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THE WOED!
ST. JOHN I.
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in 2009 with funding from
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http://www.archive.org/details/wordoruniversalrOOdela
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rREORDAINED BEFORE ALL WORLDS.
ETANGELICAL, PHILANl^HE'
[GHTY
it / ' r T y \i T,'
iEORGE MARIN DE
V SEPTUAGENARIAN OPTIM' I
TiOXDOIs-
'TER BO^
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TfiEiU
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THE WORD!
OK,
UNIVERSAL REDEMPTION AND SALVATION:
"PREOEDAINED BEFOEE ALL WORLDS."
A MOEEi EVANGELICAL, PHILANTHEOPIC, AND CHEISTIAN INTEEPEETATION
OF
THE ALMIGHTY GOD'S SACRED PROMISES
OF
INFINITE MERCY, FORGIVENESS, AND GRACE!
REVERENTLY SUBMITTED TO CHllISTENDOM, BY
GEORGE MARIN DE LA VOYE/
A SEPTUAGENARIAN OPTIMIST.
LONDON :
WHITTAKEE AND CO., AVE MAEIA LANE.
TRUBNER AND CO., 60, PATERNOSTER ROW.
{Copyright and Right of Translation reserved.]
TO THE
FAITHFULLY EVANGELICAL
AND
FEKVENTLY CHRISTIAN CLERGIES, MINISTRIES,
AND LAITIES
OF
ALL KINGDOMS AND NATIONS,
AS A
SINCEEE TESTIMONIAL OF BROTHERLY LOVE IN JESUS CHRIST,
THESE inspired! INTERPRETATIONS OF INTRICATE PASSAGES
AND
MYSTICALLY VEILED ^ ALLUSIONS IN HOLY "WRIT,
ARE
RESPECTFULLY AND AFFECTIONATELY
INSCRIBED BY
GEORGE MARIN HE LA VOYE.^
P B E F A C E.
TO PIOUS READERS OF ALL PERSUASIONS.
Incessaxtly driven into the most perplexing, yet greatly reluctant doubts, (from our tenderest* youth^ upwards,) during the perusal of those indubitably veracious and sacred Beeords, so mercifully transmitted to us, " from everlasting," by the Omniscient and Omnipotent Lord of Eternal Life and Truth, through infinite love and paternal goodness, we finally deter- mined, not without duly entreating for " promised aid from above," to read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest, more diligently and more trustfully than ever, —
"The Word "in its boundless terrestrial and celestial sense of divine affection —
" The Word " in its, spiritual and immortal, avowed re- lationship to man —
" The Word" as the almighty "Alpha and Omega" of all Christian, temporal, and never-ending human and concomi- tant* existencies —
The All-sufficiently Gtracious Word, in Trinity most solemnly declared as, The Father, The Son, and The Holy
* For ttese referential numbers, see Notes at the end.
Vlll PREFACE.
Ghost, our infinitely compassionate Redeemer and All-for- giving^ Judge and Saviour ! and thus, we triumphantly and most gratefully discovered that (through " mysteriously hid- den" divine motives, which we cannot, as yet, perfectly unravel, albeit we are thoroughly persuaded they, one and all, wholly tend to "fallen men's," as much so as to "fallen angels'," universal redemption and salvation), we most gratefully and triumphantly discovered, that —
Those sacred Records had, purposely, not been permitted to be fully understood ; and we, most unaccountably, felt it our " suddenly inspired" duty to make known, in what manner, with what spiiit, under what present Christian faith, (with suitable precursory prayers,) we should endeavour to compre- hend, without delay, in these ominous and portentous days, the length and breadth, the height and depth, the infinitude of the Almighty's parental Love to us, His prodigal sons ; through some inconceivable cause, originally estranged, long before all worlds, and now most evidently gathered back by the actual operations of divine grace ; in the glorious name, and through the incalculable merits of Jesus Christ, the well- beloved Son of God, the Almighty Messiah ;
"THE WORD!" Read, and judge for yourselves, dear readers, whether we have, under the Holy Ghost's infallible guidance, and the blessing of God, really discovered that only way, which leadeth to the Universal Salvation of All.
G. N. V.
DIVINE INTEODUCTION.
" Your Father knoweth wliat things ye have need of, before ye ask Him.
" After this manner therefore pray ye :
" Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name.
" Thy kingdom come.
" Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
" Give us this day our daily bread.
" And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
"And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil :
" For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
" For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you."
* See Lord's Prayer in the Index.
For Answers to these Interrogatory Tests; first, consult p. 313; and next, pp. 204, 299.
INTERROaATORY SCRIPTURAL TESTS.
1. How can " The Word " be differently, yet reverently, interpreted ? See the whole book.
2. Is it possible to furnish satisfactory scriptural replies to all the subsequent queries ? Consult the Index.
3. Why did the Lord G-od, in the beginning, create the heaven and the earth ?
4. Why was Jesus Christ, first begotten in heaven, from everlasting ?
5. Why were the devil and his angels driven from heaven, to seek shelter on the dark earth ; in which, after a time, Adam and Eve were to dwell ?
6. For what purpose was Satan ever admitted, with his angels, within the sacred courts of heaven ?
7. Why were innocent beings like Adam and Eve created, and exposed to the irresistible temptations of the Devil ?
8. Is there not a graciously hidden motive, for the permis- sion of such perpetration, as the crime of Cain ?
9. Could not an excellent reason be given, for the presence of angels in Eden, until the fall ?
Xll INTERROGATORY SCRIPTURAL TESTS.
10. Might not angels once have been our celestial com- panions ; Jesus Christ, our Lord ; and the Holy Ghost, our ever-present Guide, in the Kingdom of God ?
11. Must not the angels, after their expulsion, have under- gone incarnation, on their reaching this sphere, to be rendered accessible to earthly sufferings ?
12. In what way could our first parents have been redeemed and saved ?
13. Ought we not to make the Lord's Prayer the principal basis of our Christian, moral, and religious duties ?
14. Are we not incessantly to hope, having the Almighty God as our Father ?
15. Should we not read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest every word, that enables us better to understand the gracious signification of the Lord's Prayer ?
16. What was the celestial existence of the Yirgin Mary, before all worlds ?
17. Is Satan immortal ? Are his angels so ?
18. Which is the best Christian creed of all ?
19. Wliat are the greatest blessings, for which we should thank the Lord God, with our endless love and gratitude ?
20. Who could prove that evil, in heaven, as well as in earth, was not indispensable ? -
21. Why ought we to be indebted to God, beyond all measure, for our forthcoming judgment day ?
22. May it not be probable, if not certain, that the fallen angels were permitted to incarnate, for the sake of obtaining Christian regeneration ?
INTERROGATORY SCRIPTURAL TESTS. Xlll
23. Is it not clear that former doctrines must be insufficient in our present days ?
24. On what principles is a creation of new worlds abso- lutely necessary ?
25. May we not reasonably, and piously, suppose that God permits us to be tempted, from the best of Divine motives ?
26. Why was the Garden of Eden the principal gateway, back to the kingdom of God ?
27. Was it not to serve almighty Mercy's ends, that Adam fell?
28. May not Eve have purposely been less perfectly formed than Adam, regarding purposes of grace ?
29. Can any sufficient reason be given for Satan's apparent inadequate punishment in Eden ?
30. Are we not excusable when we attribute to the crime of Cain a previously determined purpose of mysterious grace ?
31. Who can ascribe a satisfactory merciful use to the existence of the original chaotic earth ?
32. May not countless numbers of our eyes have seen, in our spiritual state, the wonders of Creation ?
33. Can any one account satisfactorily for the choice of Peter, as an apostle, by Jesus Christ ?
34. Is it possible to give good reasons for our human claims to angelic descent ?
35. Wherefore three Almighty Gods ?
36. May not years by myriads have elapsed during the connubial connections of Angels with the daughters of Men?
XIV INTERROGATORY SCRIPTURAL TESTS.
37. For what purpose was our merciful Eedeemer begotten a first and second time ?
38. Are divine mysteries, with regard to our salvation, to be for ever veiled ?
39. Had not our Almighty Father an ulterior object when He sent His Son to be incarnated on earth, for our sake ?
40. Why do we pray not to be led into temptation, and to be delivered from evil ?
41. Has any one adduced an appropriate reason for the descent of Jesus Christ into hell ?
42. When was it necessary that angels should visit this earth ?
43. Could it be imputed, without extenuation, as an excess of cruelty, on the part of the Jews, to crucify Jesus Christ between two malefactors ?
44. Where, in the Bible, are there to be found evidences, that Resurrection does not exist ?
45. Are we not much indebted to the Jewish nation for their oppression, during the Martyrdoms of the prophets and Apostles ?
46. Was not our sacred Bible compiled under the sanction of the Most Holy Trinity ?
47. Were not forms and ceremonies, and Eituals, divinely encouraged during the Mosaic dispensation ? Were they forbidden, by the Apostles, on the Advent of our blessed Redeemer ?
48. How far back may we trace the Merciful Scheme of our universal Christian Salvation ?
INTERUOGATORY SCRIPTURAL TESTS. XV
49. Have we been commanded, at any time, since the com- mencement of the Christian era, to abstain from reading, marking, and inwardly digesting, any portion of the autho- rized Holy Testaments ?
50. Who is God ? What is He ?
51. What could possibly be the ultimate Destinies of the fallen Angels ?
52. How will the Condemned Sinners eventually be treated through infinite Grace ?
53. In what light did the Jewish nation stand, in the Glorious Scheme of Universal Salvation ?
54. What was the Anti- Christian state of the Almighty Jehovah's primeval Monocracy ?
55. Where was, primevally, the Holy Ghost, and why ?
56. May not a human trinity be discovered in man ?
57. What could positively be the meaning of, " Before all worlds"?
58. Does it not appear to be a very great sin, to neglect searching the Scriptures ?
59. How could the presence of Satan and Evil, in Heaven, be anything else but gracious and salutary ?
60. What had the Lord God deemed very good to do ?
61. Can it be possible that eternal damnation may be where Infinite Grace is found ?
62. What could fill primeval vacuity before all worlds ?
63. Is there a suitable name for antichristian sceptics ?
64. May not the guiltiest soul of all be saved ?
65. Was not the maternity of the Virgin Mary from ever- lasting ?
Xvi INTERROGATORY SCRIPTURAL TESTS.
66. Have the Origin, Purpose, and Extent of the ways of God ever been properly read, marked, learnt, and inwardly digested ?
67. Must there not have been, anterior to our revealed Triune Godhead, an unknown monotheistic autocracy ?
68. Had not the fall of the angels been everlastingly known to the Almighty Father ?
69. Is the time at which all the human race and the fallen angels shall be saved, without a single exception, satisfactorily, that is, scripturally, ascertained ?
70. "Why should this book be most attentively read through without apprehension or prejudice ?
71. Will Jews, Gentiles, and Atheists be condemned to everlasting perdition at last ?
72. Are all those human acts we call virtues, accepted as such in heaven ?
73. Can it be possible that the torments said to be inflicted on the wicked, after the great judgment day, are for ever and ever to last ?
74. What are the sad effects of those awful threats, and, frequently too, the dreadful consequences of those appalling chastisements and agonies, prophesied and described from the pulpits of over- wrought Christian zealots ?
75. May not, after all, many of those stars and planets which bespangle so gloriously the heavens of our present universe, have been, and still be, compassionately prepared Reformatories and Penitentiaries, that Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost, by the will of God, have, from the beginning , appropriated to the reception of those myriads of fallen spirits and souls, which
INTERROGATORY SCRIPTURAL TESTS. XVll
the blessed Son of God was, through permitted terrestrial Incarnations, completely to redeem and to save ?
76. Why should we not furthermore imagine, that this very terrestrial sphere itself, so evidently destroyed before, and in- tentionally reduced to the chaotic mass, on which Satan fell with his malignant hordes, might again be subjected to partial destruction, for the gracious purpose of becoming the most merciful scene of transitory human ordeals, tribulations, and temptations, preordained to carry on and complete the gloiious scheme of Universal Salvation ?
[See Index, for references.]
PRINCIPAL OBJECTS OF THIS WORK.
Nothing iu Genesis, wliicli we purposely read over and over again with the greatest attention, ever gave us the slightest foundation for thinking that God, the Infinitely Merciful Father and Creator of all things, had ever designed, when He transformed the chaotic earth into an inhabitable world, to make it any other place than a " transitory stage," suitable to His vast scheme of merciful tribulations, indispensable ordeals, perfect ultimate regenerations.
What miraculous proof of divine paternal love was this, the Almighty's first step towards the accomplishment of universal redemption and salvation !
And consequently, when the Lord God breathed into the nostrils of Adam the " breath of life," it was the " living soul " of the least guilty of those hapless angels whom Satan had been intentionally permitted to beguile out of the sacred path of heavenly rectitude' * . . . This interpretation will be found scripturally corroborated in the course of the following pages.
Being profoundly imbued with this constantly recurring thought of the " Omnipotent Benevolence " of our blessed Lord and Father, unremittingly progressing towards one
* For these referential numbers, see Notes at the end.
B 2
XX . THE WORD.
single end — the total recovery of fallen souls — we very natu- rally interpreted whatever we found in the Bible relating to sin, its merited retributions and final remission, as miracu- lously efiecting a gloriously paternal grand design of all- sufficient, predestinated universal grace.
Our first object is then clearly evident.
It can be no other than a very excusable endeavour to remove causes of unnecessary despair by fair admissions of hope, built on the sacred words of holy writ. In this respect we cannot help considering that our Christian end is ra- tionally obtained. Heaven grant that it may be !
Our next object became conspicuously important, and emi- nently interesting to the religious world.
It was the discovery of some rational and legitimate means whereby we could annihilate, in the sceptical unbeliever's mind especially, the notion he pertinaciously entertains, that —
" The overthrow and banishment of the rebellious angels was a fable. ^
" The temptation of our first parents, a trivial tale.^
*' The advent of Our Saviour, a huge and ridiculous impo- sition." '
Lamentable state, alas ! of deep darkness.
A second victory awaited us, in like nianner, here ; for all mysteries instantly ceased, in our own private judgment, when the veil was raised, and we were permitted to see, and clearly to understand " the whole preordination of our ultimate perfect recovery from utter ruin."* " Griory be to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Grhost ! "
TRIXCIPAL OBJECTS OF THIS WORK. XXI
The third principal purpose we had in view consisted in making perfectly plain, by our earnest labours to establish it as an evangelically authenticated fact, that universal salva- tion was divinely provided for,^ "before all worlds."
We, nevertheless, maintain, as in an equal degree evident, according to the orthodox instructions of oiir venerated Chris- tian Churches, both Protestant and Catholic, that just, con- dign, and proportionate punishments were furthermore clearly " preordained " for every kind and degree of sin, transgres- sion, and offence.^
Preordained, first, to occur during man's mortal existence.
Secondly, during the intermediate state' of his soul, await- ing, with millions of millions more, the last fate-fraught judgment of our Lord and Redeemer,^ the Son of God.
And, thirdly, dui'ing a long succession of ordeals more or less severe, more or less protracted, " in numberless worlds," most mercifidly and expressly created by the Triune Almighty, eter- nities'' ago, through ineffable and most inconceivable grace and charity, towards spirits and men, condemned to long- merited disgrace and tribulations.
Many more were the ends we had in view, the substance of which being, in a certain measure, repetitions of proofs regard- ing the undeniable" Omnipotence " of Our Lord and Savioui''s all-sufficient atonement, promised before all worlds, we pre- fer leaving, to the following elucidations and details, the remaining development of our intentionally more philan- thropic, than pompously learned, interpretations.
XXll THE AVORD.
ASTRONOMICAL COREOBORATIONS.
" From what we know of our own system, it may be reason- ably concluded that all the rest are with equal wisdom con- trived, situated, and provided with accommodations for rational inhabitants.^ Let us, therefore, take a survey of the system to which we belong ; the only one accessible to us, and from thence we shall be the better enabled to judge of the nature and end of the other systems of the universe^ . . . For although there is an infinite variety in the parts of the creation, which we have opportunities of examining, yet there is a general analogy running through and connecting all the parts into one scheme, one design, one whole.'^
" And then, to an attentive considerer, it will appear highly probable that the planets of our system, together with their attendants called satellites and moons, are much of the same nature with our earth,* and destined for the like purposes ; for they are solid opaque globes, capable of supporting animals and vegetables. . . .
" What an august, what an amazing conception, if human imagination can conceive it, does this give of the works of the Creator ! Thousands of thousands of suns, multiplied with- out end, and ranged all around us, at immense distances from each other ; attended by ten thousand times ten thousand worlds,^ all in rapid motion, yet calm, regular, and harmo- nious, invariably keeping the paths prescribed to them ; and these worlds peopled with myriads of intelligent beings, formed for endless progression in perfection and felicity.
THE WORD. XXUl
" If SO much power, wisdom, goodness, and magnificence is displayed in the material creation, which is the least consider- able part of the universe, how great, how wise, how good must He be who made and governs the whole ! " — James Ferguson's Astronomy, improved and corrected hy Andrew MacJcay, LL.D., 1809.
DOCTEINAL OBSERVATIONS.
An intimation appears, in this place, indispensably neces- sary to be given, that, no mention whatever having been discovered, throughout the Holy Testaments, relatively to divine commandments, sacred laws, or even apostolic regu- lations ; regarding distinctive sectarian denominations, where- by "Christians" would be more favorably acknowledged and approved in heaven, as deserving, in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, to be graciously redeemed, and mercifully saved transgressors, debtors, or sinners : —
The author of these recently inspired interpretations,' of the infinitely merciful decrees and preordinations, of the ever- lasting Jehovah, our Almighty Creator and Father, conceives it his paramount duty, most scrupulously to eschew all manner of "' exclusive confraternity," with Roman Catholic or Protestant, Calvinistic or Lutheran, Presbyterian or Dis- senting believers of all classes and creeds, whatever may be their separate persuasions : —
SXIV THE WORD.
lu order to confess himself, all the more conscientiously, wholly and truly, throughout the following pages, a thoroughly Evangelical Christian.
What else better, in the character of a faithful servant of God, could any human creature possibly presume to be ?
A Christian ! without any other title ; without any higher claim to doctrinaP superiority — a respecter, besides, of all worshippers, who acknowledge our Redeemer and Saviom', in Trinity combined, as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
Never as yet the writings of any man, have more clearly established the incontrovertible fact that, a pauper's Christian prayer, penitently and faithfully offered up, in a garret, through the all-sufficient intercession and propitiation of Jesus Christ, cannot fail to be heard, as graciously, by " Our Father, which is in heaven," as those of an Archbishop or Cardinal, magniloquently chanted within the consecrated pre- cincts of a Metropolitan cathedi'al.
The Editor.
THE WORD;
OR,
UNIVEESAL SALVATION : PEEOEDAINED THEOUGH
ALL-SUFFICIENT GEACE;
BY THE INFINITELY MEECIFUL CREATOR,
" EEFOSE ALL AYORLDS ! "
For "In the Trinity none is afore,' or after other: none is greater, or less than another ;
" But the whole three Persons are Co-eternal together : and Co-equal. '^
" The Father is Almighty, the Son Almighty : and the Holy Ghost Almighty.^
" He therefore that will be saved : mvist thus think of the Trinity"* (See Athanasian Creed).
" Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men " (Luke ii. 14).
THE WORD.
DIVINE AND SCEIPTUEAL CONFIEMATIONS.
" Who can too worthily magnify Thy name, 0 God ! or shew forth all Thy praise ? *
"For, in the greatness of Thy almighty power, Thou dost delight to exercise it ; not in executing vengeance,* but most chiefly in showing mercy and pity.
'•' For hast Thou not said,
" Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow : though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool?'
"And furthermore: 'I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth,* wherefore tm-n yourselves, and live.' "
THE W O ED ;
OR,
UNIVEESAL SALVATION ; MOST EVIDENTLY FOEE- TOLD IN HOLY WEIT.
For " the right Faith is, that we believe and confess : that our Lord Jesus Christ,
" the Son of God, *' is God and Man ; God, of the Substance^ of the Father,
" begotten before the worlds : " and Man, of the Substance of His Mother, born in the
world."' " The angel of the Lord appeared unto Joseph in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife ... for she shall bring forth a Son, and thou shalt call His name Jesus" (Matt. i. 20).
DIVINE AND SCRIPTURAL CONFIRMATIONS.
" Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of Him. But John forbad Him, saying, I have need to be baptized of Thee, and comest Thou to me ? And
4 THE WORD.
Jesus answering, said unto him, Suffer it to Le so now :* for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suf- fered Him.
" And Jesus, when He was baptized, went up straight- way out of the water : and, lo, the heavens were opened unto Him, and He^ saw the Sj)irit of Grod descending like a dove, and lighting upon Him :
" And, lo, a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son,^ in whom I am well pleased " (Matt. iii. 13).
"Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, and was trans- figured* before them" (Matt. xvii. 1, 2).
"When they were come to the. place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified Him . . . Then Jesus said, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do" (Luke xxui. 33, 34).
THE W O ED ;
OR,
UNIVERSAL SALVATION; FINALLY OBTAINED THROUGH THE " CONTINUAL PRESENCE "
OF
THE HOLY GHOST,
AMONG US, UNTIL THE END OF ALL GENERATIONS,^
For, " Through Jesus Christ our Lord ; according to whose most true promise it was ; the Holy Ghost came down from heaven, in the likeness of fiery tongues, lighting upon the Apostles, to teach them, and to lead them to all truth." ^
*'With angels and archangels, and with all the spiritual company of heaven, we laud and magnify Thy glorious name."^
" Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts ! "
DIVINE AND SPIRITUAL CONFIRMATIONS.
