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VOICE OF THE CHURCH ON THE COMING AND KINGDOM OF THE REDEEMER.NEXT CHAPTER - HELP OR, A HISTORY OF THE DOCTRINE OF THE REIGN OF CHRIST ON EARTH. BY D. T. TAYLOR. revised and edited, with a preface, by H. L. HASTINGS. He which testifieth these things, saith, Surely, I come quickly. Amen. EIGHTH EDITION. CONTENTS. INTRODUCTORY SYNOPSIS. Extracts exhibiting the character of the volume. Antiquity. New Heavens and Earth. Kingdom of God. The Judgment Day. The Age’s Crisis. Present Evil Times. It hasteth greatly. Signs of the times. Author’s Excuse. Loving Christ’s Appearing. Author’s method. Pre-millennialists are missionaries. CHAPTER 1.
CHAPTER 2.
FIRST RESURRECTION.
SIX THOUSAND YEARS.
GENERAL CONFLAGRATION.
CHAPTER 3.
CHAPTER 4.
CHAPTER 5.
CHAPTER 6.
CHAPTER 7.
CHAPTER 8.
CHAPTER 9.
CHAPTER 1O.
APPENDIX. EDITOR’S PREFACE. In undertaking to present to the public the present volume, apologies might be multiplied. The existing prejudice against the views here presented, the peculiarity of the mode of presentation chosen in the present volume, the magnitude of the plan, and hence the necessary imperfections in its execution, the breadth of the author’s field, and hence the impossibility of collecting but a small portion of the materials which lie scattered all along the waste of ages past, — all these circumstances might be presented as defences against the animadversions of those writers who might see fit to visit the volume with their disapprobation. The work is not perfect. Chronological order is not always adhered to in the arrangement. There is much that is left out doubtless, and which wider research would disclose; but with my knowledge of the circumstances of the case, I can say the author has done what he could. Had it been the plan to write a mere history, the present volume contains materials which might easily be expanded — but the author has chosen to suppress his own reflections, and to hold in check his graphic pen, so that with twice as much study of the subject as would have assigned him a respectable position as an author, he contents himself with the modest title of compiler. But this work will fill a void in literature that many have been conscious of. It has often been stated that the present popular doctrine of the conversion of the world was of recent origin, but here it is proved, and proved beyond the possibility of successful contradiction. This is the Voice of the Church; not the voice of the Author or Editor,, not the voice of a few obscure and despised Millenarians — not the voice of unwise and over-excited fanatics, but “the Voice of the CHURCH,” — the church for many centuries. It is not the voice of an age or a generation only, but it is the voice of those who caught the words of inspiration from apostolic lips and of those who have followed in their footsteps, running with patience the race that was set before them, and saying, one by one, as their course was finished, “I have kept the faith.” The writer feels that no apology is due to the church at this time for breaking in upon her easy slumbers with this volume. The voice may be strange, but it is the voice of the church. The voice may be stern and rugged, but it is the voice of the church. The voice may seem like the voice of those that mock, but it is the voice of the church. Men may be displeased with this strange voice, men that quote the fathers, and call themselves the followers of Luther or Calvin, may wave the hand and say, “begone,” but still the church claims a hearing. She must be heard, and in this volume the church of martyrs and saints, the light of the world for seventeen hundred years utters its solemn protest against the modern doctrine of the world’s conversion, the modern cry of peace and safety. We need not argue or expatiate upon this fact. The pages of this book contain the voice of the church of the first born, whose names are written in heaven. Were they all mistaken for seventeen hundred years? Was it reserved for Daniel Whitby to correct the faith of these who listened to apostolic teachings, and who followed in their teachers’ footsteps? Has that which was an unknown doctrine or a condemnned heresy in the true church for seventeen hundred years, come at last to be the true faith of the gospel? And shall we, the successors of those who have steeled themselves against earth’s flatteries and earth’s frowns for eighteen hundred years, with the solemn watch-word, “the coming of the Lord draweth nigh,” now fold our arms in lazy lock and say in our hearts or with our lips, the Lord delayeth his coming? How are we certain that the judgment is hundreds of years distant from us, when for ages past the church has considered it near to them? Have we a new revelation? Has God sent forth men to declare that all things do and will “continue as they were” for ages yet to come? Has he not rather proclaimed that the hour of his judgment is at hand? Has he not said behold I come as a thief, and that too, in connection with events that are now passing before our eyes? And has he not said, blessed is he that watcheth? Shall we then cease to watch? If the early disciples were bidden to watch because they knew neither the day nor the hour of the coming of the Son of man, have we learned that that day and hour are so far distant that we may be excused from the watchers’ anxiety? And what are the present prospects of a church that has set out in all confidence to convert the world? How may those now putting on the harness boast of greater expected success than is warranted by the experience of those who have put it off after having fought the good fight? The prophets could not convert the world: are we mightier than they? The Apostles could not convert the world; are we stronger than they? The martyrs could not convert the world, can we do more than they? The Church for eighteen hundred years could not convert the world, can we do it? They have preached the gospel of Christ, so can we. They have gone to earth’s remotest bounds, so can we. They have saved “some,” so can we. They have wept as so few believed their report, so can we. They have finished their course with joy, and the ministry they have received to testify of the gospel of the grace of God; we can do the same. Can we reasonably hope to do more? “It would take to all eternity to bring the Millennium at the rate that modern revivals progress,” said the venerable Dr. Lyman Beecher, before