"And in their days, even of those kings, the God of heaven shall set up A KINGDOM which shall never perish, and A DOMINION that shall not be left to another people. It shall grind to powder and bring to an end all these kingdoms, and itself shall stand for ever."—DANIEL.

JOHN THOMAS, Editor. NEW YORK, NOVEMBER, 1854—

Volume 4—No. 11

While I was in Kentucky, my attention was drawn to a communication in the June number of Mr. A. Campbell’s Magazine under the above caption, over the signature of "A Friend of Truth;" and to Mr. Campbell’s extraordinary evasion of the reply the importance of the queries entitles them to. But, before offering any remarks, I will present the reader with the documents themselves:

"Elder Campbell. —With respect to the question of the nature of the events which are to begin the Millennial Reign of Christ, the following points are so clear and positive, that but few will deny any of them:

"1. Said reign is to begin by a resurrection of some kind, of the righteous dead. —

Revelation 20.

"2. By a coming of Christ, of some kind. —Revelation 21.

"3. By some kind of a destruction of the great mass of mankind as individuals. —

Revelation 14: 9-11.

"4. By some kind of a termination of the Fourth Universal Monarchy. —

Revelation 19; Daniel 7.

"5. By a reward of some kind to all the righteous as individuals. —Revelation 11 and 16.

"6. By a reward of some kind to all the saints as a people or nation. —Hebrews 11; Daniel 7.

"The important question now presents itself: If the above texts do not prove that all the above events are to have a real and literal fulfilment, can it be proved from the Bible that like events will have a literal fulfilment at the end of the millennium? In other words, Do the Scriptures more plainly prove the above, or like events, to be literal, than the texts above referred to?

"This inquiry brings before us another important question: If there are no plainer Scriptures to prove that said events are more literal at the end than at the beginning of the millennium, does not the popular doctrine of the spiritual millennial reign involve or comprise a denial of Christ’s personal reign as taught in the Scriptures, or that he no longer exists personally as the Son of man? And is not this a denial of an important part of the faith in Christ which we are required to exercise in connection with repentance and baptism, in order to obtain salvation? Is not his future literal and personal reign as the Son of man, so important an office resulting from his obedience here on earth, as that a denial of it amounts to a serious apostasy from the doctrine of Jesus Christ and Him crucified?

A FRIEND OF TRUTH."

MR. CAMPBELL’S REMARKS ON THE ABOVE.

"We have read with attention the preceding queries, and had we the name of the writer, (the italics are ours—Editor Herald,) might have attempted an immediate answer. But our rule is—and propriety demands it, as our experience proves—to have the name of those who desire for their communications a place on our pages and a response to them. The subject of the Millennium is one of growing importance, and of thrilling interest to the Christian community. We have had it often before our minds, and are glad to see that it is eliciting more attention than formerly, both in our country and in the Old World.

"As preparatory to these questions, there are certain preliminary matters which seem to command the attention of the student of prophecy. Such as,

"1. The restoration of Israel to their own land.

"2. The rise and fall of Babylon the Great.

"3. The 1260 days.

"4. The coming of the Lord.

"5. The first resurrection.

"6. The thousand years’ reign of the Saints.

"7. The descent of the New Jerusalem.

"8. The scenes following.

"These are to be our themes, the Lord willing, as soon as our readers are increased to 10,000. We have had this subject often before our mind, and more recently has it become more engrossing. We design to give to this great theme much attention, and to spare no pains to assist our readers in the investigation of the prophetic oracles; for the time has come ‘when many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.’ We are evidently approaching a new crisis in the ecclesiastic and political affairs of the world. If every four readers of the Harbinger would add one, the seats would be full for such a discussion. And while this is in progress, we shall be preparing our materials, and placing things in order for such a development as the progress of the age and our means and facilities may furnish.

"We have been and still hearing both sides, and collecting documents in aid and furtherance of such an object. It will unquestionably soon be, if it is not already, one of the most engrossing topics of our generation.

A.C."

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"OUR RULE."

