Bible Standard December 1877

8/8/2019 Bible Standard December 1877

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Issued ~onthly by "The Bible Standard Publication Society," 24, Mint Lane, Lincoln.EDITED BY

Geo. A. BROWN, Pastor of Mint Lane Baptist Church, Lincoln.'l'HE BIBLE STANDARDs devoted to the exposition of Biblical Truth, especially the doctrine of Conditional Immortality, the literal Resurrection of

the Dead, the Final Destruction of the Wicked, the Signs of the Times, the Second Coming of Christ, and His Personal Reign on earth.

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" The Wages of Sin is Death; but the qift of God is Eternal Life through Jesus Christ our Lord."No. 3. DECEMBER, 1877.

TI-IE GOSPEL HOPE." Be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a

reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and reverence."-1 Peter iii. 15.THE exercise of hope is common to man. It is well under-stood to be made up of desire and expectation. Neither ofthese alone constitute hope. The first without the lastwould be despair; and the last without the first would beaversion. The two must be combined to form hope. Theprinciple is well defined in the minds of men in relation tothe ordinary affairs of life; and the 'man who should tell ushe hoped to possess ten thousand pounds on the morrow,we should conclude had not only a desire for that sum, buta reason for his expectation; and if he had none, or no goodreason for it, we should not hesitate to say he is a fanatic 01'a fool. Why should we expect less in matters of religion?Men say they hope to be saved, they hope to go to heavenwhen they die, &c., that is, they desire and expect to go toheaven when they die.

Now, we ask such a reason of the hope that is in them?A good reason must be based first, on a promise of God. Ifthere is no promise of such a remove at death, then the ex-pectation of it is without foundation, and the exercise ofmind is presumption, and not the gospel hope. The promiseof such a remove at death must not be a matter of merenference or conjecture; it must have a "Thus saitli theLord," God does not leave His creatures to mere conjecture,or the traditions of men in matters which relate to blessingsHe designs for them; He gives the most plain and positiveassurances or promises. Thus the Apostle speaks, Heb.i. 17. "Wherein God, willing more abundantly to show

unto the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel,confirmed it by an oath: that by two immutable things, inwhich it was impossible for God to lie, we might have astrong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold uponthe hope set before us."

Price Id.Here we see, for the existence and stability of hope, God

does not leave us without- a certain and definite promise.Hence if we have a hope of entering heaven at death, weshall be able to fix on a clear promise of God to that effect;else we haye no well grounded expectation of such an event,and our hope is baseless, Where is such a promise? Withmeekness produce it, and let us have the reason of such ahope, We do not ask you for the traditions of men on thesubject, but for a Bible promise. Will you give it? Youare bound by the Gospel to do it, if you can. Can youproduce such a promise ~ If so, where is it? We wait foran answer. But, alas, we wait in vain! No such promiseis found in tLe Bible. The notion stands in the wisdom andtraditions of men, not in the truth and power of God. Ifwe are correct, then the hope of going to heaven at death isnot a " good hope;" there is no gospel reason for it; it is afancy-yea, it is a presumption.

The Gospel hope.ithen, is quite another matter from thehope of a large part of the professedly Christian Church.The gospel hope is that of Eternal Life' through and by aResurrection from the dead, and not of an entrance intoheaven when we die. For this hope we have clear promisesin the Bible.

TVhat are the promises? We will give you a few examples.Luke xiv. 14. The Saviour had commanded concerningfeasts not to call the rich, &c., lest a recompense be madethee; but call the poor, &c., and" thou shalt be blessed, forthey cannot recompense thee; for thou shalt be recompensed[when you die? No, but] at the resurrection of the just."Here is a clear promise of the time when the reward of well-doing is to be bestowed; and it is as wide of the commonnotion as the resurrection day differs from the day of death.

That we do not mistake in the matter we turn toJohn vi. In this chapter, four times our Lord states thetime when, and the means by which, His followers are toreceive their reward ; and we ask if it looks like a promise


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1 8 THE BIBLE STANDARD.of going to heaven at death? ' See verses 39, 40, 44 and 54,"This is the Father's will, which hath sent Me, that of allwhich He hath given Me I should lose nothing, but shouldRAISEHIMUP ATTHE LASTDAY." Here is no intimation ofgoing to heaven at death; but there is a clear intimationthat without a resurrection from the dead, Christ's followerswould be lost. Yet, as it is the Father's will that they shallnot be lost, He has given to His Son power and authority toraise them from the dead at a stated period of time, viz.,at the last day. In the next verse He is' still more definiteas to what He raises them up for. "This is the unll. of Himthat sent Me, that everyone which seeth the Son, andbelieveth on Him, may have EVERLASTINGIFE, and I willraise him up at the last clay." Does Jesus say, " I will re-unite his soul and body again in the last day?" No. "Iwill raise him up." What does" him" signify? Is it hisbody? "Him" is, that man; not that man's body merely.He is raised up and is at the last day, and for the purposeof giving him that which the Father hath trilled, namely,Everlasting Life.