" Read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest ! ! ! "
" Nevertheless ' I tell you the truth ; ' It is expedient for
6
THE WOKD,
you that I go away : for if I go not away, the Comforter will not oojae nnto you; but if I depart/ I will send Him unto you.
" Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth, is come. He will guide you into all truths . . He will shew you things to come.
" He shall teach you all things " ^ (John xiv.).
" He shall glorify me : for He shall receive of mine, and shew it unto you " (John xvi.).
What should we be by this time, had not God the Al- mighty, millions of ages ago, and infinitely more than that, operated within Himself, through a miracle of charity, by His omnipotent Word alone, and subdivided * His divine and eternal Essence into Three Godheads — God the Creator, God the Saviour, God the Comforter, Protector, and Guide ?
God the Creator — Foreseeing the fall of the angelic hosts ; tempted ^ and perverted by Satan, the spirit of evil."
God the Savioui' — In merciful anticipation of the fall of man, permitted, in all probability, with a gracious view to
universal salvation.
God the Comforter, Protector, and Guide. — For our heavenly Father, foreknowing the insinuating wiles, the treacherous ways, by means of which the arch-enemy of mankind would incessantly beset us, to the end of all earthly things ; preordained that the Holy Ghost, the very Spirit of Truth, should succeed His beloved Son, and dwell among men, until the very last of the " souls condemned " ^ should be perfectly regenerated and saved.
THE WORD.
DIYINE SUPPORT.
" There is ' nothing ' covered, that shall not be revealed ; and hid, that shall not be known. ^
" What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light :^ and what ye hear' in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops,
"Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.
" But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven (Matt. x. 26, 27, 32, 33).
" Grlory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy G-host ; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be : world without end ! Amen."
CONSEQUENT SUPPLICATION.
Unto Thy servant also. Lord Almighty Grcd, unto Thy penitent and now enlightened* servant, who so ardently wishes to confess Thee "more worthily still "before men, although less than the least of Thy humblest worshippers, grant the grace of being permitted " to preach " (by these additional interpretations of Thy Word), among the present generations, "the unsearchable riches of Christ."
Enable him. Holy Spirit of wisdom, and Lord of Divine Inspiration, left amongst us as our Comforter and Guide, enable him more extensively to make all men see what is
» THE WORD.
the " fellowship of the mystery " which, from the beginning of the world, hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ ; to the intent that now, unto the princi- palities and powers of this earth might be known, by the Church and other efficient human means, the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose, which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord.
" Almighty God, therefore, unto whom all hearts be open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid ; cleanse the thoughts of Thy servant's heart by the inspira- tion of Thy Holy Spirit, that he may perfectly love Thee, and worthily magnify Thy holy name " in tliis humble homage which he earnestly longs to do unto Thee, and unto Thy Son Jesus Christ, and unto the Holy Ghost ; through Christ Jesus om- Lord. Amen.
THE WORD.
"EVEN I^ WILL SPEAK OF ALL THY MARVELLOUS WORKS."
0 most pitiful and compassionate Creator ; who hatest notliing that Thou hast made ; whose nature and property, indeed, are ever to have mercy and to forgive ;
Of whose only gift it cometh also, that Thy faithful people do unto Thee, true and laudable service ; Grant that We may likewise truly know Thee, so as to obtain, our own self, everlasting life, according to Thy Holy Word.
Our Father which art in heaven ;
Who art the Author of peace and Lover of concord ;
The Fountain of all goodness ; from whom aU holy desires, and all good counsels do proceed :
Thou, who so graciously showest, to them that be in error, the light of Thy truth ; enable Us rightly to acknowledge the full glory, and the infinitely merciful purpose of Thine Eternal Christian Grace.
High and Mighty King of kings, God of gods, who, never- theless, ai*t always more ready to hear, than we are ready to pray :
Hear us, good Lord !
Hear us, we entreat Thee !
We, Thy devoted servant especially ; through the inter- cession and propitiation of Jesus Christ ;
c
10 THE WORD.
Help Us, in these, our most zealous and earnest efforts, to make Thee known, more evangelically and gloriously than ever, in all merciful respects, according to Thy now most plainly revealed Christian Grodhead :
The Infinitely Sacred Holy Trinity,
So solemnly declared to have existed, from the beginning, and before all worlds ; and so irrevocably preordained to exist for ever and ever more, world without end.
QUOTATIONS FEOM GEEAT WRITEES AND ANCIENT PHILOSOPHEES.
1. " Prorsus credibile est quia ineptum est ; certum^ est quia impossibile." — Tertidlian, 196 a.d.
2. " What sacraments,^ dearest brethren, are those of the Lord's Prayer ? "— T. C. Cyprian, 200 a.d.
3. "We are now required to have more wisdom^ . . . than all who lived under the Old Testament." — John Chrysostom, 347 A.D,
4. " If the ancient teachers oftentimes missed the meaning of the inspired text, it is no marvel* . . . and who can tell but that it was permitted?" — Great Sermons of the Gmat Preachers. (See p. 8.)
5. " Some of the ancient teachers drew that inference that what is commonly called the Day of Judgment would be a thousand years." — John Wesley, A.M.
6. " Oh, if books had but tongues to speak their wrongs,
THE WORD. 11
then might this book [the Bible] exclaim ... * Angels de- lighted in my company . . . But ye mortals place masters over me, subjecting me^ to the discipline and dogmatism of men." — Edward Irving, M.A.
1. " God is always ready to grant heavenly blessings to those who make the request in sincerity and truth." — Fenelon,
2. " The soul of man subsists after death, and hath some place of abode^ allotted to it till the resurrection." — John Jortin.
3. "The last day of this life is to be regarded as the birthday of an eternal one." — Seneca.
4. "I am in good hope that there is something remaining for those that are dead." — Socrates.
5. " We ought always to believe the ' ancient sacred words,' which show both that the soul is immortal, and that it hath judges." — Plato.
6. " By soul I mean an immortal essence, and yet created,* which is the nobler part of man." — Calvin.
7. " The souls of men remain alive* after they are separated from their bodies . . . which is a most ancient tradition de- rived from our first parents." — Groiius.
8. " God made Adam mortal ; ^ his body was like ours . . . Adam was the son of God® in a more peculiar manner than any other mere man." — Jortin.
9. " Let it be observed that, when the body shall be raised from the grave, it shall not be such flesh ^ and blood as we now wear" (see 1 Cor. xv. 44). — Watts.
c 2
12 THE WORD,
1. "We may, therefore, now be allowed to assume, as proved, that the notion of such ' an intermediate state of the soul '^ has been communicated to man by divine revelation." — Thomas Huntingford, M.A.
2. " Is the Lord almighty ? Then all things in heaven and earth do bow before and obey Him ; consequently whatever evil befall us is permitted by Him. Is He most merciful ? Then, not only are we indebted to His mercy for preservation from what evils we escape, but we may rest assured that even the evils which happen to us are intended, like bitter medi- cines for the sick, to work out our final good.- He who willeth not the death of a sinner, chasteneth us in infinite love, even as a father^ his son." — John James, D.I)., 1840, Prebendary of Peterborough.
THE WORD. 13
SCEIPTURAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL AUTHOEITIES.
DIVINE ATTRIBUTES.
Fro7yi the Morning Prayers.
1. Our Father which art in heaven. See the Index.
2. To the Lord God belong mercies and forgivenesses.
3. He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.
4. He will cleanse us from all uncharitableness.
5. His goodness and mercy are infinite.
6. Almighty and most merciful Father.
7. He has declared His promises unto mankind in Christ Jesus our Lord.
8. Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who desireth not the death of a sinner.
9. The Lord is a great God : and a great King above all gods.
10. The Lord is our Maker . . . He made all living things.
11. The Lord is the Father everlasting.
12. The Lord God of Israel . . . created Adam and Eve.
13. The Lord is gracious, His mercy is everlasting.
14. The Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth.
15. The Author of peace, and Lover of concord.
16. High and mighty King of kings.
17. The only Ruler of princes.
18. The Fountain of all goodness.
14
THE WORD.
From the Evening Prayers.
1. God's mercy is on them that love Him, throughout all generations.
2. The Lord exalteth the humble and meek.
3. He hath filled the hungry with good things.
4. Grod, our merciful Father, hath declared His salvation.
5. The salvation of our Grod hath been seen by all men.
6. The Lord deserves to be praised upon the harp.
7. He cometh, with charity, to judge the earth.
8. The Lord hath prepared His salvation before the face of all people.
9. Grod is gradually making His way known upon earth.
10. Grod the Father, Grod the Son, and Grod the Holy Ghost, are One.
[Here attentively read the Apostles' Creed and the Lord's Prayer, p. 28.]
11. God, from whom all holy desires, all good counsels, all just works do proceed.
12. It is God alone who lightens our darkness.
13. It is the Almighty God who hath promised, that when two or three are gathered together in His name. He will grant their requests.
14. It is God that granteth to us in this world, at suitable seasons, the knowledge of His truth.
15. [Here read most attentively the Athanasian Creed ; sub- stituting at the end, " adequate penalties and tribulations, of
THE WORD. 15
proportionate durations," for " everlasting fire," wliicli could never have been inflicted, by
1. A God of infinite grace, incessantly sbed upon us, impotent creatures, so perpetually subjected to insuperable temptations ; and to whom He hath declared His almighty power most chiefly in showing mercy and pity.]
From the Litany.
2. Grod the Father, of heaven.
3. God the Son, Eedeemer of the world.
4. God the Holy Ghost, proceeding from the Father and the Son. . . . Our ever-present Friend and Comforter.
5. God is that good God, whom we beseech to hear us.
6. He is that Lamb that took away the sins of the world.
7. God is that merciful Father, too, that despiseth not the sighing of a contrite heart.
8. God graciously looks upon our afflictions.
9. God pitifully beholds the sorrows of our hearts.
10. God mercifully forgives, all who repent and pray.
11. God favourably with mercy hears, the humble and repentant.
12. Both now and ever He vouchsafes to hear us.
13. He graciously heareth us, in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord ; and, as a Father, for the glory of His Name, He turneth continually from us all those evils, that we most righteously have deserved.
16
THE WORD.
From the Prayers and Thanksgivings.
1. The Lord Grod is the King of all kings.
2. He is the Governor of all things, whose power no crea- ture is able to resist.
3. He is the Griver of all good gifts.
4. His nature and property is ever to have mercy and to forgive.
5. He is a most gracious Grod.
6. He was the Creator, and He is the Preserver, of all mankind.
7. The Almighty is the Father of all mercies.
8. He is a strong tower of defence imto His servants against the face of their enemies.
From the Collects.
9. Our God is a blessed God, who has caused all Holy Scriptures to be written for our learning,
[This beautiful collect, alone, embodies the whole Doctrine of our Universal Salvation in Jesus Christ.]
10. It was that God, who left among us the omniscient and all-sufficient Holy Ghost, to teach us, by inspiration, in what wise we should hear those holy writings, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them.
11. It was God who gave us His only-begotten Son, to take our nature upon Him.
12. He purposely made that Son to be obedient to the law of man.
THE WORD. 17
1. He governed from the beginning, and will eternally govern all things in heaven and earth.
2. He preordained that His Son should be manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil !
3. He taught us, through His prophets and apostles, that all our doings without charity are nothing worth.
4. He hates nothing that He has made.
5. Whose tender love towards mankind is universally acknowledged.
6. And that omnipotent Lord, through His only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ, hath overcome death, and opened unto us all, without exception, the gate of everlasting life.
7. Our God showeth unto them that be in error the light of His truth.
8. He alone can order the unruly wills and affections of sinful man.
9. He sendeth all good things to those who really need them, and faithfully ask for them.
10. He is the strength of all them who put their trust in Him,
11. He is the Author of all good things.
12. His never- failing Providence ordereth all things.
13. He declareth His almighty power most chiefly in show- ing mercy and pity.
14. He is always more ready to hear, than we to pray.
15. He is our Refuge and Strength, and the Author of all godliness.
16. And properly to know Him is everlasting life.
18
THE WORD.
QUOTATIONS FEOM THE AETICLES OF EELIOION,
In the Book of Common Prayer,
1. " There is but One living and true Grod,' everlasting, ' without bodj,^ parts, or passions ;' of infinite power, wisdom, and goodness ; the Maker and Preserver of all things both visible and invisible. And in unity of this Godhead
2. " There be Three Persons,^ of one substance, power, and eternity; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost " (Art i.).
3. " The Son, which is the Word of the Father, begotten from* everlasting of the Father, the very and eternal God . . . One Christ, very God, and very Man ; who truly suffered, was crucified, dead and buried, to reconcile His Father to us, and to be a sacrifice, not only for original guilt, but also for all actual sins of men " (Art. ii,).
4. " As Christ died for us, and was buried, so also is it to be believed, that He went down into Hell" (Art. iii.).
5. " Christ did truly rise again from death, and took again His body, with flesh, bones, and all things appertaining to the perfection of Man's nature ; wherewith He ascended into Heaven, ' and there sitteth, until He return to judge all Men at the last day ' " (Art. iv.).
6. " Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to sal- vation" (Art. vi.).
7. *' The Three Creeds, Nicene Creed, Athanasius's Creed, and that which is commonly called the Apostles' Creed, ought thoroughly to be received and believed" (Art. viii.).
THE WORD. 19
1. " Original [or birth] Sin is the fault and corruption of the nature of every man, that naturally is engendered of the offspring of Adam" (Art. ix.).
2. " We have no power to do good works pleasant and acceptable to Grod, without the grace of Grod by Christ pre- venting us " (Art X.).
3. " Predestination to Life is the everlasting purpose of God, whereby (before the foundations of the world were laid) He hath constantly decreed by His counsel secret to us, to deliver from curse and damnation those whom He hath chosen in Christ out of mankind, and to bring them by Christ to everlasting salvation" (Art. xvii.).
4. "Although the Church be a witness and a keeper of Holy Writ, yet, as it ought not to decree anything against the same, so besides the same ought it not to en- force anything to be believed for necessity of Salvation" (Art. XX.).
5. " Things ordained [by men in General Councils] as necessary to salvation have neither strength nor authority, unless it may be declared that they be taken out of Holy Scriptm^e " (Art. xxi. ; see also Art, xxvi.).
6. " The Offering of Christ once made is that perfect re- demption, propitiation, and satisfaction, for all the sins of the whole world, both original and actual ; and there is none other satisfaction for sin, but that alone " (Art. xxxi.).
7. " Bishops, Priests, and Deacons, are not commanded by God's Law, either to vow the estate of single life, or to abstain from marriage" (Art. xxxii.).
20 THE WORD.
1. " It is not necessary that Traditions and Ceremonies be in all places one, and utterly like . . .
2. " Every particular or national Church hath authority to ordain, change, and abolish, ceremonies or rites of the Church ordained only by man's authority, so that all things be done to edifying" (Art. sxxiv.).
[See furtlier authorities at tlie end.]
ETEENITY OF DIVINE GRACE.
" In the beginning Grod created the heaven and the earth " (Gen. i. 1). See also pp. 1, 3, 5 of this work.
" In the beginning was the "Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God " (John i. 1).
The human race, from Adam to the last of men, will therefore infallibly he saved. (See the index.)
" Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost ;
"As it was ' in the beginning,' is now, and ever shall be : world without end." (See the Book of Common Prayer, in which we are properly and repeatedly taught to praise God, for having so mercifully preordained our universal salvation from the very beginning of our dear Redeemer's celestial existence.)
The earliest ascertainable scriptural authorities respecting the first origin of our spiritual as well as material human
THE WORD. 21
existence could not fail to be the best reliable fount of infor- mation at which we could draw the essential knowledge required for such a book as this.
Our present remark adverts to every item of additional re- velation, which we have endeavoured to elicit, from out the sacred arcana, which the Lord G-od "from the beginning" pur- posely bequeathed unto us for our present guidance, through- out the books of Moses, the prophecies, and the Gospels.
Holy secrets, truthful mysteries, such as those to which we are alluding, were designedly hidden by temporary clouds of impenetrable density, through which the probing inquiries of ages, naturally more enlightened, were gradually to penetrate.
The period has arrived most evidently for " revealing all that is covered ; " for " making known all that is hid."
" We may now speak in light what Jesus Christ ' ex- pressly ' told us in darkness."
Ay and verily, the time is plainly come " to preach from the housetops, what we unmistakably hear in the ear, by merciful inspirations from the Spirit of Truth."
Liberty from above has indeed long been granted to those who properly and reverently sought it, more profitably ^ to investigate the language of heaven, not only in the written Word, but in the equally intelligible parables and figurative terms under which it was then most " inconceivable mercy to conceal them.
That the wonders of divine grace with all the inestimable blessings arising from our consequent universal redemption and salvation were positively amongst the first ^ mysterious
22 THE WORD.
operations of that Almighty Lord of Hosts, who, through the inconceivable results of His omniscient meditations, had clearly imagined the boundless past and interminable future of the everlasting material, as well as ethereal, existence of angels and men, cannot for an instant be rationally doubted.
A pious glance, therefore, at the scriptural quotations which precede these observations (were there no other as irrefragable proofs of such important facts) would amply suffice to establish our celestial genealogy.
This genealogy once admitted, the Holy Bible becomes, from end to end, the vast and most gracious record of a poly- theistic ^ dynasty, whose angelic and spiritual progenies have grown to be countless enough to fill the countless stars of the unconfined heavens ; whose heavenly generations, divinely made, " from the beginning," by the Word, when that " Word was with Grod," have everlastingly progressed ac- cording to irrevocable preordinations towards a universal and infallible divine perfection, designed also " from the begin- ning " by omnipotent means ultimately to form that ever- lasting glorious kingdom which is to be : the "crown of glory" awarded to that Almighty Word who then shall be once more and for ever the true and only Grod of gods, King of kings, and Lord Supreme of all lords. (See Art. 1, p. 18.)
THE WORD,
23
THE LOBD'S PEAYEE:
ITS JUST APPEECIATIO.N AND REAL CHEISTIAN YALTJE.
"After this manner, therefore, pray ye." — Matt. vi. 9.
" And Jesus said unto them, When ye pray, say." — Luke xi. 2.
" What sacraments, dearest brethren, are those of the Lord's Prayer ! How numerous ! How weighty ! Gathered up in few ■words, but with such wealth of spiritual virtue, that not anything for prayer and petition of ours is left unincluded in this comprehen- sion of heavenly doctrine." — T. Ccecilius Cyjorian (suffered martyrdom, 258 A.D.).
ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW.
" Your Father knowetli what things ye have need of, he- fore ye ask Him.
" After this manner therefore pray ye :
" Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name.
" Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
" Give us this day our daily bread.
" And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
"And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from
24 THE WORD.
evil : For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
"For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you" (Matt. vi. 8 — 14).
How beautifully affectionate is the " extempore " con- struction^ of these prayers ! Full of genuine paternal grace ; redundant with fraternal love ! Are they not evidently framed, upon each occasion, by our Omniscient Saviour, with the sincerest lovingkindness of a bosom Friend ?
Please, pious and benevolent reader, to ponder indulgently, not critically, over our humble interpretations of their most significant and extensive meanings. You will find them at the end of the third prayer offered to your unprejudiced con- sideration, as sheet-anchors, whereon we ourselves mainly found our fullest hope of grace in Jesus Christ, who taught us to say them.
ACCORDING TO ST. LUKE.
" And it came to pass, that, as [Jesus] was j)raying in a certain place, when He ceased, one of His disciples said unto Him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his dis- ciples.
" And He said unto them. When ye pray, say. Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.
" Give us day by day our daily bread.
" And forgive us our sins ; for we also forgive every one
THE WORD. 25
that is indebted to us.^ And lead us not into temptation ; but deliver us from evil" (Luke xi. 1 — 4).
It is perfectly plain in this, as in the preceding prayer, that Christ, our Omniscient Teacher, fully intended to teach " us," as well as those who 'heard Him (through His dis- ciples, whose request ^ He was granting) , first, how to pray, and, next, how to suit our moral and religious conduct to the spirit of the prayers He so charitably gives us as most signi- ficative ensamples.
In our humble opinion, therefore, the expressions which such a transcendently competent ' Teacher dropped as gracious instructions on such an important occasion should be so " infinitely sacred," that the very words, separately appre- ciated, as well as the letters of those prayers in particular, ought to be for ever individually treasured up and profoundly venerated far beyond all the rest of the Scriptures.
Is not Jesus one and the same as the Almighty, the Omni- potent Lord, and the Holy Grhost ? Yea, yea ; and for ever and ever.
ACCORDING TO OUR MODERN LITURGY.
" Our Father, which art in heaven. Hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, ' as ' it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses,* as we forgive them that trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation ; but deliver us from evil : For Thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen."
26
THE WOKD.
ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF THE
TWO FOREGOING PRATERS.
ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW AND ST. LUKE.
''Our Father."'
Soul-transporting apostrophe, comprising universal and end- less felicity to the whole of mankind, from the first human being created by the Almighty, to the very last !
A unique, God-begotten human Son, alluding to His Omnipotent Father, as unique and Divine as He is Himself ; and so indivisibly connected, both Father and Son, with respect to unlimited powers, immaculate virtues; purest Essences of all that is good, and infinitely merciful, that, to be, and will, was, before all Worlds, the miraculous Birth, Being, and everlasting Duration of their combined indi- vidually mysterious self-created and animated Perfections.
That theocratical Phenomenon, by simply bidding us to say " Our Father," invites us afiectionately, and most conde- scendingly, to call him Brother !
