OBJECTIONS.

Alabama, 1850.

Dear Sir:

I agree with you that so far as the word of God teaches you are correct in regard to the questions of Immortality, and the destiny of the wicked.

In reference to the second coming of Christ, I am inclined to believe that you overlook the facts predicated on his appearance at, or contemporary with, the overthrow of the Jewish Theocracy, and the introduction of Christianity. You will not, you cannot deny, but that Christ predicted his coming in that generation as plainly as his coming is foretold by the prophets in “the latter days.” I believe and teach that he did come in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory when his apostles had accomplished the work of preaching the gospel of the kingdom to all nations. Then did the end come in relation to some things you now hold and teach, such as Baptism, the Lord’s Supper, &c. At that time we believe that the Kingdom of heaven was introduced, and every true believer entered into his rest, became a partaker of its blessings, received remission of sins, and sanctification through the operation of the Spirit, and belief of the truth.

Hence I reject the ordinance of water baptism as belonging to a past dispensation, and hold only the baptism of the Spirit, as christian baptism. On this point I am satisfied, and cannot yield assent to any man’s ipse dixit. Having put on Christ, received the cleansing from sin by the baptism of Christ, the believer has no need of circumcision of the flesh, of baptismal waters, and divers carnal ordinances, which all had their use before the introduction of the christian dispensation, but in “the last days” were all done away by “the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit.”

Desiring to know what the truth is in all its bearings, I remain your’s in the Hope, —N. P.

OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED.

THE COMING OF THE SON OF MAN—THE END—THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN NOT INTRODUCED AT THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM—WHEN? —“CARNAL ORDINANCES”—CHRISTIAN BAPTISM A SPIRITUAL ORDINANCE—DEFINED.

We do not by any means overlook the coming of the Son of Man to overthrow the Jewish State. There is no question, or rather no room to question, but that Jesus predicted his coming as Son of Man, but not as King, in the forty-second generation, that is, the one contemporary with himself. His words are these in speaking to his apostles, “Verily, I say unto you, ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel till the Son of Man be come.”—Matthew 10: 23. Here is a plain declaration that he would come in some sense before the apostles had preached the gospel of the kingdom in all the cities of Israel. He told them that in fulfilling their mission they would be grievously maltreated, but that if they endured to THE END they should be saved. Hence “the End” was in the life-time of those who “endured;” who were not overcome by the persecutions that should beset them. The End was at the termination, not at the beginning of their ministry; as it is written, “This Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the habitable for a witness to all the nations; and afterwards shall the End come.”—Matthew 24: 14. Whatever then the End refers to, it did not come at Pentecost, nor at Peter’s visit to Cornelius; but after the preaching of the Gospel to all the nations of the Roman world or empire, called the inhabited earth. Now this proclamation was accomplished in the life-time of the apostles: for Paul says, “the Hope of the Gospel (the Kingdom) was preached to every creature under the heaven.”—Colossians 1: 23. He wrote this about thirty years after the resurrection of Jesus; that is, about six or eight years before the destruction of the City and the Sanctuary by the people of the Prince who should come. —Daniel 9: 26. James who wrote about the same time, exhorted those Israelites he wrote to, to “be patient (under their persecutions) to the coming of the Lord, for,” says he, “the coming of the Lord draweth nigh:” “ the Judge standeth at the door.” “Behold we count them happy who endure”—James 5: 7-9, that is, “to the end.” James’ exhortation was in effect, “bear up under the persecutions inflicted upon you by the rulers of our nation, and be not faint-hearted; the Son of Man who is to judge them is at Israel’s door, and with his people will soon invade the country, and in overthrowing their power, save or deliver you.” Peter also wrote about the same time to the same class of persons, to believing Israelites who were suffering reproach for the name of Christ, and exhorted them to rejoice in their tribulation as partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that when his glory should be revealed they might be glad with exceeding joy. But he knew well that the glory of Christ could not be revealed till the law of Moses was set aside; for Jesus could not sit and rule as a priest upon David’s throne and bear the glory—Zechariah 6: 12-13—so long as the Mosaic code was the constitution of the nation. Therefore, said he, “THE END of all things is at hand”—1 Peter 4: 7—the end of all things constituted by the Mosaic law, which having “decayed and waxed old was about to vanish away.”—Hebrews 8: 13. The Prince’s people were to come, and make an end of all things connected with the city and temple. These people were they whose power is represented by the Little Horn of the Goat, which waxed so exceedingly great that it overtopped the royalty of Israel. When the end came this power abolished the daily sacrifice and cast down the place where it was offered. This was Jehovah’s doing; for he gave the army against the daily because of Israel’s transgression; and it cast down the truth, or the Law, to the ground; and afterwards practised and prospered for a long time. —Daniel 8: 9-12.