That our Lord's followers thus understood the matter isevident in the discourse of Martlia with Him. John xi." Lord, if Thou hadst been here, my brother had not died,"said Martha, verse 21. "J esus said unto her [thy brotherhath gone to heaven? N0, but] thy brothel' shall riseagain." Martha said unto Him, "I know that He shall riseagain in the resurrection at the last day." Such was herfaith, and such her hope; and such is the hope of the gospel.Remember, Jesus had declared-" Lazarus is dead,' ButHe does not flatter with the fallacious hope that he had goneto heaven, but He does comfort with the true hope-theResurrection.' ,

Another case in point is the question of Peter. Matt. xix.27, " Peter said unto Him, behold, we have forsaken all andfollowed Thee; what shall we have therefore?" Here is aplain question about the reward to be hoped for. Does ourLord say, "Ye shall go to heaven when ye die?" No suchthing. How unlike the theology of this age is His answer.Mark it well. " Verily I say unto you, that ye which havefollowed Me, in the regeneration WHENTHE SONOFMANSHALLSITIN THETHRONEOFHIS GLORY,ye also shall sit upon twelvethrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel." From Matt. xxv.31, we learn when Christ will sit in the throne of His glory," When the Son of man shall come in His glory, and all theholy angels with Him; THENshall He sit upon the throne ofHis glory." It is not till His return from heaven; Hispromise to Peter and the other Apostles was not of heavenin an intermediate period, but looked down to the time ofHis return from heaven. This point is clear; but we shallhave occasion to insist upon itmore fully as we proceed.

We have glanced at some of the promises, and see thatnone of them look like an assurance of a reward prror to the

resurrection. We will now examine the type, and see if this not as clearly against the idea of any man entering inheaven till Christ returns. To understand this part of tsubject the type and antitype are to be taken in connectionWe shall hence notice the law of the holy- of holies, and thigh-priest's entrance therein, with Paul's remarks on tsubject in Hebrews.

In Leviticus xvi., we have the law referred to, whirelates to the offering of the high-priest, first for himself athen for the people. In the holy of holies was a mercy-seaand the Shekinal glory, 01' symbol of the presence of GoIt was there the blood of the slain victim was to be carrieby the high-priest, and sprinkled upon the mercy-seat abefore the mercy-seat, to make an atonement. Nomark verse 17, "T~ere shall be no man in ttabernacle of the congregation when he [the high-priestgoeth in to make an atonement in the holy place UNTILCOMEOUT,"&c. So sacred was the hcly of holies guardeby the law that even the 250 Levites connected with Korclaiming that "all the congregation were holy" when thapproached the door of the tabernacle, to intrude into tholy place, there came out a fire from the Lord and cosumed them. (See Numbers xvi.) The people of Isragenerally wei'e prohibited, on pain of death, coming nigh ttabernacle. (See Numbers xviii, 22.) But the main poito which we call attention is the fact, no man was permitteto enter the holy of holies while the high-priest was thereino?'until he came out.

Now if we find thiSts truly a type, we may learn that itno small sin to attempt to enter heaven before Christ tHigh Priest comes out. We now turn to Heb. viii, 1, " Whave a High-priest, who is set on the right hand of the thronof the.Majesty in the heavens; a minister of the sanctuarand of the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched, and nman. For every high-priest is ordained to offer gifts asacrifices; wherefore it is of necessity that this man hasomewhat also to offer. For if he were on earth, he shounot be a priest, seeing that there are priests that offer giaccording to the law: who serve unto the example ashadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of Gwhen he was about to make the tabernacle: for, see, saith Htha thou make all things according to the PATTERNhowthee on the mount."

'Here we learn the fact that the Mosaic tabernacle was bthe type of the true; and we may also learn that tAaronic high-priesthood was a type of that of Jesus; fsaith Paul, chap. ix. 11-12, "Christ being come a Higpriest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfetabernacle not made with bands; that is to say, not of thbuilding; neither by the blood of goats and calves, butHis own blood he entered in once into the Holy Place, havinobtained eternal redemption." He adds, "For Christ


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not entered into the holy places made with hands, whicli arethefiguTes of the true, but into Heaven itself, nou: to appear inthe pTesence of God for 1(S."