To say that such a son "telling us," before thousands assembled, to address His own Father as Our Father, " is not," most pointedly, encouraging us to believe that, in due time, through the AU-Sufficient EjQ&cacy of the Universal Redemption, "prepared from the Beginning," and through the "equally sufficient" Salvation infallibly to follow, we shall. All, eventually be caught up again, as returning peni-
THE WORD. 27
tent, and, no longer prodigal sons, into heaven, to be gloriously presented, by our triamphant Brother, before the Throne of Infinite Justice, Mercy and Grrace, that we may be, according to sacred promises, alj of us everlastingly forgiven, is, indeed, most wickedly refusing to accept and acknowledge the Blessed Holy Trinity, as all that is, and will ever be. Equitable, Merciful, and True.
Our Father ! Yes, indeed ; the offended Father of those countless myriads of " deluded angels," who, gradually cor- rupted by the Spirit of Evil, had most ungratefully rebelled against their God — Souls, no longer immortal, who were finally driven, with their Seducer, as they deserved, from the Mansions of the Just. Consequently —
Our own Father ! For We are they.
And this fact shall be proved (D.Y.), as we earnestly hope and firmly believe, in the course of this work.
Deus ipse scepe dixit.
" Because ye are His Sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father " (Gal. iv. 6.).
"Which art in Heaven." Boundless significant distinction ! Most merciful encou- ragement : pregnant with the Redemption and final Salva- tion of countless^ Worlds !
Admission and Confession, most undeniably indispensable f without which countless worlds had been lost: a devoted Redeemer, and crucified Saviour, sacrificed in vain ! ^
Our Divine Comforter, the Holy Ghost, deprived of a vast
D 2
28 THE WORD.
portion of His gracious influence,^ leaving thus the whole Scheme of our Eansom and restoration, fatally incomplete.^
That distinction of celestial paternity, which " sincerely de- vout Christians " can never too often repeat, had furthermore been of no avail,^ had it unfortunately been recommended to our pious observance, by any other Teacher, but our Our Divine Brother, Jesus Christ, the well-beloved Son of Grod.
For, who could know better than He did, how much our fallen Souls — having so wickedly served another Father,* in heaven, which they consequently and, myriads of eternities back,'' so deservedly, forfeited, by their treacherous rebellion — needed, during their merciful terrestrial ordeals, incessant repetitions of faithful allegiance, addressed above, by daily saying, not only, " Our Father," but, furthermore, " Which art in Heaven"?
Who could, indeed, know better than He knew, the Omni- scient Messiah, there before them, that He alone, through Grace incalculable, could, and would, both redeem and save them all, by simply dictating to them the most appropriate words ^ to use, in the all-sufficient prayer they were beseech- ing Him to teach them ?
Their Redeemer; their Saviour; their future Judge,' it was ; their Omnipotent God ; their forgiving Father, was evidently saying to them, under the incarnated form of Jesus :
" Call me continually 'your Father ';
" Believingly confess to me that ' I am in Heaven ';
" Reverently and fervently declare that you ' Hallow my Name.'
THE WORD. 29
*' Intreat me to permit ' My kingdom to come again.'
" Pray before me, and wherever you may be, day by day, that ' my will may be done in earth, as it is in heaven.'
"Humbly beg of me ' To give you this day your daily bread.'
" Earnestly ask of me to ' forgive you your sins ; as you also forgive every one that is indebted to you.'
" Implore me, from the inmost depth of your soul, ' Not to lead you into temptation,' but to ' deliver you from evil. And I, who am ' The Fountain of all goodness,' ' The Author of peace, and Lover of concord,' ' Who hate nothing that I have made,' shall grant you your prayer !
For:—
" Such as the Father, such is the Son . . . The Father is Almighty, the Son Almighty . . . The Father is Grod, the Son is God . . . The Father is Lord, the Son Lord." — Creed of St. Athanasius.
" God of God, Light of Light, Very God of very God."— The Nicene Creed.
" The very and eternal God." ^ — Articles of Religion.
*' The Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God . . . And the Word was made^ flesh, and dwelt among us" (John i. 1, 2, 14).
"Our Father, which art in Heaven; Hallowed
BE Thy Name ! "
The necessity, which Our Lord Jesus Christ so emphati- cally enforces,* at the very commencement of the Prayer, which He so graciously composes for His disciples,* of " hal-
30 THE WORD.
lowing the Name of Grod," besides acknowledging Him as " Our Father," proves that a flagrant breach of filial affection and loyal submission had long existed among myriads of the angelic hosts, prior to their necessary banishment.
It proves, furthermore, that an "evil Spirit," of a for- midable nature,^ possessing most insurmoimtable powers of mischief and destruction, had usurped, for an inconceivable lapse of time, an hostile, unaccountable authority, against the Omnipotent Lord of Heaven.
That mystery must be left sacredly veiled. One important fact is nevertheless sufficiently obvious, for the purpose in view.
It is that, when the Most High determined to annihilate the inveterate foe, whom He had, most undoubtedly, per- mitted to exist,^ for wise and merciful ends, the fiend was hurled, with his unfortunate victims, from the realms of eternal bliss, into the scorching caverns, and the burning depths of the still chaotic earth.^
For, " Je§us said ... I beheld Satan, as lightning, fall from heaven" (Luke x. 18).
Let us return, with boundless gratitude, to our blessed, adorable Redeemer's Prayer : —
" Hallowed be Thy glorious Name," indeed, " 0 Lord of Sabaoth ! " Hallowed be likewise. Thine, 0 Jesus Christ ; our beloved Saviour ; the infinitely forgiving and merciful future Judge of all fallen Angels and Men.*
THE WORD. 31
For ever hallowed, also, be the awful Name of Thine in- conceivable, impenetrable Self, 0 Triple Spirit,^ proceeding from the Father, and from the Son : Holy Gfhost ! Co-equal and Co-eternal Godhead; our ever-present Comforter, and terrestrial Gruide to everlasting life and happiness, in Jesus Christ.
Does it not fill every Christian with endless wonder, that an appropriate international temple was not erected, and sacredly perpetuated, to the latest end of all human genera- tions, for the purpose of keeping, in magnificent golden letters, those once audible words of our dearest Saviour's All-sufficient ^ Prayer ?
"Thy Kingdom come."
After having persisted so long, during the latter part of our antemundane state,^ in refusing to acknowledge the supremacy of the King of kings; the Lord of lords; for which unpardonable defection and ingratitude, we were so justly flung from the, no longer congenial, brotherhood, and, consequently, from the unsuitable habitations of our angelic kindred : forbidden thus all further sight of the Holiest of the holies : —
What humble supplications could we express, more likely to allay Divine indignation, each morning and night of our penitential human lives, than that which our sympathizing, dear Redeemer was prompting us, eighteen and a half cen- turies ago, incessantly to repeat, by
Saying, " Our Father, who art in heaven ; Hallowed
32 THE WORD,
Toe Thy Name; Thy kingdom come" — that happy, that glorious kingdom, we, all of us, so wickedly spurned — now, may be, thousands of ages back ?
It was teaching us daily to add, from our hearts and souls, ' Eeign over us again, we beseech Thee, for mercy's sake, 0 Almighty and Omniscient Euler of the Universe. Remove from us, we beseech Thee, the dreadful ban which precludes our ever returning under Thy Benignant Paternal sway."
« ' Thy kingdom come.' Through our Brother, Jesus, Thine only-begotten Son, His prayer, hear us, Good Lord.
" Satan is a malevolent tja-ant ; a cruel, envious usurper, whom we have, in our utter blindness, preferred to Thee. Be merciful to us, and forgive us, Grood Lord ! Thy kingdom come ! Thy kingdom come ! "
Before the wondrous worlds were framed, Inconceivable, and inscrutable Author of miracles without end — which for eternities past had been ; which for eternities more had to be — Thou hadst preconceived and preordained the vast, exhaust- less births of numberless regenerative wombs ; out of the purifying and sanctifying depths of wliich celestial and ter- restrial beings and things, obedient, all, to Thy laws, were in perfection spotlessly at last, and finally, to come forth again !
To Thine infinite wisdom nothing could be concealed ; to Thy prescience nothing imperfect, spiritually or materially, could be permitted to exist, without a merciful motive and a gracious result.
Ubiquitous as much so as Almighty, Great God of gods ! fore-knowing and predestinative^ must be the inherent attri-
THE WORD. 33
butes of the universal presence and infinite extent of Thy paternal knowledge and beneficent might.
Thou, the Glod of Abraham, the ,Grod of Isaac, the God of us all, who hast prepared, for them that love Thee, such good things as pass man's understanding : Thou art the strength of all them that put their trust in Thee. Thy kingdom come, we earnestly beseech Thee !
" Thy Will be done as in Heaven, so in
Earth."
Those encouraging words strike us as being so teeming with edifying humility, with dutiful entreaty, and in ac- cordance^ with such gracious promises of infinite pardon, that we shall divide them into three totally distinct parts, interpreting them each in turn.
" Thy Will he clone:'
Conceive for awhile how genuine must have been the humane^ affection, and unlimited efforts, to redeem and to save, of that self-immolating Yictim, who, on His painful way to Calvary, recommends you to pray, not to the great Grod alone, but to Himself as well, and to the Holy Grhost, saying :
" Our Father . . . Thy will be done."
For, " Such as the Father is ; such is the Son ; and such is the Holy Ghost ! "
A Redeemer like this — a Sa\'iour of this unparalleled description, who imparts to the penitent exiles, whom His Father has impartially and properly driven from His sight.
34 THE WORD.
entreaties for pardon wliich He Himself is wording, — can He be any other than the Omnipotent Jehovah, influenced^ by the Holy Ghost, and assisted^ by the Messiah ?
He is, indeed, the Divine, consecrated and sanctified Em- bodiment of the Eternal and AU-Sufficient Trinity, whereby universal salvation shall finally be obtained, according to pre- ordinations irrevocably willed before all worlds.
Such, therefore, is the earnest wish expressed by the faith- ful servants of Christ Jesus, when they fervently say, "■ Thy Will be done."
"As in Heaven^
How plainly this is being divinely told by the Almighty to beseech the Almighty, through daily acknowledgments of His heavenly supremacy, for future permission to re-enter those realms of perfect happiness over which He reigns, and which our souls in their pristine state of innocent beati- tude knew once, alas, so well !
The Son knows how anxiously, how sincerely, the Father is " willing to be convinced " that we really and truly long to be forgiven. "Say." Therefore He tells us, "Thy will be done, as in heaven;" and then, "My God and my Father," which is your God and your Father, will throw open those gates through which He flung Satan as lightning to the earth ; and His ministering angels will triumphantly welcome you back again, with joy unspeakable, into their ranks, to love and to worship their Omnipotent Lord as they do, for evermore.
THE WORD. 35
Who can tell what contempt the devil and his diabolical progeny^ instilled into us unremittingly before our fall? By myriads of myriads of centuries, through incalculable periods of time, we may have, we must have, increasingly rebelled against heaven's sacred King.
A punishment was rightfully but reluctantly^ inflicted; and " in earth " at last the Almighty's will was done, for that will had been, long enough, spurned in heaven.
" So in Earth:'
Which undoubtedly signifies : —
"Thy will be done in earth," as Thou didst expect us, in our celestial state, during eternities gone by, to have faith- fully and joyfully minded it in heaven.^
Now the degree of comparison used here was not so emphatically marked by our Lord Jesus Christ on such a solemn occasion without being intended to bear considerable weight.
"Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth." Not, as in earth, so in heaven — a very difierent order of words, which would have, at that particular terrestrial era,* implied a totally different instruction.
The omnipotent will of a God like our God could be under- stood to be merciful, as it was merciful (before all worlds) to angels and spirits according to the Divine laws, only by spiritually-inspii'edimaginations,Hhe supernatui^al definitions of which it would infinitely exceed the powers of our best
36 THE WORD.
human intellects to compreliend without divine Grrace as- sisting.
Our Omniscient Lord often used a figurative language, for the understanding of which He, no doubt, imparted at the time heavenly mental faculties of angelic origin, unnecessary as yet for the general instruction of the intentionally be- nighted multitudes : to wit, the impressive words recom- mended to be used in His incomparable prayer, "As in heaven, so in earth."
That is, " as our souls, before their fall, before their highly- merited expulsion from Thy heavenly mansions, knew Thy Father's will to be done there."
To those who '' zealously " read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest ^ the holy mysteries and parables left us by our omni- scient and devoted Preceptor, for our private meditation, edification, and continual study, nothing seems plainer than those comforting, encouraging allusions.
In short, they are everywhere present, throughout both Testaments,^ as well as in all our dear Redeemer's invaluable words of advice and sympathetic exhortations.
Nevertheless, to comprehend rightly the Scriptures (and that all-sufficient prayer in particular). Christian readers must be, through grace in Jesus Christ, gradually resuscitated to heavenly thoughts and feelings.^
" GrIVE us THIS DaY OUR DaiLY BrEAD."
Blessings, at all times, and in all places, are worth asking for. It was not, however, that bread alone, which we eat.
THE WORD. 37
that we were taught humbly to beg for, at the merciful hands of the universal and eternal Dispenser of all good earthly gifts.
A far better bread than all the worldly riches and perish- able possessions of this pompously-boasted-of storehouse, is to be earnestly prayed for, as our beloved Brother Jesus, in this instance, tells us ; not only " daily," but " day by day," also. For it is the " bread of Eternal Life," which we once ate with Him in the halls of heaven, at the hospitable board of our common Father.^
" 0 give us. Almighty Grod, not ' this ' day only, but every day also, a foretaste^ of that Bread of Eternal Life, which we so ardently long to partake of again, with our fellow-natives of that glorious kingdom, where Thy Son, our Sovereign Lord and Eldest Brother, with the ever-present Holy Ghost, our Comforter, eternally dwelt under Thy parental care."
In other words : "0 Jesus Christ, our gracious Redeemer, who didst, in Thy sermon on the Mount, advise us besides, when we pray, to enter into our closets, to close our doors, and then pray, saying to Thy Father, which is in secret, ' Our Father :' permit us likewise to say, using Thine own words to Thee, in our closets too, and wherever we pray: ' Brother, our all-sufficient Saviour, give us all, this day, and day by day, our daily bread, by mercifully again, and con- tinually, sending unto us Thine Holy Ghost ; and Thyself interceding for us, before the throne of Almighty God, the Author of all godliness,^ and the strength of all them that put their trust in Him.' "*
38 THE WORD.
" And Forgive us our Debts, as we Forgive OUR Debtors."
Now, be it well remembered that our incalculable debt to God is : infinite and eternal gratitude, for the following blessings, beyond all price : —
Human existence ; in other words, mortal life.
The fall of Adam, and the crime of Cain.
Certainty of ultimate death, and resurrection.
Universal Redemption, eflfected on Calvary.
Final judgment, before our gracious Redeemer's throne.
Porportionate punishments in posthumous states.
Final universal salvation, through the "all-sufficient atone- ment " of the Martyrdom of Jesus Christ, according to the infallible decrees and preordination of Almighty Grod, made known in heaven before all worlds.*
It must not be overlooked in this place, that Jesus Christ, our Lord, added, as it is seen in the 14th verse : " For if ye forgive men their trespasses,^ your heavenly Father will also forgive you: but if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses " (Matt. vi.).
Conceive, if you can now, the enormous weight of such debts, and such trespasses and sins.^
Furthermore, bear in mind, as good and faithful Christians, that you are to sue, day by day, with the most confident hope of obtaining ; to sue, word for word, as He tells you, your
* See tlie interpretations of those blessings, further on.
THE WORD. 39
prompting, assisting, propitiating Intercessor, in that sublime prayer, for the full and perfect liquidation of all those over- whelming debts, which, under no other possible circimistance, you could hope to get completely cancelled.
You need not have any fear of becoming insolvent, " pro- vided " the Solicitor you retain, the special Pleader defending you, and the Judge hearing the cause, be satisfied, all Three of them, as One and the same Mediator, that you have done, on your part, implicitly, what a good^ Christian should do.
Would that our earthly judges were as charitable, merciful, and impartially equitable,^ as the adorable Messiah will in- fallibly be at our last great Assize !
"And Lead us not into Temptation."
" Then," exclaims the scej^tic, addressing himself to fervent Christians, who accept the Evangelical writings with bound- less trust, as the sacredly authorized revelations of Cod's immutable will and unalterable decrees, — " then, your Merci- ful Father, the Lord of Hosts, Jehovah, leads us^ into temp- tations ! "
He, the Omnipotent, the Omniscient, entices us poor weak mortals, whom he has created so frail, and so easily drawn astray, into the commission of a multitude of sins, for which we are to inherit death, and be inevitably doomed to ever- lasting punishments ! !
Good heavens ! What can this admission of your dear Redeemer and dearest Saviour mean ?
It means, sadly incredulous reader, that, by dint of dis-
40 THE WORD,
believing all thou hearest and readest, thou hast unfortunately reached a state of doubt, which entirely darkens^ thy under- standing, and prevents thy unravelling scriptural veracities and sacred realities, wliich it is not permitted that minds like thine should comprehend, sooner than their allotted time.^
Jesus Christ knowing, perfectly well, that everything which happens in this world, ay, throughout the whole universe, must be permitted, for good or for evil (this latter being simply apparent^), by His Almighty Father, uses such terms as, " Lead us not," with a mysterious signification, which, to the untrue, is fatally perplexing, but, to the sincere Christian, clearly expressive of "glorious promises and realizations" of universally granted forgiveness, and thoroughly efficient Divine grace.*
Penetrated, as we feel, by the notions and sentiments which usually animate zealous worshippers of the Most Holy Trinity — trusting enthusiastically in the unlimited benevo- lence, the parental afiection, of our Celestial Father — we have no room whatever left in our mind, heart, or soul, for the adoption of a single momentary feeling of doubt, respecting the infinite Grace, Love, and Compassion of the "Three Eternal Gods," represented by the " monotheocracy " we most solemnly confess and devotedly adore.
"But Deliver us from Evil."
Establishing our dogmas on the manifold texts, which we have most scrupulously and abundantly quoted in the fore- going and subsequent portions of this work — all of them, more
THE WORD. 41
or less, tending evangelically to corroborate the validity of our own " private^ life " in the positive " universality " of Angelic and human Redemption and Salvation — we shall now undertake, with due reverence and unfeigned defe- rence, to explain how we conceive that Temptation was, and is, and will be, to the end,' the " chiefest means " used through exhaustless grace, " before all worlds,"' by our then autotheocratic Father, antecedently to the fall of the angels, to bring back all His past, present, and future " Prodigal Sons " (not one excepted)* into his Heavenly kingdom again.
No one, in his right senses, will venture to say that our Eternal Almighty Grod, in any single respect, is limited, or ever was, in His sovereign will and ruling power.
This is a sacred axiom which places, at the pious discretion of all honest and Christian theologians, an exhaustless store of fervent, faith-abounding arguments, which are amply adequate to the solution of any amount of doctrinal problems. They are, in short, perfectly adequate to the right under- standing, and the full knowledge, of many of " those figura- tive and parabolical words^ of God," which were purposely, in times long passed, withheld from the unregenerated com- prehensions of men.
It certainly is undeniably a fact, that, when our Lord Jesus Christ taught that "ineffably efficient Prayer," He was not to be looked upon, on this earth, even by His dis- ciples and the Apostles, as a Cod : for, had He been so, the merit of His martyrdom, the glory of His crucifixion, must have been vastly lessened.''
E
42 THE WORD.
Our Saviour, terrestrially born, as He was, to expiatory sufferings and deatli, retained, all througli His mortal life, tlioughts and feelings, exclusively and incessantly, relating to His Divine origin and mission. They rendered Him, essentially and pre-eminently, an infallibly truthful Oracle, in all He foretold; a perfectly Omniscient Interpreter, in all He thought it right to explain and to teach.
Who can then doubt, for a moment, that His truly sacred " Pater Noster " graciously embodies Words of Mercy and Love, inspired by the Holy Ghost — who must have been ex- pressly sent to Him, from alcove, on that particular occasion ?^
Those heavenly Words, therefore, taken in a collective or an isolated sense, convey very justly to the enthusiastic believer's mind, heart, and soul, so comprehensive and com- plete a compilation of Christian confessions; fihal submis- sions and homages; ay, humble supplications and depre- cations ; devoted allegiance and boundless praise ; that, they might, with a very few doctrinal additions, constitute a suffi- ciency of verbal worship,^ infinitely more acceptable, through the propitiation, intercession, and sanctification of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost, than all the pompous adorations and ceremonious genuflexions of mistaken zealots of every nominal Christian persuasion on the face of the earth.
Has there ever been an ecclesiastical attempt made, to reconcile Divine use of temptation, with Divine exercise of infinite Grace ?
Has the unaccountable presence of Satan in Heaven, first, in Eden, next, and now, in the Earth, ever been inter-
THE WORD. 43
preted as a blessing, granted unto us by the Most High, from the Beginning/ through the intercession of our adora- ble^ Eedeemer?
Such is, nevertheless, the Alpha of Christianity ; such is its Omega.
We shall endeavoiu", in the next sections, to discover whether or not, such a connexion of good and evil, for the purpose of effecting " Universal Salvation," can be satisfac- torily estabhshed on trustworthy data.
Our unlimited reliance, in the veracity of the Holy Scrip- tures, may lead us on, very inadvertently, to exceed the right we assume,^ perhaps too rashly, of putting our own constructions,* apparently paradoxical, on the sacred state- ments we find, in both the Old Testament and the New.
Should this excess of Faith be imputed to us as a trans- gression, heterodoxicaP as well as illogical, we prostrate our- selves before the Throne of infinite Mercy, and penitently repeat " the words," which we are hereby striving to magnify and glorify, by saying more fervently and trustfully than ever :
" Our Father, which art in heaven . . . Lead us not into temptation,*^ but deliver us from evil."
And, beseeching the Spirit of Truth, to enlighten our understanding, we humbly commence our solemn task, by ascribing whatever honour and glory may be due, should there be any worthy of being so, to the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Grhost, for ever and ever.