The Roman armies were the Prince’s people, or the Lord’s armies, to abolish the Mosaic kingdom on the same principle that the Medes and Persians were Jehovah’s “sanctified ones” for the subversion of the Chaldean Dynasty. —Isaiah 13: 3. The armies being employed being employed by the King of Israel they are called “his armies,” and being under the direction of his Son in the conduct of the war, they are styled “the Prince’s people,” that is, the people of Messiah the Prince. The reader will find this idea embodied in one of our Lord’s parables illustrative of the things of the kingdom of the heavens. The marriage of the king’s son is supposed to be ready for celebration. His servants are sent out to call them that were bidden to partake in it; but they made light of the invitation, and even slew the king’s servants. Now when the King heard of this he was wroth: “and,” says Jesus, “he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.”—Matthew 22: 7. These armies were the devastating abomination spoken of by Daniel in the places referred to, standing in the holy land; and represented in the twenty-fourth of Matthew by their standards, the eagles of the legions. They were the birds of prey gathered together by the Son of Man to devour the body politic, or carcase of Judah. Even as Moses had predicted, saying, “The Lord shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, swift as the eagle flieth; a nation whose language thou shalt not understand. A nation of fierce countenance, which shall not regard the person of the old, nor show favor to the young. He shall besiege thee in thy gates (or cities) until thy high and fenced walls come down in which thou trustedst.” “And thy carcase shall be meat unto all the fowls of the air,” &c. —Deuteronomy 28: 49, 26; Daniel 8: 23. This nation of a fierce countenance is styled by Daniel “a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences,” that is, a language unintelligible to Israel. Now, the Lord was to bring this fierce power of the west against Jerusalem; and the Son of Man is that Lord. If then he bring it against the city did he not come? Certainly he came with his armies although he was not visible. His armies were mighty, “but not by their own power.” Titus confessed that if God had not cooperated with the Romans they could not have taken the city. But the Son of Man being with them, they destroyed wonderfully, even the mighty and the holy people. Thus, the coming of the Romans, “the people of the Prince,” was also the coming of the Son of Man in power, but not in great glory; for he does not appear in his glory until he comes accompanied by his holy angels. —Matthew 25: 31; 2 Thessalonians 1: 7-8. “When the Lord shall build up Zion, he shall appear in his glory”—Psalm 102: 16, and not when he destroys her. His coming was to take the nation at unawares. It was to be quick as the lightning, or “swift as the eagle flieth;” “FOR wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.” So was the coming of the Son of Man, by a rapid and overwhelming invasion of the country, and the unexpected encompassment of Jerusalem by the armies of Rome.

This was “the End” “in the End of the world;” or the end of the Jewish State in the end of the dispensation constituted by the Mosaic law. It was the End contemporary with the scoffers of “the last days,” walking after their own lusts, and taunting the disciples of Christ with the sceptical inquiry, “Where is the (fulfilment of the) promise of his coming?” It was the End in which the Mosaic Heavens and Earth were about to be shaken—Haggai 2: 6; Hebrews 12: 26-27, that all things incompatible with the Kingdom under the New Covenant to be made with Israel and Judah—Jeremiah 31: 31, might be dissolved. It was the End in which the day of the Lord came upon Judah as a thief in the night; and in which the elements—Galatians 4: 3, 9; Colossians 2: 8, 20, or rudiments of their world, or dispensation, were abolished in the fervency of the indignation which judged and destroyed the ungodly rulers of Israel and their adherents. It was the End, lastly in which the day of God was manifested upon the nation, and by the fire of whose wrath their “land and the works that were therein,” their towns and villages, their cities and public buildings, their temple, their synagogues, farms, and villas, were “burned up” and utterly destroyed. —2 Peter 3.

This was the end of “the Jewish Theocracy” for a time, but it was not contemporary with the introduction of Christianity,” as our correspondent seems to think; unless he make the end a period of years beginning with Pentecost and ending with the conflagration of the temple. Then indeed, the introduction of christianity was at the beginning of the end, and the overthrow of the Theocracy about 40 years after, at the conclusion of the end. The overthrow was the end of the Mosaic kingdom; but the introduction and beginning of nothing. It is true, the power of the Hebrew oppressor and scoffer was broken, but that of the equally savage Gentile remained, and exercised itself with great cruelty both on Jew and christian. The true believer had no rest, save from the evil works he used to practise in his unconverted state.

