation, called in Scripture "the 
 ministration of death," and the final age, called " the ministration 
 of the Spirit" and of life, gives the key to unlock this difficult 
 passage, revealing its real sense, and its harmony with all else 
 in Scripture. 
 
 An error of very serious account which has prevailed in 
 Christendom from very early times to the present, in regarding 
 the Christian dispensation as like the previous ones, under the 
 reign of death, and all the faithful not fully redeemed until the 
 end of time, has led to a sad misunderstanding of the sense of 
 Scripture, and especially of the New Testament, in regard to the 
 kmgdom of God. I have written this series of discourses, chiefly 
 with reference to the unveiling of the testimonies of Scripture 
 concerning the time of the resurrection, as giving the test question, 
 by which the life-nature of the final age may be perceived. 
 Gross ignorance concerning it has prevailed, and to it is traceable 
 various evils in the ecclesiastical, the doctrinal, and the ritual, 
 which have beclouded the Messianic day, hindered the manifes- 
 tation of the righteousness which exceeds that of the Scribes and 
 Pharisees, and divided and scattered the people of God. After 
 the review of Scripture, so far as I have proceeded in these dis- 
 courses, the previous conviction in my own mind is deepened, 
 that the time of the resurrection, is the great point to be settled, 
 in order to the correction of the serious error now stated— an error 
 which has sealed up the truth of Scrii)ture concerning the kingdom 
 of God, and has reduced Christianity nearly tn the level of the 
 previous and inferior dispensations. So doing, it has blighted 
 Christianity ; it has lessened its power to save ; it has incorpor- 
 
25 
 
 ated Judaism with it ; it has presented it in earthly ecclesiasticisms 
 n Jew,sh r,u,ahsn, and in doctr^'nal corruptions It ha " "oTed 
 ts re,gn,ng n.g, us pure Word as alone tL law of his rei^rand 
 the assemblies of the faithful as alone his Church on elrd" 
 subsututing human expositions of Scripture, and churches rS g 
 on foundations created and placed at the will of man It ha! 
 dimmed the light of the Messianic day. 
 
 As we close the review ot ist Thessalonians, both the letter 
 and the spirit of Us last chapt..- declare the near approa h o the 
 day of the Lord-the day of his regal advent. tI day o the 
 resurreaion of the dead in Christ, and the Messianic 7ay of 
 eternal life are in the tenth verse, in its closing words "live 
 together with him," impressively presented. The resur^tioi of 
 
 King, the L fe-giver. was introductory to a reign of life to the end 
 1 " '"^f.^-^^-^-^^-SO, under the perLal reign of H.m 
 who IS the life." may trust in his precious words, " He that livet" 
 and believeth in me shall never die." Death, to the faithfuT n 
 the former dispensations meant more than the end of earthly life 
 It included seclusion in SM,/ or J^a^es until the resurrection at 
 he regal advent of the Messiah. Death, to the faithfu in the 
 
 r TH ■"'■""' '°" ^' ^°' '^ '^'''^'y ^he end of earth ^ 
 
 hfe There is now no SAeof or Ifa.es. Death is now ineffectual 
 
 ho d him who IS m Christ. To him there is no resurrection 
 in the sense that that word applied to the faithful in former ages 
 There ,s translation : there is the being " aught up " to meet the 
 Lord, and the risen dead in Christ, and those befSre caugl u^ 
 and so we shall be with them for ever " with the Lord." 
 
 It is not po.s^ble to read the first eleven verses of the fifth 
 
 chapter, and not be convinced, that they as immediately following 
 
 hose in the preceding chapter, teach the nearness in Apostolic 
 
 times, of the regal advent, the resurrection of the faithful dead of 
 
 he pas , and the introduction of a reign of life, to continue to the 
 
 end of time. Paul speaks of events so near, as to demand the 
 
 same degree of watchfulness, as we would deem needful, if we 
 
 were aware of thieves about to break into our households He 
 
 speaks not of death, as that to be an object of dread, and watch 
 
 iij 
 
26 
 
 fulness In the tenth verse, he uses words which do not mean 
 lie or death, r^.y^^^sv and K«9..S^^,,. The former occurs in the 
 6th verse, and is rendered "watch." It, in the loth verse in 
 the A. V IS rendered " wake." The Vwgate gives the true 
 sense ngtlemus. The other is not the word in verse 13 iv 
 chapter, and there rendered "sleep," as meaning death It" 
 signifies either natural sleep, or moral inaction. The Apostle in 
 speaking of those " not appointed to wrath, but to obtain salvation 
 through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us," indicates, that 
 whether we are watchful or drowsy, which, as all are not alike faithful 
 to duty might be the condition of many at the regal advent, never- 
 theless 'we should live to^^ether with him." The Apostle is speaking 
 not of the condition of Christians as it should be, but as it is : and 
 IS intimating that much will be forgiven, if amidst a degree of 
 unfaithfulness, the heart is still beating for Christ, and his appearing. 
 But he presents to all, whether watchful or not, a motive having 
 reference to the day of the Lord as so near, thai they should be 
 watching unto prayer, and not be as the Gentiles around them, 
 children of the night in which men sleep. He exhorts Christians, 
 as If many of them were inclined to slumber, even when the 
 Bridegi-oom was near. He says, " Therefore let us not sleep as do 
 others, but let us watch and be sober." He says, " Ye are all the 
 children of light, and the children of the day." He adds "Let 
 us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breast-plate of faith 
 and love, and for an helmet the hope of salvation." 
 
 Neither death, nor the end of time, is once presented as the 
 motive to watchfulness. " The day of the Lord," " The coming 
 of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together unto him,' ' 
 furnislied to the apostle the grand motive, and it he enforced by 
 the plainest intimations of their nearness to those then living 
 He appealed to their consciousness, " For yourselves know per 
 fectly that the day of ihe Lord so cometh as a thief in the night " 
 He wrote to them concerning that which had been the burthen of 
 his mmistry among them, and in which they had been fully indoc- 
 trinated. His inspired messages centred on the glorified Christ 
 and on what he would do when he came in his glory. As the 
 Master had said, so also said the servant of Jesus Christ. In the 
 enthusiasm he felt in view of the near advent of glory, he uttered 
 
27 
 
 faithful of past n'ef No, ' "^f ' "= '^T"'"'''' ^^P^^ °f *= 
 done by Ch'ris. wh „ ;„ ft fl L*'?^ ' ^''^''i^'' "«= "°* 
 
 sacrifice of his denth for i,\„ j . '"^ ™'' P'opitiiting 
 
 .i.e kingdom ofc k Jo , 'Ttarrf !;"'' °" ""'■=' 
 
 validity ,o all the acts of its kS The ff "■°''''' «™ 
 
 glories, he ever reearded a tit f ] '"«' I"":«*ng the 
 
 Of eternal redemp^fo 'its^'^ZTZZ'^^^^^T' T 
 
 difference in the suffering Christ in th. ZT /, '"""^ ^^^ 
 
 triumphant Christ, as he ob e vei t h^ ' '"' ''" ^"'^"'"^ ^"^ 
 
 away sin, and the kgaK^tWH^i^ng^^^^^^^^ 
 
 m Its consunimatinn n^u^ " "^' age efficient 
 
 fixed onthe rdTe igned ,:"" 'T'*"' '"^ ^^'' "'^^ -- 
 
 and on d,e perfecSr.',, ^tae' Cse" ''Sr '.T'^H ''"'■■' 
 
 sat on of the fuilne^ nf f,, , Purpose, That m the dispen- 
 
 Rot's rr, "rt're'd"' . Td r -r '''" ™"- '- 
 
 «- it is high .i^:raw Ifon/o; iep' for r^ *= "T' '"" 
 nearer. han„.he„.e .eUeved. The'n^hf L"^,: -Z.'td:; 
 
 "The'rd of^ea:: T^^-zr"':'"""^'""^ '^y- 
 
 In .s. Corin. i. j, we read " So rt, , "^ >"""■ ''''" *°"'>'" 
 Siting for .he cLng^^.^'^ '^erOhS"^:;" t 
 
 ?h p.er^fTh:tf D? "' "T"™" '^^ '-<' -- ■• 
 judg'e .he .vor'ld : 3if .he" ZJT^^Z /nteX^""'^ *"' 
 nnwor„,v.„j„dge.he smalles. „a..er ? - '„° hap ""'rr 
 
 ayswth reference to the great even, which SI ed L 1^ 
 ~"'° " '•',' ""■ ^' '"= ^-^ °f *= Epistle he «,s '"if 
 
 oLth "'"Vy" '■'"■''' '" '™ l-^ """h™". the Lord 
 0/ Sp,r,t m the believer ,s ,n .he A. V. regarding i.s comple 
 
 ' yfl 
 
 i' I. 
 
28 
 
 tion feebly expressed. He " will perform it until the day of 
 Jesus Christ." Rather read, " He will perfect it up to the day of 
 Jesus Christ." The verb '^iriTtUcru signifies not a course up to the 
 perfect standard, but the consummation of the work — At the day 
 of Jesus Christ — " In the day of the Lord," which then was so 
 near, and the " day and hour " so uncertain, that for its 
 appearance they were ever to be watching. In the 9th and loth 
 verses, Paul prays for the increase of love and knowledge in view 
 of " that day," " that ye may approve things that are excellent ; 
 that ye may be sincere, and without offence till the day of Christ." 
 This, the duty of the believer by the ever present power of the 
 Holy Spirit. The other, the work of God the Son, who in the 
 day of his coming would crown the whole with the seal of per- 
 fection. 
 
 Can we wonder that Paul should say, Phil. i. 23, " For I am in a 
 strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ 
 which is far better." Not unclothed to be with Christ, but " clothed 
 upon with the house that is from heaven." He had no faith in the 
 vagaries of heathen poets, who peopled their Elysium and Tartarus 
 with impalpable phantoms. He longed to be with Christ, but at 
 " that day," and clothed with the spiritual body. He speaks not 
 of death. He strangely uses a remarkable verb rendered in the 
 A. V. " to depart," if by it he si/>i/>fy and only signified death. He 
 uses the mfinitive form with the article and the preposition e'J to' 
 'avaXwra/, which with what precedes, may be rendered, having a 
 strong desire for the return. What return ? The answer may be 
 found in Luke xii. 36, where the same verb 'a.u(x.>Ma%t is found, and 
 where we read, " And ye yourselves, like unto men that wait for 
 their lord, when he will return from the wedding." The kingdom 
 of God is the subject of the context. Jesus had said, " Fear not 
 little flock for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the 
 kingdom." He exhorts them to lay up treasure for it— to have 
 their hearts set on it—" for where your treasure is, there will your 
 heart be also." He was going to his Father with the trophies of 
 his me''iatorial work, as the price of his marriage to the church. 
 He was to "return ' from the wedding. He exhorts to a watch- 
 ful waiting for his return, saying, " Be ye therefore ready also ; 
 for the Son of Man cometh at an hour when ye think not." 
 
29 
 
 Not mthout reference to these words of Christ did Paul say, 
 " having a strong desire for the return." He uses a Greek verb 
 which IS only in the New Testament, found in Luke xii. 36, and 
 Phil. 1. 23. Once he uses the noun, in 2nd Tim. iv. 6, and this 
 IS the only instance of this word in the New Testament. Did he 
 simply and only mean death ? Of it he frequently speaks, but 
 never clothing his thoughts concerning it with such a verb 
 Why does he do so in Phil. i. 23, if not to show that he 
 meant it to comprehend and forcibly point to the return of the 
 glorified one, at the advent as the King of the final age. Mark 
 the words that follow, " And to be with Christ which is far better." 
 Consider their harmony with the closing words in the 17th verse 
 of the 4th chap, of ist Thcssalonians— those which end his pre- 
 dictions concerning the resurrection— those which give the con- 
 summation of the resurrection, in our gathering together with 
 Christ ; " and so shall we ever be with the Lord." These words 
 define when we would be with Christ. Other words of his, such 
 as those in Coll. iii. 4, " When Christ who is our life shall appear, 
 then shall ye also appear with him in glory," sustain a truth, which 
 pre-eminently appears in the New Testament, and which is not in 
 the slightest degree diminished by his words in 2nd Corin. v. 8, 
 " We are confident, and willing rather to be absent from the body' 
 and to be present with the Lord," for these words are to be 
 interpreted in the sense of the ist and 4th verses, which present 
 the "house not made Avith hands eternal in the heavens," and 
 "that mortality might be swallowed up of life," expressions only 
 referrible to the resurrection. 
 