E 2
44 THE WORD.
MOST MERCIFUL EXISTENCE i OF THE VIRGIN
MART, AND JESUS CHRIST, "BEFORE ALL
WORLDS."
A Father and His Son, acknowledgecP to have existed eternities ago, may be very legitimately considered (we speak foolishly, may be, as human speakers not unfrequently do), under the reasonable aspect of two separate Beings : the Elder preceding the Younger, in reference to time. No further possible human calculation being accessible, regarding the comparative durability of periods, between the existences^ of an eternal Father and an eternal Son : —
Both Father and Son, Almighty.
Both Father and Son, coequal in Glory and Majesty.
Both uncreate and incomprehensible.
Both Gods, and botli Lords.
The Father, made of none : neither created, nor begotten.
The Son begotten of the Father, from tlie Beginning.*
The Son (physically speaking), not visibly eternal,'^ but coexisting divinely in the Godhead of the Father.
The Son, begotten before all worlds, of an Archangelic Mother f subsequently incarnated, for the purpose of effect- ing the miraculously merciful incarnation of the Divine Son of God, her own Spiritual Son ; in heaven, spiritually be- gotten of the Father, before all worlds also. And further- more, her own terrestrial Son, divinely conceived by tlie Holy Ghost, as the breath of life was breathed "^ in the in-
THE WORD. 45
animate body of Adam, on this earth, through the omni- potent will of the everlasting Parent of us all.
Such we faithfully believe (many mysterious particulars combining), to have been the infinitely gracious Origin of the "Triunely self-constituted" Holy Christian Trinity : most essentially Christian.'
ETERNAL MONOCRACY OF GOD. Division of His Infinite Monotheistical Attributes.
As fair dogmatical deductions, from the foregoing Biblical premises,^ we shall, in nomine Jesu C/wisti, humbly proceed with our interpretations.
Grod the Father, for eternities, antecedent to the Christian revelation* of His triune self-division of infinite monotheis- tical* Power, Wisdom, and Mercy, as Omnipotent ante- mundane Creator, autocratically reigned over a pristine Uni- verse,^ which was called the kingdom of God, That king- dom, which His adorable Son, our most beloved Lord, pro- phetically enjoins us day by day to pray for, saying : " Our Father . . . Thy kingdom come."
And therein sprang, alas ! within that incessantly blessed kingdom sprang, "an awful bane," which first began to undermine^ the perfect universal purity and beatitude, which the sons of God spiritually enjoyed, under His infinitely bene- ficent Rule ; joyfully obeying ; fervently worshipping ; grate-
46 THE WORD.
fully, devotedly loving Him— the Omnipotent, Omnipresent, Jehovah, whom it was inexpressible bliss continually to adore.
But that " bane," that awful bane, had taken root and necessarily sprung.^ Many of the Angels and Spirits had discontinued to consider it a pure source of happiness to be totally " ignorant of evil." Their places were often vacant, round the throne of Divine Majesty and Grrace.
An ArchangeP had even entirely withdrawn his attendance, at the periodical courts of heaven. Mysterious had ever been his ways.
His first appearance among the angelic hosts was sudden, and seemingly'^ not approved of the Eternal King, but unac- countably tolerated. The Divine Brow, so invariably radiant, heretofore, each time the unlooked-for visitant came, in an instant assumed a look of indignant blame.*
Taking for granted, that the reader has kindly perused the pages preceding this, or that he still bears in mind their con- tents, we shall again advert to our dear Redeemer's concluding injunction, in the Prayer we are endeavouring to expound, respecting temptation.
Temptations must be admitted as the *' first and only causes" of celestial corruption : they were, most inconceivably, the " real origin of sin."^
It must be admitted next, because it is undeniable (we cannot, as yet, tell the reader why)," that the arch tempter, whose primeval apparition we have sketched some pages on,'^ from a variety of scriptural details, was, and is, no other than a menial subordinate being, compassionately employed by the
THE WORD. 47
Almighty, to test and thoroughly pmify the long-forgiven reprieved inhabitants of that glorious kingdom, into which we all, who are sincere Christians, day by day, pray most ardently to be received again.
From the moment that that mysterious archangel finally left the dreaded presence of his Omniscient Judge, a Triune- deate Council resolved^: —
That each monotheistic G-od should at once, and for some thousands of ages, then to come, act apart.^
That consequently, the Almighty Lord of lords, and King of kings, imtil then, as our Heavenly Father now, should, for a portion of that time, occupy the autotheocratic throne,^ alone, and reign paramount over all.
That His only-begotten Son, our future Eedeemer, should rule, Himself paramount also,* and alone, as G-od of Grod, Very Grod of very Grod, over all the archangelic, angelic, and spiritual hosts ; until His Divine mission of grace,^ preceded by His most merciful and miraculous creation of this earth, should begin.
That the Third Incomprehensible Grod, the Holy Grhost, our predestinated terrestrial Guide and ever-present Comforter," should first, through incessant inspirations and admonitions, strive to induce those particular souls likely to fall, ere it should be too late, to beware of that formidable and daring- deceiver.'^ And, in the second place, carry on from the creation of Adam, until the end of all earthly things, this most important and " indispensable mission "^ of Divine Grace, without which Universal Redemption and Salva-
48 THE WORD.
tion, preordained from the beginning, could not be accom- plished.^
Here we must remind the reader, that the apostate arch- angel, alluded to some pages back, was Satan : that Satan who, besides tempting those unhappy spirits, which he snatched thus so mysteriously from heaven, was the same demon foe who tempted Adam and Eve ; tempted Cain ; tempted Jesus Christ ; tempted, in short, from the earliest origin of evil, and will continue to tempt us all, to the latest end of this graciously transmigratory and purgatorial world.^
So that, " Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil : For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for^ ever : Amen," mystically reveals God the Father Him- self, in the Divinely* incarnated Person of His earthly Repre- sentative, Jesus Christ, urgently, and both paternally and fraternally,^ advises us, all, to beseech Him alike, not to lead us any longer into temptation, but to deliver us from evil : acknowledging submissively that " His is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory for ever."
FIRST AND FOREMOST SALUTARY" PRESENCE OF EVIL.
It was the eternal monotheocratic Lord of All Things, visible and invisible, who, having " mentally " created Adam,^ upon first discovering that a self-generated incipient ether,^ of an extremely virulent nature,^ was imperceptibly, but effec- tively, contaminating the souls of His heavenly spirits and
THE WORD. 49
powers, besides spreading- influential pestilence througliout His principalities and kingdoms, had furthermore anticipatedly composed^ those prophecies, revelations, and sacred warnings (including Our Lord's Prayer), which were in due time to constitute the most important portion of our Sacred Bible.^
Although not yet self-multiplied, our Almighty Grod, the ever-flowing " Fountain of Divine love and grace," combined within His All-sufficient and formidable Oneness, "I am Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last," all the won- derful attributes of the Three incomprehensible Gods of that Godhead, which He secretly purposed, after a time, by mira- culous divisions and separations, mercifully to treble.^
Therefore, annihilating for ever, by a single thought, the total existence of the above-mentioned ethereal malefic prin- ciples of evil,* Jehovah next evoked, from the infernal abysses, where he had, for myriads of centuries past, confined him, at the extremest verge of the immeasurable universe, that false Archangel he intentionally formed and endowed^ as a " spiiitual antidote," perfectly subservient to His Almighty will, against the deplorable ills which He, from the very beginning, had foreseen and forfended.
A God, like our God, cannot admit any bounds to his Know- ledge, or Wisdom, or Power ; no more than He can to the infinitude of His Merciful Grace and Paternal Love.
That Prayer, once more, to which all these interpretations refer, proves this most consolatory, encom'aging fact, to an
50 THE WORD.
extent that must have been incredible, had the sacred words dropped from any other lips, but from those of our ever- adorable Saviour; consequently from the Holy Ghost, and from the Most High.
Observe, most gratefully too, how those grace-fraught, all- sufficient words efficaciously terminate. By addressing His own heavenly Father Himself, and saying, in our behalf — " Amen, So be it ! "
Let us all, in our turn, most fervently add, " For Thine is the kingdom, and the power and the glory, for ever and ever ! " Amen !
The important variations, plainly noticeable in both prayers by the assistance of unprejudiced Christian comparisons,^ should not be overlooked.
In St. Matthew the discrepancy more particularly exists in the words, " Our debts," and " Our debtors." We cannot, meanwhile, help preferring St. Luke's, "as in heaven, so in earth," to " in earth, as it is in heaven," adducing the reason we have already assigned.^
It is very strikingly evident that St. Luke, in his sacred compilation, piously bore in mind, that he had sojourned him- self also, in those forfeited realms of bliss, like all the kindred souls he was meeting on earth,^ and he consequently regis- tered, all the more faithfully, his "celestial experience" regarding the manner of observing " the Will of God " in heaven, as deserving priority of rank, infinitely more than the
THE WORD. 51
" irreverent," not to say impious, sacrilegious way in wHch that self-same most holy "will is observed by an enormously vast majority of the heedless inhabitants of this world.
St. Matthew must, in this material instance, have recorded His Divine Master's words with some degree of inattention^ regarding his own individual origin, precisely similar to that of his brother apostle.
•35-
With regard to Debts and Sins the difference of adoption preferred by each Apostle must be ascribed to the national " moral and religious " principles of their respective hearers.
One prominent featm^e appears to culminate in St. Matthew's version, which would indicate that Jesus Christ, our ever-con- siderate Lord, was impressed, when He used those tenns, with a conviction that, having before Him a multitude, chiefly con- sisting of buyers and sellers, that is, tradespeople of all degrees, he would be best understood then by substituting " debts " for " sins."2
And certainly, in our days, the generally accepted opinion would infallibly be, that a Jew would infinitely, rather for- give sins and trespasses,^ in any number, than a single " debt " of the most trifling value ; which we must be allowed, from repeated personal experience, to declare as being a most egregiously unchristian aspersion.*
Chap. vi. 14, 15, following this Apostle's insertion of the Lord's Prayer, becomes aU the more pointedly personal,
52 THE WORT).
by being separately levelled at unforgiving trespassers^ as well as debtors.
How vast, bow edifying tbe instruction, how universal and suitable to tbe past, present, and future generations of our ordeal states in tbis mortal existence ^ are tbe bumble and penitent supplications of eacb filial and fraternal address !
In Saint Luke we bave " apparently " ^ more earnestness, more zeal, more anxious details ; as if our Divine Teacber wisbed to leave notbing wbatever unsaid tbat could in any possible respect obtain tbe compassionate and cbaritable attention of His infinitely merciful and "Parental* Hearer."
It is not, for example, " Tby will be done in eartb, as it is done in beaven ;'•' but, " As in beaven, so ^ in eartb."
Not, " Give us tbis day our daily bread ; " but, " day by day our daily bread."
Not, " Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive tbem tbat trespass against us ;" but, " Forgive us our sins ; for ^ we also forgive every one tbat is indebted to us."
How many " scrupulously ^ pious " Cbristians are tbere wbo, solemnly laying tbeir bands on tbeir bearts in token of sin- cerest trutb, could take up tbose "ominously significative words" of Jesus, addressing tbem, as He did, to His own Fatber, and say, "For we also forgive every one"?
Nevertbeles — Sinners, trespassers, debtors, pray on, saying, " Our Fatber," as fervently and trutbfuUy as you can. We bave an Intercessor, a Redeemer a Saviour, an Almigbty
THE WORD. 53
Father, " in Trinity combined," who knows to what a dreadful extent ^ we are tried and tempted. He has atoned for all : He has ransomed all : He has saved all !
"For Thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, and
THE GrLORY, for EVER. AmEN."
The appreciation of such an inconceivably comprehensive " Creed " as the Lord's Prayer, extensive in pious meaning as we have anxiously, dutifully striven to make it, would be infinitely more inadequate to its object than it is, were it left, with the above most important confession, merely in- serted in this book as simply obligatory admissions.
Our Divine Mediator, after having told us precisely what we should say to the Lord of lords, the supreme Arbiter of all future human destinies beyond the grave, prudently warns us finally and solemnly to declare that : —
His, and His only, is the everlasting kingdom of heaven ; all other kingdoms merely habitations of a day.-
His, and His only, is that power before which all other powers must humble themselves, as, perfectly impotent, and of no avail. ""^
His, and His only, that transcendent glory by the side of which all other glories are but dim and evanescent pomps and majesties, without equivalent effect or comparative duration.*
54 THE WORD.
EXPLANATOEY RETEOSPECT
CONCERNING THE
COMPAEATIYE EXTENT OF OUE DEBTS TO
GOD.
(See page 47.).
Let us examine, more minutely if possible, the separate items, helping to form our respective debts, in those numerous causes, which will most indubitably be tried, at the awful bar of Divine justice, when the great day shall have dawned, beyond which there will remain no further hope of appeal or surcease.
Our enormous "individual^ debt" to God, is "eternal gratitude," contracted by us all from the beginning, unre- deemable, and which none ever will be able to liquidate.
WE ARE INDEBTED TO GOD FOR OUR MORTAL LIFE.3
Without terrestrial death, our souls must have been eternally damned.^
How so ?
Because, had the Almighty persisted* in keeping for ever in exile, those immortal spirits and angels, which He originally drove from His presence, for their most ungratefuP rebellion :
THE WORD. 55
neither the Creation, nor death, nor redemption, nor judg- ment ; nor the intermediate states, nor salvation ; could have been necessary, by any explicable earthly motive^ whatever.
But we were they ! — that is, those rebellious spirits and angels were we !^
So, the Almighty and everlasting God willed, that the Lord Jesus Christ, His own begotten Son — begotten of Him- self, for that purpose, "before all^ worlds" — should, in due time, first " create the present heaven, and the earth."
Thus, our Redeemer and Saviour, His merciful Father pre- siding, and the Holy Ghost assisting,* created the earth, and Adam and Eve therein : the first incarnated angels, trans- formed into human souls ; through Infinite Grace reprieved, and, thi'ough Jehovah's boundless mercy preordained, in this manner, most impartially to be saved,^ with all their kindred hosts.
WE SHOULD BE GRATEFULLY INDEBTED TO GOD FOR THE FALL OF ADAM AND THE CRIME OF CAIN.
It is most impiously wicked to imagine, that an Omnipotent, Omniscient, and infinitely good Legislator, as our eternal lieavenly King proves Himself to have been, and to be, throughout all His works, should have, in this single instance,^ evinced a want of foresight, and common charity, such as we could hardly have suspected in any of oui' species, save amongst the brutal kinds,'' of the most uncivilized regions of this earth.
56 THE WORD.
Let us, on the contrary, rationally and gratefully fix a totally different construction on this most marvellous operation of " Divine lovingkindness and Christian^ compassion."
Foreknowing well the whole miracle of our adorable Saviour's immaculate life, and meritorious death, so evidently consequent on the sad defection and resulting banishment of the apostate angels, whom His Son loved once, as brothers, so well, — foreknowing too that, as long as Satan, the mys- terious root of all the evil, and they, his wretched victims, were not adequately punished ; each ingrate delinquent proportion- ately to the awful malignity of his heinous offence, the heavenly abodes of the just, made perfect, would be ceaselessly exposed to further and worse corruptions, — the Lord God determined severely to award full but considerate, justice to all.
Then it happened that Satan was seen, by our Lord Jesus Christ,^ fall like lightning, indignantly hurled, at the Al- mighty's commands, from the skies.
Then it must have been also that the tempted myriads condemned, too late repentant,^ were driven to herd with their tempter fiend, in the frightful depths of his gloomy realms, all utterly wi-etched and hopelessly lost.
And this is, furthermore, precisely the opportune moment for us, with exultingly repeated hallelujahs of praise, and anthems of thanks, to draw up the imaginary curtain, be- hind which we have, so very often, pictured to ourselves the heart-moving and soul-transporting wonders of Universal Salvation, foreshadowed throughout the sacred rites, and
THE WORD. 57
impressive ceremonies, of alP Christian Churches : and, more conspicuously still, in those most edifying words of our Divine Teacher's two solacing and encouraging Prayers.
Human beings, whatever may be their freedom of action, cannot control their thoughts.^ Our own were always in- clined, boldly to rove throughout the romantic regions of mythological tales, and the beau ideal of supernatural visions and dreams ; especially before we had attained our riper years of worldly-tutored experience,^ and consequent wisdom.
Like many other youthful Christians, we could not, even, help reading the Holy Scriptures, without attaching to their many undeniably singular and figui'ative allusions,* interest- ing realities, of our own creation ; satisfactory solutions, and what we thought infinitely more reverent and suitable in- terpretations, than those we were then, through various cir- cumstances of our social existence, compelled apparently to accept.^
There was one portion of our Biblical readings, which riveted oirr attention above all the rest : it was the Creation of this world, and the Fall of Adam and Eve.
We could not, for a very considerable time,^ reconcile, in our inquisitive judgment, the ascribed motive, for example, operating in Cod, during the six days of His miraculous works ; comprising, not only this terrestrial globe, but all the solar system thereunto belonging ; and furthermore, all
58 THE WORD.
the starry universe, seemingly, so little connected with it,^ as indispensable auxiliaries ; we could not reconcile, kindly let us repeat it, dear reader, the vastly mysterious motive of such a Creator, with His apparently inadequate^ object.
Years passed on, finding us constantly adverting, when- ever theological conversations occurred, among our intimate friends (and we frequently brought them on) to this most welcome of all other themes.
MOST EVIDENT PURPOSE OF THE CREATION.
It could not possibly be, for the exclusive accommodation of " one Being^ alone," ^vith His ofispring, that the Omni- potent Divinity, so merciful, so omniscient, and infinitely wise, filled the wide expanse of the boundless heavens, with habitable spheres;* for the merely "necessary orbits" of which, the space, unavoidably required, would outmeasure, millions of times, that which we occupy, for the necessary rotatory evolutions of our own.
"No, no!" we used solemnly to declare, before our in- dulgent hearers. "Adam must have been the divinely in- tended miraculous progenitor of forthcoming countless gene- rations, with which the Lord Almighty was marvellously and mercifully ^ designing to people, not only the fair garden of Eden, and our wide hemispheres, from pole to pole, but, moreover, those innumerable mansions, which so wonder- fully spangle interminable space.
The natural consequence of so much spiritual® interest,
THE WORD. 59
fortunately brought on a very considerable degree of daily increasing pious curiosity, wHch could be satisfied, only by fervently beseecbing the Holy Spirit, mercifully to open our mind and heart to a proper and well-meaning^ " search of the Scriptures," whereby our soul might be both enlightened and edified through Jesus Christ.
We then commenced our anxious investigations, by closely pondering over the three first chapters of Genesis ; comparing them with the three Grospels of St. Matthew, St. Luke, and St. John.2
We furthermore, and connectedly with the said chapters of Genesis, and the Gospels, minutely examined our " Church Service ;" our " Book of Common Prayer ;" and the " public and private character of our own^ clergy," as much imder an orthodox, as an ethic, point of view.*
These investigations and examinations concluded, after further blessings prayed for, we considered oui'selves ade- quately supplied with essential facts and evidences, to form just estimates of the sacred corroborations we wished to collect ; the quotations we should possibly have to cite ; the data we might find it necessary to furnish.
TEMPTATIONS AND FALLS TURN TO BLESSINGS.
These labours having all been most scrupulously attended to, and ending in a successful way towards our object^ we shall, at once, confess that a perfect conviction came over us that : —
The " Temptation of Eve," the " Fall of Adam," and the
F 2
60 THE WORD.
" Crime of Cain," were foreknown occurrences, intended to be principally instrumental,^ in the ultimate accomplishment of the '' Universal " Eedemption and Salvation of Mankind.
Ascribing the sacred character of the purest veracity to every line of Holy Writ,^ that sets forth the mercy, the compassion, the lovingkindness of God, usward ; fixing the same sacred character on " every word," either in the Old Testament and the New, spoken by the Almighty, in person ; and by our Lord Jesus Christ, during His great mission on earth, with reference to impartial justice f merciful retribu- butions ; and proportionate punishments : not overlooking those ineffable blessings of infinite atonement ; all-sujBficieut ransom, and universal forgiveness, —
We enter on the reverent, but steadfast, exposition of our views, sanctioned by many,* touching the glorious " motives and objects," evidently revealed by the merciful existence and presence of the most holy and charitable "Eternal Trinity," from everlasting to everlasting.
As our own paternal Glod Himself acknowledges four times, in the revelation of St. John, that He is Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last, we may very reasonably infer that a beginning must, in like manner, have been dateable, respecting all things, animate and inanimate, in any way connected with our antecedent spiritual, and subsequent material, states of being.
It is at this inscrutable commencement of our Eternal Lord's earth-connected Godhead, that undoubtedly originated also in Him, by Him, or from Him, our pristine angelic essence.
THE WORD, 61
EXPERIMENTAL SYSTEMS OF WORLDS.^
We can well enough imagine an everlasting omnipotent divinity, unique and triune,^ at will, having, for eternities past, alone premeditated, organized, and created a number- less succession of " experimental systems^ of worlds," in their turn swept away, to serve at last, as huge chaotic fragments,* for the final construction and completion of " our own " most inconceivable, yet grace-preordained, Christian universe.^
The Triune God " we " adore, may moreover during those elapsed eternities, have given life to untold generations of angels, giants, and demi-gods,^ each spiritually engendered and tried in rotation, with other multiformed incarnated creatures, and spirits, all periodically mortal ;^ that thought, and acted, and spoke, under a variety of probationary laws,^ during their appointed thousands of years; and, like ourselves, rebelled (more or less wickedly), against their Maker, then died at their predetermined time.^
An impenetrable mystery veils the mighty cause, which evi- dently then necessitated the inconceivably merciful presence of a "totally" Christian Grodhead and Christian creation.^"
From the eternally Grod-begotten Lord of hosts, " our present" Lord," to that Grod-created Sire of human-kind ; both of whom, by divine behest, and irresistible fiat, were, and
62 THE WORD,
are, and will be to the end, marvellously linked in the accom- plishment of that infinitely wondrous scheme, —
The ultimate Trinity-fostered-and-sanctified existence, of a spotless, perfect, and regenerated universe,^ of heavenly man- sions, systems, and worlds, prepared from the beginning, for the everlasting new^ habitations, of all existing souls, from that of Adam (the second son of Grod), to that of the last^ of the human race, ransomed and saved by the all-sufficient oblation of Jesus Christ, our most adorable Redeemer.