If Mr. Campbell’s desire were simply to elicit truth and give it currency in his magazine, he would not fence our correspondents by such a rule as the above. The queries put by "A Friend of Truth" are as important, interesting, and to the point, and as worthy of a respectful and satisfactory reply as though his real name were appended to them. Why not then attempt an immediate answer? Oh, because Mr. Campbell is afraid that in so doing he might be showing civility to the friends of the Gospel of the Kingdom, in which he has no faith; and affording his readers an opportunity, by what might be elicited, of becoming acquainted with it, and with the testimony and reasoning by which it is sustained, and proved to be the veritable "ancient gospel" preached to Abraham, and by Jesus and the Apostles, before and after Pentecost. This would not suit his crooked policy—a policy which, for these eighteen years, has uniformly sought to prevent certain of his contemporaries, whose views and characters he has misrepresented and assailed, from speaking for themselves in his pages. He has grown old in this injustice, and will probably die in it. By one expedient or another he has managed to hoodwink his readers as effectually as any Pope could desire. He has made them believe that Campbellism is the truth of God; and that whatever denies it is "opinionism"—mere "untaught questions and speculation," that need only be stated by him to be despised! Hence his rule—just to give him the monopoly of his readers’ minds, to the exclusion of those he dislikes and fears.

That "Friend of Truth" was, with him, a suspicious person. The ground of suspicion was, that the answer of his last two questions in the affirmative would have placed Mr. Campbell upon the ground occupied by the Herald of the Kingdom. From our experience of the past, therefore, we do not hesitate to say that Mr. Campbell never will answer them affirmatively; and if he answer them negatively, he may as well give up the ghost as attempt "to assist his readers in the investigation of the prophetic oracles." An affirmative answer of these questions condemns him as part and parcel of "a serious apostasy from the doctrine of Jesus Christ and him crucified." He finds the questions very inconvenient; he therefore applies his rule to "A Friend of Truth," and while giving his communication a place in his pages, rules off the "response."

If Mr. Campbell had not so many years put Moses and the Prophets on the shelf as "an old Jewish Almanac"—to use his own style—he would not now be so ignorant of the gospel and its kingdom, and so unprepared to "attempt" to give immediate answers to queries such as, "A Friend of Truth’s," whose points are elements inseparable from them, that he must ensconce himself behind a rule for their evasion. Mr. Campbell, it would seem, has not intelligence enough in the Word (for he will not "attempt an immediate answer") to say if the things pointed are to have "a real and literal fulfilment" at the beginning or end of the millennium! Nor can he attempt to say whether or not the "popular doctrine of the spiritual millennial reign involve or comprise a denial of Christ’s personal reign, as taught in the Scriptures!" Nor will he attempt to give a hint whether a denial of Christ’s personal reign be "a denial of an important part of the faith in Christ which we are required to exercise in connection with repentance and baptism, in order to obtain salvation!" Nor, lastly, will he attempt to inform "A Friend of Truth" whether a denial of "Christ’s future literal and personal reign" do not "amount to a serious apostasy from the doctrine of Jesus Christ and him crucified," without conformity to an arbitrary rule and an enormous fee!!! He is silent as the grave upon these important queries, which he gets rid of with all despatch, by simply remarking that he "might have attempted" an answer if he had possessed the writer’s name. What must "A Friend of Truth" think of such "a watchman" of the Bethany "Zion," that when he asks for bread he receives a stone? When he inquires, "Watchman, what of the night?" the watchman turns his back upon him without deigning to notice him, and begins to cry out to the multitude, "The subject of the Millennium is one of growing importance and of thrilling interest to the Christian community. We have had it often before our mind—glad to see it eliciting more attention everywhere than formerly: only increase my periodical revenue to $20,000, and I will then begin to spare no pains in assisting you to understand this great theme. If every four of you will bring a stranger, the pit will be full, and the performance shall begin!"