Thus w.e have a clear statement of facts, and find theantitype of the entrance of the Aaronic high-priest into theholy of holies. Christ has entered the true holy of holies,even heaven itself; and no man is to be permitted to enterthere till He comes out; the attempt of itself is sin,though it may be it has been the sin of ignorance, Christ isgone into the holy of holies, and He positively declared toHis own immediate disciples and companions (see John xiii.33), " Little children, yet a little while I am with you. Yeshall seek Me; and as I said unto the Jews, Whither I go,ye cannot come; so now I say to you."

What shall we do then? Do as did the people of Israelwhen their high-priest was in the holy place. They waited'without, watching and praying, till he came out. Then Paulin closing Heb. ix. says :-" Christ was once offered to bearthe sins of many-and unto them that look for Him shallHe appear the second time without sin unto salvation."

This is a clear reference to the work of the high-priestunder the law. With the blood of the offering for sin hewent into the holy place, and sprinkled it upon and beforethe mercy-seat, while the people prayed, confessed theirsins, and waited, looking for the high-priest to come out.So Christ has gone into the' true holy place, even heavenitself, and there appears in the presence of God, with Hisown blood; and to those who acknowledge Him as theirHigh-priest, confess their sins, watch and pray, and lookfor Him to come ou], He will appear in due time fromheaven, for their salvation.

Men may flatter themselves that it is very innocent toteach and talk about going to heaven at death; yet weventure the affirmation, that it tends to subvert the gospelhope, by substituting. another and entirely different hope;and hence is " another Gospel" than that which Christ andHis Apostles preached. This we are aware is a heavycharge; yet we believe we have fully sustained it, and shaproceed to confirm and strengthen it in our next.

(To be continued.]

ARCHDEACON BLACKBURN SAID:" The more any man is convince.d of the Immortality of the

Soul from the principles of Aristotle 01' Descartes, the less hewill concern himself about the gospel account of futurity

All those fine open notions of the Immortaliuj ofthe Soul, and all the artificial deductions from that principle,teaching nothing but the art of blowing scholastic bubbles,which will certainly go peacefully to their rest, without theleast detriment either to sound learning or true religion."

THE WANE OF FAITH.A SYMPTOM OF COMING JUDGMENT.

" Nevertheless, when the Son of Man cometh, shall He find faith onthe earth? "-Luke xviii. 8.WE feel very sure, that if Christ were to come now, Hewould find the system of Christian doctrine, as popularlyheld. and taught, most sadly out of joint, and so confusedand indefinite as to be almost without one positive feature.There are many who believe, and believe the truth, andcontend earnestly for it. But the common so-calledChristian mind is full of darkness, incertitude, and mis-glvmgs. This no, careful observer can doubt. What wasonce settled as fundamental orthodoxy has, in variousparticulars, become strangely disturbed. The old ways ofthinking, no longer fit or satisfy, or command unfalteringconsent. Says a prominent Unitarian doctor, "Comparethe sacred literature of our day-the published sermons ofall denominations, the religious newspapers of all the sects-,with the Bodies of Divinity, the articles of faith, thecatechisms and creeds, of fifty, a hundred, and five hundredyears back. Notice the contradictions, the inconsistencies,the vacillations, of theolo~al opinion, in all statements ofour time,-how vague t1J.elanguage chosen, how uncertainthe note struck, how many the loopholes of evasion IExamine the children of the Sunday schools of all orders,.and see whether they are indoctrinated in any positivesystem. Try if you can get a definite declaration of theo-logical faith from your intelligent friends of any denomina-tion .. Question the professed teachers of religion, andnotice how slowly, how guardedly, how vaguely, theyanswer direct enquiries." It would seem as if nobody knewany more what to believe, and as if those who profess tobelieve are too unsettled and uncertain to avow anything withconfidence. There has been an almost universal looseningof old moorings, 01' breaking away from the firm fasteningsof other days, and a drifting no one can tell whither.

In a recent London book, on "The Religious Tendenciesof the Age," it is said, " The edge of our religious belief hasbeen dulled, the objective truths of religion are compara-tively ignored, the sberner features of Christianity are veiledand passed over. If we examine the religious tone of ourpopular authors, 01' if we observe the general feeling ofsociety, we shall find that an eclectic system, consisting ofthe more attractive doctrines of Christianity, combined withthe latitudinarian philosophies, is everywhere the pre-dominant belief."