 The prevalent view of Phil. i. 23 is untenable. The true sense 
 of It has been overlooked, because determined by the references 
 before, and after, to life and death. The 23rd verse introduces 
 a subject, which not then, nor until the regal advent, would have 
 an immediate relation to the death of the believer. Paul uses 
 words, as 1\>, *£w,&L,/*iav ''i^^^, " having an intense desire," which 
 are not applicable to death, and are only consonant with the return 
 of his Lord in regal glory, and " our gathering together unto him." 
 Death before the regal advent involved an interval of silence in 
 flades. Peter at Pentecost said of Christ, " His soul was not 
 left in Hades:' Not left there, because it is further said, " this 
 
 it 
 
 I! W 
 
 
 m 
 
.30 
 
 Jesus hath God raised up." Even Christ after his resurrection, 
 which to him was not perfected until after his ascension, said to 
 Mary, " I am not yet ascended to my Father." To the bereaved 
 brethren at Thessalonica, Paul says nothing of death as the door 
 to the vision and company of Christ. He comforts them solely 
 by the nearness of the regal advent, and the resurrection. He 
 himself about to die, points to the crown of rigliteousness to be 
 received " at that day "—the day of " his appearing." In the 
 2oth verse, with reference to his evangelistic labours, he says, 
 " Now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be 
 by life or by death." This was the holocaust or whole burnt 
 offering under the law. This in Christianity is the continual 
 testimony for Christ in life^in all the activities of life, and in the 
 passive endurance of bonds, and imprisonment, and death, for the 
 cause of Christ. Can we wonder at Paul's following words, " For 
 to me to live is Christ, and to die is gam." Are they not wholly 
 consonant with other words of his, " Living or dying we are the 
 Lord's," and to those in the 20th verse, " Chiist shall be magnified 
 in my body, whether it be by life, or by death." 
 
 The Apostle, with all the spiritually minded of his day, desired 
 
 to live to the day of Christ. They had ever " the intense desire 
 
 for the return," and "being with Christ." It was to them a 
 
 veritable enthusiasm, and not a mad fanaticism. It was as 
 
 Coleridge has it, "A true Christian enthusiasm, the vivifying 
 
 influences of the altar, the censer, and the sacrifice," and I may 
 
 add, the completion of these in the regal advent of Him, at whose 
 
 kmgly presence, the altar, and the censer, and the sacrifice— the 
 
 divine agencies of worship and mediation in the night season of 
 
 Judiasm, as the stars in the firmament pale and vanish before the 
 
 rising sun, so these lesser lights would fade from the vision before the 
 
 Sun of righteousness which was about to arise, " with healing in his 
 
 wings," Enthusiasm is a strong word. Paul was said to be beside 
 
 himself His excuse was, " It is for God, it is for your cause." 
 
 He said, " If any one is in Christ a new creature, old things are 
 
 passed away, behold all things are become new." He had no 
 
 faith in the Jewish notion of a visible regal advent, and earth as 
 
 furnishing the capital of the kingdom, or the throne, or the court, 
 
 or the parapharnalia of an earthly royalty. He remembered the 
 
31 
 
 The svmbok n«,.H ^ ^ ^"'' ^"'^ *^^ resurrection. 
 
 ua, mrer H Mns ptZTn It""' "'.'"'"■'"■'^ '" " 'Pi* 
 
 or .„e supe™.™, as Caer.he ^^'i^X oTr^u r 
 
 a resurrection of the de,d H. '"IT ?' "" ^P'*' 'P^l-^ °f 
 
 shall rise first. °1* xtet if ,6 w'l ' "''"; ""'"> '" '="*' 
 sav that " 'ness. IV. i6. Will any one learned in Greek 
 
 ZTZ'r" ' '■"" '"^"" *^''<""'^^ of *edeadi. Or 
 how re e de'nH T ''' ;""' "' "="'' " B"' »».e will say 
 they conte ? » 7t, '"' ""'"^ ""'"' "" ' ""'^ "i"> »l>« body do 
 dead? "' '"'" ""' ■"="" ""•'■' "'= bodies of the 
 
 .h.. wtrso"°:Xrr;^r^e\:: - :s 7:2 
 *: "Ltr L::,dT:^s^d \re^""^ °^^^"" *-" 
 
 •in- ^he Snir,> nf r.7 , ^^ '^™^ '"^""^r of speak- 
 
 wh^re^t^d'.^:- etrS^d". .'wf '"^ ~™ ^estaLnt, 
 dead » " fl,« ,1 ' li'ok™ or make alive the 
 
 Locke savs " ,?„r ■/' """ "'="'■" '" """'h" P'-e Mr. 
 beetenT: diT '.! ':*"" """ ^'' '''"" ""^^ = distinction 
 
 « tllcttrhfsm C " °' *' ''^'' ^° *=" '"^ ^'^ 
 
 bodies Of the dZt .L?:r;fVrApoT^.if;*= 
 
 r :IeT W r ''; "^^^ -ised.a;d th'wUttdTd 
 
 %\ 
 
 m 
 
32 
 
 How are the dead bodies raised ? and with what bodies do the 
 dead bodies come ? which seems to have no very agreeable 
 sense." In another place he says, " In the New Testament, I 
 find our Saviour and the Apostles, to preach the resurrection of 
 the dead, and the resurrection from the dead, in many places, 
 but I do not remember any place, where the resurrection of the 
 same body is so much as mentioned. Nay, which is very re- 
 markable in the case, I do not remember in any place of tne New 
 Testament, (where the general resurrection at the la.«t day is 
 spoken of) any such expression as the resurrection of the body, 
 much less of the same body." 
 
 I may state here, that about twenty years ago, while actively 
 engaged in the ministry, that in a critical examination of ist 
 Corin, xv, 35, in the Ciieek, I was led to decline belief in the 
 resurrection of the body, and especial; when I found such a 
 phrase is not discoverable in Scripture, and when I found in that 
 passage a decisive test of the true sense of 0/ nx^oi and tto* mxjusv 
 in other places in Scripture, defining it of persons, and not of 
 the bodies of the persons. My change of mind then, led me to a 
 closer investigation of Scripture concerning the doctrines of the 
 last times, which was shortly after interrupted for several years, by 
 a failure of health from nervous prostration. When again re- 
 stored to a fair measure of strength, the flaw in the orthodox faith 
 on a doctrine so generally held as the resurrection of the body, 
 suggested doubts concerning other parts of Eschatology. But 
 some years elapsed, which were merely seasons of patient investi- 
 gation. Six years ago I became convinced, that the visions of 
 John at Patmos were ])rior to the destruction of Jerusalem ; and 
 that his banishment to Patmos took place in the reign of Nero. 
 Before, I had been impressed by the prophecies of Christ, and 
 by the many references in the Epistles, to an advent of the 
 glorified Son as soon to happen. The more I searched the 
 Scriptures did I see a mass ot evidence, antagonistic to the pre- 
 vailing belief concerning the second advent as to be at the end of 
 time, or at a yet distant future. Scanning the Messianic predic- 
 tions in the Old Testament, and observing them as chiefly cen- 
 tering on the reigning Messiah, so as to present apparently only 
 one advent, and that of a reigning king. Entering the vestibule 
 
S3 
 
 pro„h«,ic minder in f "'„' f '" "'°™''''' ''-■'d - •!>» 
 
 mmiite examination of Scrioture nlH ,„H T "* '° ^ 
 
 search,;,!, so the more r ,v, , "'"'' ""^ "'« """= I 
 
 evidence „, he OH T , '■"" •■" "^^ ™""'lMive mass of 
 
 onthesidrof asp«dyr:rX„r'„^"" """V" "' ^=^' 
 whelming, and stuilifyi:;, » .fe r va n^l^r^.Tilf ^ ""'■ 
 
 SniLt'L:. ';ra::r. "rr-'^' ^'^ *^ "-- 
 
 fluence of tirformer theo, ' '"', '''''■ """ '"•■='^%'. ""d m- 
 
 or scr,t„,.e, .etr r^diS:; X"f: ir rit-r 
 S" r t'^ f'.trir; '^■™-. -V- *^ --*; ^d 
 
 three even^as s „ , onC ZTlZ ' f '"""" "'"'''''' *^ 
 Mosaic age, and'at thcTe Li:; f"" e'l^™;' *= '"' 1 T 
 beginning of the final ii,,. ,« ,1, . j * " '^"■"8'"* the 
 
 past ..meLthe pa ing'a, of th Th"!' °' *'= '"'™ "' "" 
 .ho introduction 01 Tew h avens f„ , ° '"'? """ ''"*• ••""<' 
 eth righteousnes, ul f '"' ""*' "''"«'" dwell- 
 
 .he old nd ," t e „ V Dea't, '"■""=' ""^ "■*^°' '''"■"«'™ " 
 
 .i>e faithfnl dead in"- 1' coldr,S:^.';,*^ ^^^of ^h'^ 
 iver nc Messinh T ;f« . • • • , '^avent of the de- 
 
 ™/.,#..5^*;Jw J'?: I •;;;;';;• -<• dea.h ,. ,v 
 
 .he judgment, simultaneous at t e M hT"; ^rarTfT ' ""^ 
 
 «.otified host of the redeemed""' Z ul, uS d' ssut°m\r '" 
 fectrcgnof ,hefi„„.,ge,as..ere in the other, "he Jud;;™ 
 
 ' I 
 
ever acting and ever deciding. 
 the judgment seat of Christ. 
 
 84 
 
 If'e arc always manifested before 
 
 A false view of the resurrection as that of tlie body—" the 
 resurrection of the flesh," as it was called in some of the personal 
 creeds of the third century, has fixed the mind of Christendom 
 on the regal advent as in the future, or at the end of time. More, 
 it has prevented a right understanding of ihc final a^f as a dispen- 
 sation of life. When the body of the Mosaic dispensation per- 
 ished in A. I). 70, its spirit entered the final age, and has found 
 nutriment and shelter in the cherished doctrine of the resurrection 
 of the body. It has permeated what is called Christian Escha- 
 tology. It has brought Christianity as represented in the creeds 
 of Churchianity, down to its own level. 
 
 There is no reigning king. He is in the far country waiting 
 " to receive a kingdom and to return." His mediatorial work is 
 yet unfinished. He is still the pleading intercessor. The Father 
 is even now Judge. He has not yet " committed all judgment to 
 the Son, that all men should honour the Son as they honour the 
 Father." The reign of the Son as Judge is limited to the last day 
 of time. Till then all the events of all times accumulate, and not 
 until then is the day of full redemption. All this Judaized Chris- 
 tianity had its origin and its prevalence largely from the notion 
 begotten in early Ciiristian times, of the resurrection of the dead 
 as the resurrection of the bodies of the dead. The spiritual res- 
 urrection of Scripture has not furnished ocular dtunonstration, 
 and i/ierefoi-e it is yet future. The loud-sounding trumpet has not 
 been heard. The opened graves have not been seen. The spir- 
 itual and the supernatural have not made their events felt in the 
 sphere of the material, and therefore most sage conclusion, the 
 resurrection predicted in Scripture is not yet, and the kingdom of 
 God is not come. It was predicted by Christ to come at the con- 
 clusion of the age, and it is confidently affirmed that his words 
 signify the end of time, which is not once named in Scripture as 
 the period of the resurrection, or of the regal advent, or of the 
 establishment of the kingdom of God. 
 