Our correspondent is led into the mistake that when the State of Judea was subverted the Kingdom of heaven was introduced, by the saying, “Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father,” which follows immediately after the verse which speaks of the perdition of the ungodly men of Israel in the Jerusalem-furnace and Zion-fire. “The Son of Man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all scandals, and them which do iniquity; and shall cast them into a furnace of fire; there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine,” &c. —Matthew 13: 41. the paraphrase of this is, “The Son of man shall send forth his armies, and they shall gather out of his land (though unwittingly) all things and persons causing to offend, and them who do iniquity; and they shall surround them, and drive them back, and cause them to enter Jerusalem for refuge, which shall become a fiery furnace; and there they shall wail and gnash their teeth. Afterwards shall the righteous shine,” &c. —but when?

To gather, or to drive out of a kingdom is to expel from the territory of that kingdom. To gather out of Victoria’s kingdom of all papists who scandalise her government would be to collect them together and either put them to death, or to exile them to some foreign land. It is precisely the same thing to gather out of the Son of Man’s kingdom all scandals, and them that do iniquity. He collected them together in groups, or “bundles,” some in one part of the country, and some in others, but the largest aggregation of them in Jerusalem. This was effected through the Romans during the war, in which he caused them to be slain by hundreds of thousands, and to be “led away captive into all nations.” In this way he ejected them from his kingdom to have no more national occupancy of the land “until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.” “Then shall the righteous shine as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.”

This shining of the righteous as the sun, is shown in Daniel to be subsequent to the resurrection from the dead. In the twelfth chapter it is revealed that the times of the Gentiles, or “the time, times, and a half,” will end with a time of trouble such as there has not been since there was a nation even to that same time; that the power of the Holy People will no longer be scattered, for at that time their deliverance will be effected; and that many sleeping in the dust of the earth will awake to everlasting life, and shine as the brightness of the firmament, i.e. “as the sun,” for ever and ever.

The word “then” beginning a verse does not import that the things spoken of are immediately to follow what has gone before. It implies sequence or succession, but this may be immediate or remote. This is well illustrated in the prophecy on Mount Olivet. The sequence of events is laid down there as follows: first, the gathering of the eagles; “immediately after,” or secondly, the overthrow of the State; “and then,” or thirdly, the appearance of the sign of the Son of Man in the heaven; “and then,” or fourthly, the mourning of the Twelve Tribes. Now these four things were not, and did not occur at the destruction of Jerusalem. They are all things pertaining to the nation of Israel; but the prophets show that the third and fourth items are many hundreds of years remote from the second. The heavens and earth of the Mosaic kingdom were made to pass away as the immediate consequence of the war; and the next event of great significance in relation to Israel will be the appearance of the sign of the Son of Man in the heaven—in the political heaven; even the Russo-Assyrian head of Nebuchadnezzar’s Image encamped in his palatial tents with a cloud of warriors between the seas in the glorious holy mountain. —Daniel 11: 45. This we apprehend is “the sign.” When this is seen, then know that the Son of Man is about to be revealed with power and great glory. The time then will have arrived when he will bend Judah as his bow, and fill it with Ephraim, and raise up the sons of Zion against the sons of Greece, and make them as the sword of a mighty man. And the Lord shall be seen over them, and his arrow (Ephraim) shall go forth as the lightning; and the Lord God shall blow the trumpet, and shall go with whirlwinds of the south. The Lord of hosts shall defend them; and they shall devour, and subdue with sling stones. And they shall be as mighty men, who tread down their enemies as mire in the streets in the battle; and they shall fight because the Lord is with them, and the riders on horses shall be confounded. And I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph, and I will bring them again to place them; and they shall be as though I had not cast them off: for I am the Lord their God and will hear them. —Zechariah 9: 13; 10: 5.

And who is the Lord their God that will be seen over them? Even the Son of Man whom the nation pierced. They will find that to him who was wounded in the house of his friends, they owe their deliverance from the enemy who had come in upon their land like a flood. This discovery will cut them to the heart, and superinduce a mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning for Josiah at Hadadrimmon, in the Valley of Megiddo. Then will the tribes of the land mourn, all the families that remain, every family apart, and their wives apart—Zechariah 12: 10; 13: 6, when they shall see the crucified one in power and great glory.

Being thus revealed to Israel, but not to the world at large, he proceeds to set up “the kingdom of the heavens;” that is, to restore the kingdom again to Israel by re-establishing the kingdom and throne of David “as in the days of old;” and subduing the nations so as to take possession of their “heavens,” or kingdoms for himself and the Saints of the Most High. A kingdom ruling over all kingdoms is the kingdom of the heavens, vulgarly termed, “the kingdom of heaven.” Was such a kingdom introduced at the destruction of Jerusalem, or even on the day of Pentecost? By no means. But such a monarchy will be established when the lord comes in glory; then the conclusion is that the righteous did not shine as the sun in their Father’s kingdom at the conflagration of the city and temple; but will do so hereafter literally when they shall be “raised in glory.”