In an article of the Westminster Review for October, 1860,there is this startling statement, and the more startling forhaving so much truth for its basis :-" The Newspaper, theReview, the tale by every fireside, is written almost ex-clusively by men who have long ceased to believe. So, also,the school-book, the text-book, the manuals for the study of


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youth and manhood, the whole mental food of the day;science, history, morals, and politics; poetry, fiction, andessay; the very lesson of the school, the very sermon of thepulpit. And all this is done beneath a solemn or cynicalhypocrisy. How long shall this last? "The editor of one of the leading journals of the Episcopal

Church recently made the following observations in anarticle on Passion Week and Easter:-" It is the sad truth that the precision of doctrine is de-

parting greatly from our modern Christianity. In theinfancy of the various sects, their standards were as clear asour own on the essential verities of the Faith. They tookthat clearness with them, as a treasure, from the Churchthey left. Indeed, in many cases, the standards, the booksand confessions, retain that clearness very greatly yet.But, as time passed, this clearness and precision faded awayfrom the actual living teaching. It may remain in thestandards; but it is not found in the pulpits. The' Con-fessions,' the' Creeds,' the 'Catechisms,' the' Platforms,'the' Disciplines,' teach one thing; the pulpits teach quiteanother. Presbyterianism in the pulpit is not Presbyterian-ism in ' the Confession of Faith.' Methodism in the pulpitis not the Methodism of l the Discipline.' Congrega-tionalism, alive and talking, is not the Congregationalism of, the Platform.'"The doctrine of the Atonement, the very centre and

'heart of the Faith, has lost its hold, beyond anything we-dream, on our' common Christianity.' We do not speakonly of the fifteen hundred or more ' Churches' of Puritanorigin, ' Congregational' in name still, where the doctrineand the fact are, in s~ many words, denied. Sad as thatmay be, it is not the saddest. The terrible Puritan apostacyis a visible evil; but it only indicates an evil vastly greater,which is gradually working to the light." In the pulpits still accounted 'orthodox,' the doctrine

has lost its reality. The precision of statement is gone.In some vague way there may have been what one mightcall an atonement. But the clear fact that the Lord JesusChrist died instead of men, bore their penalty and theirshame, paid. their debt, and cancelled their account, theguiltless for the guilty; that He stood in man's place, a realvicarious sacrifice, satisfying divine justice; that this clearfact has faded, or is fading, into metaphor and figure andvagueness, no man acquainted with the general drift of'sectarianism can deny.

" And the other fact and doctrine that conclude and signand -seal- the atonement, these follow into the same vague-ness. The Congregational paper of Illinois has been writingsystematically against the resurrection and the generaljudgment for months past, and we have heard no word of.warning or of protest. It has declared that there is noresurrection of the flesh, in so many words; that the soul's

going to heaven, immediately after death, is all thereThe body is not needed at all." And this is not the only case. Evidently the mass

have accepted the folly and blasphemy of ' Spiritualiscould have done so only because they had never been traiin any belief in the resurrection. The common teachabout the state after death, that the good go at onceheaven and the bad at once to hell, has made the resurrtion superfluous, and led to the denial of its existeWhy bring a saint of ten thousand years' standing ouheaven, or a sinner, of as many, out of hell, to go throthe farce of a judgment, or receive the useless clogbody? In truth, we question seriously whether the mof the members of the so-called' Evangelical Churches'not utter unbelievers in that article of the Creed, ' I belin the resurrection of the body.' "Another of our exchanges remarks, "It is very evi

that there is about the same evidence that the theologworld is ready to break up in confusion, as there ipolitical revolutions. Old and established points of doctare Isurrounded by doubters and opposers, and butdefenders. Reason is substituted for revelation, andfidelity for faith. Sceptics are multiplying all about usgrowing bolder every day, while professed Christianssleeping and slumbering in the midst of these great peA great change is at hand."And how is it with regard to the personal return

reign of the Lord Jesus? How many sneer at theidea, and laugh at the people who believe it! ThoughScriptures everywhere point us to Christ's coming againour great hope, the poor, faint-hearted Christianity ofday can hardly bear to think of it. Many profeChristians would rather that Christ might never come.the days of Christianity's pristine vigour, the anxinquiry of disciples was : "Tell us, when shall these thbe? and what shall be the sign of Thy coming, and ofend of the world?" " Lord, wilt Thou at this time resthe kingdom to Israel?" Then Christians wrote toother about citizenship in heaven, whence they lookedthe Saviour; and comforted one another with the assurathat the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven wishout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the truof God. Then they lifted up their heads, and lookewith joyful hope at every turn in human affairs whichcould by any means construe into a probable herald ofnearing Epiphany. Then the -prayer, "Thy kingcome," had a depth of meaning and lively anticipawhich now is well-nigh lost. Then" the appearanceJesus Christ" had power over the soul which made" rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory." Thenmost earnest anc1constant call of apostles and their followas: "Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly. Even


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Amen." Is it so now? And does not the manifest changeargue a great wane of faith? Can we regard ourselves asupon the Apostolic foundation, when we no longer join withheart and soul in apostolic prayer? Conceal and dispute itas we may, it is a fact, that the faith of the Church isawfully beclouded, enfeebled, and uncertain. Judgmentcometh.-Dr. Seiss.