 I have referred to the belief in the resurrection as thai of the 
 body, as the occasion of the ancient and yet prevalent Escha- 
 
30 
 
 tology, which places the r.-gal -idvom .1, • • 
 
 Judgment at the end of tin^t 10^^ '"'''"'''''''' ^"^ the 
 
 a very human tendency uer^rerthe TT ^ '^' "^""''^' '" 
 '^-^-rring to the supernatur. Tl '."'"'" '" '^'■"J^'^^'^>'' 
 
 another cause in the Zt ^'■^"•''^-■nundane, literally. X'et 
 
 the authorised verl„,sT'r". °'"^'"" ^^^'^^ ^^^^ '» 
 and ^„u„ rende d L tho't ,7'''' "'^'' '"^'^^^ °^ ««S 
 stead or words dc::fing^te tot"': o7''^ T' ^'"' ^"' ^"■ 
 "* the general, if not the un fL n °!; "^""' '° ^^' ^^^'^^ 
 
 the . .o instances in whichTt ^f T"'"^ °^ "'^' ^'^^^ ^"^^'^ '" 
 •"ent. The impJca^ce of V ^^ '" ^'^^ ""'"'^ ^'^' '^'-ta- 
 peciallvwhere it^ "din "' ' '''"■''*'^'"" "'" '^'^ ^-d, es. 
 cannot be overstated """"'"" "'"^ ^^'^ '^'"«^-" «f ^^od, 
 
 I will give a few instances where thp fn, • . 
 
 the rendering in the authori. d v^r oV T" •' ^'^^'"^'^ '>• 
 ye therefore, and nrav -ilw.vt\. ? "''*' '•"• ^^' " ^^''"^h 
 
 escape all these ti^VtaUh;.'^^^^^^ '' "^""-^^^^ -^^'^>' '° 
 
 and to stand before tTe^n '/::>' Tt ' '^^ ^""^ '" ''''' 
 hope towards (Jod, which th^l h , "'''''• '5' " And have 
 
 shall be (M..//... • :; ;' J, 'r^^'^'^^ .^'- ^"-v, .hat there 
 of the just and unjust "1^^ Resurrection of the deac', both 
 this ignorance God LrloZ/7 ,'°' ''' "^"^ '^'' '''"" "^ 
 everywhere torepent Be" K. "°"' '°"™''^"^'-'^'^ '-"' '"^n 
 which he will jul",.^::^^^^^^ ?'"'"'^' '-^ '^^y '» ^he 
 
 ness." Romans Hi ,8 ..1::/'''^'^^''^^' "°^'^ '" "gh^eous- 
 present time are n 'Jor'thv to '''' ^'^ "'^^''"S^ ^''^'^'^ 
 
 o, Having promise nf tN« i,v .^ miothy, iv. 
 
 .o.co,„e,. iL, ,;r/i:; t : 7-; -^, -^ *- ««ch .-. 
 
 in store for themselves i .onH Z"^- '-'^'^l^'^'^ v'- '9, "Laying up 
 
 come few .;.;::;/,,t::vr^^^^^^^^ ^^- ^° 
 
 "al life." Second Timothy' iv ?. J ^ T ^'^ ^'^'^ °" ^^^^■ 
 
 God, and the Lord Jesu cL L u, k'?' '^'' ''^'^^'°^^ ^'^^'^ 
 
 y-'^^.^^-) the quick and t'de^^^^^^^^ M. /. « W .. 
 
 Rev. xii c " And «h > , I 'Appearing and his kingdom." 
 
 .*, "Are they „„, all ministerta" s p n s "Jt „ ■"*■ '' 
 
 .-en. Who ..„ ,.. ,,,„, „„ ^:r:'^rs:/xToa' 
 
 I * J 
 
 
;3t; 
 
 Heb. vi. 5, " The powers ot the world to come," read, "■ the pow- 
 ers of the approaching age." Rarely is MeXXw correctly rendered in 
 the A. V. One instance may be given in Heb, viii. 5, " As Moses 
 was admonished of God, when he was alwut to make the taber- 
 nacle," but not one can I find where the word has relation to the 
 kmgdom of God. These instances where MsXXcr appears in con- 
 nection with the resurrection, the judgment, and the glory then 
 about to be revealed, which in ist Peter i. ,5, is called, a " salva- 
 tion ready to be revealed in the last time," give more than a hint 
 concerning the nearness of " the Inst time," and rebuke any at- 
 tempt to make the prophecies of Christ in Matt, xxiv, Mark xiii, 
 and Luke xvii. and xxi. chapters accord with the accepted Escha- 
 tologv. 
 
 1 
 
 Many may say, " who can believe in the resurrection as eighteen 
 centuries in the past. Such a view demands an entire riddance 
 of our theological preconceptions, and of our ways in literalizing 
 Scripture symbolism, and thereby 'waiting for his Son from 
 heaven,' as the first disciples were exhorted to do. It shows an 
 amazing difference in the post mortem condition of saints before 
 and after the regal advent. To those before, a continuance in 
 death, followed by a resurrection to everlasting life, when the 
 Life-giver came in his glory ; while to those in the reign of Christ, 
 death is the door to glory and the vision of Christ." Not how- 
 ever should be added, any ascription to death of any power to 
 save, or to translate the believer to the vision of Christ, for death 
 although abolished, or rather as the verb x«T«py.,Ta. in ist. 
 Corinthians xv. 26, means "made ineffectual," is still the 
 remnant of the last enemy. To the Christian, death is 
 now as much swallowed up in victory, as it was to all the 
 faithful of former times, at their resurrection at the regal 
 advent. As the faithful now enter the valley of death, they prove 
 that only its shadow is there. Its power to hold—its former power 
 which held the faithful in iron bondage until the advent of the 
 delivering King, is gone, and gone for ever. There is an amazing 
 difference in the post mortem condition of saints before, and after 
 the regal advent. The latter have the w».^« (spirit) the special 
 gift of the final age, called by Paul " the spirit of adopliun," or 
 rather ■' of sonship," •' the earnest of our inheritance," that " by 
 
37 
 
 fruits when jesu. a^Sed'^ I ^r' TL"'°r?; °' '"' 
 ascension to the re^il aHvpnf i^^ ^ '"''''■'■'''' ^''O'" ^lie 
 
 Holy Spirit, and :^:^zrj'Tr'f^t ''''^ '''^ "'■^- 
 
 immortal as a Son of TnH r "'^"^^ '"''^'^^ ^he believer 
 
 I live, ye sh^. '^e alsa' ' ""'^""^" '""^ ^^''^ '' ''^"^^' " because 
 
 re!:::^;:^l;Lf^'^ T ^.^ --^ed by t,. Wew or the 
 on the .roundTLT -n; it^ L^ Illrc^ ^ ^^^'^^' '^ 
 's concerned, and therefore unworthy of nt k ""''''^"' 
 supported by an array of texts nf7. '' ^'''^^'^' ^^'«" 
 
 tion of certi words vvhihlal.'h' "'', '"^ '^ ^" '"^^^^P-^^- 
 the resurrection Ttheh ^ '^' ''^""^ '^^"^"^' ^"^ therefore 
 
 of MoseslSe^V t rr^a J/^ 'rr'^" ^^°^^' ^^'^-" ^'-^ 
 of the resurrection het Z '^^'/'^^'/^'^ ^'"^^^^^"^^ of the doctrine 
 
 the Church un e"ir In ZT / T '""' ^"' '^ "°^' '^'^^ ^^ 
 various Church creeds on the 1 . ''''' '° ^"' ^^^'^^'"" ^he 
 
 ful. suffice to say tht tTev .,l'^ T'"' '°"''^'°" °^ *'^^^ ^^^^h- 
 of behevors a delth d^ i. '." 'T''''' ^'^^^' '''-' ^'^^ «o^- 
 they are with cllt riTTf' ■'''' "^° ^'°^^' -^ that 
 according to these c'eed^ /J " '''^"^' ^'^^ resurrection 
 
 but of th'e aniX nat fral loT or" "^'"^ °' '" '^^^^°"^''^^' 
 body "-the very same ^ .J^i'I sT PaT "'^^ "' " ''" ^'^"^^ 
 the kingdom of God." Cot rl/ "t ''^''""'^^ '"'^^"^ 
 
 "neither doth corruption inCr^coL^o^^^^ -^^' 
 
 hopd::::!:;lirt;;i'!:ir'"'''"'r''^'-^^'-^^^ - ^' — ^ 
 
 resurrection. It'Sl no v i f^r"',t';""""'^^' '°^-^"- ^^^^^^ 
 to look scornfully at the Z t^lTlt''""': ^^ ''' ''''-'^^' 
 and contemptuously reject it v^ZZ, " "^'''^' interjection, 
 review of Scripture t v i 1 hi H T u '''''''^^'^-^ ^^^ a fresh 
 the Scriptures daily to s L ' 1 1' '^ " "'° ^" ---dy to search 
 
 on m..ny i„.ponant doctrmrand with the """'' ""'"'^ 
 monious dogma on the doctrTne of thf comparatively har. 
 
38 
 
 concerning that upon which they nearly agree. And their deliver- 
 ances on the post mortem condition of the faithful, that the souls 
 of believers at death pass into glory, and are at once, and forever 
 with Christ, will so long as these deliverances are held, convey to 
 the mind, which looks beneath the verbiage to the substance, the 
 very doctrine here advocated, concerning the faithful in the reign 
 of Christ ; and will also suggest a full, and not a partial redemp- 
 tion, and the substitution in the creeds, of the word " person" in- 
 stead of " soul." Scripture announces " the day (not days) of re- 
 demption," and gives no hint of the consummation as fulfilled, 
 first, on the soul immediately after death, and then on the body at 
 the last day of time. 
 
 The celebrated William Tyndale, the contemporary of Luther, 
 and noted as having made the first English version of the Bible,' 
 (that by Wickliffe one hundred and fifty years earlier of course 
 excepted), was the most learned Biblical scholar of his day. He 
 was well aware of the confusion in the received creed of his day, 
 concerning the resurrection. For the truth he led a suffering life, 
 and that unto death, for he perished at the stake. In his controversy 
 with the learned, and in many respects estimable Sir Thomas 
 More, a bigoted, yet no doubt conscientious Roman Catholic, 
 he said, "and ye in putting them (souls) in heaven, hell, and pur- 
 gatory, destroy the arguments wherewith Christ and Paul prove 
 the resurrection. * * * If the souls be in heaven, tell me 
 . why they be not in as good case as the angels be ? And then what 
 cause is there of the resurrection ?" 
 
 If Tyndale were here now, he would say to the members of the 
 Protestant Churches, "and ye in jjutting them (souls) in heaven, 
 destroy the arguments wherewith Christ and Paul prove the resur- 
 rection; If the souls be in heaven, tell me, why they be not in as 
 good case as the angels be ? And then what cause is there of the 
 resurrection?" What answer would be given, but that the resurrection 
 is that of the body, at the end of time. If Tyndale were then to 
 ask, " what of the souls of believers at death passing immediately 
 into glory, and being at once and forever with the Lord ? Is this 
 also a rcurrcction ?" They would say, no, it is a translation, it is 
 the being caught up to meet the Lord. In short, the inevitable 
 
39 
 
 .ogta^TS'C,?;if';r''°"'''°"^' *' "'- learned .he<v 
 
 of the sanctified soul presentli aSr, l*? .? re-iurrecfon, as that 
 second resurrection a tS of ,rtod. h °' ""■?'"'>•■ ""<■ ">= 
 Anabaptists, he writes confcedt t t ' u" '"' '"""" ••"S'^"" ">« 
 ion, that th; departed s,in,r ^' ""'"•■'P'' '"'"'=°''» »" "Pi"- 
 theReforn^ers'^^corsed^r'"''"''*'"''''''''-™- '"*-=•. 
 