a ministerial convention, held close by old Plymouth’ rock. And what hope is there that they will progress more rapidly? Is it in the word of God? Glad would we be to find it there. Sadly we read that “evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.” Has God a mightier Savior — a more powerful spirit? Has he another Gospel which will save the world? Where is it? Is there any way to the kingdom other than that which leads through much tribulation? Is there another way to the crown besides the way of crosses? Can we reign with him unless we first suffer in his cause? No doubt the world might be converted if they desired to know the Lord. And so had all who heard received with gladness the word of God, the world might have been converted within twenty years of the day of pentecost. If each Christian had brought one single soul to God with each successive year, the calm splendors of the Millennial era might have shone upon the declining years of the Apostles of Jesus Christ. But instead of this ages of darkness came on. The world did not repent, but the church apostate did. If the gospel were to convert the world, we should have seen tokens of it ere this. But where are such omens to be found? Shall we look at Judson, who labored ten long years before one sinner yielded to the claims of the gospel? Shall we look to the dense darkness of the heathen world? Shall we look at the formalism of the professed church? Shall we look at the wide extension of infidelity? Shall we look at the abounding of iniquity and the waxing cold of love? Shall we look at a world, where eighteen hundred years of toil and tears has not brought one-twentieth part of mankind even to a profession of true Christianity; and where not more than one-fifth claim for themselves the dubious title of Christian nations? Shall we look over a world in which we can not find one nation of Christians, nor one tribe of Christians, nor one city of Christians, nor one town of Christians, nor one village of Christians, nor one hamlet of Christians, save here and there where a questionable faith has led a few, with hypocrites even then in their midst, to withdraw themselves from the world and cherish the untried virtues of secluded life? Surely, after eighteen hundred years of experiment with that system which was to convert the world, men might point to some country, to some province, to some nation, and say, behold the commencement of a converted world. But will not the gospel then prove a failure? That depends upon what is to be expected of it. If the gospel was to effect the eternal salvation of all mankind, then failing to accomplish that work is a failure of the gospel. If the gospel was to convert the world, then if it is not done it will prove a failure. But if the gospel was preached “to take OUT OF the Gentiles a people for His name,” then it is not a faihre. If it was given that God might in infinite mercy and love “save SOME,” then it is not a failure. If it was given that every repentant sinner might have eternal life, and that every good soldier might receive a crown of glory, then it is not a failure. If it was given that an innumerable company might be redeemed OUT OF every nation and kindred and tongue under heaven, then it is not a failure. If it was given that the vales and hills of paradise restored, might teem with a holy throng who shall be “equal to the angels, and be the children of God, being the children of the resurrection,” then it is not a failure. If it was given that the elect might be brought into one great family of holy ones, then it is not a failure. And was not this its object, rather than the exaltation of a worldly church to the splendors of earthly prosperity, while beneath the theatre of their easy triumph there slumbers the ashes of prophets and the dust of the apostles? Are they to hold jubilee a thousand years, while the martyrs’ unceasing cry, “how long, oh Lord,” goes up to God? Are they to have their songs of triumph, while the whole creation groaneth for deliverance, and while that longed-for day of the redemption of our body is postponed? Nay, verily, the hope of the one body is one hope. The hope of the church stops not at death, it sweeps beyond earth’s scenes of tempest and of storm, and reposes in the calm beamings of that sun of righteousness which shall glow above the bosom of paradise regained. Thus teaches the word of the Lord. Thus responds the universal church. There are, I know, with regard to the details, differences of opinion. But this only strengthens the argument. It shows that the church were not led by blind reverence for the traditions of their fathers. But on the leading features they all agree. Wide apart as the poles in their theological opinions, they all agree in one point, that the coming of Jesus and the scenes of judgment must precede the rest of the church of God. They all agree that the church shall never reign till she reign complete in the presence of her Lord. They all agree that earth is not her rest until renewed by the power of God. They agree that the world will not be converted, but that the judge of quick and dead must come upon a race not ready for the harvest of glory, but ripe for the sickle of wrath. And is not this the voice of the prophets and apostles? If we read that God will comfort all that mourn in Zion, is it not at “the day of vengeance of our God?” If Christ is to have the heathen for his inheritance, will he not “break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces as a potter’s vessel?” If the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our Lord and his Christ, is it not when “nations are angry and God’s wrath is come.” If the new covenant be made with men, is it not beyond preaching and teaching, when they shall not any more teach his neighbor or his brother, know ye the Lord, for all shall know him from the least even unto the greatest? If Jerusalem is to be comforted by the blessing of God, will he not make her an eternal excellency? If God create new heavens and a new earth, shall not God’s saints “be glad and rejoice forever in that which he creates?” If the “righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their father,” will not the tares be first gathered in bundles and cast into “the furnace of fire?” So of the whole Scripture. The old earth must be dissolved ere the new one can appear — Satan must be dethroned ere Christ can reign, and death must be swallowed up in victory ere the