CHRIST AND THE SADDUCEES.Matt. xxii. 25-33.

"MODERN theology affirms that this passage proves thatb-braham, Isaac, and Jacob were then living as disembodiedsouls in heaven or hades, But such an affirmation is clearlya gross perversion of Christ's argument. He was not en-deavouring to prove that the soul was immortal, or thatpeople could be dead and at the same time alive, but He wasendeavouring to prove, and did prove, the doctrine of theresurrection of the dead."

In the first place let us look at the question asked by theSadducees, verse 24, "Master, Moses said, if a man die,having no children, his brother shall marry his wife, andraise up seed unto his brother." .

You will here observe that the Sadducees quoted fromMoses, his writings being the only Books of the Old Testa-ment which they considered authentic. They failed torecognise a future life promised or even expected in thewhole of the five Books of Moses, hence they neither believedin the resurrection of the dead nor in any future life what-ever, either for the righteous or wicked. They considereddeath to be an eternal sleep. With these views they put thefollowing question to Christ, v. 25-27, "Now there werewith us seven brethren: and the first, when he had marrieda wife, deceased, and, having no issue, left his wife unto hisbrothel' : likewise the second also, and the third, unto theseventh. And last of all the woman died also. Thereforein the resurrection whose wife shall she be of the seven?for they all had her."

It is very important that we notice well the question, forin doing so we find the intermediate state is not mentioned,it is not asked whose wife is she NOW? which could havebeen asked with equal propriety if the Sadducees had under-stood that Christ was teaching the conscious intermediatestate, which He by no means did, but the resurrection fromthe dead, which was the burden of His message. TheSadducees having detected the prominence which Christgave to the resurrection in His teachings, gathered the ideathat neither the woman nor her seven husbands would live,or in any way be brought in contact with each other untilthe resurrection. With this impression on their minds theyasked," Whose wife shall she be in the resurrection?"

Mark well the answer, v. 31-" As touching the resurretion of the dead, have ye not read that which was spokunto you by God, I am the God of Abraham, and the GodIsaac, and the God of J acob? God is not the God of tdead but of the living."

Christ knowing well the belief or rather the unbeliefI the Sadducees, at once answered them from their ow

authority, the Pentateueh, for, as we before stated, tfive Books of Moses were accepted by them as authenticand Christ knew well that if He proved a resurrectionthem He must do so from the writings of Moses, or otherwiHis argument would have no weight with it.

Now the doctrine in dispute was the resurrection of tdead, and not the immortality of the soul, but assuminga moment that the latter doctrine was taught in Christanswer to them, in what way, I ask, did Christ prove tresurrection of the dead? for there are thousands to-dawho believe in the soul's immortality who do not by ameans believe in a resurrection of the dead. To prove t,doctrine of the immortality of the soul is by no meanproving the resurrection of the dead. On the othhand it rather disproves it than proves it, for if the dead anow in a conscious state of existence enjoying individual andistinctive lives, then what need is there of a resurrectionall? We honestly confess that we see no reason, and if tpassage now under consideration teaches the immoi:talitythe soul, then we fail to recognise wherein it touches tquestion of the resurrection. I say again if it teaches tprevailing theory, then Christ failed in His argument, fHe did not prove what He undertook to prove, but somthing entirely different.

We do not however believe for one moment that Chriquoted from Moses to teach the Immortality of the Soul, bas Luke gives it, Christ said, "that the dead are raised evMoses showed at the bush."

The Scripture which Christ quoted does not prove a rsurrection unless it applies to that part of Abraham whicdied. The argument of Christ is simply this-Abrahamdead, but he will not remain dead JOI' ever, as you Sadduceebelieve, but only for a time; they shall live again. F" As touching the resurrection of the dead, God said, I athe God of Abraham, &c." Therefore Abraham must liagain. Christ applied this Scripture to the resurrectionthe dead. If men will apply it to prove Abraham never diethey pervert Christ's application of it.

The proof of the doctrine " that the dead are raised" wcomplete and Irresistible. The Sadducees were silenced,much so that they durst ask Him no more questions.