 »nd the resurreclnet'ri'" "'''"'"'"= ^^ '^** 
 where we read " A„„rt, * / "■' """ "" Secies, ix. ,o, 
 
 soio„,on:hii'.h;X:H!'r ;'h *' '"^'' "= '"--""- 
 
 ■ think of nothing. C, ' ' , rtl ■''" ""^ *" ''^'""' """ 
 
 when awakened* wi„ Sn ' i h eUXr^ha '^ , " '""' '"' 
 moment." ^neniseJves to have slept scarcely a 
 
 tion and the judgment t ' '''°"^ '^'^"^' ^^^ ^^^"'^e*^- 
 
 deliverance fthTu'LtlSr"'; '%^''^^ they traverse the 
 is not so, if we coLidTrZ ^ f "''"''^ "" ''"'''■ «"^ 'his 
 deliverances. In a enser^r,/' '"• ^'^ "'^^^'''^"^^ ^^^'^-^ 
 the reign of Chri"t "Th. . • T''''^''^' ^"^ '-^'"'^^^ ^eld 
 
 ^luentlyusedincLds and "" "'""^- "'^"" '^ ^ P^^^^ fr- 
 the books of n"alld ; "f '^^"""^"tanes. and sermons. In all 
 
 Christ as now.' Tl^tlenL^D T' '^""^ °" ^^^ ^^^^ 
 
 oHhe 96th psalm, '^oT^Iwcli-ldr;" '/• ^"^^^^'-^^ ^^^^^- 
 receive her King » JZ . ' ^""'"^ '' ^°'"^' ^^' ^arth 
 
 present reignin" KinT. H ^''''"'" '" ^'^^"^^^^ ''^^'^ ^^P^Y a 
 all men in a c\S L ,iL?Th"' rf T^'""°"^ ^"^^^-'^^ 
 in a sense held the^lZrc "of whlt'l it T^T' ''' '''''' 
 the reign of Christ • ^«/ // /,.; / Tv 7 advocate concerning 
 
 W.. It has he d ess inTha't f ' """' ""''' ''""' ''^'^^"^' 
 advent as d.nn^ f4 th H r "°' >-ecognized the reeal 
 
 regarding the^eignas'm'r' ^V ?'°"" dispensation, and in 
 
 «n-.eL.a„.j,:----ra:Zet.7:3;: 
 
 i"' 
 
40 
 
 Father hath given " all judgment," and under wliom " he hath 
 put all things," himself excepted, " which did put all things under 
 him," so that the Son " is Lord of all." " Over all, God blessed 
 forever." The Church has failed to see in the ascription of all 
 power in heaven and in earth to the Son, the lapse of the me- 
 diatorship in the assumption of absolute authority. Let the 
 reader carefully notice John v. 22, 23; ist Corin. xv. 27, 28 ; 
 Phil. ii. 9, 10, II ; and Rev. i. 8, and he will see that the medi- 
 atorship of the Christ /■,a/e place to the absolute sovereignty of 
 the Son of God at the regal advent ; and he will also perceive 
 from other parts of Scripture, as Luke xxi, 31, and Heb. i, 6, 
 where in the first, the kingdom is said to be nigh at hand when 
 Jerusalem was captured by the Romans and her temple de- 
 stroyed, and in the second where the Son is presented as an 
 object of worship when God " again hath introduced the first be- 
 gotten into the world," that the Son began his rule over the final 
 age when the Levitical economy finally passed away. His throne 
 resting on a 7C'/ii>//y perfected atonement. Himself as " Over all, 
 God blessed forever." His sceptre ever extended to the world of 
 smners, and each one touching it in repentance and faith, find in 
 that comprehensive yet simple act, the remission of sin, and " an- 
 mheritance among all them which are sanctified." All contro- 
 versy forever silenced concerning the Deity of the Son of God, 
 for he is " over all," and respecting the nature of the atonement 
 for it is simply and wholly perfect. These two fundamental doc- 
 trines fc ever removed from the field of controversy, because com- 
 prised in the person and rule of the Priest-King, in submission to 
 whom is life, and in rejection of whom is death. 
 
 The universal Church has held concerning the reign of the 
 Son, vwxe than Scripture teaches. It has placed the regal advent, 
 the resurrection and the judgment at the end of time, of which' 
 end ot time there is not in Scripture the remotest hint in its 
 relation to these events. With all deference to others, I must say, 
 that after a patient and thorough examination o. Scripture. I have 
 found only one allusion to the end of time, and it in ist Corin. 
 XV. 24, but the reference there is not to the regal advent, but to the 
 end of the reign— to the giving up of the kingdom to the Father, 
 '*n<hen he shall have put down all rule and all authority and 
 
" He must refen ,m |" ,™ ' "' "■" "'" '^P""' »"*■ 
 
 Then ■hee„d,r„-;";o:^^„x 1',::; :;f' r"r "'»'-'•" 
 
 have delivered nr th„ v J °^ '""^' ^^'^'^^'^ he shall 
 
 he *al, haT: ,„?<,, „'':,f,:;" '"f [J -en.ho Fa.her; » ■..*„ 
 
 then ako the .ign „ "| ' sir, " ''""''"■">' •'""' 1"'""." ■""! 
 
 comes ,o an end fo 1 '°h °'" °"' '=°<' '''=^=«' f- 'ver ,■■ 
 
 " Then the end " F 
 only reference to thrend'oV\ "' ';","■'" -^^' '"^ ^'^''^ '^ 'h^ 
 There are many such nhr "' ^ '''"" ^'^""^ ^" S^"P'"re. 
 
 last day," <^ theld^\|f ^;^;;- ^f °^ ^'- ^ays/<. the 
 hand." "the ends of the loM""^" 'f "' ''" "^'"-^ '^ ^^ 
 reader not to be misled ill ^''' '"'' ^"^'- '" ^ ^'^"^ ^he 
 phrases in their reCn to tif >'''"' '"^ ^° ^"^'^^I-^^ '^^ 
 in Scripture. The e d of ^ radlr' " '"7"^ " '' ^'^^ 
 ago; yet Peter at Pentecos ^ o :tf" thTrst'^f '"" """"^^ 
 or near. Paul in rst Corin. [. . , ' <'th v ''• "' ^""^^'^ 
 admonition, ..^.;; ,,,/,.;,, the ends oT^K ^^^ ''""'" ^""^ "''"■ 
 Heb. i. 2, we read " Hnl / "^ "'°'''^ ''^'"^ ^"'"f^-" In 
 
 his Son," Ind i : x' .6 < Bu't"n^ '"' '""" ''"^'^^ ""'^ ^ ^^ 
 hath he appeared to put :^" "Z "T " '■'' '"' '^ "'' ^^''^^^' 
 in ist Pete; iv. ;, . b, the el '^ -• '-"''' °' ^""•"'^'" ^"^ 
 ^-->. sober and ttc^u to ;;::^ .;''Ttr " '^"'' '' '' 
 others having reference to the end of the M ' ^'''T' '"^ 
 
 —to. to the reign or .ge ^rtL.^- ^^l- 
 
 man in his own order (or ba d c ;t ^ ^^'fi T f ' " '^"' '^^''^••>' 
 they that are Christ's aUiscomu!g'N:^ t thH' ''T'' 
 
 jf,.^ei:t:^r^rio:;r^jxr^r"-^^- 
 
 be^. the then living generation passed a.-a^- ^^^ ^J^^^^^ 
 
42 
 
 In I St Corin. xvi. 22 he says, " Maran atha" the Lord cometh or is 
 coming. In Phil. iv. 5, " The Lord is at hand." In Heb. x. 37, 
 " For yet a little while," (^/x/)o» ooro» o<ro» 1 very little while. To 
 give intensity to what he says he repeats om. In Liddel & Scott's 
 classical lexicon we read, " oo-o», oaoi, only just, the least bit,") 
 " and he that is coming will come and shall not tarry." 
 
 James says, " Be patient therefore brethren unto the coming of 
 the Lord." "The coming of the Lord drawethnigh." "The Judge 
 standeth before the door." 
 
 Peter in many parts of his epistles speak, of " the appearing " 
 and " the revelation " of the Lord Jesus, in a way that precludes the 
 thought of the end of time as the season. The first chapter of his 
 first epistle is crowded with such statements, and with reflections 
 on them. In chap. iv. 5th verse, we read, " who shall give ac- 
 count to him that is ready (iToz/Awr exo»T< held in readiness) to 
 judge the quick and the dead." He adds, " But the end of all 
 things is at hand, be ye therefore sober and watch unto prayer," 
 thus repeating the cautions of Christ in Luke xxi. 34 to the end, 
 with reference to his second and regal coming. 
 
 John said of his day, " Little children, it is the last time, and as 
 ye have heard (from Christ) that antichrist shall come, even now 
 there are many ant'christs, whereby we know it is the last time.' 
 Full of confidence in the near coming in glory of his Lord, and 
 our gathering together with him,, he says, " And now little 
 children, abide in him, that when he shall appear, we may have 
 confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming." He 
 adds to enforce the exhortation, " If ye know that he is righteous, 
 ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him." 
 And then as the grand motive to righteousness, he speaks of the 
 love of the Father, as the origin of divine sonship, that love mani- 
 fested in the whole work of Christ, but to be more illustriously 
 displayed, when he shall appear in regal glory, for then shall be 
 the manifestation of the sons of God, Rom. viii. 19. In view of 
 this as then near at hand, the enraptured apostle says, " Behold 
 what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we 
 should be called the sons of God, therefore the world knoweth us not, 
 because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, 
 
43 
 
 and it doth not yet appear what we shall be : but we know that 
 when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as 
 ne IS. 
 
 - The scintillations from Messianic prophecy, focalized by Him 
 whose testimony is the spirit of prophecy, flooded the New Testa- 
 ment with the hght of the day of Messiah's glory. Hence the 
 difference in the older and in the later divine records. The one 
 having as Its seal " the mount that might be touched and that' 
 burned with file," and enshrouded in "blackness and darkness 
 and tempest." The'other, the signet of « Mount Sion, the city of 
 the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem," where are "an innumer- 
 able company of angels," " the general assembly and church of 
 the first born" and " the spirits of just men made perfect." Thev 
 were severally representative of "the law of a carnal command- 
 ment, and of " the power of an endless life-of " the law which 
 made nothing perfect," and of the " better hope by the which we 
 draw nigh unto God." Representative also of " the ministration of 
 condemnation," about to be shaken and removed, "that those 
 things which cannot be shaken may remain." The one, styled 
 ^things that are made," Heb. xii, 27. Adumbrative and symbolical 
 things-material, as representing the spiritual-the old heavens 
 and earth. Tha other " a kingdom which cannot be moved " 
 All those " thmgs which are made" fulfilled the divine design and 
 m A D. 70 gave place to the spiritual and immovable kingdom 
 which came not with observation, and whose events of resurrec 
 tion and judgment and continuous life giving action, were not 
 patent to the senses of men, nor were heard in the din of a busv 
 and sensual world. ^ 
 
 It needed but a word from the omnipotent King to awaken all 
 the righteous dead to everlasting life. " He spake and it was 
 done. Not a ripple on the great sea of earthly life indicated the 
 wondrous transformation. The world moved on as before, when 
 the kingdom which came without observation received into itself 
 all the excellence of form*:r times. The world moved on as be- 
 fore, when the established kingdom, as "the ministration of the 
 spirit testified to death as made ineffectual to hold him who 
 hveth and believeth in Christ. The apathy and unbelief of the 
 
44 
 
 world infected the cluircli. She walked by sight and not by faith. 
 The words of the Lord Jesus, John vi, 51 and 58, "I am the 
 living bread which came down from heaven : if any man eat of 
 this bread he shall live forever." ''Not as your fathers did eat 
 manna and are dead ; he that eateth of this bread shall live for- 
 ever" — words which revealed the consummation of all gospel 
 blessings, in eternal life immediately after death to all the faith- 
 ful in the final age, were not apprehended in rheir true sense 
 because of the prevailing unbelief The Church after the regal 
 advent, like many of the disciples who had heard these words 
 from the lips of Christ, said, " this is an hard saying, who can 
 hear it." 
 