Hallowed be Thy name, indeed. Our Father, who art in heaven. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done !
" Praise God from whom all blessings flow."
WE SHOULD BE GRATEFULLY INDEBTED TO GOD FOR DEATH.
That vast broadway, which leadeth back into hopeful immortality,* that erroneously dreaded gate, through which myriads of myriads have passed, and myriads of myriads more must inevitably pass, through which, indeed, they may have repeatedly to pass and repass again !^
Christian friend, dost thou know what thou utterest, when thou sayest, " Thy kingdom come " ? Thou prayest that thy turn may soon be, to be called back before thy God ; and consequently to go along that broadway, and to pass through that gate. That is —
To be found worthy, or not yet worthy, under the redeem-
THE WORD. 63
ing grace of our adorable Saviour, and the forgiveness of our Almighty Father, sanctified by the Holy Ghost, to form again a part of that glorious kingdom, which thou art, by those words, declaring thyself to be " earnestly yearning after."
But His kingdom may come to thee by foretaste. Our Divine Instructor conveyed two meanings for the faithful supplicant's mind, and heart, and soul to apply.
Although thy " death " is the chief blessing, by the advent of which thou mayest the soonest return to that blissful kingdom of heaven, yet thou mayest, by fervent repetitions^ of that prayer, anticipate early communions with holy jojs ; thou mayest, by incessant submission to the precepts incul- cated in it, were it only in penitently repeating, at piously^ selected moments " Thy kingdom come," hasten, in His holy name, the happy moment of thy recall.
Death is indeed, to pious souls, the greatest source of happiness they can wish on this earth to befall them.
The next to that is to be rendered, by Divine mercy, so devoutly prepared to die, that all the pomps and vanities of this world are as dross, compared with the felicity relied on, beyond the grave : ''0 Death, where is thy sting then ? 0 Grave, where is thy victory ? "
WE ARE INDEBTED TO GOD FOR OUR UNIYERSAL* REDEMPTION.
Sensible readers of the Scriptures, not overcome by bigoted prejudices,* of a superannuated nature especially, should
64 THE WORD.
never forget that the early sovereignties of the Christian Chiu-ehes, more particularly in ancient Rome, produced clergies (let us call them by that name for simplicity's sake), with " human " dispositions quite as much in accordance with the temporal interests and necessities of their days, as our present ecclesiastical bodies^ experience feelings in unison with the regnant views of their own hierarchies, and with those, more importunate still,^ of the actual world's predomi- nant religious notions.
We, none of us, would be ready to admit that the Jews, and the early Roman Catholics, as nations, were, at any period of their prosperity, less interested, less venal, less con- troversial and dissenting, in doctrinal matters, than we are our own selves, as well as all Christian priesthoods, at home and abroad.
These legitimate remarks enable us to establish, pretty nearly as facts, that, judging by the numerous, say, almost irreverent,^ interpretations, translations, and applications of holy texts and Divinely sacred truths, to suit the sectarian as well as the orthodox preaching, expounding, and praying of several of our religious communities, in a doctrinal or profit- able point of view. The interpretations, translations, and applications from the self-same texts and truths of the Rabbis, the subsequent Popes and celebrated Divines of Old, were equal evidences of their rabbinical, papistic, and clerical high notions of making their respective ex-cathedra versions thoroughly agree with their individual principles and inte- rests wherever they happened to rule paramount.
THE WORD. 65
Add to the preceding conjectures/ fortunatelj supported by most incontestable Divine corroborations, that the solemn declarations of mercy and sacred promises of pardon from both the Eternal Father and the equally Eternal Son, go the full length to prove a total disparity and unconnectedness between the autological predictions of Grod the Most High in the Old Testament, confirmed, verbally,^ by Grod the Messiah, in the New, when compared with the so-repeatedly transcribed and translated, consequently, likewise, as frequently perverted and exaggerated, traditional accounts of the same Immaculate God's " implacable revenge and eternal wrath," which never existed, and never can be true.^
Inwardly digest your dear Lord's " Universal Prayer," besides His " Sermon on the Mount." Eead, mark, learn them* well ! For they are the holiest and truest paternal and fraternal admonitions, your awaking soul could fervently long for.
That Prayer, especially, embodies in an omniloquent as- piration of returning and increasing contrition, submis- sion, gratitude, and love, all fhe faithful hopes, and the hopeful wishes, of an affectionate son ; begging, beseeching to be restored to his beloved Father, and long-lost brethren.
We are therefore truly indebted to God, for our "most evidently preordained^ Eedemption," as it was stated at the beginning of these observations.
Why should, then, from their pulpits, over-zealous Ministers of that forgiving and merciful God, strain all their mental faculties to create the utmost^ terror, in their credulous
66 THE WORD.
hearers, at the frightful description of the endless tortures, irrevocably decreed to be eternally inflicted, on every sinner, that repenteth not in time, and seeketh not " incessantly " to be saved ?
Should servants of that infinitely atoning, and thoroughly regenerating. Cross be so indefatigable, in their bitter efforts, to demonstrate ^ the " uselessness " of unpredestinated trans- gressors' endeavours to deserve Divine approbation, and fre- quently crown their unchristianlike comminatory discourses, with awful anathemas, and cruelly misapplied allusions, any- thing but ^ true ?
Unreflecting terrorists !
Your heavenly Father brought, on all such occasions, a balm to heal up every wound, an anodyne, to soothe every fear.
It was a " rich man," He spoke of, in that allusion : and there, as usual. His reference was striking, and most appli- cable. The rich, and you may add with perfect confidence in your veracity, the high Clergy,^ of every land, will find to their cost, too many of them, alas ! " that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for them to enter into the kingdom of Grod."
WE ARE INDEBTED TO GOD FOR OUR FORTH- COMING GREAT JUDGMENT DAT.*
The best evidence, which we could desire to possess, of our ultimate " Greneral Salvation," as sinful offenders, banished in disgrace, and awaiting, each of us, his separate doom,
THE WORD. 67
has been most graciously voucTisafed to us, under the media- tory absolution^ of our blessed Lord Jesus Christ, on Calvary. " Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost ! "
It was done in this wise : —
First : Deservedly driven from our original heavenly abodes, for having rebelled against our Almighty King, at the wily instigations of an infinitely malignant foe f we are justly condemned to everlasting^ penalties and tribula- tions, the accurate* duration of which, it is an impious pre- sumption, in any man, to detei'mine ; especially in our present degenerate clericaP spirituality.
Secondly : Interceded for, after long-protracted woes and sufferings, of an excruciating antemundane nature,^ which it would be impossible for any one to describe ; rendered in- tenser still, as they were, by the unknown termination, which boundless mercy alone was endeavouring^ to obtain, — interceded for, however, by our brotherly^ God, the well- beloved Son of Jehovah, — we were, at last,^ transferred to His tender mercies : He, from that moment, assuming in our behalf the glorious title of " Cm* All-sufficient," and "divinely accepted" Redeemer, and future Universal Saviour.
Thirdly : The Creation,^*' commenced and completed by the Omnipotent " Word of God," which was God, was called good, on the fifth day ; good, as the four preceding days had been.
Then God the Father, seeing, on the sixth of those mira- culous days, that " The "Word," His own begotten Son,
68 THE WORD.
"from^ tlie Beginning," had created Man in His own image, called par excellence " the sixth day," Yeiy Good — better than all the other days : because the Man, which was created by His only-begotten Son, the Word, in His own image,^ was made.
Hosannah in the highest, therefore ! Praised be for ever, and for ever adored, the Triunedeate, Coeternal and Coequal, most boundlessly merciful, yet perfectly^ incomprehensible, Holy Trinity !
Who does not perceive here that Adam was graciously formed of the dust of the earth,* the more effectively to humble those conditionally reprieved angelic hosts, who were, at their option, in his (that is, Adam's and Eve's) subsequent generations, to be permitted, through repeated terrestrial transmigrations;^ and after undergoing sufficient purgatorial ordeals, in the first place, to be redeemed, and then, finally, to be saved ?
■56-
How inefiably full of sympathetic commiseration, is that Divine ordeal of the Almighty Creator's masterpiece of in- tellectual and physical human perfections !
Having gifted them both, with every virtue that He could impart ; having, besides, endowed them, each suitably, with mind, heart, and soul, equal to the conception and perform- ance of moral and spiritual wonders ; in thoughts, words, and
THE WORD. 69
actions, most evidently denoting the glorious origin and destination of their immortal souls, the Lord Grod, foreknow- ing the object of their mission (Adam's and Eve's, on this occasion exclusively), blessed them both and said, "Be fruit- ful,^ and multiply."
We are not, for the sake of maintaining, scrupulously and reverently, as many do, through compulsory restrictions^ professionally imposed upon, the superannuated patriarchal notions of the Mosaic^ dispensation ; we are not to allow a most beautiful, and wisely preordained act of infinite Mercy (which emanated, " long before the Fall of the Angels," from the inconceivable grace and lovingkindness of the most holy and Eternal Trinity) to be deprived any longer of its sacred character of godly truth.
Why should we proudly, ay, impiously, continue to deny the " Giver of all good gifts ;" the " Fountain of all Good- ness;" "Our heavenly Father;" "Whose nature and pro- perty is ' ever ' to have mercy and to forgive" ? Why should we deny that Great God, the infinitely gracious merit of having preordained that
The Fall of our First Parents, should be the natural con- sequence* of their complete inexperience and perfect igno- rance of evil ?
Granting this, we might argue very fairly in the subse- quent way : —
The Lord God Almighty — having most charitably predis- posed all things,^ so that the temptation to disobey could not fail to be successful : owing to the supernatural astute-
70 THE WORD.
ness of the irresistible Tempter ; the natural frailty of the unsuspecting prey ;^ and the apparent triviality of the offence ^ — must infallibly have had a far better ultimate purpose in view ! What purpose could that be ?
A glorious purpose of Inconceivable Grace !
Can any one suppose that our Supreme Lord of lords ; the Sovereign Arbiter of all celestial and terrestrial existences, the awful Jah ^ (whose past creations outnumbered, no doubt, by myriads, the occasional creations of other systems like our own, with their necessary planets, and auxiliary spheres, in progress then), is a Grod who could stoop to disport Himself, His Son, and the Holy Spirit, with the meaning- less production of aimless wonders ? — is a God, indeed, who could select no sublimer occupation than that which is ascribed to Him here below, respecting His marvellous metamor- phosis* of chaos ?
Gross misconception of the infinitely gracious Christian^ attributes appertaining to the Almighty Godhead of that Eternal King, whom we call Our Father ! Degrading ana- lysis of the boundlessly kind purposes, for which the most Holy Trinity, originally constituted itself, with a merciful view to our final celestial recovery.'^
Could such a miracle of Omniscient and Omnipotent Power have been performed, as the construction of this Globe, from the Beginning predesigned ? Could it have been accom- plished, under no wiser intention, but that of merely planting a model-garden, on a comparatively insignificant and in- adequate section, of one of its vast hemispheres ; simply to
THE WORD. 71
serve, as an eternally agreeable pleasure ground, for the everlastingly innocent and peaceful felicity of an immortal Pair ?
Can one imagine that the Almighty and Eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, is likely ever to have created such a Hapless Pair, in His own glorious image, and commanded them, in that apparently unprofitable and unmeaning state, ^ to be fruitful, and to multiply : minding only, for ever,^ and above all things, to avoid, they, and their generations, tasting of " one particularly forbidden ^ fruit " ?
" But of the Tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil, thou shalt not eat of it : for in the clay * that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die" (Gen. ii. 17).
To all faithful Believers, who have been taught piously^ to read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest the Holy Scrip- tures, " that singular termination " of so huge and prolific a Christian^ Origin of wonders ; imagined and caused, by an Almighty Lord of lords ; whose visible and tangible miracles alone, reduce to perfect nothingness, all the mighty deeds, attributed by idolatrous men, to their Jupiters of old, their Brahmas, their Mohammeds : " that singular termination " seems unsatisfactory — seems widely open to the excusable admission of doubts, and reasonable "^ misgivings.
It cannot be !
Our All- excelling. All-efficient, Infinitely- wise, " I AM " — — Our All-gracious, All-paternal Alpha and Omega — The Word — is not a God whose Majesty and Power are made known, by allegorical declarations, which sceptical tongues
72 THE WORD.
may turn into fabulous stories^ simply calculated to puzzle the credulous or to amaze the weak-minded.
Whether in oracle, sermon, parable, when the lips are Divine, from which the sacred language emanated, beware ! A " Tree " may have produced floods of regenerative sap, amply sufficient to cleanse the temporarily ^ perverted souls, of all the heavens and worlds without number. "A fruit" may have been gathered from that Tree, the miraculous juice of which, may, through inexhaustible torrents of good and eviP knowledge, have become the best possible channel of Redeeming Grace and consequent Salvation.*
It was so ! Who could maintain, who could prove, that the fallen Souls of Angels and Men, could have been ade- quately atoned for, and impartially ^ purified, by Christian * means, without the probationary presence of Evil, as well as that of Good, in this Earth ?
THE WORD. 73
QUESTIONS AND ANSWEKS-
TENDING TO PROVE THE ORIGINAL ^ NECES- SITY OF EVIL.
Why did the Lord God conceive it necessary to con- vert " Chaos " into a perfectly Christian ^ World,
WITH ITS PLANETARY SySTEM, IN ADDITION TO THE
COUNTLESS Worlds and Systems already existing ?
Such a miraculous infinitude of Divine ^ phenomena could not have absorbed six days * of the Almighty's attention and time, without the previous existence of an equivalent aim, resulting from the Creator's boundless mercy, wisdom, and justice.
For, " is He not the Author and Giver of all good things ? "
Our readers will kindly be prepared, it is hoped, during the perusal of the following answers, to find that a " ruling ^ thought " constantly predominated over the chief purposes of all our considerations and conclusions.
That thought is touching " our aboriginal, celestial, and
74 THE WORT).
*
immortal " connexion with the angelical hosts of heaven, their Almighty Father, their devoted Brother Jesus Christ,^ and their ever-present Holy Guide, our Divine Comforter.
The next equally influential principle that absorbs, with the foregoing ruling thought, the whole of our Christian feelings, is the perfect certainty we entertain, firmly relying on the best possible Scriptural data, that " Universal Salva- tion " was, is still, and will inevitably be to the last, the unalterable determination of the Most High regarding the ultimate fate of the whole human race. A sacred deter- mination, irrevocably fixed, from the remotest commencement of all imaginable theological knowledge, and the earliest conceivable creation of all conjectured^ worlds; until human flesh, wholly ransomed, purified, and " etherealized," shall have recovered its regenerated and sanctified souls,^ on its way back to Paradise.
"0 Grod, from whom all holy desires, all good counsels, and all just works do proceed ; Send upon us the healthful Spirit of Thy grace ; and that we may truly please Thee, pour upon us the continual dew of Thy * blessing."
We cannot reasonably be expected to do more, in our humbly ventured statements, of the Almighty's verbal pur- poses, as Scripturally recorded for our information, than solemnly to surmise ^ them ; after close inspections of their literal as well as figurative revelations, particularly with respect to our origin and our ultimate destiny.
THE WORD. /D
Having already alluded to this imjDortant subject, our present reply must necessarily embrace an additional view of the Divine purpose under inquiry.
An entirely new and exclusively ^ appropriated construction of habitable spheres undoubtedly became indispensable ; a special geogony, in short, totally differing from that of the creations^ of former worlds. Unparalleled new wonders consequently necessitated new stages and scenes.
Does not a dm^ation of six thousand j^ears, which our earth has now lasted, since the first day of its metamorphosis^ into this beautiful world "for our apparently anomalous occupation," appear an infinitesimal fraction of time to birth- less and deathless eternity ?
Does it not suggest a wish to ascertain, with reference to anterior myriads of centuries, what were the destinies of by- gone worlds, their populations, their moral and religious laws ?
It may not have done so in many. It must have done so in a few. We belong, Grod be praised ! to the latter category ; and the hapj)y result, with us, was this : —
We discovered " why " the Almighty Dispenser of all earthly blessings finally conceived it necessary to transform chaos, into that crowning boon of ineff'able grace, which we could not fail, all of us, individually, to acknowledge as the greatest of all the proofs He has lavished of His infinite love for man.
Apathetic believers and lukewarm readers, who indolently accept whatever information is doled out to them on moral or
76
THE WORD.
religious matters, have no doubt, by this time, long taken it for granted that that " earth " which was without form and void was nothing more than an enormously huge and shape- less lump of barren rocks, dreary looking hills, accumulated volcanic mountains, jumbled together in horrid confusion, amidst bottomless burning abysses, frightful pits, roaring torrents, and foaming, bellowing oceans.
Such was, they even now repeat it to you, most compla- cently, the sad state of our poor earth when the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
Whatever may have been the cosmogony of the primitive earth,' it is evident, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that a shapeless mass of most frightful and desolate^ matter offered itself to the Lord God, in the deepest depths of profoundest darkness, when He benevolently and relentingly said,^ " Let there be light ! "
A state of such horrid disorder, however, in so enormously huge a body, comprising the sun and moon and all the planets of our present terrestrial system, implies, to our mind, a previous, irresistible law, given by an Almighty King, which had thought it '"necessary" to decree, from everlasting, that that wonderfully mysterious body should be there, for some great future end, as well as for an intermediate indispensable use, in close connexion with that end.
And therefore we may suppose that the same Lord God had originally said, "Let all- sufficiently teeming matter, omnigenerative fire, and nutritive water, in temporal hideous
THE WORU.
77
opposition, reign over this unliglited portion of our actual Universe ! " And it was most likely so.
And we may further suppose that it was on this chaotic wilderness that Jesus Christ said to His disciples : " I beheld Satan, as lightning fall from heaven."
Suppositions, conjectures, solutions, cannot, shall not ^ be denied us, whenever our sole object will be to make plainer, to our fellow-Christians, the manifold proofs (so clearly abounding in the Scriptures) of the incessantly gracious fur- therance, maintained by divine mercy, towards the progressive accompKshment of Universal Salvation, in addition to Uni- versal Redemption.
Every act of Grod, which we can interpret as proceeding, directly or indirectly, from the sacred attributes of the Holy Trinity, is for us an unmistakable token of Christian love towards mankind, individually and collectively included.
We hope furthermore to make it plain, that chaos, before the creation, had served exclusively as a place of suitable retributory exile for the Devil and his Satanic court ; where indeed they are even now, most conspicuously, permitted to exercise certain mischievous influences towards the mira- culously operating grand result of our ultimate general re- covery.
An awful and just punishment awarded to the malicious fiends, and their vindictive chief, for having so cruelly led us astray !
78 THE WORD.
Not a moment elapses, however, on this earth, without producing glorious examples of the fruitless efforts made by their infernal wiles and stratagems, to entangle our souls afresh, within diabolical meshes, which even the Lord's Prayer alone, fervently said, through Divine assistance, re- duces into shreds.
To a relentless foe, can there be a more excruciating wound inflicted, than for him to discover that all his in- tended victims have been, and are, and will be to the end, by steadfast faith and incessant Christian resistance, like their triumphant Eedeemer and Saviour, found worthy of wearing again, and for ever, that crown of glory, which our Almighty Father has promised ?
Before the primeval existence of the apostate angels in the kingdom of God, there could not have been any infernal regions, any hell, requisite, in consistent ' harmony with the perfection of the works of Omnipotence. It may, at least, be reasonably so inferred. The provision of such a place of penitential and purga- torial 2 exile, could only be required for a season,^ more or less protracted, to check the progress of further evil : when- ever perfect extermination was not awarded, as preordained,* by the Almighty Lord of heaven, to those mysterious agents, He found it just and merciful, at various periods of His past and subsequent reign, to evoke from nothingness, to effect His most miraculous means of ultimate grace, ransom, and pardon.
The Lord God, therefore, transformed chaos (until then
THE WORD. 79
providentially ^ fitted to be the dreadful abode of demoniacal spirits, under the subservient sway of their menial instru- mental chief) into a beautiful but transitory sphere, as a vast terrestrial arena, wherein all the Christian phenomena of Incarnation, Temptation, Condemnation, Redemption, and Salvation were forthwith to be gloriously and triumphantly performed.
Why did that same God, so Omxisciext and Wise, so Merciful and Almighty, after haying created Adam and Eve, so Innocent and Pure, "expressly^
MAKE the man IN HiS OWN IMAGE, " AFTER HiS OWN
likeness," and purposely expose them both to the
INSURMOUNTABLE TeMPTATION OF SaTAN ?
The two spotless beings, who stand through sacred tradition mentally" before us in such unparalleled ^ excellence and un- exampled beauty, may justly be looked upon as Divine specimens of a typically* celestial species of material crea- tures.
Grod, their Creator and Father, made them " intentionally " under the heavenly form ^ of existing material bodies, for the future reception of already living souls, which His infinite wisdom had long foreseen would require incarnation, and carnal ordeals.