saints can sing the victors song. Towards those scenes we hasten. The coming of the Lord draweth nigh. The rest is before us, and the toil is very brief. But alas for the world. Woe to an earth that will not repent. The Deluge and the Dead Sea tell us what God has done. The Scriptures tell us what he will do. The Sword shall not always sleep in the scabbards even now it is about to be unsheathed. Watchman, set the trumpet to thy lips! Sound in the ears of the world the dread alarm — “But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come and take away any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood WILL I REQUIRE AT THE WATCHMAN’ S HAND!” H. L. H. Peace Dale, R. I., April, 1855. INTRODUCTORY SYNOPSIS. ANTIQUITY OF THE DOCTRINE OF THE PERSONAL ADVENT AND REIGN OF CHRIST ON EARTH. “Behold a king shall reign in righteousness and princes shall rule in judgment.” — ISAIAH. Says Rev. H. H. Milman, “the future dominion of some great king to descend from the line of David, to triumph over all his enemies, and to establish a universal kingdom of peace and happiness, was probably an authorized opinion long before the advent.” And on the part of the heathen world, Plato exclaims, “It is necessary that a lawgiver be sent from heaven to instruct us. O how greatly do I desire to see that man, and who he is. He must be more than man.” Rev. Edward Bickersteth has well remarked, “There have been from age to age those who have held the personal coming of Christ before the millennium, but where is the voice of the Church as to a spiritual millennium, uncommenced, and to last 1000 years before His real coming? The idea of a spiritual millennium, which is not yet begun, before our Lord’s return, is sometimes called the old way, the old paths; but is it not an entire novelty of modern times? Has it any plea of general antiquity whatever to urge in its behalf? I believe not. Bishop Hall in his list of varied opinions on this subject gives no intimation of it. I have not been able to trace it higher than Dr. Whitby, who speaks of it as a ‘new hypothesis’ at the beginning of the eighteenth century.” “In later ages,” says Dr. Burnet, “they seemed to have dropped one-half, namely, the renovation of nature, which Irenaeus, Justin Martyr, and the ancients, join inseparably with the millennium: and by this omission, the doctrine hath been made less intelligible, and one part of it inconsistent with another.” “We are well aware,” says Professor Bush, “of the imposing array of venerable names by which it is surrounded, as if it were the bed of Solomon guarded by three score valiant men of Israel, all holding swords, and expert in war.” In the language of Rev. J. W. Brooks, “It is still further encouraging to find the number daily increasing of able and pious ministers who are becoming sensible of the duty of investigating this important branch of Scripture, and are beginning to be persuaded of the premillennial advent of our Lord.” The Rev. W. Burgh in one of his sermons relates the following conversation between a Christian minister and a Jew. “Taking a New Testament and opening it at Luke 1:32, the Jew asked, ‘Do you believe that what is here written shall be literally accomplished — the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David; and he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever?’ ‘I do not,’ answered the clergyman, ‘but rather take it to be figurative language, descriptive of Christ’s spiritual reign over the church.’ ‘Then,’ replied the Jew, neither do I believe literally the words preceding, which say that this Son of David should be born of a virgin; but take them to be merely a figurative manner of describing the remarkable character for purity of him who is the subject of the prophecy.’ ‘But why,’ continued the Jew, ‘do you refuse to believe literally verses and 33, while you believe implicitly the far more incredible statement of verse 31?’ ‘I believe it,’ replied the clergyman, ‘because it is a fact.’ ‘Ah!’ exclaimed the Jew, with an inexpressible air of scorn and triumph, ‘you believe Scripture because it is fact; I believe it because it is the Word of God.’” THE NEW HEAVENS AND THE NEW EARTH. Calvin in his notes on Isaiah 11:6-8, remarks, “He asserts here the change of the nature of wild beasts, and the restitution of the creation as at first.” On Isaiah 24:23, “Christ shall hereafter establish his Church on earth in a most glorious estate. At length God shall enjoy his own right among us, and have his due honor, when all his creatures being gathered into order, he alone is resplendent in our eyes.” Says Matthew Henry, “Christ’s second coming will be a regeneration ( Matthew 19:28,) when there shall be new heavens and a new earth, and a restitution of all things.” In his Commentary on 2 Peter 3, Dr. A. Clarke writes as follows: “All these things will be dissolved, separated, be decomposed; but none of them will be destroyed. And as they are the original matter out of which God formed the terra queous globe; consequently they may enter again into the composition of a new system; and therefore the apostle says, ‘We look for a new heaven and a new earth;’ the others being decomposed, a new system is to be formed out of their materials.” “I do not believe,” says William Anderson, “that the earth shall be annihilated, but that rectified, and beautified, it shall last forever as the happy abode of the saints.” THE KINGDOM OF GOD. Says Dr. J. Pye Smith, “The prophccies respecting the kingdom of Messiah, its extent and duration, and the happiness of his innumerable subjects are in a much greater proportion than those which describe his humiliation to sufferings and his dreadful death.” In the language of Dr. Stephen Tyng, “The covenant made by God to Abraham remains to this day utterly unfulfilled. The fifth universal monarchy remains to be established upon the earth. The king that is to rule is the Son of Man, who will make a personal manifestation of himself.” In view of these facts, well may we exclaim, in the words of Dr. William Charming, “O come, thou kingdom of heaven for which we daily pray. Come, ye predicted ages of righteousness and love for which the faithful have so long yearned!” THE JUDGMENT DAY. Milton’s faith. — “ He believes,” says Dr. Channing, “that Christ is to appear visibly for the judgment of the world, and that he will reign a thousand years on earth, at the end of which period Satan will assail the Church with an innumerable confederacy, and be overwhelmed with everlasting ruin. He speaks of the judgment as ‘beginning with Christ’s second advent, and as comprehending his whole government through the millennium as well as the closing scene, when sentence will be pronounced on evil angels and on the whole human race.” That Christ will come to earth again is certain, and in the language of Charles Beecher , “Earth needs but one such man to dwell therein to produce a day of judgment.” In view of that solemn day, how appropriate the language of Jerome, “Whether I eat or drink, or in whatever other action or employment I am engaged, that solemn voice always seems to sound in my ears, ‘Arise ye dead and come to judgment!’ As often as I think of the day of judgment, my heart quakes, and my whole frame trembles. If I am to indulge in any of the pleasures of this present life, I am resolved to do it in such a way that the solerata realities of the future judgment may never be banished from my recollection.” THE AGE’S CRISIS. Says Sir Robert Peel, “Every aspect of the present time, viewed in the light of the past warrants the belief that we are on the eve of a universal change.” In the language of Mrs, H. B. Stowe, “This is an age of the world when nations are trembling and convulsed. A mighty influence is abroad, surging and heaving the world as with an earthquake.” Says Dr. Wm. Channing, “History and philosophy plainly show to me in human nature the foundation and promise of a better era, and Christianity concurs with these.” — And as Dr. Tyng remarks, “While all human appearances indicate the approach of changes more important than any man has ever seen before, God’s Word lays before us just what that change is to be.” PRESENT EVIL TIMES. Says Dr. Arnold, “My sense of the evils of the times that are coming, and of the prospects to which I am bringing up my poor children is overwhelming; times are coming in which the devil will fight his best and that in good earnest.” Says the learned Dr. Cotton Mather, “They who expect the rest promised for the Church of God, to be found anywhere but in the new earth, and they who expect any happy times for the church in a world that hath death and sin in it, — these do err, not knowing the Scriptures nor the kingdom Of God.” Says the gifted Charlotte Elizabeth : — “We shall soon need to exercise judgment in the discerning of spirits. The sixth vial, under which there can be no doubt that we now live, is marked by the going forth of the three unclean devils, of whose miracle-working powers we are forewarned, and He who has deigned to show us things to come, has not set forth cunningly devised fables to amuse our fancy, but revealed solemn truths to guide our steps aright, when our path becomes perplexed beyond all that we have known hitherto, or that the experience of the church has recorded.” And the great Luther declares : — “The older the world the worse. A something strikingly awful shall forewarn that the world will como to an end, and that the last day is even at the door.” In the language of President Nathan Lord, “Evangelical Protestantism has gained nothing for a hundred years. It has been merely struggling for its life.” IT HASTETH GREATLY. Says Dr. Thomas Goodwin : — “It hasteth greatly. And although we may think this dismal and black hour of temptation not likely to come so soon (seeing the clouds rise not fast enough so suddenly to overcast the face of the sky with darkness); yet we are to consider that we live now in the extremity of times, when motions and alterations being so near the center, become quickest and speediest; and we are at the verge, and, as it were, within the whirl of that great mystery of Christ’s kingdom, which will, as a gulf, swallow up all time; and so, the nearer we are unto it, the greater and more sudden changes will Christ make, now hasting to make a full end of all.” Says “The Edinburg Presbyterian Review :” — “Never was there a time when events developed themselves with such rapidity. As the world moves on, it seems to accelerate its speed, and precipitate itself with headlong haste. Events seem to ripen before their time. The crisis comes ere we were aware of the commencement. Speed, — whirlwind speed — is the order of the day.” “It seems to me,” remarks William Cuninghame, “we have entered into that last period of awful expectation during which the church is likened unto virgins.” Says the sainted Rutherford. — “Tell her (the church) that the day is near the dawning, the sky is cleaving: our Beloved will be on us ere ever we are aware.” SIGNS OF THE TIMES. Says Dr. Hales: — “Our blessed Lord graciously proposed these signs, destined to precede his second appearance at the regeneration for the comfort and support of his faithful disciples in these latter times.” How significant the inquiry of Bishop Chase: “Are not these signs of our prognostics of the speedy coining of our Lord to judgment? When the Son of Man cometh shall he find faith upon the earth? He will not find much faith upon the earth. How awful to reflect that this sign seems so exactly the fact.” Says William Cuninghame : — “If we, who have marked every sign in the spiritual horizon for a long series of years, were now asked, ‘Is there any sign of His coming yet unaccomplished?’ we should be constrained to answer: ‘To our view not one sign remains unaccomplished.’ If we were further asked, ‘Shall He come this year?’ our answer would be, ‘We know not; but this much we know and believe, that Christ is near at hand, even at the door.’ Amidst this commixture of dread and alarm, and these groanings of distressed nations, and fond whisperings of ‘peace, peace,’ suddenly as the blaze of forked lightning, unexpectedly as the fall of the trap upon the ensnared animal, and as the dark and concealed approach of the midnight thief, a voice like that of ten thousand thunders shall burst on the ears of the astonished inhabitants of the earth. IT IS THE VOICE OF THE ARCHANGEL. IT IS THE TRUMP OF GOD.HE COMETH — HE COMETH TO JUDGE THE EARTH! His dead saints spring from the dust, — his living saints in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye are changed, and both together are rapt up far above the clouds to meet Him.” THE AUTHOR’S EXCUSE FOR WRITING THIS VOLUME Is well expressed in the words of the venerated Joshua Spaulding, “I have written these things with great trembling, not so much because I know they must be unpopular, and must be considered by this earthly minded generation, as the height of fanaticism, and the most consummate folly; and that to all careless unbelieving lazy worldlings, I must seem like Lot to his sons-in-law, as one that mocketh; but fearing most of all lest I should add unto, or take from the word of prophecy: yet I dared not be silent, and see the world slumbering until the day of God break. I have also experienced great discouragement in thinking to attempt something of this kind, from the consideration that if I am right I shall not be believed; on the contrary the songs of peace — peace — happy times yet in this world, will still prevail, and prevail until the end; but the farther considerations have engaged me to proceed, that possibly some few may be benefited, and also what I owed myself to some attempts of this kind by others, which were the means of opening my eyes, that had been held in errors, as I now think them, for a number of years of adult age.” “It is right,” says Silvo Pelico, “to profess an important truth at all times; because, if we may not hope that it will be immediately acknowledged, still it may so prepare the minds of others, as one day to produce greater impartiality of judgment, and the consequent triumph of light.” And the ministry may well give heed to the solemn charge of Dr. Hugh McNeil: “My Reverend Brethren, watch, preach the coming of Jesus — I charge you, in the name of our common Master, preach the Coming of Jesus — solemnly and affectionately in the name of God, I charge you, preach the coming of Jesus, “Watch ye, therefore, (for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even or at midnight, or at cockcrowing, or in the morning,) lest, coming suddenly, he find the porter sleeping.” Take care — “what I say unto you, I say unto you all — watch.” LOVING CHRIST’S APPEARING. Says Tertullian, “For since the times of our whole hope are fixed in the sacred writings, and it cannot be placed before the coming of Christ, our desires pant after the end of this age, the passing away of the world at the great day of God.” How sweet the words of the eloquent Edward Irving, “Blessed consummation of this weary and sorrowful world! I give it welcome, I hail its approach, I wait its coming more than they that watch for the morning. Over the wrecks of a world I weep; over broken hearts of parents; over suffering infancy, over the unconscious clay of sweet innocents, over the untimely births that have never seen the light, or have just looked upon it and shut their eyes for a season until the glorious light of the resurrection morn. O, my Lord, come away. Hasten with all thy congregated ones. My soul desireth to see the King in his beauty, and the beautiful ones whom He shall bring along with him.” Says Milton, England’s greatest sacred poet: “Come forth out of thy royal chambers, O Prince of all the kings of the earth. Put on the visible robes of thy imperial majesty. Take up that unlimited sceptre which thy Almighty Father hath bequeathed thee. For now the voice of thy bride calls thee, and all creatures sigh to be renewed.” “Like as the flaming comet — doubles wide Heaven’s mighty cape; and then revisits earth, From the long travel of a thousand years; Thus at the destined period shall return He, once on earth, who bids the comet blaze; And with Him all our triumph o’er the tomb.” YOUNG’S NIGHT THOUGHTS. Such are the views in general advanced in the volume now before the reader, and sustained by the concurrent testimony of a literal interpretation of the Holy Scriptures, and by the voice of the Church. In compiling a work of this character, it has been deemed proper to condense as much as possible, avoiding unnecessary repetition, and prolixity, so that if in many testimonies there is an appearane of too much brevity, or more at least than some might wish, the reader will at once perceive the reasonableness of the same on this ground. The method of presentation is somewhat peculiar, and is chosen for the sake of presenting a wider range of mind. The compiler has spoken himself as seldom as practicable, but has chosen rather to make use of the language of others, and instead of permitting one to relate the whole as is usually done, he has preferred that all should testify, and thus each and every mind be mirrored on the page in harmonious support of the same grand truths. He has endeavored in most cases to let the witnesses speak for themselves, and though but briefly in numerous instances, yet enough is given to exhibit the constant hope of the faithful in all ages. And the names herein presented are no mean and insignificant ones. They are the names of the men who under God have controlled His church on earth, and led her in the hour of conflict and in the fight of faith. They are many of them not only enrolled high on the lists of human fame, but which is far better, are doubtless also “written in the Lamb’s book of Life.” And though but frail and feeble men, they are not to be despised. The doctrine of the personal reign of Christ in the new earth, is of the Bible, and in presenting the combined testimony of a “cloud of witnesses” in its favor, to bear upon the church in this century, it is not with the view of promulgating novelty. We are no innovators. Pre-millennialism has had its advocates among the orthodox in all ages. We seek the old paths, feeling assured they are the safest and most desirable. We have taken our position. To oppose Post-millennialism and its kindred errors we feel bound, and here we throw down the gauntlet. Being strongly impressed with the nearness of that day when the everlasting kingdom of God shall be established in the renewed earth, and the whole human race broken up and strangely and forever separated; under this solemn conviction, strengthened by every passing event, we send forth the present volume of testimonies, fraught with many a gem of truth, and many a thrilling cry, to awaken, if possible, in all our readers, a deeper interest on the momentous subject of the speedy and visible coming of the Son of Man. Time is short. The season of toil is well nigh spent. Let us be active. Every Christian in this day should be a missionary in earnest. We are not against missions. Rather do we wish there were an army of five hundred thousand missionaries like Brainard, and Wolffe, and Judson. Let this gospel of the kingdom be “preached in all the world, for a witness unto all nations,” and then let the end — the kingdom, come. There are thousands of Premillennialists