 The Church invited the ehtrance of Judaism and of Plato- 
 ism. The one, with its last day regal advent and resurrection and 
 judgment, projected to the end of time, and the other, with its 
 soul-life after death. A mottled Christianity has signalized the 
 centuries since, and a Babel of different languages and hostile 
 sects. Although wounded in the house of her friends, Chris- 
 tianity reveals her divine mission in her survival to the present. 
 She lives in her human bands, yet longs to be disenthralled. 
 " The whole creation groaneth and travail eth" for her emancipa- 
 tion. It will come, 7vhen the Church universal turns Irorn the 
 testimonies of men to the law and to the testimony of God, and 
 sees there the spirituality of the Kingdom of God, in the difference 
 in the former, and in the final dispensations — the reign of death 
 in the one, and the reign of life in the other — the earthly depu^ 
 ties ruling in the one, and the Messiah as God over all and 
 blessed forever, ruling over the other. Then, the spiritual nature 
 of the final age will be seen, and the eye of faith resolve all its 
 acts. Then, the recognition of the resurrection at the regal 
 advent, and of the continuous gift of eternal lite in the 
 final age to the faithful, as they pass through the valley of 
 the shadow of death, and of the presence of the Son of God 
 as sovereign and reigning King, and of Holy Scripture as 
 alone the law of his reign, will lift Christianity above the 
 inventions of men, will rebuke the schisms of the past and the 
 present, will reveal the righteousness of the kingdom of God, and 
 will thus prepare the way for the purification and unity of Chris 
 
46 
 
 ter.dom, and the extension of the gospel over all the earth 
 
 and entefed the kSdoi of r H ""^ '"'^"^ ^"^ ^'^^^^d' 
 
 .,-. study .here ..Li^, .he sli^r ^o ^^i*":" Z 
 
 and the corresponding places in ^1^ Vt \^ ' '"'^- ^^ 35, 
 
 words of the Zori nf / u '"^P"-^^'"" gathered from the 
 
 nf M • prophets, be prepared to begin a review 
 
 law and to the testimony," that u fai^. may .<Totl / '° ^^ 
 wisdom of men, but in L power of God 'If as Ltn " f 
 •' God hath yet more truth fnd light to b^a^^^^^^^^^^^^ 
 b.heve that they can only come "from- "■ - '^^ "' '""^'J 
 
 May 
 
 Holy Word. 
 m!,"'' '!?'?. "°".!™''^ ^"d "8'^t to break forth 
 
 God's Holy Word? 
 
 to 
 
 fro! 
 
 I 
 
 ; 
 
 purify faith, to resolve and realize the 
 
n 
 
 46 
 
 righteousness of the kingdom of God, to gather in o 'e the people 
 of God now scattered abroad, and all to the evangelization of the 
 heathen world. Should we no^ expect this additional truth and 
 light in this century ? which beyond all others is signalized by the 
 missionary spirit, and by corresponding efforts for the diffusion of 
 the Gospel. When, if not now, should we be praying, and look- 
 ing, for more truth and light to break forth from God'i Holy 
 Word ? Christendom is filled with numerous and hostile sects. The 
 earnest endeavours in this missionr.ry century, are tending to fill 
 the heathen nations with the same result of warring sects. Human 
 names and party symbols, hide the ineffable name " which is 
 above every name," and Churches of Cranmer, and Calvin, and 
 Wesley, and a host of others, decorated with human names, and 
 ecclesiastical and doctrinal ind ritual titles, proclaim that the 
 kingdom of God is not yet come. 
 
 Post-millennarianism projects the kingdom of God to the end 
 of time. Pre-millennarianism pronounces all the past of Christian- 
 ity in the aggregate a failure. Ritualism, or Sacramentarianism is 
 flooding Protestant Christendom, and with her christiar'zed 
 Judaism is labouring for the return of medireval superstition, and 
 tl>e prostration of the mind at the feet of so-called priests, of whom 
 New Testament Christianity knows nothing. Infidelity, reinvigor- 
 ated by the revival of physical science, is not as in the last century 
 confining her assaults to the Bible as a divine revelation, but is 
 aiming to overthrow that which is the only basis of any religion, 
 namely, the existence of a personal God. All these combined, are 
 producing an eclipse of faith, and a crisis in the history oi Chris- 
 tianity, which imperatively demands a review of Scripture concern- 
 ing its doctrines, but more especially a review of its revelations 
 respecting the kingdom of God, and its King as whether now 
 reigning in the plenitude of Deity over the final age, or as has 
 hitherto been believed, as yet Mediator and Intercessor, and as 
 such subordinate to the Father- The Christian world may yet be 
 convinced, that if the doctrine of the absolute authority of the 
 Son as God over all, is still to be superceded by the pre- 
 vailing view of Him as Medi.itor and Intercessor, and as still 
 filling those offices, which proclaim an unfinished atonement, that 
 it beats the air in .epelling an overspreading ritualism, and that 
 
47 
 
 UmyZ:'^:'^T' "hole Christian brotherhood are vain, 
 unity andtha, H.!, """' ™Sn, gives the Divine reason for 
 
 place in spiritual c£ia",,. " '"'"'■ "'"'" "'"""™ >- "" 
 
 jsraei oj God shou d find shelter?" WK.f r l r "^""'f 
 
 so-called .isible church of CI? if 1'? f -^'^ '"'"'•^ ^'^ ''^^ 
 
 ♦),«c ^"'°"' ^^ °f fhe past now presented ? I have not In 
 
 Ki^^rrc^i: r -r t detnr^^^^^ 
 
 essence of all theolo£.ie. t i "f "^^' "^'^» '^e concentrated 
 
 «tna nnd /« t/ie Jh>rJ alone, the resolution of all truth. 
 
 We are apt to be too much concerned about the future of fh. 
 lormulas We might moderate our fears, and call into exercle a 
 
 thfir, oflr^: ^" '°°' ^^ ^'^^'^^^^^^ Christendom, and eTat 
 ^heK,ea,oftheChnst,an Church presented in the New Testa 
 
 ^reiv . Tr' '' '' '''"'^''''' ^h-^ serious concern for the 
 
 ^Z^t ,^''"'"^^^-^'^""S^«encies if conscience is not in- 
 fringed hereby, but let us not in view of what Scripture teachls 
 concern,ng the unity of all beUevers in Christ, uppo^e thl; 
 resent arrangements are divine, and therefore to ' endSre o the 
 tnd. God .nusf have "yet more truth and light to break for t^ 
 
 M] 
 
4H 
 
 from his Holy Word." The ecclesiastical and doctrinal condition 
 of Christendom is so wide apart from that of apostolic times, and 
 the teaching of Scripture ; and the righteousness manifest, is so 
 little beyond that ot the Scribes and Pharisees, as to warrant the 
 inference, that Christianity is yet in the season of her youth, and 
 that her growth to matunty may fill up five times the number of 
 the centuries .she has yet counted. 
 
 Why should we not look to a \ glorious consummation of the 
 reign of the Son of God? The Patriarchal dispensation, ended in 
 an overspreading of idolatry and wickedness. The Mosaic, ex- 
 pired in the desolation c ♦" Jerusalem, the burning ot the temple, 
 and the scattering of an a^)ostate people — in scenes of horror, 
 likened by our Lord to the catastrophes that overwhelmed the 
 world at the deluge, and Sodom and (lomorrah. The end of the 
 Kingdom of God, because it is the reign of God — of the God-man 
 who hath all power in heaven and on earth, will not, cannot be as 
 that of the others. It will be a glorious consummation, preceded 
 by ages of light and peace and joy, that passeth all present under- 
 standing. Instead of time expiring with the inconceivably dread- 
 ful judgment day, said to W- " the day for which all other days were 
 made," whose terrors depicted in the famous hymn of the middle 
 ages, called the Dies inc, have sent anguish and dismay into the 
 minds of saint and sinner; thr end \\hen the Son " shall have 
 delivered up tin kingdom to God e^-cn the Father," and the 
 transition into eternity will be silent and unnoticable, as the 
 perfect resemblance gives place to its perfect original. It will 
 be ctn evolution without a jar, because redemption has completed 
 its work, and earth is as heaven. This is the end, because it will 
 be " when he shall have put down all rule, and all authority, and 
 power," and therefore, when all evil has been wholly extirpated 
 and removed. 
 
 The regal advent and the resurrection of the past, gives a 
 brightly suggestive view or the Kingdom of God's dear Son. It 
 illustrates the love of the Father, the grace of the Son, and the 
 comnumion, on joint participation of the Holy Ghost. It places 
 thf Son where Scripture ever teaches as "God over all," "the 
 Aipha and the Otiuga, the first and the last," "the Almighty." 
 
49 
 
 It reveals the Son as " Kini/ of the aires " tw« r • .- 
 -tions pouring all their ^vealth^nd t ^ nco in o "?"„';"" 
 nge. Itshowshisagcasanaa-oflif. T? n ' "'*-' '^'' 
 
 ''Heth.liv.hanc.UUr: Ll J^r-^ fn "■"^'^' 
 
 "Sn reign of ,hc Son, it sounds the knel of n,l T r "' 
 
 .nChristondon,, and n.anifests t s,i „: f ' ™^ °' "'""'■'"' 
 
 the Lord shall l,e Kin,, overall h °V "'"'''■ " '">''^' "And 
 oneshe„hetd, -and unto hi„, »hal, the" afh':!": IclT^:! 
 
 nominationalism .. 1; - '""'/■'"•■^■«=<1 realm of I.e- 
 
 Of .he earth, for I an, .„d ZZ::i::JZP'' "" "■^- ^"^ 
 
 ™":f:s::i,c:r^;::C.rdr„.rrf:%- 
 
 »uperna,„ral even,, , tlldt fer tl °" "" 'T"""' "' *» 
 dennhion of proph tici s™bdL '„ th™",!" '" """ '" "»= 
 words of St. Pa.^, " we wa Ik bv f 1 . k "'^ ™' """" ""•• 
 a. the thing, which a'slel ta a heli/ "I'': " "^ '°°^ ""' 
 We look by the eye of faith,'and ^ byhX ^'er T"^' 
 objecaon so formidable to ,nany , need say not „ f ^.he Th'! 
 
 -He ,„.r,e...o„ of the Bible which is la^Z e:;:^ 7^ 
 
 as of the past, traverses the deliverances of the univ, r.,l rl u 
 on these doctrines, not much more need be ^W rn„ ! u 
 .ention to the supreme authority of sSfpt'^'/t'^rbyldL: 
 
50 
 
 to this higher law that Luther revived the true doctrine of justifi- 
 cation by faith, which was denounced by the Romish Church as a 
 novelty. But it was as an axe laid at the root of the great tree of 
 sacerdotalism. It did not merely antagonize the doctrine of jus- 
 tification as then held, and dating back for over twelve centuries, 
 but it shook the fabric of church deliverances, and removed many 
 doctrines then considered essential to human ^salvation. In view 
 of the justification of the sinner by faith in Christ only, there re- 
 mained no place for the mediating and absolving priest, or the 
 atoning sacrifice of the Mass, or purgatory, or prayers for the dead, 
 or the worship of Mary and the Saints, or for the ritualism which 
 for twelve centuries or more had given the visible expression of 
 Christian doctrine. Only three centuries have elapsed since 
 Christendom was shaken to its base, and chiefly by the resurrec- 
 tion to life of a doctrine which had been smothered by ritualism 
 and sacerdotalism. Many then said that Christianity was over- 
 thrown. We now say that excrescences were removed, and Chris- 
 tianity was strengthened. Many may say, if the regal advent and 
 the resurrection as of the past displace the present views, that 
 Christianity will be seriously injured. What if the views now pre- 
 sented are revived divine truths, and needed to the perfection of 
 the doctrine of justification by faith ? What if the words of the 
 prophet, " Look unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of the 
 earth," demand a looking to the reigning King who was Priest, 
 but now is the Priest-King ? Christianity seriously injured ! She 
 will be largely illustrated. Justification by faith injured ! The 
 doctrine Avill be fully developed. It now suffers by the almost ex- 
 clusive reference to the priestly Christ. It will be perfected as 
 faith is extended to embrace also the reigning and sovereign Son 
 of God. 
 