Transmigratory corporeal trials were evidently then to be the chief objects, not only of Adam's and Eve's " immediate
80 THE WORD.
oflFspring, but furthermore of all the future earthly generations, which the regeneration of fallen angels and spirits would necessitate.
Now we entreat the reader to compare, without sceptical antipathy or doctrinal enmity, the unaccountable interpretation of this most interesting biblical account, for long centuries past, justly declared, to a considerable extent, orthodox, and still scripturally maintained as such ; with the following vastly more consistent and divinely more merciful solution ; he will confess that the Almighty appears most evidently just and compassionate in the latter; and, in the former, most in- conceivably severe.
The two immortal souls which the Lord Grod (His well- beloved Son interceding) graciously confined, no doubt through their own penitent entreaties, within those taber- nacles of clay, were the best two of those unfortunate angels who had undeniably deserved eternal banishment for their ungrateful desertion from the kingdom of heaven. (See p. 86.)
The immaculate Intercessor, infinitely merciful as He is, prayed not for pardon. His Godly Father's impartiality could not have listened a moment to such an entreaty, even from the Lord of mercy.
" They shall be tempted once more," He replied ; " and they shall fall ! To sue for grace again, according to my unalterable will, determined from the first !
" Their transgression in Eden shall be comparatively small ; that their disobedience may be, through Thy sublime martyr-
THE WORD.
81
dom, 0 my most beloved Son, all the sooner forgiven ; and not for that alone, but for their yet insufficiently punished rebellion in our kingdom of heaven."
"Words like these, of course, were not used; but we humbly presume to state that heavenly sentiments such were felt.
Man was made " in the image of God, after His^ own like- ness :" for the evident purpose of his inheriting, from that primitively Pantheistic Grodhead, a share of " Divine omni- science and j)ower, wisdom and mercy," proportionate to the wonderful tasks which human mind, and heart, and soul would have, in the progress of ages, to confront.
The forthcoming eventful existence, to which the offspring of om" first parents were necessarily doomed, made it indis- pensable— for their further protection against evil, and for their judicious selection of good — that some miraculous means should be unerringly selected to furnish them abundantly with a perfect knowledge of both.
Who could be better calculated to do this than their Creator ?
Our infinitely merciful Father, full of boundless omni- science and wisdom, whose eternal omnipotence could meet with neither obstacle nor limit, at the irresistible solicitations of His only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ, undertook the admi- rable labour of ineffable Christian^ love. And so it must have been that —
82 THE WORD.
The Lord of Hosts, consequently, communed* with His Son and the Holy Ghost !
Anon, therefore also, the wonders of creation were begun ; and, each day, the labours had been declared good !
Then, the sixth day,
" God said. Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind : and it was so.
" And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind [the serpent among the rest] : and God saw that it was' good."
Good, to have created the serpent after his kind, for the merciful object He had in contemplation all through His works !
" Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made."
And the Lord God created neither poison, nor ferocious beast, nor hurtful thing of any kind, which He did not pur- pose as an instrument of mercy and goodness towards the welfare of men.
Once more, then, and "through the transgression of Eve," both Adam and his mate, the two least guilty of the re- bellious angels, driven from the Almighty's presence, having been permitted* (after long periods of tribulations) to be the first souls incarnated at the creation, became
In the Garden of Eden voluntary penitents ; suing, through terrestrial ordeals, to merit redemption and salva-
THE WORD. 83
tion, in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Grhost.
Perfectly intelKgible thus it is that —
It was good a serpent should be made, for Satan to trans- migrate into ; it was good that a tree should be planted, with a fruit, which was to serve as a most alluring temptation ; it was good that a sufficient reason should be furnished for the expulsion of those two most legitimate victims of both celes- tial and terrestrial sin.
Why was so apparentlv trivial a Prohibition as
THAT or MERELY TASTING THE FrUIT OF THE TreE IMPRESSED WITH SUCH SEVERITY ON THE INEX- PERIENCED Minds of those Two unsuspicious Crea- tures ? Why was no Warning given ? Why was THE Tempter suffered to rove in that Garden ?
Had the Amighty, benevolently walking with Adam in the garden, after having shown him the trees of trial (both pleasant to the sight and good for food) strongly impressed upon his mind the urgent necessity of guarding incessantly, by watchfulness and prayer, against the insinuations of that most artful and malicious of reptiles which He had called the serpent, would it not have been very improbable, say next to impossible, that that incalculably profitable, terrestrial original sin^ could have been committed ?
" Beware, my son, the serpent and Satan are one ! " Such a
84 THE WORD.
caution as this one alone could not have failed to keep Adam and Eve from sin.
And sin is, and was "from the beginning," and will be to the end, the all-sufficient Christian key whereby mercy's boundless stores were loosened, to let floods of redeeming, regenerating, and sanctifying grace in Jesus Christ, univer- sally immerse the whole of human-kind, so as, through " unlimited salvation," to recover, for all generations, their former glorious station round the throne of an approving God, where myriads of angelic hosts will fraternally greet them.
Please to bear " constantly " in mind, " with thorough Christian faith and orthodox^ belief," that Adam was made in the image of God, after His own likeness.
" Male and female, created He them," and from the self- same mould.^ "And God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth,^ and subdue it : and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the face of the earth."
" And God saw everything that He had made, and, behold, it was Yery Good."
He must be obstinately blind indeed who, in this age of " amazingly* forward intellectual progress," especially with respect to literature, sciences, and arts of every description, does not perceive most clearly the originaP purpose of God in having made us in His own image, after His likeness.
THE WORD. 85
Miraculous results such as those which our infinitely merci- ful God contemplatecU at our creation were not to be obtained by any but most inconceivably secret means,^ which thousands of years alone could enable man, in due time, gradually to understand and slowly to benefit by.
It was evidently, not in such a pleasure ground as the one in which they were made, that the Lord Grod intended Adam and Eve should be fruitful, and multiply.
Cain and Abel were, from " the very first," to undergo a penalty which their parents had not, as yet, apparently deserved.
To leave such a fact unexplained, albeit most imperfectly, would be wickedly to impute injustice to Grod.
Admit simply that the bodies of Adam and Eve were mer- ciful incarnations of the spirits of convalescent angels divinely transubstantiated,^ through grace, by the sympathetic Creator into material tabernacles He had made expressly for their pro- bationary* reception, the whole mystery of Eden becomes what we solemnly take it^ " all " to be, a miraculous example of infinite paternal tenderness and love which, all the parental affection combined that this world ever produced, could in no equivalent degree serve, in any respect, to illustrate.
We beseech you, therefore, dear readers, piously to ponder over this portion, so incalculably important, of our humble labours.
It is not our own unassisted^ discovery. On the contrary we firmly ascribe the consolatory inspiration to the ever- present comforting aid of the Holy Grhost, to which alone we
86 THE WOUT).
gratefully confess ourselves indebted for all that is holy and true in this book.
Why was so dreadful a Penalty inflicted on both THOSE UNHAPPY Creatures alike,^ naturally uncon- scious of the Mysterious Enormity of their Crime ?
The first two souls ^ that incurred punishment on this earth were, very plainly, those belonging to our aboriginal progeni- tors, which the Lord had made designedly for another state (notwithstanding their likeness^ to Himself) at the end of those wonderful labours of the Sixth Day, which He called "VeryG-ood," Adam and Eve being the vastly pregnant pair for which the world was made.
Let us add here, with deepest reverence, those expressive words which the inspired writings have so miraculously pre- served and transmitted to us : " And the Lord God breathed into the nostrils of Adam the breath of life : * and man became a living soui."
Now, in order that the inquiry may be perfectly impartial respecting the "seemingly" over-excessive severity of the tribulations to which the souls above-mentioned were to be subjected, we must be permitted to ask what were the " sepa- rate origins " of those equally immortal, and equally re- sponsible, Divine gifts of life-imparting principle from our most merciful Creator on such an important event as this.
Their separate origins were these —
But first let it be well understood that we do not presume
THE WOKB. 87
replying to any one but ourselves on such solemn subjects as these, unless it be to seriously anxious inquirers " honestly homeward bound," like ourselves, who may be congenially disposed to accept our verbal thoughts as they would the thoughtful acts of a Christian service from a fellow-spirit, try- ing again his lain-by wings upwards, led by a new celestial map of fervently pious conjectures, wholly planned under spiritual instructions, all exclusively emanating, through Jesus Christ, from above.
This having been earnestly said, with perfectly benevolent motives, we answer as follows.
The soul of Adam came to him, paternally, and directly from the Lord Grod, who made him.
Such a soul as that, could not fail to be immaculate, and divinely pure, above all other souls, in heaven and earth.
The soul of Eve, most probably, came from one^ of the " discarded angelical bands," consequently stained, (but less so, very likely, than all the rest,) with that sin, the Original Sin of all.'^
The more concisely to analyse now the separate merits of both, let us say : —
Adam's soul : perfectly sinless, until the presence of Eve.
The soul of Eve : most decidedly sinful, antecedently to her earthly existence.
Adam's soul, necessarily,^ and, for the first time, sym- pathisingly transgressing in the Garden of Eden.
0» THE WORD.
Eve, having first transgressed in heaven, transgressing a second time, in the Grarden ; both times, without doubt, " graciously allowed " to become a guileless agent of Satan.
Adam's original sin ; the only one : disobedience, from an apparently excusable earthly motive ; for Eve was alone his tempter.
Eve's original " sins ;" rebelling with Satan against Grod, in heaven. Disobeying^ in Eden, with regard to the for- bidden fruit. In both cases, seemingly abandoned, through unaccountable operations of Divine Grace, to the irresistible seductions of the serpent, which the Lord God, her Creator, had made.^
Both, undeniably, deserving punishment !
Adam alone having acted, as an unconscious, but never- theless sinful, " instrument, towards the accomplishment of purposes of mercy."
Eve, through grace, rendered instrumental, in her turn, for the same merciful purposes, yet, comparatively, the more sinful of the two.
Adam, the pride of his Maker ; created as no one else was created, touching his body. From the earth, thoroughly terrestrial; from God, thoroughly divine. Unavoidably sin- ful : for having loved his companion too well. Partici- patingly sinful, in like manner, for mercy's sake.^
Eve — ^less divine in soul : * wherefore, materially more terrestrial ; more impressionable ; and consequently sooner won and sooner lost — also sinned, but very naturally, from excessive attachment to her mate.
THE WORD.
89
What could be to her the tranquil joys of Eden, compared with the pride and triumph of having made her beloved Adam^ immortal ? Besides finding out what evil could be, compared with good.
" So she took of the fruit, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her f and he did eat."
Why was not Satan's Punishment, perfect Annihilation ?
Can there be a keener torment, than that which a malicious and vindictive foe, who, having treacherously circumvented'* the unsuspecting and innocent family of his King and Bene- factor,* finds himself compelled to undergo, by most insupe- rable events, and overwhelming circumstances, in, not only witnessing, but helping likewise to accomplish, that King's most miraculous success,^ and signal victory ?
Such a torment, the Devil and his angels'' endured at the Creation ; such, they endure daily now ; and such, they will incessantly endure, until the last of the hapless victims, which they seduced from the kingdom of Cod, shall have been redeemed and saved, at the close of that world-wide and world-long battle-field of human life, which will sm-ely close in the " universaP conquest," gloriously won on Cal- vary by Jesus Christ our Lord.
The serpent understood perfectly well the solution of the curse, uttered against liim^ : —
H
90 THE WORD.
" I will put enmity between tliee and the woman,^ and between thy seed and her Seed."
^
Are you not, dear reader, excessively perplexed, sometimes, at the perpetual presence of Satan, not only in heaven,^ before the fall of the angels, but, ever since that fall, both in earth,^ and in hell ?
The awful reign of that dreadful Spirit appears, indeed, singularly* concomitant with what little we know of eter- nity, and with all we know of Grod, concerning ^ Christianity, especially as it comprises the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
One principal feature exists, alas ! above all the rest, in this monster phenomenon of evil : it is its absolute insepa- rabloness from our own individual earthly estate.
We neither wake nor sleep, we neither think nor speak nor act, we neither breathe nor die, but that the Demon Fiend, with the Almighty's leave, " prowls after us ; stoops over us ; blows into us, not the breath of Light and Truth, but the pestilential blast of rank deceit, deep darkness, and sinful death ; and that, continually.
He is, even, with us again, no doubt, when our souls, delivered, as we hope,'^ from all terrestrial bonds, by the fell assistance of which, his malicious subordinates have done their best, artfully, to fetter our bodies and minds, beyond the very grave, — he is there, even, with us again, fui'thermore to
THE WORD. 91
begin aneAV chain of diabolical ordeals;^ all tending to ensure our everlasting destruction.
Hoping that a quotation,^ we shall make in this place, may conduce to render more evident still, the power of doing mischief, which has been imparted to that arch enemy of mankind, we earnestly court your attention to its contents : — •
"The tempter accurately observes oui' infirmities, and frames his temptations accordingly. Are we rich? he tempts us to be puffed up with self-importance, to be vain- glorious, and to have so little care for anything, but the pomp, and riches, and the pride of life, that we gradually forget the Griver in the gift, forsake our God, and become slaves to the world. Are we poor ? he then suggests to us, that we are not well dealt with ; he would fain make us to doubt the gracious providence of God ; he encourages us in our fatal self-love ; and strives to make us ' think more highly of om'selves than we ought to think,' in order to lead us to the sin of murmuring against the dispensations of our heavenly Father. Indeed, in whatever circumstances we may be placed, he presents to us that temptation, which he thinks will most easily prevail against us." — Dt\ John Jamcs^ " Comment upon the Collects.'^
A sounder collection of orthodox instructions and precepts we never met. It has been our incessant Sunday com- panion, ever since January 19, 1843 ; the date^ on which we received it as a parting gift from a dear friend, whom we are still deeply regretting.
H 2
92 THE WORD.
Then, once more, why was not Satan perfectly^ annihilated from the commencement ?
Because tlie Omnipotent Lord God, having mercifully pre- ordained, from the beginning, the regeneration of myriads of His angels,^ who had been, and were still, gradually degene- rating tlu'oughout the courts of heaven, determined to vouch- safe a universal proof of His infinite goodness, by provi- dentially forming and qualifying a subservient^ fiend, chosen from the rebellious throngs, most charitably* to increase and utilize already deep-rooted evil ;'' and the more mercifully still, far and wide, to disseminate to that charitable end the pestilential breath of temptation.^ It was no doubt for this purpose alone, that the Almighty chose and endowed Satan, the worst apostate of them all.
Celestial functionaries must therefore have occupied appro- priate menial posts, in the boundless primeval realms of our Almighty Father ; from the most mysterious dawn of sin, to the unavoidable Fall of the apostate Angels.
"Where an Eternal Trinity of Omnipotent Grods, was deemed indispensable, to carry out the merciful designs of infinite Redemption and Salvation, it is very natm^al to suppose, very orthodoxly consistent to conclude that, other Divine expedients, must have been inevitably resorted to, to obtain suitable agents, fitted to their appointed tasks.
^
THE WOKD. 93
Why was a Fratricide the First-born Child OF Eve ?
Here is another exceedingly material question, regarding a vastly important point, whicli enables us better still to establish our positive angelical identity as transmigrations,^ " by tlie earthly incarnations " of those heavenly bodies of spirits and angels, which occupied and constituted, with myiiads of others, still there, the kingdom of God.
Was not the first-born child of Eve the grandson of Grod, not begotten, but created with Adam, in Adam,- and conse- quently made in the image of the Father, after His own likeness ?
At such an early and critical period of the population of the earth the smallest event, the most trifling circumstance, becomes highly worthy of notice, especially when it serves to demonstrate more foicibly the doubted primogenitive^ filiation of mankind.
And that well-defined filiation is all the more indispen- sable as we dive deeper into the sacred arcana of those most miraculous seven days of Genesis, introductory to the subse- quent mundane eras,* during which we hope to prove that the souls of the fallen angels and spirits first began, by Divine permission, their successive transitions into the material bodies of human beings.
A terrestrial Medium having been mercifully considered necessary by the Almighty (in gracious compliance to the all-sufficient^ mediation of Jesus Christ) for the reception of
94 THE WORD,
the spiritual souls, no longer now spotless since their fall, Adam was intentionally formed from the dust^ of the ground. In this mortal state alone could those corrupted souls be redeemed through infinite grace ; and that only after having undergone a succession'^ of purgatorial worldly trials, by volun- tary incarnations, more or less often repeated,^ according to their deserts and the boundless mercy of Grod.
The human body, therefore, of the first created man was " purely and completely earthly," because the Lord God, foreknowing that Adam would be the father of a countless number of generations to come, knew furthermore that each child born from that ordeal stock would receive " a soul" at its birth already stained* with sin (its real original sin) com- mitted during its pristine state " in heaven," whence it had been but too justly driven.
It was also foreknown of God that the soul of Adam, which had been breathed by Him in his nostrils, would re- turn^ to Himself again when Adam died.
Not so the soul of Eve ; not so the souls of Adam and Eve's generations !
Adam's individual soul and body were both wholly and exclusively God's own — never meant to fare the general human fate. They were graciously brought into existence solely for the purpose of first spreading the preordained bless- ings of redemption and salvation, universally granted through the all-sufficient intercession and oblation of His well-beloved and only-begotten Son.
THE WOKD. 95
Excepting tlie soul Divine of x^clam, consequently, every soul, angelic or spiritual,* that has been permitted by the Triune Grod to incarnate itself, voluntarily,^ for the sake of Christian purification and sanctification, during the incessant miracles of human generations, procreations, and nativities'' — and every soul that shall hereafter be permitted so to incar- nate itself; until all* have been incarnated, redeemed, brought to judgment,^ and finally saved, — shall continue to undergo (themselves consenting) these Christ-bought incarnations, as sin-attainted angelic souls, waiting for judgment.^
We have humbly presumed to imagine that two ''materially difierent means of human incarnations, having evidently been preferred by the Almighty Grod, when He set Adam asleep, for the creation of Eve, He had considered it essential that the souls of the two creatures He created, perfect as they were in all other respects, each, respectively, should not be perfectly the same, regarding their ethereal essence.
We cannot discard the excusable notion, which we enter- tained, prima facie, touching the connubial consanguinity, divinely meant to be understood as a " sacred^ union of bodies," inseparably commingled for their lives, if not for ever, between those two supremely favoui'ed beings, so solemnly allied, actione Verbo que Bei.
The corporeal connexion of Adam and Eve, created, brought together at their formation, and married,^ by their God and Maker, was undoubtedly to serve as a consecrated type, for the future enactment and observance of civil and ecclesiastical laws and rites.
96 THE WOED.
Our principal intention, besides all tMs, is meanwliile to open your minds more and more convincingly to the exis- tence of a mystical revelation, purporting that, in the ex- traordinary Divine and terrestrial endowments of oiu" first parents, the Lord God had in view to contrive a suitable and satisfactory first ingress^ into this world for the souls of those condemned angels, whose gracious commutation of eternal chastisement into temporal ordeals, our adorable and in- finitely compassionate Saviour had obtained from His Father, the Omnipotent Dispenser of all mercies.
Adam and Eve were thence to be no other, from the first day of creation, but " unconscious Incarnations^ of accepted Representatives," mercifully authorised, through infinite grace ; and entrusted by the Almighty Jehovah to the Divine Intercessor, aided by the Spirit of Truth,
Towards the preordained accomplishment of Universal Re- demption and Salvation.
What was the Ohiginal Use of the Chaotic Earth ?
The reader is requested constantly to remember that, not only the archangels, the seraphim, the cherubim, and all the angels and spirits of heaven, but, moreover, all the angelic, the spiritual and ethereal, beings of the universe, from the beginning, must have been, and must still be, incessantly watching over the interesting events occiu-ring on this earth.
That huge chaotic block, which must alone have occupied the central space, within the vast orbit wherein our actual planetary system performs its periodical circumvolutions.
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primitively was, in all human probability, the frightful and gloomy shapeless mound,^ in the incandescent hollows and blazing caverns of which Satan and his criminal hordes were hurled for ever.^
Our natural conclusion is, therefore, that the Spirit of Evil (unable to unravel the Almighty's design) prowled after his victims, Adam and Eve, now depending entirely on their own exertions to live ; he constantly liu'ked about them, seeking daily what further dreadful mischief he could accom- plish. His hatred ^ was, as it is still, against God the Most High. It was the " Creator " alone he burned to wrong and to irritate.
So the Arch-Fiend entered the body of Cain,
He entered the body of Cain because, being the first-born, he was neai*er akin to Grod than Abel could be.
And thus again the Deceiver, deceived, unconsciously carried out the pm"poses* of the King of kings; for he^ was openly cm'sed of Grod. " A fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth . . . And the Lord set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him^ should kill him. And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord."
That curse, pronounced in the hearing of celestial as well as terrestrial beings, visible and invisible" alike, wicked^ as well as good, widely revealed the awful natm^e of the per- petual warfare mankind had to expect from that moment at the murderous hands of heaven's most inveterate foe.
And it also revealed — Grod be universally praised ! — the omnipotent, omniscient, and most merciful power of a glorious
98 THE WORD,
and holy Trinity, before which myriads of misguided hosts (when it should please the Almighty to bring them back to His flock) would have most gratefully to kneel in earnest thanksgivings and prayers, to be redeemed, be sanctified, and be saved !
It was known, "before all worlds," that Satan would maKciously instigate the first-born of Adam to perpetrate the necessary^ deed.
Yes, the necessary deed ; for the curse of Cain is, even now, word for word fulfilled to the letter ; just as God, before the angels of heaven expressly assembled,^ most solemnly declared it should be.
And the devil was there likewise, with his perjured, treacherous bands.^
Until the day of judgment that curse will surely last.*
Who dares doubt that, with God, the infliction of such a doom is possible? Its perfect justice renders it an irre- fragable law.
