LETTER FROM LONDON.

MY DEAR FRIEND:

            In the leading article of a popular weekly journal, now before me, I find remarked, “that an uneasy calm, dreary, dark and desolate, is oppressing the minds of men generally with an undefined dread of some impending evil, hidden in the future.” Doubtless this is the outline of some of those ominous tokens, foretold by our Lord, that would immediately precede the fearful judgments introductory to His glorious Advent.

“Upon the earth, distress of nations, with perplexity, men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth”—Luke 21: 25-26.

O, Zion that brings glad tidings of peace,

Now raise thy loud voice thine afflictions shall cease.

Thy foes soon shall perish—then banish thy fear,

Tell the nations afar—Redemption is near—

That each race, tho’ distant, shall hasten to bring

Their glory and riches, to welcome thy King.

Lo, He comes, cry aloud, His power confess,

His afflicted and chosen to succour and bless.

He comes to establish His long promised Throne,

When His name to the ends off the earth shall be known.

            It is true, that you stand foremost in the ranks of those who are “persecuted for the Kingdom of God’s sake,” but at the same time you must not fail to remember that such a post is accounted, by the Captain of our salvation, one of no ordinary distinction; and although “men of the world” may brand you with “hallucination,” for faithfully proclaiming that the Throne of David is the long promised Throne of the Kingdom of God, such a stigma is none so foul as when they imputed satanic agency to the rightful Heir of that Throne, in exercising His divine power and mercy amongst them. And, as some encouragement under your enormous labours, permit me to assure you that I am in frequent correspondence with persons who allege that you have been instrumental in awakening them to seek an interest in that glorious kingdom, thus testifying the fruitfulness of your works; and, doubtless, you will in “due season” reap an abundant reward, if you faint not. Allow me also to observe, that the minister of the “Gospel of the Kingdom of God,” should not only show forth the truths of the gospel, but condemn and protest against the erroneous opinions and “traditions of men;” he should not only proclaim its effulgence, but be enabled to scatter the obstructing clouds which obscure its lustre—amongst the most dense of which is the popular dogma of the happiness, &c., of “souls” in a disembodied state, being none other than the sordid figment of the Mass Priest, and wholly opposed to the truth that fallen man is unsafe in unbuckled armour, and incapable of entering glory until old Mortality shall be exchanged for the rich robes of Immortality. Flesh and blood, or man in his present corruptible state, cannot enter the kingdom of God, because that inheritance requires a state of undecaying being. “Corruption cannot inherit incorruption;” therefore, as our present mortal life is in the blood, —“the blood is the life of the flesh,”—it follows that life of an essentially different nature must be granted to man, ere he can inherit the kingdom of God; even that life which is “now hid in Christ,” and when given, we shall become like Him, and this precious gift is designated “Eternal Life;” hence, as the scriptures recognise no happiness in a future state unconnected with the “redemption of the body,” it is evident that the doctrine of happiness of “souls,” in a disembodied state proceeds from the vain traditions and opinions of men. Heavenly happiness cannot be enjoyed in any other than an immortal state of being, in the likeness of Christ at his triumphant resurrection from the power of the grave, not as a disembodied spirit, but with “flesh and bones”—Luke 24: 39, capable of divine powers—John 20: 19.     

            The main feature of the doctrine of the scripture, is to exhibit the very beneficent intentions of God towards this degenerate world, both as regards the restoration of man, and the “whole creation,” to more than primeval excellence, through our Lord Jesus Christ; when it will be manifested that “This Land, that was desolate, is become like the Garden of Eden”—Ezekiel 36: 35, or “the Garden of the Lord”—Isaiah 51: 3, that “Paradise” promised to the malefactor on the cross; it is, however, declared “I will yet for this be enquired of by the House of Israel, to do it for them;” and Christ, himself, has framed for us the language of that enquiry—“Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” But Satan has devised the most subtle means to arrest the progress of such desire, and, alas! men have too readily been deceived to wrest that plain language, as also the other scriptures—“unto their own destruction”—nevertheless, he will ere long be defeated by Christ taking to himself his great power, and reigning, “King of kings and Lord of lords,” until the whole earth shall “be filled with the knowledge of his glory;” then will his chosen Israel become “one People,” “one Family,” “one Flock,” “one Building,” “one Body,” “one in Image and Likeness,” and “one in their Inheritance,” and “God be all in all.”

            That you may be “preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ,” having continued diligent and faithful in the great work set before you, “looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our saviour Jesus Christ,” is the fervent prayer of

Your faithful friend,

            and fellow-servant in the Lord,

R. ROBERTSON.

89 Grange Road, Bermondsey,

Surrey, England, April 1852.

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