If you will keep in mind, first, the Faith of the Sadduceesnamely, that death was an eternal sleep ; and, secondly, ththey received and fully believed in the writings of Mosesbeing authentic, but at the same time failing to recognis


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2 2 THE BIBLE STANDARD.in their teaching anything relative to a future life. Keeping,we say, these two points in view, you will at once see theforce of Christ's argument, which, being paraphrased thus,it makes Christ talk to them in the following way:-" God could not have said to Moses what He did at the

Bush if Abraham be dead, according to your belief, for yousay that Abraham is dead and will never live again. ButGod says (and the record is made by Moses in whom youbelieve), 'I am the God of Abraham.' Now we know Heis not the God of the dead, but the living. ThereforeAbraham must be raised from the dead in order for thisutterance to be verified, because it was spoken in view ofthe resurrection, for the God of Moses speaks of those thingswhich are not as if they tl'ere, and with Him a thousand yearsis as one day, and one day as a thousand years. So accord-ing to your own Scripture I (Christ) have proved a resurrec-'tion for those who are dead."

THE OLD ERROR REPEATED.THOUGHTS FOR CHRISTIANS TO CONSIDER,

"Christ is all and in all." So wrote the inspired Paul.And another apostle says, " There is none other name underheaven given among men whereby we must be saved." It is,therefore, a matter of the utmost practical moment to haveright views of Christ, and His relations to the children ofmen.The two great central facts in the Biblical account of Christ

are His two advents. With these two important facts areconnected all the curses and blessings of God's ancient peopleand of the world. The one conducts to Bethlehem's mangerand Calvary's cross, and the other to the clouds of heavenand the New Jerusalem. Connected with the first advent wehave the rejection of God's ancient people, the Jews, andtheir dispersion under God's scathing judgments, among allnations; the preaching of the Gospel as a witness to allpeople, the calling of the Gentiles, and the gathering out' ofthe world a people for the Lord, to be His kings and priestsin "the world to come." Connected with the second adventwe have the glorious gathering and restoration of "the out-casts of Israel and the dispersed of Judah," the pouring outof the vials of wrath upon the unbelieving and idolatrousChristian nations, and the setting up of Christ's kingdom onthe earth. Correct views of the manner and object of thesetwo advents of Christ are necessary to a right appreciationand enjoyment of Christ as the Saviour.A striking lesson on this subject may be found in the case

of the Jews, in regard to the first advent. They believed thatthe promised Messiah would 'come. It was universally ad-mitted that He would come. Many devout people believed that

the time for His appearing had arrived. The Scriptures hadplainly announced the state and condition of things amidwhich He would appear. Many believed these announce-ments, and were anxiously waiting for His appearing, But,many looked only for a triumphing Messiah, who was todeliver them from their oppression, and overlooked themanner and object of the first advent. They looked for theimmediate realization of the Psalmist's declaration: "Whenthe Lord shall build up Zion, He shall appeal' in His Glory."They looked for Him as a Prince and Ruler who would givegreat honor to the nation, and at once smite their enemies," assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather the dispersed ofJudah." They looked for an immediate universal reign', inwhich He should take" the heathen for His inheritance, andthe uttermost parts of the earth for His possession." Theythought their own sacred hills would at once be made thescene and centre of His universal triumph, because it hadbeen written, "He shall reign in Mount Zion, and inJerusalem, and before His ancients gloriously;" and" thekingdom and dominion, and greatness of the kingdom underthe whole heaven, shall be given to the saints of the MostHigh."'----S"uch seems to have been the almost universalopinion and belief among the Jews, at that time, in regard tothe manner and object of Messiah's coming. They expecteda Messiah of noble and princely estate, and surrounded .byexternal pomp' and power, such as they thought became theSon of David, And they were not wrongin their conceptionsof the coming Messiah. All this, and much more, had beenpredicted of Him. But their great error was that they lookedonly at results, and not at the means. They were soabsorbed with the idea of what they should realize in theglories of the mount upon which Messiah is to reign" beforeHis ancients gloriously," that they entirely lost sight of thedeep, dark valley that lay betwee~ them and that mount.They failedto perceive that the same prophecies which pre-dicted Messiah's triumph and reign also predicted Hissufferings and death. They would not believe that the wayto the mount of glory, and that even for Messiah, was to bethrough the valley of humiliation. They forgot that, whilstit was appointed unto Him to reign, it also behoved Him tosuffer and to die. They were so a~1Xiouso be delivered fromthe Roman yoke, and have the palmy days of David-vandSolomon restored, that they were offended at the manger andthe cross. Their great eagerness for the expected deliveranceblinded their eyes to the prophet's words that Messiah was tobe " as a root out of dry ground," "a Man of sorrow andacquain ted with grief." They were so filled with the glorywhich God had promised to the House of Israel through Him,that they failed to see in their sacrifices and ceremonies thetypes of a better sacrifice, and that the blood that flowedfromtheir altars pointed to the precious blood of Jesus, "theLamb of God, which taketh aWf!>yhe sin of the world."