Was it not the " soul " of Cain that God punished ? It was not his body,^ which has, no doubt, perished ; ay, perished as many times as human generations have disappeared, in their turn, from the face of this probational sphere.
Every human birth is the transmigration or incarnation of a soul.
Supposing God breathed a second soul into the nostrils of Eve : two souls may be accounted for as directly emanating from the Almighty Creator's own immaculate, inexhaustible fount of life.''
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This latter "supposed vivification" of the body of Eve does not, however, require^ corroboration, inasmuch as thousands of thousands of souls, awaiting their proximate fates,^ were repentantly and hopefully wandering over the dismal surface of chaos, when the Lord God, mercifully descending from His eternal throne, approached the dark immeasurable block, and said : " Let there be light : and there was light."
And, when that glorious light had dawned for six successive days ; on the sixth day,
" Having called " forth ^ into existence " all living things after their kind,
" Grod said. Let us ' make ' man in Our image, after Our likeness."
Then, as two terrestrial human bodies* alone were requisite for the accomplishment of the mighty scheme of salvation, which He had preordained, " God blessed Adam and Eve, and said unto them. Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth."
No further need there was of human creation. Numberless incarnations were, henceforth, to proceed from the Lord's omni- potent command : and every soul which the Lord Almighty God had driven from paradise (had such a soul fortunately known that beautiful prayer), might now obtain, through saying day by day, " Our Father which art in heaven. Hallowed be Thy name ; Thy kingdom come ; Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth," under the propitiation of Jesus Christ, his promised Redeemer (who so graciously
100 THE WORD.
since taught it to us^) a share in that universal grant of Divine pardon, to which we shall all in His name be finally entitled.^
Why should not such souls ^ as that of Cain, for some centuries "of centuries, if needs be," by the Omnipotent Eternal's delegated will alone, be " reformatorily " compelled to undergo incarnations, still perpetuated, during which they should have to suffer physical and mental pains proportionate to their crimes ?
Human lives, such as we may observe them, in many cases* clearly indicate that they positively do, and in most evident accordance with the mercif id ways of impartial justice.
The redemption of such souls as that of Cain has neverthe- less taken place, like that of all the rest ; and their own salvation, soon or late, will infallibly follow.^
Hideous characteristic " marks " are, fui'thermore, amply sufficient among men and women, and childi'en too, for moral and religious physiognomists to find it no very difficult matter to detect many Cains, alas ! every century, by the side of the assassins and villains'^ vagabondizing and skulking on tlie face of this globe.
How CAME Peter the Apostle to be chosen by our Lord Jesus Christ, as one of His Disciples?
Evil ways have not seldom led, most mysteriously, to mercy's ends ! Witness Satan's existence ; the frightful crime of Cain ; the horrid treachery of Judas Iscariot : besides the repeated perjuries'' of Simon Peter.
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All difficulties, of this theological nature, cease to perplex us, the moment we ask ourselves again, ^ why the Lord of lords, who " desireth not the death of a sinner, but rather that he may turn from his wickedness, and live," thought it kind to place, without any warning, our simple-minded fii'st parents, in a garden,^ so accessible to the " irresistible " temptations of Satan.
Divine mercy influences, in some way or other, as it ever did, every act of Providence. Nothing can visibly, or in- visibly, be, and ever was, that the Omnipotent and Eternal Jehovah did not predesign,^ or subsequently permit, " for the welfare of man," in every possible respect, from the beginning.
Had not Satan been permitted to enter into the garden of Eden, the fortunate* temptation of Eve could never have taken place ; and the hosts of heaven, instead of rejoicing, would have wept.
Had Cain not killed his brother Abel, few indeed would have been the suffered^ incarnations of the fallen celestial souls, so compassionately "^ doomed to endure proportionate wretchedness, by their justly offended God.
To Judas Iscariot's awful wickedness, must have been due, the speedier '^ accomplishment of a "tragic scene," which any unfavourable delay might have rendered less suitable, to the Almighty's great act^ of Grrace.
And may it not be highly probable that Simon Peter's cursing and swearing, and saying, " I know not this Man of whom ye speak," were the very words on which our Divine
102 THE WORD.
Saviour reckoned the most, to complete that perfect mental torture of His last moments of utterest woe ? There is an enormous amount of mysterious^ signification, in that momen- tary apostasy of this " rock " of om* dear Redeemer's Church. See Matt. xvi. 17.
The Fisherman of Bethsaida was selected as His future disciple, by the apparent Son of Joseph, the carpenter, because it was known to Jesus that this humble individual (whom He had not seldom watched in heaven, in his pristine state) was precisely the terrestriaP character He should want, during the trials prepared for Him, as indispensable Ordeals of Atonement, by His heavenly Father, during their eventful separate progress, along the road^ to Golgotha.
Many good and virtuous men exist, over whom the fear of a violent death would exercise, at one time, an insurmountable power of intimidation, whom, at any other, it could not in the least intimidate.
A vast insight is acquired into our sacred records, by those who bear in mind that the pre-elected disciples and apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ inhabited Paradise with Him, ante- cedently to their expulsion* from the presence of Grod.
Saint Peter's soul,^ and the repentant malefactor's, on the Cross, and all the souls of the rebellious spirits, which were cast away with Satan, from the celestial abodes, were precisely the same unhappy renegades which the charitable Son of the Yirgin Mary had obtained leave to ransom and to save.
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103
Who could, in tliis world, so profoundly appreciate the almost insuperable difficulties whicli a zealous servant of Grod has to encounter, when he sincerely desires to keep himself spotless before his impartial Judge, as our anxious Redeemer did, during His expiatory pilgrimage, in behalf of the sorely tried human race ?
The sympathy, the compassion, of a God like our God, who, Himself incarnated, for the special purpose, not only of experiencing, through the flesh, the actual trials of His former associates in His Father's kingdom, but, furthermore, of giving those associates an example, in Himself, of patient endurance and devoted resignation, cannot be called into question, toiiching a single case, during His unparalleled martyrdom.
The best path our dear Redeemer could fix upon, along which to conduct us " back to Heaven," was certainly that which He pointed out to us, through the perils and vicissitudes of His humble, painful, and precarious existence.
And the most edifying, influential guides He could re- commend were unquestionably His disciples and apostles, " exactly^ such as they were."
As scrupulous Christians may be found, in numerous con- gregations, who, from very reasonable^ early sentiments of devotion, may not help feeling very strongly averse to our apparently presumptuous notions of aboriginal descent, we shall, for their sake, in such an appropriate place as this, digress into a cursory scriptural account of what we firmly believe to have been our indubitable angelic origin.
When seemingly unnecessary mysteries appear to militate
104 THE "WORT).
against decidedly consistent assertions, sound biblical argu- ments should be reverently, yet resolutely,- resorted to.
Why might not all men have been, why might they not still be, " for the sake of more satisfactory evidences of universal Christian mercy," voluntary incarnations of angels and spirits, penitently striving, through infinite Divine grace, to recover their long-forfeited states of former happiness, as humbled servants of God, earnestly yearning to be restored to their forgiving Father's love ?
No sensible plea fairly offers itself, as a rationally valid objection, to the desirable source of such an important channel of purification, sanctification, and redemption.
Angels, material as vrell as ethereal, have, not unfre- quently, visited this earth ; and dwelt in it.
Spirits, too, " evil," as well as good, have " possessed " human beings, in sufficient numbers, and for periods suffi- ciently protracted, to make it reasonable, if not perfectly orthodox, to believe that such kinds of transmigrations have been, and are still, the merciful means^ of regeneration, through which our Almighty God has graciously sanctioned Universal Salvation to be hoped for, and finally to be accom- plished. ^
Why should not Incarnated Angels and Metem- PSYCHOSED Spirits have been our Forefathers ?
" Unprejudiced " reference to the following sacred quota- tions is now most earnestly requested : —
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"The sons of God took them wives ^ . . . from among the daughters of men, and they bare children to them.
" The same became mighty men, which were of old, men of renown"^ (Gen. vi., above 3,900 b.c).
" So He [the Lord God] drove out the man ; and He placed at the east of the garden -of Eden cherubims^ ... to keep the way of the tree* of life " (Gen. iii. 24).
Three angels stood before Abraham (Gen. xviii.).
An angel comforteth Hagar (Gen. xxi.).
An angel opposeth Balaam (Num. xxii.).
" An angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal " (Judges ii.).
An angel appeareth to Manoah's wife (Judges xiii.).*
Were we to be simply guided by our scriptural knowledge of the first means of procreation,'^ applied for the general re- production and continued increase of the celestial exiles,^ in- carnated through the human species throughout the earth, we should, without the slightest hesitation, determine the subject, by solemnly declaring our full conviction that —
Adam, being an incarnated " Breath " of God {i. e., soul, angel, spirit, " vital spark of heavenly flame ") —
He was, to all intents and purposes, the human son of a Divine Father — a material body, mercifully and intentionally containing a " spiritual soul," the first repentant and least reproachable of the banished angelic hosts.
Such a miracle of wonders could not be formed, by an omniscient and omnipotent God, for the sole purpose of being tempted and everlastingly lost.
* See Elect Angels, and Souls Elect; at tlie end.
I
106 THE WORD.
Where is it that you could find a model of perfections more complete, so incomparable, as this sixth chef d'oeuvre of the Almighty Lord of all ?
Did not Adam proceed, body, mind, and soul, from the very hands of that eternal God, who Himself "wholly" made him^ "in His own image;" and, moreover, breathed within him that immortal spark and heavenly flame, which is so imdeniably a sacred inexhaustible^ portion of His indi- vidual triune Essence ?
How could the angels and spirits, any of them, ever have been more gloriously gifted ? More angelical, more spiritual ? The archangels themselves, the seraphim, the cherubim, never could have excelled such a " Grodlike " creature^ as Adam, the celestial primogenitor of human kind, in that which particularly regards Divine extraction, perfection of form, mental powers, primitive immaculateness of soul.
The Lord God did not simply create man, as an inhabitant of luxurious pleasui'e* grounds : He thus anticipatedly pre- pared new tabernacles of clay, for the regenerative reception of His long-estranged sons and gods, when they should be sub- missively suing, at last, to resume their bitterly regretted places, in the glorious courts of His ever-blessed eternal kingdom.
It being of the utmost consequence that our positive human descent from an antemundane origin be indubitably proved, we hope that our anxiously repeated zealous ratiocinations may be fairly examined, and equitably weighed,^ to that pure and single efiect.
The consistent genealogy we have at last traced out, has
THE WORD. 107
removed such a vast number of theological and geological obscurities/ from the extensive field of our own private medita- tions, that Christian Faith has now entirely ceased to be, in our awaking mind, a merely interesting dream ; to become a magnificent certainty of infinite blessings, past, present, and future, secured to us, long before the compassionately paternal love of God had mercifully resolved to create " a new universe^ of worlds," for the glorious purpose of ulti- mately effecting unlimited pardon and grace !
Wherefore Three* Almighty Gods?
The simple fact that the Holy Trinity* was, from the very beginning, " The unrevealed Triune, yet Unique Divine Provi- dence," under whose autocratic laws^ all things were governed, visible and invisible, animate and inanimate, temporal and everlasting — that simple fact, reduces all religious testimonies, touching the principal object, for which that particular government existed from everlasting and still exists, that is to say, the " self-constituted " Most Holy Trinity, to an all- comprehensive axiom, which is —
That the Eternal Divinity (omniscient, ubiquitous, and almighty) consisted then, and still consists, pro tempore,^ of —
An entirely Christian Triune Godhead.
A Triune Godhead, mercifully predestined to separate, at a foreknown future era (the Christian era) into three omnipo- tent and all-sufficient Divine principles of, infinitely merciful action, infinite fatherly love, boundless filial and brotherly
1 2
108 THE WORD.
affection, eternally directing and comforting spiritual inspi- ration.
Sucli important data being to our mind satifactorily authen- ticated, as they have been in this book, and shall further be, we proceed with our scriptui-al proofs of human and celestial extraction, and terrestrial angelic lineage.
In G-en. vi. you will find that angels constantly visited the earth, and married the daughters^ of men.
Tears, by myriads, may have elapsed during those " sanc- tioned " connubial connections ;'- nay, these may liave been no more than casual cases, intentionally mentioned, as more or less useful records for transmission and promulgation among distant generations to be born, such as our own, and their successors.
And when you remember that those coelo-terrestrial inter- marriages took place above 4,000 years e.g., this most material information certainly corroborates all that can be said in support of our^ belief, that the mortal incarnations of the fallen souls of angels, were the most merciful channels that could be selected by all-atoning Grace impartially to faciUtate, through ample repentance and prayer, the redemp- tion and salvation of the whole human race.
Our souls, good or bad, from their first admission into a state of incarnation, were and are decidedly immortal.
That must be accepted as an undeniable truth. What else means " The resurrection of the dead"?
With exclusive respect to the soul of Adam, it was essen- tially a part of that of G-od, imperishable and " immaculate,"
THE WORD. 109
for a short period only, assisting in the vast labour of universal regeneration.^
Now the soul of Eve must have been that of the " first " penitent angel who sued for pardon, in the name of his well- known Divine Intercessor, and consequently received merciful permission to undergo earthly incarnation.
Let it be granted, as it must needs be, that the blessed inhabitants of the perpetual kingdom of God are, without a single exception, " all immortal," and it further implies that they have eternally been so, and must everlastingly remain^ immortal.
Add to this most rational statement that —
Such a kingdom as that of our Almighty Father, the King of kings, being boundless as well as ever-enduring, mufet necessarily have been, besides —
The ever-renewed spectacle of numberless heavenly courts, wherein the glorious hosts of powers, dominions, and princi- palities attending, could only be outnumbered, by the vastly more endless and innumerable throngs of archangels and angels incessantly hovering over, and round about the mighty throne of Jehovah, the Most High, submissively to receive His irrefragable behests and irresistible fiats.
Then tell us where (humanly speaking) could be more charitably, more compassionately, and more appropriately employed, after having endured long retributive penalties, sufferings of the most excruciating mental and bodily nature, "woes unknown,^ perhaps, on this earth, past all adequate descriptions, for thousands of thousands of ages, in some awful
110 THE WOKD.
cases of indispensable^ expiation, — those unhappy souls who had incurred the just indignation of their offended, but still benevolent, Grod ? Tell us where such souls,^ penitent and amended, could be better employed than, upon so fit an opportunity, as that of the " fall " of our first earthly parents, in the garden of gracious^ ordeals — to be transferred, through probatory and "thoroughly purgatorial incai^nations " (at their own urgent requests), during the merciful wonders of our Christian* creation, into those endless successions of gene- rations that would ultimately serve to admit, to redeem, and to save them all ?
Can Excess of Christian Faith, from Pious Motives, BE Sinfulness Inexcusable?
A few of our scriptural interpretations have perhaps exceeded here and there the limits of sacred^ veracity ; it was, however, only when we thought it right to rely more implicitly^ than it is orthodoxly sanctioned by the hierarchy, on the " recorded infinitude," of the gracious efiects of Divine compassion, so evidently personified in the most essentially constituted Threefold Grodhead of our Almighty Father ; whose ChHstian^ attributes, separately considered, are, in conjunction with many more, far beyond our finite means of reckoning — Continual pity — infinite grace — Boundless love — inexhaustible goodness : — A nature and property which have ever been, and will ever be, " to have mercy, and to forgive." Being a Fountain
THE WORD. Ill
of mercies ; from whom all holy desires, and all just works, do proceed.
We hope, nevertheless, that (our own secret motives being thoroughly known above) forgiveness may be granted likewise unto us ; and that we also may be benevolently understood, if the significations we have too literally attached, to our testamentary authorities, do not always sufficiently coincide, in their biblical sense, with the strict meaning of the promises of our Lord Almighty Grod, according to their eternal purpose.
Why was ouk dear Brother^ Jesus Christ, begotten A Second Time, and bred up for His earthly mediatory^ Existence, among Carpenters and Families of humble Rank ?
A Son, who has been solemnly revealed unto us by His own Almighty Father, as His only ^-begotten, "before all worlds," may, we humbly hope and trust, be afiectionately . addressed and fondly alluded to by the divinely* acknow- ledged, " created," sons and daughters of that same heavenly Father, as their earthly Brother.
By simply connecting the gracious imports of the following vastly significative quotations, we very excusably reached, as many^ another might have done, the purely Christian con- clusion that —
We and you, dear readers, all, are no other than a portion, in disgrace, of those misguided angels (primevaP sons of Grod) amongst whom our dear Redeemer was first, eternities ago,
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miraculously begotten^ in heaven, for their protection against the prince of evil :
And next, in earth, " miraculously " begotten once more, for their salvation.
" Grod, of the Substance of the Father, begotten before the worlds : and Man, of the Substance of His Mother, born in the world." — Creed of St. Athanasius.
" This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased " (Matt. xvii.).
"And Christ said unto them. When ye pray, say, Our Father, which art in Heaven " (Luke xi.).
" And Jesus answered and said unto them, My mother and my brethren are these which hear the word of Grod, and do it" (Luke viii. 21).
Touching our Saviour's humble birth.
Did not Jesus Christ come amongst men, to save penniless Lazaruses, as well as kings, and princes, and opulent com- moners ?
Most assuredly He did.
For He came expressly in humble guise, to teach, to guide, and to redeem those proud,^ rebellious, and ungrateful hosts who fell from heaven, and are likely, even now, and often* again, through perverseness, worldly pride and obduracy, to fall into repeated* ordeals, each time severer perhaps, until summoned at the great universal assize.
Ay!
When the fatal " doom day " closes, on which the ran- somed human race, wholly and perfectly atoned for (as we
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all SO efficaciously have been), — when that most momentous general arraignment shall have been proclaimed as for ever passed,^ —
Then, let them prepare for further chastisements, propor- tionate to their individual obstinate transgressions, all those who have persisted, to the last, in daringly and incredulously closing their ears to the merciful word of truth.
For it will be their turn, alas ! too late again, to discover that.
Awful additional tribulations, in other states and other worlds, will be justly and rigorously expected from milHons of millions of souls, whose salvation, though infallibly se- cured, must be, will be, as infallibly' postponed.
Are Divine Mysteries, all of them, for ever to BE veiled from Human Knowledge ?^
" The ways of Providence are past finding out." But we are also told " diligently* to search the Scriptures ;" and "to read, mark, learn, and inwardly^ digest" them.
This we have, more zealously than ever of late, been en- deavouring to do ; and now intend (D.Y.) to persevere more zealously still in doing, as long as we breathe.
Sacred mysteries, which, in our days of general proficiency, are, it must be clearly perceived, gradually permitted to be unravelled, were, in antediluvian eras, providentially^ kept from the knowledge of men.
We all shall perhaps know, before many centuries are
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elapsed, what angelic ranks we belonged to ; what joys, what blessings we have been, most probably,^ for eternities past, alas ! but too justly deprived of.
As the world grows older, the lapse of time is becoming shorter, that keeps us, so deservedly, and yet withal so mer- cifully,^ from the forfeited presence of our beneficent Father, and His sacredly promised reception back into those heavenly mansions, we once so happily occupied^ with the blessed, joy- fully singing His praise, gloriously distributing His univer- sally spread bounties and gifts.
Yes, verily, we were numbered, " before all worlds," with the Almighty Father's "well-beloved and only-begotten Son," among those angels and archangels, on whom the Most High parentally shed His benevolent smiles, to whom He delegated His Divine commands, by whom His secret behests were transferred to the original* elect of His impartial choice.
The words we read in the Bible, from the first verse of Genesis to the last lines of Eevelation ; and, more especially than all, those proceeding, through direct Divine inspiration, from either of the Three everlasting Triune Grods, confessed as One alone, in our Holy Trinity — those words should be the all-sufficient laws and precepts, at the sight or hearing of which, from pole to pole, nations should kneel, and, bowing their humblest submission, solemnly declare their fullest, their most willing, compliance and obedience.
In lieu of which —
0 merciful Judge ! " forgive them: for they know not what they do ?" "
THE WORD. 115
Their teachers^ themselves vituperate each other. Churches against churches strive to prove ^ that none is true, that none is the " orthodox," that not one is " the real temple " in which either the Father, or the Son, or the Holy Grhost, can love to dwell, and there to be implored and to be praised.
Creed against creed by its zealots is pitched. Sacraments over sacraments, by their antagonistical defendants, are in- temperately extolled. Prayers by ceremonies, jostled out of time and place, become secondary in the worship of God, to suit the vanities and fatuities of men. Heaven forgive us all ! for we are all, more or less, most wickedly going astray.
Should we not hope that Christian Intercourse be- tween Heaven and Earth, which has Existed FROM the Beginning, may last until the End ?
Yisible^ angelic messengers, " in the beginning," were gra- cious living evidences, of the eternal relationship, paternally acknowledged in Heaven and earth by the Lord God, through the continual " fraternal intercession " of Jesus Christ, our Saviour, in behalf of the " already incarnated souls," who had penitently solicited and obtained to be permitted, through the forthcoming redemption, to undergo terrestrial penalties and regenerating ordeals, " under Satanic temptations," in anticipated humble* fellowship with their beloved Brother, the Son of God, our own most merciful Messiah.
What, besides, could be more convincingly evident than this Gracious Motive respecting those celestial missions,
116 THE WORD.
effected by cotemporary incarnations of angels, during the first ^ centuries of this inhabited earth ?
Were not archangels, angels, and spirits, employed from the beginning, to communicate the omnipotent Creator's sovereign will and pleasure, to the first sojourners, in bene- ficent ^ exile, on this globe of retributive compensations ?
"Who were, for example, those three men at Abram's door, predicting that he should become the father of many nations (their own^ kindred), notwithstanding his having reached his ninety-ninth year ?