 The third objection to the regal advent and the resurrection as 
 of the past, has not yet been noticed in these pages, but to my 
 own mind it has been for some years, and until I was led to con- 
 sider these events as of the past, the most formidable objection of 
 the three. Before, it was not easy to see that the ruin of Jeru- 
 salem and the temple, and the removal of the whole Mosaic 
 system, could be tn themselves matters of great concern to Chris- 
 tians at Rome and Corinth and Thessalonica and Phillipi. The 
 
61 
 
 pertinency of the Saviour's words tn . I, ■ -x 
 
 readily understood but not IZ r ' '" ^"^'''^ '^""'^ be 
 
 other countries, no; treri:^^^ '''' ^°"-- - 
 
 parts. It is true that the Je vs 'tre , '^"'^'^ *° ^'^°^^^ '" ^^^er 
 their national ruin and disp r ion ? P-^ecutors, and that 
 
 progress or Christianity, trnroTurso^ as tf"^^ '' f 
 language used in the New Testament Th , ''''"■^"' '^'^ 
 
 considerable number of discinleTfn 7^ ^P^^^^^ James and a 
 nearly up to the time of e'dttr ^^n ^f !h '^^ ^' J--^>- 
 that the enmity of the Tews ^vTrT I. ' "'^' ^'^^^'^ ^^ows 
 by that power'which aliTti: IZTTb ' ^'%^°"''^" '^''''~~ 
 years far exceeded the Tews In ^ "i ' '"^^ '" subsequent 
 How to find a way out of his dffl'f'"^ the Church of God. 
 hasthemmdsofothl '"^"^^'^■^^'^ "^>' """^ as it 
 
 removaloftheLevitiartTrrD /"";'? '^"' ^^^ «-^ 
 then of the Kingdom of God ni^^''^"""'^ '^^ establishment 
 application of thVp^Z-^JjlTa:^^^^^^^^ °' f' ^'--'^ 
 tians on the whole earth sp^n..^ ^ ""P"'^^^' ^o Chris- 
 
 ficulty before soTen^ L h'"^ ''''^""^ appropriate. The dif- 
 
 J' ure so perpiexmg then vanished. The rrisi« ,•„ a r. 
 70 was a tune of fear and hope to thp Ch ■ J ^- ^•' 
 
 ^vas to those in Jude. The ' ^ ^^ ^^"' "' ^°™^' ^« ^^ 
 
 redemption signii?Lh?Sav^n^^^^^ ^"^ ^'^ 
 
 when these thinss b.-»in t„ ,„ . ' "'"' '«'■ =8. "And 
 
 your he»ds ; forTo '"d :„ r: d """i '"■" '°"'* "P" •■■"<' "« "P 
 faithful ,0 the enZf he e^^™ '"T "'''''" ^"■'="<''' "" *e 
 Jfo'ies and death the lZ„- , ■'™'"' *"= •'''""'"™ of 
 
 faithful of the pas, ™d,tT'° ™""'''"S "«= "f "11 the 
 only the Shad?::; .he', X^^ for '"''' '" *■^'■ 
 -n was the grand crisis of all .Lt il fi a, "Tf"* '"•'" 
 awayofthe reign of de-jth nn^ r ' '"S^'^cant of the passmg 
 
 through righteo'usnisful etlaUiffbr T '^''''".T^ '° "'^'«" 
 Guided by such a view the H ffi , ' ■' "' '^'"'" o" Lord." 
 
 co.n„,oni;:receiv:d™:;ortS™ Sr ^rSf' ?"' 7 *^ 
 
52 
 
 Before the general tenor and the harmonious adjustment of 
 Scripture, the three objections fade away. Especially is it so, 
 as the words of Christ in Matt. xxiv. 29 to 36 are carefully studied. 
 There we see predicted in " the tribulation of Mt^^ days" thedeso- ' 
 lation of Jerusalem and the end of the temple. There is an im- 
 mediate sequence, the final end of the Mosaic system civil and 
 ecclesiastical, indicated by the words Et/fliwi S« /xit* — words, which 
 no critical skill can change the rendering — " immediately after." 
 There are figures employed, similar to those used by the prophets 
 concerning the end of the Empires of Babylon and Egypt. The 
 sun darkened. The moon not giving her light. The stars falling 
 from the heavens, and the powers of the heavens shaken. All these 
 symbols representing the end of Judaism, and all together, "the Son 
 of man coming in the cloiids of heaven with great power and 
 glory." Another connected sequence, the resurrection of all the 
 righteous dead, — " And he shall send his angels with a great sound 
 of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four 
 winds, from one end of heaven to the other." As we read these 
 words, those of Paul, 2nd Thess. ii. i, flash on the mind, "Now we 
 beseech you brethren by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and 
 by our gathering together unto him." Then the parable of the 
 fig tree, " When his branch is yet tender, and putting forth leaves 
 ye know that summer is nigh." Then its explanation, " So likewise 
 ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it (summer) is near, 
 even at the doors." Tlie wintet of death almost gone, and the sum- 
 mer of life almost come. What precision marks the Saviour's fol- 
 lowing words : " Verily, I say unto you, this generation shall not 
 pass, till all these things are fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass 
 away, but ray words shall not pass away." Criticism has done its 
 utmost to make -n ymx avnt — " this generation" mean this race or 
 nation, but without avail. Expositors in despair have advocated a 
 double sense with a like result. In Matt. xxiv. Mark xiii. and 
 Luke xxi. the judgment on Jerusalem, the regal advent, the resur- 
 rection and the judgment, are placed as synchronous events. Jesus 
 said, Matt, xviii. 1 6, " in the mouth of two or three witnesses 
 every word may be established." There are here not only two, but 
 three witnesses, testifying to the end of the reign of death, and to 
 the beginning of the reign of life at the second and regal advent. 
 
 Can we wonder that the judgment on Jerusalem, it being the 
 
53 
 
 visible sign of such stupendous events i^ th^ .- i j 
 resurrection and the judgment shouM T k ^ '^''"'' '^" 
 Apostolic times, in al part oflhf m 'u''''" '" ^^"^^'""^ '" 
 
 death . neart, ended, and *e ,ei.„ of ^Z ah™ .^'Sg "' 
 
 hill o, Zion. Isaiah\.v tr , ./Ana tfr- ""' ™ ""^ ""'^ 
 Lord of Ho3,s .ake un.o a,I p iple^ "■ oft;*"'""" T '"' 
 wines on the lees of fit thmj f .V / ' """»*• " "east of 
 
 wen refined Tnd he v 1 df , T™"' "'''""'^ ■"• *= '<=== 
 
 covering cas. ot a r; ^it "^i:*::.?"""'" "' '"^"^*^ 
 nations. He wi„ swallow^p' dllh'Tn ^ ^ ^^e^^I orCo^d 
 will ivipe away tears from off all faces • and ,1 e „i T f, 
 pie shall he takeaway from o^all he'ea tl, oT ,h V H^rt 
 spo en it. And it shall be said in that d y Lo , , s o°u?rt, 
 we have waited for him and ire will save „s Ibl the L„ d ' 
 
 the dunghill." Hoseaxiii ,. "; ' ''^^ '^°''" f^"- 
 
 power of the grave Ar;iT' •„ T ''"''™ ^^^"^ ^^^"^ ^he 
 
 accomplished. "Vet have T „. „ I '^"'"""■'' '""i «"'=<= 
 ^ion." ..p„, ,he «„'gd: srheTU'THd^he""',,'"'^ ""' '' 
 a...on,then.atio„s,.. - A" -he endtr.iror.dM'Jr ^.^X 
 
 1 
 
 I 
 
 ': ("I 
 
64 
 
 and turn unto the Lord, and all the kindreds of the nations shall 
 worship before thee." " O let the nations be glad and sing for 
 joy, for thou shalt judge the people righteously and govern the 
 nations upon earth." " O worship the Lord in the beauty of holi- 
 ness : fear before him all the earth. Say among the heathen that 
 the Lord reigneth : the world also shall be established that it shall 
 not be .aoved : he shall judge tlie people righteously. Let the 
 heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad ; let the sea roar, and the 
 fulness thereof. Let the fields be joyfu', and all that is therein : 
 then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice. Before the Lord, for he 
 Cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth ; he shall judge the 
 world with righteousness and the people with his truth." 
 
 The regal advent is of the past. Scripture luminously declares 
 it. Its testimony concerning the regal advent embraces the resur- 
 rection as also of the past. This was to be when Michael the 
 great prince should stand up in regal majesty, at " a time of 
 trouble, such as never was since there was a nation, even to that 
 same time, and af that time thy people shall be delivered, every 
 one that shall be found written in the book. And many of them 
 that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting 
 life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And they that 
 be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they 
 that turn m.any to righteousness, as the stars forever and ever." 
 Dan. xii. i to 4. Christ, in Matt. xxiv. 21, says of this time of 
 trouble, as to be fulfilled at the desolation of Jerusalem, " for 
 then shall be great tribulation such as was not since the beginning 
 of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be." He, in verse 30, 
 announces his regal advent, and in the verse following, the resur- 
 rection and the gathering together of " the elect, from 
 the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other." 
 In Mark xiii. 27, we read, "from the uttermost part of 
 the earth to the uttermost part of heaven." In Daniel xii. 7 
 is a prophecy, the significance of which has not yet been per- 
 ceived by many, yet its evident import confines the completion of 
 Daniel's prophecies, at least of those in the twelfth chapter, to the 
 events of A. D. 70. Let the reader seriously ponder it. " And 
 I heard the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of 
 the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto 
 

 55 
 
 heaven, and svvare by hini that liveth for ever that h «, „ , . 
 a t.me, t.mes, and a half, a.^ ,,,,,. /e s7a^' t^ \ " '°' 
 
 ''<^t^^'' i''e power of the holy peopl an t^^^^^^^^^^^ 
 
 Let this prophecy be ohre/i vi i ^''^^K^^ shall be fuihhed:^ 
 
 " And th^ sha7r^i^^;re;;e tf r^^"^^^^ '^ ^"^^ -■• ^4- 
 «...i'..//.V./...«//i,J/ff^^ ;^^^^^^^^ shall be led 
 
 of the Gentiles until the tinl "f i . ? '''"" '^^ ^'■°^^^" ^^^^ 
 
 the resurrection of the Ja hfu de H ?"'"^^ "^^ '"^«"^^ -^" -'^ 
 
 70, announced by D^i^^^^^^:^^^^^^^ - A. D. 
 
 by Apostolic testimony 1 as a 2 ^ ^ "'' ^"^ c°"fi™ed 
 
 "worthyofaUacceptationT "''"'^"^^^^^ ^° ^^^e it 
 
 Some eminent writers have in na<;t tm. 
 trine of the regal advent as of AD " m °''?^ '" '°" 
 verbally, or tacitly, admitted the force of the ^7 T '''''' 
 so far as I know have wWh. ^ evidence ; but none 
 
 the judgment, Ikd I C " "' "'''°"^ ^° ^^^^ ™«-n, 
 
 reigns iLheLlness of tl^"lX;d%r ''' '^" °^" ^^^ 
 measure perceived these rl,f" ^ '^''">' '""^t have in some 
 