From the foregoing exposition it must be evident that “the end” spoken of by Jesus in the words “then shall the end come,” was an end to the world, age, dispensation, or kingdom under the Mosaic law, and not as our worthy correspondent supposes, an end to baptism, the Lord’s supper, &c. The end of the Mosaic covenant did not at all change the state or condition of the Gentile believers for better or worse; or set aside the things previously required of them. It was an epoch of destruction; not of building up, and of rest. But even on the supposition of the kingdom being introduced, and true believers entering on its rest, this entering could only affect believers contemporary with its introduction. It could have no regard even to the succeeding generation much less to us at this remote period. But the kingdom of the heavens was not introduced. The kingdoms of this world did not then, nor have they ever yet become, the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ. Had the kingdom of heaven then been introduced, the Twelve Tribes would all have been gathered home to Palestine, Jesus would have become their acknowledged head, and wars would have ceased till now.

Christian baptism was no part of the Mosaic dispensation, or economy. It is nowhere enjoined upon Jew or Gentiles as an ordinance of the Sinaitic code. This must, we think, be evident to every one who reflects upon the nature of christian baptism. Christian baptism is not mere water baptism. Even the washings or bathings under the law were not mere baptisms in water. Something else had to be done for the subject before the bathing of himself at even would “sanctify to the purifying of his flesh.” The priest had to dip a bunch of hyssop into a solution of burnt-heifer ashes, called “ a water of separation,” or “a purification for sin,” and to sprinkle it upon the unclean person or thing on the third day. This was the first stage of the cleansing process. He was then to be sprinkled again on the seventh day. This was the second stage of the purifying. Lastly, he was to wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and he was pronounced clean according to the law “at even.”—Numbers 19. This was “the putting away of the filth of the flesh” by a “carnal ordinance imposed on Israel until the time of emendation”—diorthosis not metanoia; and which could no perfect the subject of it, as pertaining to the conscience. —1 Peter 3: 21; Hebrews 9: 9-10.

“The filth of the flesh” was defilement contracted by touching any thing forbidden to be touched, or pronounced unclean by the law. To touch a dead body, a bone, or a grave was legal contamination of the flesh, which could not be got quit of under any circumstances in less than seven days; and if the unclean person neglected the carnal ordinance appointed in the law for the cleansing of such as he, he was to be cut off from Israel.

“A cardinal ordinance” was an institution for the cleansing of the flesh contaminated as before mentioned. It had nothing to do with the conscience; for when the man was cleansed from the defilement of a bone, he might still be troubled in conscience for having coveted his neighbor’s goods. Now christian baptism is not a carnal ordinance although the body is bathed in water. It was not appointed for the putting away of the filth of the flesh; for since “the emendation” of the law, it is not that which toucheth or entereth into an Israelite that defiles him, but that which proceedeth out of his heart. Filth of the flesh cannot be legally contracted now. There is no legal defilement to be put away by carnal ordinances, therefore carnal ordinances have been long since abolished; and were never imposed upon Gentiles unless they became citizens of the Mosaic kingdom.

Mosaic baptisms and christian baptism are essentially different; the former having regard to the flesh; the latter to the spirit or conscience. The sprinkling of the heart must precede the bathing of the body; for it is the sprinkling of the heart from an evil conscience by the blood of sprinkling which speaks better things than the blood of Abel, that makes a purification for sin to the believer in the gospel of the kingdom whose body is bathed in water into the holy name. —Hebrews 10: 22; 12: 24. A man of unsprinkled heart, of an unsanctified disposition, whose head is full of theory but his heart untouched, though dipped with all the parade and circumstance of speech, prayer, baptistry and song, is in the predicament of the Jew who would bathe himself on the seventh day without having been previously sprinkled with the water of separation on the third. He would be cut off from Israel. Fifty immersions would avail nothing to the Gentile or Jew who was previously ignorant of the gospel of the kingdom; for it is “he who believes the gospel and is baptised shall be saved;” and not, “he that is bathed in water first, and believes the gospel afterwards.”

Christian baptism, then, is a spiritual, and not a carnal, ordinance; and may be defined as Immersion in water into the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, of a man of Abrahamic disposition, who believes the things of the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ; by which sprinkling of heart and immersion of body he is united to the name of Jesus, and in being so united his belief of the truth is counted to him for righteousness or remission of sins, and his disposition, for repentance unto life, in, by, and through the name thus named upon him in the formula prescribed. Surely our correspondent will not say this is a carnal ordinance; and abolished at the overthrow of the Jewish Theocracy! It is not the popular baptism, but the New Testament institution. Abolish such an immersion into the Lord’s name, and you leave the believer without any means of formal union to it, so that he is cut off from receiving repentance and remission of sins which come only through the name of Jesus. Christian baptism as defined above is “the washing of regeneration” predicated on “the renewing of the Holy Spirit” through the truth believed.

EDITOR