in the Protestant churches of Great Britain and America, and Mr. Lord affirms that among missionaries of all denominations that go abroad, there is as great a proportion of them Pre-millenialists as among the ministry who stay at home. And surely the extensive travels and writings of Ben Ezra, in South America; the unremitted toils of Joseph Wolffe and Rev. Dr. Poor in Asia, for a long series of years, who preached the speedy coming of Jesus; the happy results of the labors of James McGregor Bertram, the “man of peace,” on St. Helena, in South Africa, and elsewhere, who not only preached the gospel of faith and repentance, but also urged upon all the consideration of Christ’s soon coming; the preaching of L. D. Mansfield, in the West Indies; of many others in Newfoundland; the extraordinary efforts of Gonsalves, Dr. Kalley, and Hewitson, on the Madeira Islands, resulting in the conversion of hundreds; the Christian labors of H. W. Fox, missionary to the Teloogoo people, with many other instances we could name, now unnoticed and unknown, are sufficient proofs that Premillennialists are not opposed to missionary efforts, and lack none of the missionary spirit. They labor as did the great apostle to “save some” from wrath to come, — yea, almost come. “I have a strong anticipation,” wrote the pious Fox, “that the time is not far distant.” So Pre-millennialists labor. And their faith and hope is acknowledged to impart to their preaching greater earnestness and power. And why should it not? May God speed every effort to win souls from remediless woe, for oh! how solemn, how terrible to be found among the eternally lost. Commending our volume, with all its imperfections, to the candid and careful perusal of every Christian, we send it forth with many a prayer and tear that it may be blessed to the everlasting good of all who read its pages. It is the congregated cry of a great multitude, saying, with a loud voice, The King cometh. The kingdom is at hand! Are we ready? Oh, that reader and writer may so live and act that the stern disclosures of the day of Eternity shall not give the lie to all the fond anticipations of Time. Blessed is he that watcheth! DANIEL T. TAYLOR. ROUSE’ S POINT, N Y., 1855. CHAPTER - DEFINITION OF TERMS — THE GREAT QUESTION: WHEN IS THE MILLENNIUM TO OCCUR? — PRINCIPLES OF INTERPRETATION. MILLENNIUM (Latin) Mille, a thousand, and annus, year. A thousand years; a word used to denote the thousand years mentioned in Revelation 20; during which period Satan will be bound, and holiness become triumphant throughout the world. During this period, as some believe, Christ will reign on earth in person with his saints. “MILLENIUM. Thousand years; generally taken for the thousand years in which some Christian sects expected, and some still expect the Messiah to found a kingdom on earth full of splendor and happiness.” “ Millenium ., thousand years: generally employed to denote the thousand years during which, according to an ancient tradition in the church, our blessed Savior will reign upon earth, after the first resurrection, before the final completion of beatitude. The time when the millennium will commence cannot be fully ascertained, but the common idea is that it will be in the seven-thousandth year of the world.” “The seventh chiliad (or 1000 years) from the creation. All sober commentators take this literally.” “ Millenniarians or Chilliasts. A name given to those who believe that the saints will reign on earth with Christ a thousand years.” It is generally conceded by the Christian world at the present time, that the Apocalyptic millennium is yet to occur in the future, and to commence immediately upon the expiration of six thousand years from the creation of the world, it seeming to be more decidedly proper and Scriptural thus to chronologically locate it: but, as there have been and still are some who deny this, and as those who maintain its futurity are divided both in regard to the manner of the events and the events themselves, which are to introduce and occupy the millennial era, manifestly composing at least three classes of millennial believers; to avoid a multiplicity of terms and introduce simplicity, it has been thought proper in the following pages to classify under three heads, all who have at any time written concerning the millennium of the Apocalypse; denominating them severally as follows: Anti-Miliennarians, or Anti-M., all those who deny that the Apocalsptic millennium is in the future, or those who locate it in the past, though not denying the future personal reign of Christ on earth. Post-Millennialists, or Post-M., all those who hold that the Apocalyptic millennium is in the future, and who postpone the personal advent of the Redeemer, and literal resurrection of the holy dead till its close, thus denying the personal millennial reign. Pre-Millenialists, or Pre-M , all those who hold that the Apocalyptic millennium is future, — the seventh thousand years, — and that it is to commence with, and be introduced by, the personal advent of Christ, and literal resurrection of the just: thus affirming the personal reign of Christ on earth. These terms are frequently varied throughout these pages, and others in common use are substituted, as Temporal Millenialists, Postmillennialists, Whitbyans, etc., to denote the second class; and Literalists, Pre-millennialists, Chiliasts, etc., to signify the third class, whose view or doctrine, of the personal reign of Christ on earth, is advocated in the present volume. Says Professor Bush: “The etymological import of the word millennium is, as is well known, the space of a thousand years. The term considered by itself does not point to any particular period of that extent, but may be applied indifferently to any one of the five millenniums which have elapsed since the creation, to the sixth, now verging to its close, or to the seventh, which is yet to come. But long established usage has given the word a restricted application, and where it occurs without specification, it is universally understood to refer to the period mentioned by the prophet of Patmos, Revelation 20:1-7” THE GREAT QUESTION. Says Bishop Henshaw: “In our day much is said of the millennium. It is a common theme in the pulpit and on the platform. It animates the conceptions of the poet, and the glowing periods of the orator. It is held forth as the great incentive to missionary effort; the glorious reward of selfdenial, liberality and