Would Paul or any of the Apostles have dared to reply thus, in letter or spirit, to inquirers after truth? Would they have said, "Give us 20,000 pieces of silver, and we will then talk to you about the restoration of Israel and Judah, the rise and fall of Babylon, the coming of the Lord, the resurrection, the reign of the saints, the descent of the New Jerusalem, and the scenes following?" Nay, nay, ye friends of truth and honesty! "We," say they, "coveted no man’s silver or gold, but have ministered to our own necessities, and have showed you all things, and have kept back nothing that was profitable, not having shunned to declare to you all the counsel of God." They did not say, "There are eight themes in the counsel of God which are to be ours, the Lord willing, so soon as our hearers are increased to 10,000 at $2.00 a head. Give us the cash, and we will then give you the spirituals!" On the contrary, they first sowed to the unthankful the spiritual things without fee or reward, in the midst of volleys of stones and curses; and afterwards reaped carnal things liberally from those of the enemy whom truth had captured in the fight. "They who preach the gospel (or all the counsel of God) should live of the gospel;" but—"make a note on’t," Mr. Campbell and ye divinity students all—ye must first preach it, or ye have no right to justify your extortions for a living by this Word! Hear those words of Paul, ye that bargain for your hire before ye will open your mouths to "attempt answers" to the friends of truth: "Necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel! For a dispensation is committed unto me. My reward is, that when I preach the gospel, I may make the gospel of Christ without charge; that I abuse not my power in the gospel; for though I be free from all, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more. I am made all things to all, that I might by all means save some. And this I do for the gospel’s sake, that I might be partaker of the gospel with you." But Mr. Campbell, unlike "Paul the aged," has become avaricious in his old age. He has been an editor some thirty-four years, professedly teaching "all the counsel of God;" yet it remains for him to begin to enlighten his readers on eight preliminary matters—themes with which every tyro in the gospel ought to be familiar—before he can attempt to answer a few self-evident questions; and this he will not do unless he is well paid in advance for publishing materials, which he has not yet begun to prepare and place in order; for his words are, "while this is in progress, (that is, pushing up the revenue to 20,000 pieces of silver,) we shall be preparing our materials and placing things in order for such a development as the progress of the age and our means and facilities may furnish!" After such a declaration, is it not easy enough to decide whether it be the love of the truth, or the love of money, that stimulates the zeal and ambition of "the Supervisor of this Reformation," and President of Bethany College, for the preparation of young men for the Campbellite ministry, &c., &c.? Considering what a man of expediency Mr. Campbell is, I wonder he should have deemed it expedient, even for the sake of the pieces of silver, to tell the world so plainly that he writes about the Millennium, and "designs to give this great theme much attention," (by which is implied that he has not yet given it much attention, though professedly a harbinger of it for the last twenty-seven years,) only in hope of a great pecuniary reward bargained and paid for in advance! What has he been doing with his readers in regard to "the preliminary matters," all these years, that he cannot answer a few simple questions before them, without previously preparing them for what he may please to say? Has he been doing his duty as "a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth?" If he have, then there is no occasion for the present put-off of "A Friend of Truth." If he have not, notwithstanding the large sums he has extracted from them under pretence of harbingering the millennium, of which he has given them no certainty or definite understanding, then it is a shame and a reproach unto him. But after all, how could he give them intelligence in this matter, seeing that he has proved himself like the waves of the sea, unstable and double-minded in all his ways? He once professed to believe, and advocated the personal appearing of Jesus Christ to reign on earth one thousand years, which millennium, he thought, was to have begun about 1847! But he changed his opinion, (and with him, opinion it was; for had he received the reign as the result of God’s teaching, it would have been faith not so easily bartered,) and rejected it; for the reason, as reported by one of his evangelists, still high in favour, to whom he gave it, that "baptism for the remission of sins"—"the Ancient Gospel," as he used to proclaim it—preached by his co-labourers, spread with such extraordinary rapidity that he regarded it as the appointed means for the introduction of the millennium, which would therefore be a spiritual reign of the gospel, and not a personal reign of Christ. Hence, as resurrection precedes reign, I have heard an elder of his reformation declare that the first resurrection happened in "the restoration of the ancient gospel and order of things," when "this reformation"—as it is technically styled by its supervisor—began!!!

But will the many hundreds of subscribers already enlisted remain content in view of the implications necessarily effluent from the bargain proposed? Have they been so long excluded from the "preliminary matters"—the eight themes—and is their access to them, after thirty-four years, even now only problematical, consequent on raising the 20,000 pieces of eight? Is it not enough to let them know that they have been kept in ignorance while the light has been shining elsewhere, without provoking their indignation that their illumination depends upon raising the cash? O ye patrons of The Millennial Harbinger, your editor is just rewarding you according to your works! Ye have glorified and sustained him in the unrighteous policy that has excluded the truth from his pages, and now he makes merchandise of you for certain pieces of silver! You hallelujahed him while attacking the character, misstating and denouncing the views, and robbing of their rights, those who said, and were prepared to prove, that the truth of God was crucified and set at naught by Mr. Campbell’s teaching. I say, "robbing of their rights;" for when men are misrepresented before a certain public, they have a divine as well as a Roman right to speak for themselves before that same public, a denial of which is violence and robbery of right. Mr. Campbell has uniformly acted with this violence to certain I could name, and it is to perpetuate this wrong that he has fabricated a rule which most effectually prevents any of the proscribed, under the protection of an incognito, calling in question by testimony and reason the scripturality of his traditions. He demands the names of all comers, and if among them he should read those he has crossed with the mark of the beast, God’s truth, however convincingly sustained, would be excluded from your perusal over their proper signature. This is a notorious fact and undeniable; and in such unrighteousness ye have countenanced your editor for years; and for once he acts justly, rendering to you all according to the evil of your work.