 Of univel, Chr.llXlnT;:^ ^^ ^^/^ feared the wrath 
 
 regarding the reeal advent Z. ?u P"^^"^ation ot their views 
 
 understand Scripture, i, is imp Jbletr 1 .r"' ""' ''" ? ' 
 reason for their inattention tn ,!,« t 8'"^ ""^ °"»f 
 
 regal advent as of Td " on l/"'"*' °"''= """""= °' '"« 
 and the kingdom of the fiS^e "■"™"' ""^ ^"^«'"'"'. 
 
 m,ed:;" r r„:,f:.roTLt:s"'"'= ^^°=^'^''- '-'■ 
 
 coraingcftheSonof Man."J,he R^v r TT'' """ '"^ 
 Curate of Emmanuel, CambenverLondonli'' .^f^'"/' ?- 
 reviewer in the Tournal nf s!, a '1™°°"'— « the words of a 
 
 wo*ofe„raorir;iirmot''::::i':i£:Sh''^'r;^ 
 
 gathering of the elect and the h' , '"'"'"^ °' ^^'"''^^' 'he 
 
 _--,-, ° , eject, and the desolation of the once fsvnr- ? 
 
 believed the de^cUat s I^^He^lnd't ''^=''''" '""'■""^ 
 
 '«-n rte Had ma'..o, respecting his 
 
 f I 
 
!: 
 
 
 56 
 
 advent during the lifetime of their then existing generation. Thev 
 never dreamed of thousands of years intervening between his first 
 and second coming. ♦ * # Never spoke of this coming in 
 connection with the return of the Jews to their own land ♦ * 
 or of a persona' and visible reign of Christ on earth, but with the 
 destruction of the Jewish people." "It is a thoroughly ascer- 
 tained and most deplorable reality, that no small portion of our 
 fellow Christians are taking it for granted, that in giving ear to 
 visionary conjectures respecting a -ersonal reign of Christ on 
 earth, and the splendours of a millennial paradise — they are being 
 instructed in the things which belong to their everiasting peace." 
 " A more momentous subject than the true chatader of the second 
 coming does not exist in the whole range of theology. If the views 
 here advanced are true, the belief in an advent yet to take place 
 must be erroneous ; if false, they ought to be refuted, and their 
 incompatibility with the general tenor of God's holy word 
 demonstrated. If true, the views advocated ought not to be held 
 in silence; if false, no punishment is too great for so daring an 
 innovation. If Christ has come the second time. He cannot 
 come again, and if his kingdom is now set up, it is folly to look 
 for the establishment of another." 
 
 The same writer in the preface of a book, " The .\pocalypse 
 Fulfilled." or an answer to "Apocalyptic Sketches," by Dr. Cum- 
 ming, says, "The principle upon which I have conducted tl ,;, in- 
 vestigation is founded on tli.it most clear, universally expressed, 
 and Scriptural truth, that our Lord came, as he said, to destroy 
 Jerusalem, and to close the dispensation. No doctrine of Chris- 
 tianity stands on more ample evidence, and none is capable of 
 more complete and definite proof The reason why it is not 
 more generally insisted upon, is, that we are accustomed to look 
 at the destruction of Jerusalem, and the close of the Jewish dis- 
 pensation, in the same light as the destruction ot any other city 
 or people. This is a false point of view. That awful consum- 
 mation was the grandest event, both in its nature and conse- 
 quences which has rolled along the stream of time. It was the 
 breaking up, not of a dynasty, but of a dispensation, not of a city 
 and nation, but of a religion— a religion established by God him- 
 self, and which for two thousand years was the only religion 
 vouchsafed to man." 
 
57 
 
 connected together in Holy Scripture Tf '"'"r'' ? ^"''^"^'''y 
 -/^, before that generation ptrawav i^h ' "'^"^' "" '' 
 before his disciples had gone throur/r '"""' '^'^ ^" ^'"''' 
 
 some who heard his words did n'!? !• "'''"' °^ ^^^^^^' '-^"^ if 
 ' Son of Man comingTh s Kt.d f '"'^'^ ^"^ ^'^^^ ^^ ^^e 
 
 elect at the same ti^ " Thfr fs no" ^ "• '' ''" ^^''^"^^ '^'^ 
 be true, or the B.ble must bT ^e ThT? ^' ^"^^ ""' ^'^'^" 
 proved to a den^onstration by his effectil^ J t^ '° "^"""^ '« 
 he came ; that he also gathered h,-<:,f , ^ ^''J'"*^ ^^'^ ^^'h'"ch 
 necessarily incapable of' e si' kin^ ^f '°"f '" ^"^^"^^^ '^ 
 consequence, and the deduHht n P™°^ '' ^"^^ "^tural 
 
 Son of Man." '"'^' "°''°"^'^ ^'^^ the coming of the 
 
 In an article furnished bv Mr t^o 
 
 1856, of the ' foumal of slr!^ T ."^'^" '" '^^ J"^^ """'ber. 
 
 of the Apocalypse!™ sSts'hat^l"" °" ^'^ ^^^^"'^ ^^^^ 
 
 at the destruction of jTus^m " ^r"^ °' '''^"^^ ^°°^ P'^<=e 
 
 tion. And here I am jrr?; ^'" ""^^I^'^^ "^o^e considera- 
 
 the late Prof LeVXtyVnttSrTfr^^^ 
 overwhelmed with the crowd of matTthat I Wdl ' '" " ""^'^ 
 first to seize. It is truly a noble .Z 7- ^ ''"°^' °" ^'''^h 
 
 church should have lost sfght o it Tn .f "'"^'"'^^^^- "^^ ^'^« 
 loss to conceive, partic^l^ta^ '^r/T^^' ' ^ ^ - 
 
 J-es this was the. only L ent rt^ ^ ' T T " "'^ 
 I unhesitatingly afiRrm that no doctrine of Chrk" ''^''' '^^'' 
 a more complete and magnificent proof th f""^' '^""^^ °" 
 
 the time of the second cominTof' X L^^v' ^IT '""' '°^ 
 terms ' the last days'-the hst dn r u °'"^'>' ^^^ the 
 '/he end of the world' tn^he L of I ?"". "°"°'"^' 
 tion, . the earth'-the land of nli? ^ -^"'"'^ ^'^P^nsa- 
 understood, there woSd have 1 T ''"'''' ^^^nslated .n^ 
 
 Christians." Headdsil'ano^hr LTe'^It^ilt!^^^^^^^^ ^'"^"^ 
 that our Lord's coming is onlv .n^ • ^^ "^^^ ^o state 
 
 second advent i^Yi^^ / .8) L °"'^ '" '^*^"P^"^^ - ^^'^ 
 
 can be no ...icomlng tl^ut::!';:; f^mT^"^'' ^^^^^ 
 his kmgdom." "" ais.mct frum his coming in 
 
 As I was about finishing the MS for thic , .• • 
 
 "'B| 
 
58 
 
 friend to Mr. Dezprez's writings, and especially to what he says of 
 the gathering of the elect at the regal advent. His language is 
 precise and intelligible. He says, " then he also gathered his 
 elect at the same time. There is no alternative ; this must either 
 be true, or the Bible must be false. That he did so come is 
 proved to a demonstration by his effecting the objects (those in 
 the material sphere) for which he came : that he also gathered his 
 elect (although the subject is necessarily incapable of the same 
 kind of ptoof) is the natural consequence, and the deducible cor- 
 oUaiy from the coming of the Son of Man." I rejoice that Mr. 
 Dezprez more than twenty years ago was at least on the same line 
 of thought touching the resurrection which is given in these pages. 
 There are no doubt many instances of like kind. May they be 
 multiplied, that the explicatioriof the Word of God on this impor- 
 tant doctrine may be seen to be the work of many, and so that to 
 the furtherance of truth the probable sneer may be checked, " it 
 is oxAy your work." 
 
 Professor I,ee said of the regal advent as of A. D. 70. " How 
 the Church should have lost sight of it in this its simplicity I am 
 at a loss to conceive, particularly as it is quite certain that in early 
 times this was the only view e7ttertained." This remark of one so 
 distinguished as a scholar and divine, throws no light on the cause 
 of the negligence of the church. He only here gives what seem- 
 ed to him a fact, and leaves to others the discovery of its cause. 
 Mr. Dezprez alludes to mistranslations of fortain words in the 
 authorized version, aa at least one of the reasons of the inattention 
 of the church, which is also a fact, concerning which the eminent 
 and learned divines after the Reformation, when the Bible had 
 become an open book, have shown no haste to discover and 
 amend. There is however a cause which is the chief of all, in 
 that none of the Churches of ancient or modern times, have made 
 any special and asily applied provision for the reception of any 
 more truth and light which God may cause " to break forth from 
 his Holy Word." The semper eadem of the Church of Rome, if 
 not formally avowed by the Protestant Churches, is by them sub- 
 stantially held, and not in a way quite consonant with their avowed 
 principles of freedom and progression, nor with the language they 
 use deprecatory of the Jesuitism of the Romish Church. Their 
 theological formulas, and these rigidly enforced on the teaching 
 
09 
 
 alike unfriendly to anv ctn 7t ''"°^ '' "''"' ^^^''■'^™^^ti"n, and 
 
 from an absolute unwUlZe^ '"^'f ^"^es not so much 
 
 as from the me^anic Z. ." '"""'"' '''' ^^''^"'^ ^^""^ ^^ ^o^'- 
 which for their Vs"ficai^;? "' T"''°" ^''^^ ^'"^"^^'^ ^y^^^-^^ 
 
 oHhe ac.eptedk:;:r ;:r- tr r ;^:r" ''^^ ™^^^^ 
 
 ever lean on it without very soeci.l. on. furtherance must 
 
 a very gross mistake in the fou h th "] '" f ■ '^"'"'^'- "^"'^^ 
 cerning the regal advent tV "eed-makmg century, con- 
 
 not bctn rect fi d si e ' and""""'r '"' '''^ J"<^^--^' ^-'^ 
 
 attempt to dos:^Xinr r^Ts:!::^:;;; "fs r'"-^^'' ^t 
 
 such opposition, as to cau... \ ''"^cesstul.is likely to meet with 
 
 ledge s beine incren^M ,„h ""^ "*^" ''"»"" 
 
 movers under^re TZeoTrtMl "''" "' <"'°""'''°" '''"''' "'= 
 
 weary in well-doina nnri ««i„ i , uecome taint and 
 
 than they do n'^are firm °".' r^'u"^ ''"^ "'^° ^^'-^^ ^^^ more 
 the spoiling o Si "o™' As 'r ^'^ f^ °' ^^"'^> ^^^^ i^^^^^y 
 Churihes. .^ does se/mthat the t Z t^l'rr ^"' ^^^^ '" ^'^^ 
 they become moved to attemnt MT °/ *" ^^"^ ^^ '"'"•sters when 
 
 is more than ^/uy can bel ?! u/ ?m'''°" °''°^'""''^' «"«'•' 
 
 - w, .hi., ., »„, „ „■;— •;;;-> — — 
 
 
60 
 
 ministers of all the churches will as a class compare favourably 
 with the like number of men in any piofession or,^ business. The 
 Christian people will greatly err if they apply the evil noticed to 
 them. Where the ministers fail in duty the onus lies chiefly if 
 not wholly on the church-systems, which in their recorded prin- 
 ciples are not framed according to the letter and the spirit ot the 
 New Testament. It avails little to say. that in Protestant Churches 
 the creed is subject to revision and amendment, as I am not con- 
 sidering things in the abstract, but in the concrete. Even in the 
 Church of Rome, the creed admits of increase and development 
 and there is not in Protestant Churches in the abstract any hind- 
 rance to its reformation, but in the concrete the hindrance is 
 nearly insuperable, and to reformers may involve t'cclesiastical death, 
 and so, because no special and edsily applied provision has been made 
 for the reception of more truth and light which may break forth 
 from God's Holy \Vord. 
 