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23HE BIBLE STANDARD.They failed to comprehend that, long before the predictedglory, Messiah shoulc1first spend a life of toil, and poverty,and wretchedness, and submit to the cruelties of His enemies,be nailec1 to the tree of crucifixion, anc1 "cut off" for thesins of the world. And by failing to comprehend and believeail that the prophets had written concerning the promisedDeliverer, they failec1of a deliverer entirely, and rejected theonly Messiah. Though" He came to His own, His own re-ceived Him not;" and for this their house was "left untothem desolate," ana for eighteen hundred years they havebeen suffering the judgments of God, scattered among allnations, their very name a byword.and reproach.But shall we reproach the "Jews for this, their error, in

regard to the manner and object of the Saviour's firstadvent? "Let him that is without sin cast the first stone."Many professing Christians are guilty of the same error, inanother direction. How many spiritualize, anc1 allegorizeaway some of the most solemn and positive declarations,which are as plain and straightforward as those by which thecoming of the Messiah, as a sufferer, was announced to theJews! There are those who preach the doctrines 01 \ Re-demption, Repentance, and Faith very earnestly, who\",ethate and condemn the great doctrine of Christ's SecondPersonal Advent and Reign, and warn their hearers againstit as a pernicious heresy. And yet there is no truth moreclearly and fully announced in the Scriptures than this.Anc1 are not such doing the very thing for which theycondemn the Jews? Notwithstancling their zeal and sincerityfor other truths, they preach only half a Gospel, and hold upto the worship anc1faith of their people only half a Christ.The minds of the" Jews were so occupied with the glories

of Messiah's reign and triumphs, that they overlooked Hissufferings and death, and hence woulc1not receive Him asthe promised Messiah; and so many Christians confinethemselves so entirely to what the Jews stumbled at, as tolook only at the humiliation and the cross, whilst they setasic1ethe crown anc1the throne, and are as much offenc1ec1tthem as the Jews at the humility anc1the cross.And whence is this? Not from any uncertainty or in-

definiteness in the manner in which the triumph is an-nounced; for the Scriptures are just as clear, full, anc1distinct on this as on any doctrine they contain. It comesfrom a false system of spiritualizing anc1 allegorizing theword "of Goc1,as the Jewish mistake came from a likeperversion of Goc1s plain records, It is high time, however,"that we cease to tamper with the Word of Goc1, by forcingupon it meanings which it was never intended to teach, andto be assured that the Bible means just what it says, andsays just what it means. Our only safety is in interpretingunfulfilled Scripture in the light of Scripture already fulfilled.As to those numerous curses which the Goc1of J acob pro-nouneed upon the rebellious Jews, were they not all brought

upon them literally? Who, then, has the right to say thathe blessings which the same Goel has promised to bestowupon these same people will not also be fulfilled in the sameliteral way? Or does God literally fulfil His curses, and Hisblessings only spiritually? When Goel threatened to scatterthe children of Israel among all nations, and make them abyword anc1 a reproach among all people, did He notexecute His threat literally? Anc1 if the scattering andreproach was literal, why will not also the gathering andblessing be? If the pulling clownof their belovec1Zion wasa literal pulling down, will not the promised builtling up alsobe literal? If the threatened rejection of Israel was a literalrejection, will not the promised restoration also be a literalrestoration ?Anc1what is true of these solemn declarations in regard to

the Jews is also true of those passages which refer to themanner and object of Christ's two advents. The predictionsconcerning the one must be fulfilleel the same as those con-cerning the other. Christ's first advent was literal, visible,and persopal, fulfilling the very letter of prophecy. Howdare we then suppose that the second advent will be spiritualonly, especially when it is affirmed that it.will be as literal,visible, and personal as the first? (Acts i. 9-11.) AtChrist's first advent, every prediction, even to the dividing ofHis garments, anel casting lots for His seamless coat, wasliterally fulfilled; and how can it be possible that the pre-dictions relating to His seeond coming will not also befulfilled in the same literal manner? The shame was allliteral anel visible, and so also must be the exaltation and theglory. What right have we to say that Judah, Israel, Zion,and Jerusalem mean anything else than Judah, Israel, Ziou,&c.? And yet, alas! how is such language turned and mis-applied ? The error of the Jews was in thinking too ex-clusively of Messia~l's reign and glory; ours is in thinkingtoo exclusively of Christ's sufferings and humiliation. Andif it was a fatal error in the Jews to dwell too exclusivelyupontlie predicted triumphs, ignoring the interveningsufferings, may it not be an error equally fatal for us todwell upon the accomplished humiliation anc1ignominy, tothe rejection of the true doctrine concerning the kingdom?The Jews ignored the cross; but do not the great mass ofprofessing Christians equally ignore the crown? Is it not thepractice of many to interpret the Scriptures referring to thefirst advent of Christ literally, and those referring to thesecond advent spiritually? If this is understanding "allthat the prophets have spoken" about the first advent, it iscertainly very far from understanding " all that the prophetshave spoken" about the second. If we are right in under-standing those Scriptures literally which speak of thehumiliation, sufferings, and ascension of Christ, we certainlycannot be right in interpreting those respecting His secondcoming and reign in any other way.-J.F.F.