He says truly, that the millennium is a subject of growing importance and thrilling interest, and that it will unquestionably soon be, if it is not already, one of the most engrossing topics of our generation. But to whose efforts will men be indebted for this? Certainly not to The Harbinger of the Millennium. It is high time Mr. Campbell changed the name of his magazine, for he started it as the harbinger of a personal reign of Christ on earth for one thousand years, which he has since rejected for a momentary post-millennial return from sky-kingdomia to escort the living remnant of saints from this planet to kingdoms in or beyond the Milky-way! The millennium not having commenced, this return is at least a thousand years off. There is no sense, therefore, in which his magazine can be the harbinger of a millennial return, unless William the Conqueror may be styled the harbinger of Queen Victoria. There remains but one sense, then, in which it, or he, is a harbinger; and that is, of the reign of Campbellism for a thousand years, during which, according to his favourite but incredibly absurd hypothesis, all sects shall merge themselves into "this reformation!" This he styles the mission of his brotherhood—a millennial union of all "Christians" through its influence! Surely the gentleman that can rank this among the possibles must either be selenised, vastly credulous, or fast asleep. But were it possible, it is far from desirable; for it would bring back the millennium of "the dark ages," and overshadow the nations, if not with barbarism, and feudality, and superstition, at least with a Gospel and Bible eclipse; for could such a thing by any possibility come to pass, it would make God a liar, and all the prophets mere deceivers of the world. We protest, therefore, against such foolishness, as mere "thinking of the flesh," making of none effect the law and testimony of God.

A gentleman, then, with such a bee in his bonnet, in undertaking to expound the millennium for 20,000 pieces of silver, bargains to perform an impossibility; and whatever his intentions may be, in effect undertakes to raise money upon false pretences. A gentleman whose theory affirms that Abraham, when he died, inherited the promises made to him in the true spiritual and only sense of the literal words, and that too, one thousand nine hundred and ninety-eight years—the period from the death of Abraham to the crucifixion—before the Abrahamic covenant was brought into force by the death of the testator—Hebrews 10: 16-17, that the promise of the holy land to him was fulfilled in its occupation by the twelve tribes under the law; that the "for ever" possession of the country was antitypical of the typical Mosaic occupation, and fulfilled to every saint when at death his "immortal soul" is wafted into Abraham’s bosom in the better or heavenly country; that the throne of the celestial universe is David’s throne, and that the "everlasting covenant made with him," which was "all his salvation and all his desire," was fulfilled in Solomon, in the ascent of Jesus "to the right hand of power," and the translation of David’s immortal and "divine particle" to heaven, although the Scriptures say that the thing called "David" by his contemporaries and countrymen "has not ascended to heaven,"—the gentleman or lady, whether he sit in the temple of God, or she ride a scarlet beast, whose theories affirm such Babylonish silliness as this, however pious, however high their standing among literary ecclesiastical hierarchies, however diligent in collecting documents in aid and furtherance of "millennial exposition"—documents, by-the-bye, compiled and published in one volume, one thousand seven hundred and fifty years ago—however theologically orthodox, need yet to be taught what be the first principles of the oracles of God!!! Such gentlemen and ladies know nothing of the matter as they ought to know it; and when they bargain to raise the wind by leading the credulous, it is the blind leading the blind to prostration in the ditch!