prayer in the good work of propagating the Gospel.” “And here,” remarks Dr. Elliott, “the famous question opens: In what way are we to understand this vision and prophecy of the millennium? What the first resurrection spoken of, literal or figurative? Who the persons who partake of it? What the nature of the devil’s synchronous binding and incarceration? What the state of things on earth corresponding? What the chronological position and duration of the millennium? What the sequel of events on the devil’s being loosed again at its termination? Finally, what the relation of the millennary period and its blessedness to the New Jerusalem afterwards exhibited in the Apocalypse, and what also to the paradisiacal state predicted in the Old Testament prophecies?” Says Dr. Duffield: “Whether that long predicted and expected coming of Jesus Christ and of the kingdom of heaven are matters of literal verity according to the grammatical import of the expressions, or anagogically to be understood, and therefore to be interpreted altogether figuratively or spiritually, is a question of deep and wonderful bearing: nor is it to be slighted and sneered at by any one professing to love and reverence the sacred oracles of God. It is vital to all our hopes, and forms the very warp and woof of all the Scriptural revelations on the subject. It must be met; and will be candidly examined by every man who loves the truth, and is unwilling to be swayed by the dogmas of others. The decision, we contend, must be had from the word of God itself.” Charles Beecher thus earnestly inquires: “Is the second coming of the Son of Man now nigh at hand? Is it in other words the commencement and the cause, or the climax and the product of the millennium? This is the simple question now in the providence of God first claiming the solemn attention of the churches. That he shall return in majesty to judge the earth, we all believe. The simple question where we differ is, WHEN? To the answer of this question, I believe, the church is solemnly called.” PRINCIPLES OF INTERPRETATION. Says Bishop Jeremy Taylor: “In all the interpretations of Scripture, the literal sense is to be presumed and chosen unless there be evident cause to the contrary. Says Prof. J. A. Ernesti: “There is in fact but one and the same method of interpretation common to all books whatever be their subject. And the same grammatical principles and precepts, ought to be the common guide in the interpretation of all. * * Theologians are right, therefore, when they aiffirm the literal sense, or that which is derived from the knowledge Of words, to be the only true one; for that mystical sense, which indeed is incorrectly called a sense, belongs altogether to the thing and not to the words.” Says the learned Vitringa: “We must never depart from the literal meaning of the subject mentioned in its own appropriate name, if all or its principal attributes square with the subject of the prophecy — an unerring canon, he adds, and of great use.” Says Martin Luther: “That which I have so often insisted on elsewhere, I here once more repeat, viz.: that the Christian should direct his first efforts toward understanding the literal sense (as it is called) of Scripture, which alone is the substance of faith and of Christian theology. * * The allegorical sense is commonly uncertain and by no means safe to build our faith upon: for it usually depends on human opinion and conjecture only, on which if a man lean, he will find it no better than the Egyptian reed. Therefore Origen, Jerome, and similar of the fathers are to be avoided with the whole of that Alexandrian school which, according to Eusebius and Jerome, formerly abounded in this species of interpretation. For later writers unhappily following their too much praised and prevailing example, it has come to pass that men make just what they please of the Scriptures, until some accommodate the word of God to the most extravagant absurdities; and, as Jerome complains of his own times, they extract a sense from Scripture repugnant to its meaning: of which offence, however, Jerome himself was also guilty.” Says Rosenmuller.’ “All ingenuous and unprejudiced persons will grant me this position, that there is no method of removing difficulties more secure than that of an accurate interpretation derived from the words of the texts themselves, and from their true and legitimate meaning, and depending upon no hypothesis!” Says Hooker: “I hold it for a most infallible rule in expositions of sacred Scripture, that when a literal construction will stand, the farthest from the letter is commonly the worst. There is nothing more dangerous and delusive than that art, which changes the meaning of words, as alchemy doth or would the substance of metals; making of anything what it listeth, and bringing in the end all truth to nothing.” Dr. John Pye Smith defines the literal sense as “The common rule of all rational interpretation, viz.’ the sense afforded by a cautious and critical examination of the terms of the passage, and an impartial construction of the whole sentence, according to the known usage of the language and the writer.” Such is the system adopted in this volume, it being regarded as the only safe principle of interpreting the Bible. CHAPTER 2. UNIVERSAL TRADITIONARY TESTIMONY. Hebrew Church On The First Resurrection. “And many from out of the sleepers in the dust of the earth shall awake: these (shall be) to everlasting life, and those (shall be) to everlasting contempt.” Daniel 12:2. Prof. Bush’s Translation. THE Hebrew church and her inspired prophets obviously taught a prior resurrection of the just. The common version of Daniel 12:2, reads, “And many of,” etc. Dr. Hody justly argues that if many, standing alone, could signify all, many of could not, and he adds, “Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth cannot be said to be all they that sleep in the dust. Many of does plainly except some.” Prof. Whiting says: “There is an obscurity in this passage, produced by an improper rendering of the Hebrew words, ‘ailleh — weailleh.’ They are translated in this instance, ‘some — and some.’ Now, the phrase, composed of the pronoun ailleh, with the conjunction wa w (and) joined to ailleh, is the proper expression for these and those.” He then translates the verse thus: “And many from the sleepers of the dust of the ground shall awake, these to everlasting life, and those to reproaches and everlasting abhorrence.” Prof. Bush renders it “these and those,” and says: “The awaking is evidently predicted of the many and not of the whole; consequently, the ‘these’ in the one case must be understood of the class that awakes, and the ‘those’ in the other of that which remains asleep.” Rev. Edward Winthrop translates the words: “And many from out of the sleepers in the dust,” etc. And the learned lexicographer, Gesenius, testifies that the Hebrew word thus rendered “designates a part taken out of the whole.” This beautifully harmonizes with the first resurrection of Revelation 20th, and as it gives the true meaning of the original, we need not wonder at the pre-millennial faith of the Hebrew church. Prof. Stuart remarks, “That the great mass of Jewish Rabbins have believed, and taught the doctrine of the resurrection of the just, in the days of the Messiah’s development, there can be no doubt on the part of him who has made any considerable investigation of this matter. The specific limitation of this to the commencement of the millennium, seems to be peculiar to John. No one must understand me, however, as appealing to Rabbinic authority in order to establish the doctrine of a first resurrection. All that I design to accomplish by such an appeal is, to show that such a doctrine was not a strange one to the Jews.” Says Rev. J. W. Brooks, “The opinions of the orthodox Jewish writers have been cast aside, and confounded with the rubbish of anti-Christian Rabbins; as if, because a man were an Israelite, he could not possibly have been guided into the truth of God. There are various traditions of the early Jewish church which are entitled to attention from the general respect shown to them in all ages, though they cannot be urged in the light of direct testimony.” With Dr. Duffield we would say, “These traditions we do not quote as authority, but as historical evidence of what the views and expectations of the church were during the period that elapsed from the captivity to the coming of Christ. The millennium John predicts, is exactly coincident in its leading features, with the expectations of the pious Jews before the coming of Christ.” We gather the following Rabbinic testimonies from the Commentaries of Dr. Clarke, Scott, Prof. Stuart, the works of Mede, Bishop Newton, and others, as they were by them extracted from the Jewish Targums and Talmuds, together with the book of Zohar, a production of the early ages of Christianity, Maimonides and other Jewish authors. The Jerusalem Targum, or Paraphrase of the Law, written A.D. 300, on Genesis 49:10, says: “The King Christ shall come whose is the kingdom, and all nations shall be subject to him.” The Babylonian Targum, written A.D. 500, on the same passage reads: “Messiah shall come whose is the kingdom, and him shall the nations serve.” Rabbi Eliezar the Great, applies Hosea 14:8, to the pious Jews who would die without seeing the glory of the Lord, paraphrasing it thus: “As I live, saith Jehovah, I will raise you up in the time to come, in the resurrection of the dead, and I will gather you with all Israel.” Capitula, c. 34. Rabbi Gamaliel, the preceptor of St. Paul, was asked by the Sadducees whence he could prove that God would raise the dead, and he finally silenced them on the authority of Deuteronomy 11:21. “Which land the Lord moreover sware he would give to your fathers.” The Rabbi argued, as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had it not, and God cannot lie, therefore they must be raised from the dead to inherit it. Christ’s argument in Luke 21, is substantially the same. Rabbi Simai of later date argues the resurrection from Exodus 6:4, insisting that the law in asserting, “And I have also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, etc.,” teaches the resurrection from the dead; “for,” he adds, “it is not said to you but to them.” Jonathan, the Paraphrast, who lived about B. C. 30, on Hosea 14:8, says, “They shall be gathered from their captivity; they shall live under the shadow of Messiah; the dead shall rise and good shall increase in the earth.” Rabbi Kimchi of the thirteenth century on Obadiah, says, “When Rome shall be laid waste, there shall be redemption for Israel.” On Isaiah 26:19, he observes that “The holy blessed God will raise the dead at the time of deliverance.” And on Jeremiah 23:20, he argues, “in that he saith, ye shall consider it, and not they, he intimateth, the resurrection.” On the second Psalm, Kimchi thus quotes an ancient apothegm. “The benefit of the rain is common to the just and the unjust, but the resurrection from the dead is the peculiar privilege of those who have lived righteously.” Rabbi Chabbo says, “The dead in the land of Israel shall live or be quickened first in the days of the Messiah, and shall enjoy the years of the Messiah.” In the Jerusalem Talmud on Genesis 13:15-17, Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Chanina both affirm that “these words respect some other text.” Resh Lekish refers them to <19B609>Psalm 116:9, and on the authority of Bar Kaplud, explains it as “the land whose dead shall live or be raised first in the days of the Messiah.” R. Sandias Gaon, of the tenth century, on Daniel 12:2, thus writes: “This is the resurrection of the dead of Israel whose lot is to eternal life; but those who do not awake, they are the destroyed of the Lord, who go down to the habitation beneath; that is, Gehenna, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.” This agrees with Bush’s translation of this text, evincing its prior resurrection sentiment. Rabbi Jochannan agrees with Gaon, and says, “There are some who study in the law as they ought, and those are they who shall rise first to everlasting life, as it is said, “And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake some to everlasting life,” etc. Again, we read: “Our Rabbins have taught us that in the times of the Messiah he will restore to life the just,” etc. In another place, commenting on Isaiah 25:8, it says: — “The world cannot be free from its guilt until King Messiah shall come, and the blessed God shall raise up those who sleep in the dust.” Maimonides testifies this is the opinion of many Rabbis. In Yalcut Rubeni, fol. 182 — 1, we read, “Know that we have a tradition that when the Messiah with the collected captivity, shall come to the land of Israel, in that day the dead in Christ shall rise again; and in that day the fiery walls of the city of Jerusalem shall descend from heave |