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THE BIBLE STANDARD.4THE COMING AGAIN.

THE coming again of our Lord Jesus Christ, literally andvisibly, to this earth, for the purpose of.ending this dispen-sation. and inaugurating His own reign, is a subject ofChristian thought and study that seems to have been; for athousand years or more, singularly and sinfully ignored byChrist's own people. The truth itself as Biblically revealed-the scriptural setting forth of the momentous fact of the nextadvent-the inspired announcements of both testamentsconcerning our Saviour's second personal coming-are sofrequently and so distinctly urged, that the inattention andindifference of the Church in relation to the subject seemunaccountable. Just now', the truth of our Lord's secondcoming is gaining notice among His people, and we doubtnot that there will be from henceforth a share of attentiongiven to this blessed theme that will cause it to come moreimmediately to the front, as a subject of Christian con-templation.The modern Church is totally unlike the ancient Churchin regard to its treatment of the great and precious truth-of the second coming of our blessed Lord. In the PrimitiveChurch, the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ wasanticipated with delight, and the prospect of the Saviour'sspeedy return was the occasion of their constant joy.Their eager expectancy of the immediate return of Jesus tothis earth, caused them to err on the one side-our sleepyunexpectancy of His coming, and our fond imagination thatsuch a coming is indefinitely distant, cause us to err on theother side. They were given to the most restless inquiryas to when should be the "times and seasons" of theirLord's return-we are given to the most listless unconcernon the whole subject, apparently not caring whether ourLord shall come at all! They were incessant and urgentin their asking, "When shall these things be? " We areasking, if we are forced to any asking on the subject, inthe very words of all primitive and modern infidels,"Where is the promise of His coming?" If extremeshave been touched, certainly we are at one of them,and the worst one at that. What may be true oruntrue concerning this grand theme of revelation, onefact is unchallengeable. It is observable in Churchhistory that where God's people have adjourned the comingof Jesus to some remote date of the far-off and shadowyfuture, religion has fallen into coldness, worldliness, andformality. And when on the other hand, the people of Godnave been vigilantly observant of coming and passing crisis,and have regarded them as premonishing the near advent ofJesus, the Church has returned to spirituality and hasseemed to imbibe much of the watchfulness and zeal ofApostolic times. Such being the voice of history, and suchthe high moral effect of this great truth, it is certain thatthe calling back of the Church's attention to the long-ignored truth of our Lord's second coming is a duty thatinterests all who stand as teachers of the Church at this day.If the unspirituality, and coldness, and worldliness, andformality, and unfaithfulness, and inconsistency, and carnal-mindedness, and covetousness, and disobedience, andidolatrous loves, and practices of the now-a-days Church do

not make an occasion for the introduction of some urgentand startling form of religious doctrine that will shake theChristian world out of its deep slumbers, then we confessour inability to imagine a condition of Churchly declensionthat would create such an occasion. No doubt this sad anddoleful condition of lapsed Churchism is the prime cause ofthe current ignoring of the great event herein spoken of.The Church of to-day (we speak in the general) is not readyfor the Lord's coming, and is not seeking to become so, andhence its unwillingness to anticipate that event, and itsgrowing scepticism as to the truth of the predictions whichrelate to it. But even in this, prophecy finds its fulfilment,for there can be little doubt that the non-belief which Peterreproves in his second General Epistle is a form of infidelitythat pertains to the Church-to such as are the professedpeople of God.B ut the Judge will come. And He will come to receive toHimself all who look for His coming with joy, and to visitupon those who do not" love His appearing," whetherwithin 01' without the visible church, the long-threatenedcondemnation." Behold, He cometh with the clouds, and every eye shallsee Him, and they also which pierced Him; and all thekindred of the earth shall wail because of Him."-Banllel' ofHoliness. To OUR READERS.In view of the vast importance

Bible Standard December 1877

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Transcript of Bible Standard December 1877