The eight "preliminary matters" that "are to be" Mr. Campbell’s "themes," when the revenue has run up to $20,000, are familiar topics to the readers of the Herald, especially to those of them who understand the gospel of the kingdom. The Herald, Elpis Israel, and Anatolia, have caused the light to shine into the minds of many who, like their author, till taught of the prophets, once groped for the wall in "this reformation" darkness. They are not themes which are to be, but themes which are known and read of all They know assuredly from the testimony of the "Old Jewish Almanac," that the two houses of Israel, and Judah are to be planted again in the holy land, a united kingdom and nation, occupying it "for ever," by virtue of the new or Abrahamic covenant brought into force by the death of Jesus, its mediatorial testator; they know that Babylon the great has risen, and will fall after the resurrection of the heirs of the kingdom, and the proclamation of the glad tidings of the age, announcing that "the hour of God’s judgment is come," and before the fall of the papal thrones of the Gentiles; they understand that the one thousand two hundred and sixty years of papal, civil, and ecclesiastical prevalence over the saints will end at the appearing of Jesus Christ, when he and the saints, who are his brethren and coheirs—not subjects—of the Kingdom, will begin to consume and destroy the Gentile organizations, represented by Daniel’s fourth beast, and John’s seven-headed dragon, ten-horned and two-horned beast, and the image of the beast’s sixth head, and occupying the cast-out and unmeasured court which is without the Holy Temple; they understand that the Lord will come as a thief at the end of the 1260 years, and raise and transform the first-fruits, gather them together in the air, and so make a wave-offering of them before Jehovah; they understand that the thousand years’ reign of the saints with Christ over the twelve tribes of Israel, and the nations to earth’s utmost bounds, is THE REIGN to which they are invited in the Gospel of the Kingdom—that they are called to a resurrection of interminable life, that they may enter upon this reign, and retain it with glory and honour without end—that it is the "ONE HOPE OF THE CALLING," and that to be ignorant of it, is to be "alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them;" and to deny it, to deny "the faith of Christ which we are required to exercise in connection with repentance and baptism, in order to obtain salvation:" they understand that the New Jerusalem is the aggregate of the glorified first-fruits, on each of whom "Jesus writes the name of his God, and the name of the city of his God, New Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from God," where they had been waved before Him; and that the scenes which follow their descent are represented in Revelation 14: 6-20; 16: 18-21; 17: 13-14; 18; 19; 20: 1-6; 21: 24; 22: 5; 4: 5. These things have become household words to them; and happy are they in not having to go to Bethany at this late hour, to pay two pieces of silver, and to wait the filling up of the ten thousand seats in Mr. Campbell’s pit—which will most likely become more and more deserted instead of filled, as the coming of the Son of Man approaches—ere they can be indoctrinated in his preliminaries before he arrives at the queries of "A Friend of Truth."

It is easier to discern the faith than to divine the person of Mr. Campbell’s correspondent. I have not the least suspicion who he is; but I perceive that one mind would serve us both. He doubtless believes that the texts he quotes proves that the events they reveal will have a real and literal fulfilment at the introduction of the millennium; and that there are no plainer Scriptures to be found proving their literal fulfilment at the end. He knows well enough that he cannot find testimony in the Bible affording the shadow of an opinion that their accomplishment will be postmillennial. Mr. Campbell knows this too; hence his desire to concoct "preliminaries," by which to prepare the uninitiated ten thousand for the reception of his perversions of the literal truth to some fanciful theory of his own! "A friend of Truth" has no such need of preliminaries; but, believing the literal accomplishment of the testified events at the beginning of the thousand years, he perceives that the popular doctrine of the spiritual millennial reign, which is in Mr. Campbell’s tradition also, "involves a denial of Christ’s personal reign, as taught in the Scriptures"—a denial of "an important part of the faith in Christ, which we are required to exercise in connection with repentance and baptism, in order to obtain salvation;" and that such a denial "amounts to a serious apostasy from the doctrine of Jesus and of him crucified." This is evidently his conviction; and one to which every believer of the gospel must come whose faith stands in the wisdom of God, and not in the traditions of "the learned." To deny Christ’s personal reign on Jehovah’s Davidian throne, as Mr. Campbell and all other spiritists do, is to deny the kingdom of God, and, consequently, the glad tidings or gospel concerning it; for, no personal reign, no kingdom; and no kingdom, no gospel; and no gospel, no faith; and no faith, no justification, sanctification, adoption, or redemption. The gospel of the kingdom is the glad tidings of Christ’s Millennial Reign with the Saints, his immortalised and glorified associates, in and under whom all the nations of the earth shall be blessed—glad tidings to Israel and the nations, promising them deliverance from those who now keep them in ignorance and oppress them; —glad tidings to individuals, promising them glory, honour, incorruptibility, life, possession of the world, and power over the emancipated and enlightened nations, on condition of believing what God has promised concerning this reign, also the things concerning Jesus as his mediatorial testator and anointed monarch of the world; being immersed into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit; and patiently continuing in well-doing to the end. This being the truth, and nothing but the truth, whatever antagonises or mutilates it, is not only a "serious," but deadly, apostasy from the doctrine of Jesus the anointed king, and him a "crucified one." All of which is dedicated, with due respect, to the editors, pulpit-orators, and presiding oracles of tottering and crazy Christendom, by their well-wisher,

THE EDITOR.

August 20, 1854.

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