 It may be said that it is easier to point out evils than it is to 
 show a way to their correction. It may be therefore very pertin- 
 ently asked, " If you from Scripture can present a remedy for the 
 consideration of the Christian people, it is your duty to do so." 
 In so doing I would say, that I have no controversy with the mere 
 frame works of particular Churches. I am pleading on a question 
 of liberty so as to .secure the freedom of the ministry in all the 
 Churches, and that, in order to the free interpretation of Scripture 
 by each minister, uxidisturbed by the pains and penalties now 
 existing. The form of the Church may be important, but the 
 freedom of the ministry in declaring the whole counsel of God is 
 vastly more important. Puritan although I am to the core, I am 
 not a bigot concerning the form of the Church. I would rather 
 plead for that, which if gained would in time purify the doctrinal 
 and then the ecclesiastical. In the New Testament, there is little 
 said of the form of the Church, but there is there much said, and 
 more to be reasonably implied, concerning two things, and these 
 apart from the mere frame work of the Church are the vital forces 
 in any and all Churches of Christ. They are, faith in the Son of 
 God as the Priest-King and as " over all, God blessed for ever," 
 and the "continuing" steadfastly in the Apostles' doctrine," wliich 
 now to us means, abiding in their recorded teachings. These two 
 principles should be sacred and inviolable in every Church of 
 
61 
 Christ. By faitJi in fh« fi 
 
 obedience in both, ,v. m„d nn/^ ""■' "'""''■ "" '"^ ™'in"«l 
 Catholic Church. The "hot U^. 'T^.T"""""" ""'' "'••' ""ly 
 fundamental PHnci,„;'::;t ' ll'^f ""^^ """^■' » *- 
 frame worlcs no». existing „r i„ ,m ■ " ™"°"' ^'■""^l' 
 
 of Scripture, out.ide oMhe 1 tT' """'^ '" "" '"'""-'""o" 
 Where these two princin c" , !, -c ,""?' ''™"'"'='' "«i"<l- 
 a neces^nry conJiucn o, ™, fo? , "? ''' ^"'™'i°". -<< - 
 out every thing elie. „lacl g I X a, h' Tk,'""' ""' ™"= 
 /»'m.*te/j. neces.sarv to ,,|J f debateable subjects, not 
 
 free discussion ,ndXndl"cor/ ■ "^T"™"'— ''J-:.^ for 
 •he ministry d.rect,y r" s b't cl^'; Lt""''""- ''''^^ '""='-- 
 to his Word as the only law „r M ' ""«""'« ^'"S< and 
 
 all existing Churches, "he 1 [ ' '"'"■ '/ ""'^ '""Iwionize 
 ■hey sweep away all h, man'y cL st !;e'd '" ,"'"• """"«"■ ""« 
 tion and communion; tha hrvlr"^, "''' '™^ "^ ''''"- 
 from bondage to au.hori ,i e 'th'oW.,,"; "•""'"« """""> 
 
 put. ^tlV.;y to t*ef ' T T"'-"' "--" before 
 Churches, and'^^her2:'i ^1^1 nT^^'^r ''°" "' '^'^«"« 
 that I need add, is to refer suT „ ?? *'l''f »'"« 'o many, all 
 ™. .8, "Upon this rock I wil i M V!""^' "' ^^'^'' M"t. 
 must either mean Pe er or h „„r "' ^''"'"''■" '''''= " 'o<^k " 
 and concerning thaJ'Th e e d tTi^.e d "iV""" '^ ™-"'' 
 language, that, and only ,!,„ whi, h ''"1^''°'''"' '« *« in its 
 acts of the ..postles in the fou Jinl «"*'';•'"'' ''''fined all the 
 of Christ, In the ec'rH. „f * ^ "Pbu'Uing of the Church 
 
 nothing that co Mr ve 'o add'JTot ' """ '^" '^ o^^^'"""' 
 of the Church was secured b ,t lelief of'T ° ,'"" ■''"= ""'*' 
 ■n the words "thou art ■ » in r, . "'"'' '^V<i«!T,l „ 
 
 atoning and anointed n'e Z^^^IST'"^' '"""'"^ 
 ■n the Son of God declared ,o b sth ''with J"""* ""^ ' " """ 
 h^spnit of holiness, by the res rrenH„„"*,Td'"r ? '" 
 
 <.~on;a„d.o;he^-:;?4rara:tr;;rs^:;-; 
 
 ! 
 
02 
 
 power as the Mfe-giver, in laisinsr to everlasting life all the faithful 
 of the past, and ( ontiniiously all the faithful, to the end of time, 
 thus verifying his words, " For as the Father hath life in himself, 
 so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself, and hath given 
 him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of 
 Man" — John v. 26-27. 
 
 In view of the ideal of the Church of Christ here given, and of 
 the so-called churches of Christ for at least fifteet 'enturies in the 
 past, we need not greatly wonder at the true doctrine of justifica. 
 tion being only revealed in the sixteenth century, nor at the view 
 of the regal advent and the resurrection as of the ])ast now pre- 
 sented in this the nineteenth century. We might marvel with 
 exceeding amazement at such late developments, could we believe 
 that the church up to the Reformation had rested only on the 
 supremacy of the Son of God, and on Holy Scripture ; or even 
 that since then the churches were and are on the Divine basis 
 solely. But such a view cannot be maintained. At the Reforma- 
 tion we cast off the Pope, and professed to abjure all human 
 authority, yet in fact we only renounced one form of human 
 authority and held to many others. Many churches have been 
 founded on particular expositions of Scripture. The authority of 
 a noted man, or that of a number ot men has been deemed suffi- 
 cient to create a church of Christ ! ! Here and there, and at 
 many times in the last three centuries has the cry been heard 
 ffom men, " On this rock (our views concerning the teaching of 
 Scripture) we will build our church," and they did build our 
 church. What one or more did, others of course claimed to do, 
 and so the anti-Christian work has gone on to the dividing and 
 the scattering of the Israel of God ; and to what is perhaps worse, 
 to the enthronement of a ])rinciple of human authoritv in the cre- 
 ation and upbuilding of societies called by their founders and 
 adherents churches of Christ, involving in them necessarily, not 
 the preaching of the whole counsel of God to the people, but its 
 publication as it accords with the accepted creed of each party. 
 
 In view of such facts we need not be amazed at any late devel- 
 opment of Divine truth. We should ruther marvel and with ex- 
 ceeding amazement, that for fifteen centuries or more, the words 
 of Christ concerning that on which He would build His Church 
 have not been received as inviolable — not to be diminished nor 
 
• 63 
 
 tf^eir expositions of Scr,uTco^"^^^ '' ''^'^>'- '•^• 
 
 .Christ, or ^vM.;;, determiners^ .'^'"" '^''""^' ••'""•'■''-" of 
 
 munion. " "^^'^"»"^« the condu.ons of salvation and com- 
 
 A look of pity and ast<,n.shn.c.v. like thit u-h; i 
 revelafon of the doctrine >r n^tific ' k r ^" '' S'^'^'-'t*-'^ the 
 century, „,ay rest on what ^s '. t' '^i Tn H ' '" ''' '''''''''^ 
 advent and the resurrectio ' v VT ''"'''■"'■"^' '''^' '•^«^I 
 not be wiser to allow M^/- ,w. .o\ ! ^""'^ ' '"" ""'^''^ '* 
 01nistendon,andontheirsandard in -T ''' ^'^""'^^ "^ 
 «/^MV^ provision is to I ,e fou d for t h ' " ■^'^""'''"' ^"•'■^•' 
 
 and light, which God marcle „ r??"^^''^"^ '"^^^^ ^^"^h 
 Word. ^ "'""'' ^° '''•e«'< ^orth out of his Holy 
 
 Scripture, l>y this on or the o herTVl ^'^ '"^-1-tatioJ o 
 
 in use the right n^ethod fo e 't il, r'" J^! ''''''''^^ ^^^ 
 
 '^alls "the unity of the faith "whirh "^ ^'^'^ "''"'^'^ '^'-^"i 
 
 knowledge of the nvea^ing of S i turr''"; "" 'T' "■^'"^ '" '^^^ 
 
 chiefly concerned for the reco^n it^' r ^^'P'''^'^'' ^'^ I'-opl, 
 
 "shed in a particular Ch^rc '^'^^s th ' T''^ "^"^' ^■^^•^'^■ 
 
 eithermaking it a condition 1^^ ^ZZa "''''' '''''''' 
 
 regard.ng ,ts acceptance necessary to t c" rowl "'h'"""""' "^ 
 
 the sect. As the Churches hnv i \^''''''^ ^nd welfare of 
 
 they have pledged the n^n^'f ""^';' ^'^ '«- Christ laid, 
 thepeopleare thoughtle V ed osf H "T' ''"' '^^"'^•^' -^ 
 Prehend .the crucbl , , est on , f u'' "''' ^°'^ "'^^ '^°»^- 
 thoughtfuhnind,vi.!w r "h "'•^'°"'' '^^-^ - -ery 
 
 ;ve of church «; oth^r c^;L;:;: T:r?^''^"^^ ^^^-^-^ 
 
 them to substitute another in,l 1,.« ■ hoivcver, enough to 
 
 Scri,,,„re s„«i„ the eree^ of ou ^r""',!';"' '""'"'°"' """■ "«« 
 examine Seripture from alnnT ■ "u ' '^"" '" "»^ i"'l"i'y 
 
 "hewrongcLch.sioIVe^nt:;:;:!""''' "*''='■ '""^<'«- 
 
 The mistake is a common,;: TZT^^:^ '"V^"'»"- 
 
 however, ,s only shgh.ly if a, all perce ed T-l ; ,","""'' 
 
 «i Of God according to t,:"':^:::'';; .r;::ii^ ;:tt x 
 
 
 ii 
 
S*" *S"! 
 
 64 • 
 
 people indoctrinated thereby, see only in the creed the sense of 
 Scripture, and are insensibly incapacitated to an independent 
 examination and understanding of the Word of God. 
 
 It is generally believed that any great change in Church creeds 
 through a letter understanding ol the Scriptures is impossible, 
 and so because of the general agreement in all evangelical 
 Churches on all important doctrines; but what if on one subject on 
 which they all agree, namely,, that the end of time is the season 
 of the regal advent, the resurrection and the judgment, they from 
 that as a stand-point, look at and interpret Scripture concerning 
 the nature of the Kingdom of God, whether as a dispensation of 
 life, o. like to those before, a dispensation of deatli ; or at its 
 King as whether soverign .ruler, or now and to the end of time 
 filling offices which involve subordination to the Father ? The 
 first view is necessarily seen from the stand-point taken and advo. 
 cated in these pages, while the other as inevitably comes from a 
 view of Scripture as seen from the other stand-point. If mine is 
 the true one, and as to whether it is such I need only refer to the 
 many passages from Scripture given to support it, the belief that 
 any great change in theology is not to be expected from a better 
 understanding ot Scripture must be abandoned. The time of the 
 regal advent and the resurrection involves a crucial question, as to 
 the real meaning of Scripture concerning the nature of the King- 
 dom of God, and the position of its King ; the true settlement of 
 which will have a direct and special bearing on the realization of 
 the highest ends, in the unity, the spirituality and the righteous- 
 ness of the Israel of Gc^ everywhere. 
 
 And therefore in conclusion, I ask all who esteem the true 
 knowledge of Scripture as above all earthly good, to make this 
 question a special study. I do so from a profound conviction, 
 that on its true solution the highest issues depend, in the unity of 
 all be^'evers with each other, and in the Son of God; in the 
 knowledge and practice of " his righteousness " which exceeds 
 that of the Scribes and Pharisees ; and in the coming in of the 
 day c light and joy and peace, when •' the earth shall be filled 
 with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover 
 the sea." T further such ends, and not for curious enquiry, nor 
 for sensational results, have I now given to the public in these 
 pages " The rtjal advent and the resurrection, of the past."