To whom did Lot address himself at the gate of Sodom ?
Was it not an angel of Grod who called to Hagar out of Heaven, and said unto her, " Hagar, fear not ; for Grod hath heard the voice of the lad where he is" ?
By whom was the arm of Abraham stayed, and whose voice was it * that called unto him out of heaven, and said, " Lay not thine hand upon the lad" ?
And, finally, who could be those angels ascending and descending on Jacob's ladder, but the spirits of heaven, joyfully^ attending on the released souls of their human bretliren, and triumphantly leading them up to their addi- tional iutermediate^ states, transferred until the G-reat Day of universal Judgment, by Christ Jesus, in the occasional presence of their compassionate Father ?
Pray frequently to Grod, as all Christians of fervent good- will should do,^ saying, " Our Father, who art in heaven,"
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when you read His Holy Word, that He may gra- ciously vouchsafe to you also, who are then longing, no doubt, as we do, to return home, — pray your heavenly Father to enable you, also, through spiritual visions, gradually to perceive your own celestial genealogy.
The blessed Scriptures, then, from end to end, will become a vast " historical^ record" of the everlasting angelic race, whose Almighty Father is God the Lord : whose long-lost and wandering fraternity are we.
Why was our adorable Redeemer suffered by His Father to be tempted in the Wilderness, to die and to be buried, like ourselves ?
Mild^ measures have always been, will ever be, the most successful means of allaying and subduing the unruly pas- sions of men. Just like gentle medicines, judiciously and perseveringly applied in moderated doses, have often overcome the most serious disorders, which stronger medicaments, in- expertly given, and in over-abimdant quantities, have very frequently increased, instead of curing.
Four thousand years and upwards passed on, from the creation of this " Christian^ world " to the nativity of the infant Child, Jesus Christ, our Lord, a perfect and immacu- late incarnation of the " Son of Glod."
During that long period of centuries, generations of incar- nated spirits had succeeded generations, under an infinite variety of Divine dispensations, both benignant and severe* : —
118 THE WORD.
Never revengeful, wrathful, jealous, implacable, or un- forgiving.^
The retributive dispensations of God are invariably awarded with most impartial justice, yet tempered, in all cases of in- dispensable severity, with the utmost distribution of com- passionate mercy.
Divine legislation, in those primeval millenniums, was, in no single instance,^ similar to that which is exercised during our modern days of infinite trials and temptations. Our Omnipotent and Omniscient Lawgiver and Judge appKes a code in all respects suitable to the moral and religious state of each successive century.
When, therefore, the rising waters of the appalling deluge ; when the pouring-down floods of the cloud-riding cataracts, had immersed the lofty crest of Ararat, think not that.
Like Nero,^
The fiendish monarch of burning Rome, exultingly hear- ing the shrieks, the groans, the frightful agonies and woes, of his writhing, expiring subjects.
Our offended God,
Just and impartial, as He is, witnessed, unmoved to pity and commiseration, the struggling, the sinking bodies of His former celestial sons,* with worldly satisfaction and triumph.
No, no ! The Lord of heaven and earth is not a revenge- ful and merciless tyrant.
" God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
THE WORD. 119
" And the Lord said, I will destroy man, whom I have created, from the face of the earth ; both man and beast,^ and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air."
Now, the same Lord Almighty well knew that Satan had done this, as he had tempted Eve, and tempted Cain, and would also tempt His own beloved Son, Jesus Christ.
Therefore the Lord destroyed all living things, as He declared He should do, because it was " gracious " as well as just in Him, sacredly to keep His holy word ; but He mis- sioned His Son Jesus, and His angels of mercy, to deprive Death of all the stings it was not indispensable to inflict.
Noah will joyfully tell us, when we meet, aU, at last, in heaven (which is the eternal and irrevocable purpose of the Almighty), to what extent, infinite Divine Goodness, and, above all, our adorable Saviour's boundless charity, were exemplified, on that most painfully memorable of all sad catastrophes.
The foregoing allusions to the eventful moral and religious vicissitudes of our patriarchal ancestors' probatory ordeals, seemed useful, as introductory data, whereon to found the subsequent replicatory considerations.
Theological and doctrinal writings, of that very remote antiquity, depend on a plenitude of Faith, which our sacred Gospels and Epistles alone appear able fuUy to corroborate and sanctify.
120 THE WORD.
May it please Grod, the Omnipotent, to open the under- standings of evangelical readers, and all sincerely anxious Christians, so effectually as to enable them to perceive the glorious truths, which abound in the Old, as graciously as they do, in the New Testament.
Why were we taught to say, " Lead us not into Temptation "?
Nothing can be plainer to the mind of an unprejudiced inquirer^ than the constantly recurring fact, that temptations beset us from our first steps into rational, responsible exis- tence' until the last moment of our mental consciousness.
Such a state of incessant human ordeals, seemingly so in- adequately provided for, through mysteriously intentional preordination, during the antediluvian eras, made it infinitely necessary that an impressive, all-subduing Grodlike Type of victorious struggles against worldly, carnal, and Satanic allurements, should be most conspicuously set before us.
This incomparably priceless blessing had been, "from the Beginning," sanctioned,^ as a future grace, foreknown and preordained, in the name, and through the intercession, of His only-begotten Son, by Almighty Grod, when ^
Sufficient proofs should exist, that an elect number of the souls of men, edified and prepared, by angelical apostolic mes- sengers, should be suitably fitted* to receive, and to treat their long-expected Messiah — these, in the character of a Redeemer and Saviour ; — those, in that of" an Impostor," thus blindly mistaken,^ all the more infallibly to accomplish the
THE WORD. 121
miraculous acts of Universal Atonement, through Divine martyrdom.
The singular reception awaiting the Holy Child, yet un- born,^ at Bethlehem and Jerusalem, were exactly such as the Lord Grod foreknew ; such, moreover, as foreknowing. He had, also from everlasting, organized,^ as the most appropriate to the arduous and thankless labom^s of sin-offering and all- suflBcient Ransom, which His dear Son had undertaken, in behalf of His long-lost brethren.
Many as were the sufferings, meekly and patiently endured, by the comparatively juvenile Mediator, on His toilsome way to Calvary, the devoted young ^ Yictim underwent them all with the most exemplary resignation.
We shall, however, be compelled, for want of room in this place, to pass over their well-known details, the sooner to reach "that awful wilderness," where His inveterate foe devised the most insidious temptations and perfidies, most effectually to destroy, both our hopes of redemption, and our Almighty Grod's merciful promises of entire pardon.
Had His Divine Father, from any feeling of parental attachment, in the likeness of man, or from any sense of omnipotent right, spared Jesus a single pang, a single mental or bodily smart, the self-sacrifice about to be offered up, would have instantly been totally deprived of its indispensable cove- nanted eflB.cacy.
Far from this. The sacred pact had been, before all
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122 THE WORD.
worlds, " that the Divine and solemn sacrifice should be most strictly i^erformed, most integrally carried out, regarding its minutest details."
And it may be seen, in the 26th chapter of St. Matthew, the 29th verse, where the following impressive words are found, how sacredly an Almighty God and His equally Almighty Son kept their words : —
" 0 my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me : nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou wilt."
Admirable act of submission !
Would that the sons^ of men were like the sons of Grod !
And the King of kings, the Lord of lords, for the sake of redeeming and saving a world of fallen souls justly doomed, eternities back, to universal destruction, abandoned"-^ His own glorious Son, in whom He was so well pleased, to temptation, crucifixion, and death.
Hosanna to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Grhost, for ever and ever !
" Crucified, Dead, and Buried," why did Jesus
DESCEND INTO HeLL ? (See tlie Apostles' Creed.) ^
After His frightful death on the cross, has it been maturely pondered over, piously weighed, by competent^ readers, whether our dear Redeemer descended into "hell," and- " rose again " from the " dead," from no other motive than that of graciously spreading, as early as He could, the first- fruits of His most merciful oblation ?
THE WORD. 123
What could our benevolent Lord, having already accom- plished so much in our behalf, be doing during the lapse of three such awful days^ in Satan's horrible dominions, where torments and tortures the most excruciating are said to constitute the diabolical occupations of his detestable court ?
We shall attempt, according to our authorized belief, founded on scripturaP revelations, to give you what we most reverently conceive to have been the kind intention of our so recently crucified Lord's resumed Godhead in that merciful visit.^
It was not, you may be sure of this. His victory over sin and death He went there revengefully* and tauntingly to proclaim.
It was not either rejoicingly to hear the gnashing of teeth, the distressing shrieks of the tormented and tortui'ed, for myriads of centuries to such agonies condemned.
No, no ; our Divine Terrestrial Brother entertained no such ungodly thought.
He went not to hell either to inflict a single pain, or even to express the slightest reproach.^
Ten thousand thousand hosts of angels, by archangels, in thousands more, marshalled, seen and unseen, formed their recovered*' Messiah's escort.
But what went He there to do ?
Cruelly gashed in His side, brutally lacerated by that ignominious crown of thorns. His hands, His feet frightfully bored through by nails, the still bleeding Saviour, " resusci-
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124 THE WORD.
tating^ Jesus," descended into the very midst of hell, radiant with Divine felicity ; and there —
Through a martyrdom that none of the martyrs had ever suffered or known ^ —
Through oblations such as neither saint nor prophet of old ever offered^ to the Almighty King of kings —
Through the inconceivable merits of an inexpressible Omnipotent Triune Grodhead of purest Christian love and charity — the Conquering Hero bade Satan set all his victims instantly free.*
" They are redeemed," He said,^ "and, through my name, by addressing the King of dory, and Power, and Majesty, they are, each, one and all, finally to be saved.
" Say, therefore," He added, turning to the ransomed,*' " Our Father which art in heaven. Hallowed be Thy name ; Thy kingdom come ; Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth."
Then mysterious communions occurred between the spirits of heaven attendant on their Lord, and descending at His word ; and the grateful souls of the released knelt all round at their Saviour's feet.''
And prayers and hymns of praise, and sacred anthems having filled the bottomless pit, throughout its length and breadth and depth, the Devil, scared from his caverns, trans- ferred his courts to the surface of this earth.®
His realms are for ever^ closed.
"We may be, many of us, the souls ^" ransomed, on that memorable event, but not yet sufficiently regenerated and sanctified.
THE WORD. 125
Merciful Visits of our dear Redeemer to this Earth long before his human^ incarnation, and since His Glorious Ascension.
It is more than provable tliat the second Enoch, was a gracious transmigration of the Son of God,^ rendered urgent in the early centuries of this world, on account of the frequent and familiar visits of those angels who married^ among the daughters of men.
Many great divines have been, and are still, disposed to think so.
We see no plausible reason to oppose such a rational Chris- tian belief, inasmuch as our blessed Mediator's presence among us, would very reasonably and applicably agree with the biblical accounts of several miraculous circumstances* of a supernatural character, perfectly unintelligible without such a fact — a fact, furthermore, so evidently essential, that it would appear an irreverent^ omission to leave it unmentioned.
But Enoch's translation into heaven, like that of Elijah, the prophet, suggests other considerations of no mean interest.
Both those sublime® examples of positive incarnations, clothed in their perishable substances, and admitted within the mansions of the Almighty's kingdom, in the very presence, and by the very side, of Divine ^ Majesty, prove that : —
Our own bodies also (whether in Paradise or on the appro- priate discs of spheres appointed before all worlds for such intermediate states), will most infallibly resuscitate, to pass
126 THE WORD.
materially too, their individual arraignments, and receive their glorious acquittals, or final condemnations.^
Assuredly, our convictions cannot but be most excusable in believing that : —
Oiu? preordained^ terrestrial Fellow-creature, the future Saviom' of mankind, would not only exert to the fullest His Divine attributes in heaven, to prevent, as far as it was then compatible with impartial justice, our First Fall from Paradise, but that He would, in addition to those gracious efforts, after our irremediable^ banishment from Eden, compassionately and fraternally visit us on this earth, by mysterious* sojoumings, all preparatory to His most compassionate and truly devoted human nativity.
We carry our persuasions considerably further than this, for we are positively certain (as much so, at least, as worldly minds may reverently be) that : —
The Son of Grod, essentially, ay, inseparably^ connected as He is, and has ever been, from all eternity, with the spi- ritual destinies of all celestial and terrestrial souls, walks at times angelically and incarnatedly "^ with us. Not imfre- quently during this present age, as He will, most probably, to the end, communing —
Through holy raptures, and heavenly^ ecstacies, with really fervent worshippers, earnestly, transportedly, confessing " godly ^ creeds."
THE WORD. 127
No sooner indeed does a heretofore apostate, a sincerely repentant prodigal, a regenerating deist, a half-converted idolater, an atheist, shuddering at his hereafter, begin —
To waver in their unsatisfactory, godless meditations, and anxiously to long for trustworthy guides, benevolently dis- posed to lead them on, by gentle persuasions, along securer paths, to the fair land of promise, where reigns self-evident faith, than —
The Spirit of Truth (and occasionally, too, no doubt, Jesus Christ the Lord) invisibly hastens to their side, to stir up and sanctify, to bless and to win, the recovered, wandering soul, who is so mourningly yearning after Home.
Upon such merciful errands as these, depend upon it, dear reader — depend upon it. Christian brethren, Jews and Turks, — upon such errands as these it is that —
Our adorable, triimaphant Redeemer infallibly visits this earth.
Over the death-beds of how many incarnated spirits might you not see the radiant brow of our Divine beloved Brother, expand with heavenly joy, when —
At the conclusion of a sinful, heedless life. He hears those lips, moved by the contrite, regenerated soul, for some time past, under the welcome and successful inspirations of that ever- present other Lord, hopefully sigh, " Our Father which art in heaven. Hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come"!
And when. His redemption and salvation proving graciously efficient. He sees —
128 THE WORD.
The spirit He has redeemed, the spirit He has saved, in the midst of choral hallelujahs, escorted bj His Father's ministers of grace —
Soar from the abandoned clay, and gratefully wing his flight to that " kingdom " he so earnestly, though recently, wished to reach. Grlory be then indeed, to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost !
Why was the Son or God permitted to be crucified
BETWEEN Two MALEFACTORS?
Because Satan was graciously ^ permitted to tempt our first parents in Eden ; and —
Because he furthermore is permitted, through additional^ grace most inconceivable, to tempt us all on this globe, for other purposes equally benevolent, leaving all our moral and religious existence to indispensable means and powers, ob- tained only through the intercession and propitiation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
And because " three striking examples " were absolutely requisite, on such a solemn occasion, for the edification of the human race — immaculacy glorified, contrition rewarded, ob- duracy punished.^
Nothing can be imagined that denotes more apathetic* carelessness about holy truths, in ecclesiastical teachers, as well as theological writers, than the readiness with which, some of them,^ pass over prophecies, parables, and revelations ; as sacred mysteries, which they declare it would evidently be sacrilegious to lay bare.
THE WOKD. 129
Other motives of apparent reverence^ exist, which we might very clearly prove, to have objects infinitely less pardonable — venal ends, sectarian and worldly, for example.
The Almighty's omniscient purpose, in allowing so much brutal insult to be heaped, on the Person of His spotless beloved Son, during His judgment and doom, was surpass- ingly benevolent, charitable, and " significant." Who could justly gainsay this truth ?
Let us suppose the crucifixion of our Lord, to have simply been the public exhibition of a solitary martyrdom, on a lonely^ cross: the all-sufficient and infinitely redeeming Deicide, would have been publicly deprived, of an incal- culable amount of its universal^ benefit, to past, present, and future transgressors of all degrees, and all climes and creeds.
Did not Jesus say, " Father, forgive them :* for they know not what they do "? —
And further on, to the penitent malefactor, " Verily^ I say unto thee. To-day shalt thou be with me in^ Paradise " ?
It would not be at such a solemn moment of positive anguish as this, in the presence of His God and approving Father, in the hearing of all the heavens assembled to mag- nify and glorify His name, that the immaculate Messiah would use figurative words — would speak in metaphorical terms : —
*' They know not what they do !" " To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise ! "
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THE WORD.
Whioli plainly implies —
"This Jewish people, whose Countryman I am, whose fathers and forefathers I claim, as fellow-creatures and kindred, know me not : their teachers, blinded themselves by Satan, whose task this wise is set,^ their teachers mislead them, and they act ill, most of them, believing that they act as they ought.^
" Nevertheless, U Father, Thy will thus is done ; ' forgive them : for they know not what they do.'"
Then, relatively to the pious ^ malefactor's most fortunate contrition —
Besides being divinely recognized by Jesus, his Fellow- sufferer, were not the Father there and the Holy Grhost, who knew fi'om the beginning the real nature of the poor man's* crime ? The latter of these Omniscient Gods in particular, had no doubt, closely watched the perilous path, through which his career had inevitably run, the insurmountable temptations^ under which his uneducated mind and soul, had been left from his birth to wander on.
And that Holy Benefactor, that ever-present Spirit of Mercy, foreknowing where the benighted creature must in- fallibly terminate his earthly steps, in pity, and through delegated paternal grace, began to sow that heavenly*^ seed of penitence and piety, which, at the eleventh hom^, so oppor- tunely revealed itseK by the following address and reply : —
" Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same con- demnation ?
" And we indeed justly ; for we receive the due reward of our deeds : but this Man hath done nothing '^ amiss.
THE WORD. 131
"And he said unto Jesus, Lord,^ remember me when Thou comest into Thy^ kingdom.
" And Jesus said unto him, YerUy^ I say unto thee, To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise.
" And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a dark- ness over all the earth until the ninth hour.
" And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst.*
" And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice. He said, Father, into Thy hands I commend my spirit : and having said thus, He gave up the^ ghost " (Luke xxiii. 40 — 46).
" Jesus, when He had cried again^ with a loud Yoice, yielded up the grhost."
" And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom ; "^ and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent ;
" And the graves were opened ; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,
"And came^ out of the graves . . . and went into the holy city" (Matt, xxvii. 50—53).
What senseless creatures must those be, who can apathe- tically peruse the affecting accounts of that appalling, heart- rending Death-scene, without feeling, like the malefactor, like the centurion, like the shuddering throngs, indeed, mournfully retiring, that —
When Jesus Christ, in His mortal agony, cried aloud
132 THE WORD.
" once more ;" it was His last human shriek of Divine^ atone- ment : a last imploring, interceding prayer, offered up, by a self-immolated^ God of infinite grace, for the salvation of a compassionately^ ransomed fallen race, but too justly doomed to " unlimited " perdition !
And deep darkness enwrapped the quaking, agitated earth, visibly participating, with the whole universe, in this mysti- cally awful, but indispensable, sin-offering.
Were there no further evidence of the Almighty's original* intention of ultimate forgiveness, and universal final recon- ciliation, through the preordained sacrifice of His only- begotten Son (anticipatedly^ begotten before all worlds) ; this terrific tragedy would alone amply suffice, to render it per- fectly undeniable.
How could such an infinitely merciful event (awful as it must have been) take place, without also calhng forth, under considerations of boundless gratitude, the most demonstrative signs of triumphant joy and happiness : —
In the kingdom of God, throughout its boundless extent ; and amongst the angelic hosts, greeting by thousands, the released souls of their redeemed brethren, just ® admitted into intermediate states, prepared for those, whose salvation, on the Grreat Day of Christian'' arraigns, is secured, beyond all possible doubt ?
Such as was the Body of Jesus Christ on Earth, such IS that most miraculous Body kow^ in Heaven.
A remarkable fact is constantly overlooked, at this tragical
THE WORD. 133
conclusion of our blessed Saviour's most charitable human existence.
It is that Jesus Christ, once " humanly dead," and, as it were, consigned to the decomposing effects of usually inevi- table corruption, resuscitated into eternal life, and bore away^ with Him, from the sepulchre in the rock, that glorious body, which had been crucified, pierced, and buried, for the redemption and salvation " of the Jews^ and Gentiles," as much so as for His own Christian brethren.
The entire generations of mankind, it should be remem- bered, which, according to our unshaken conviction, signifies the whole of the incarnated angels, who had repentantly sought, from the beginning, to be mercifully allowed, through additional grace, to transmigrate^ into human bodies, con- stituted the chief bulk of the terrestrial populations, spread over the face of the earth, when that all-sufficient atonement took place.
It must be conceded that Jesus Christ, being (worldly speaking) a Descendant of David, could not, as a boy, or a youth, " until His Second Baptism,* in the Jordan," by St. John, be considered, under any other sectarian distinction, but that of a Hebrew and a Jew,^ of the tribe of Judah, who subsequently assumed the name of Jews.
Joseph, of Bethlehem, and the Yirgin Mary, and the Child Jesus, consequently worshipped God (until the Bap- tism in Jordan) according to the law of Moses.
On His Father's side, the Messiah was completely Divine : the ever-immaculate Son of God, legitimate Copartner in the
134 THE WORD.
Omnipotent Jehovah's Godhead and glory, our merciful Creator, and eternal theocratic King.
Hebrews, Jews, and Israelites; Grentiles, Infidels,^ and heathens, in fine (as the offsprings, naturally descended from Adam), were incarnated brethren; born, and bred up, in a similar ^ manner to that of all the fallen angels and spirits of heaven.^
And Jesus Christ, our Lord, was intentionally incarnated, according to the preordained will of His Almighty Father ; not only, at a predetermined time, to make* evident our celestial origin, but fiu-thermore to testify more plainly still, through His infinite grace and impartial justice, the bound- less love He ever^ felt, and ever will feel, towards that only and beloved family, originally called into miraculous^ exist- ence, before the creation of all worlds, which we were, and are, and ever shall be.
Compared to all foregoing and subsequent sin-offerings, what must have been "that" of our devoted Intercessor's mutilated body, such as we may sympathetically picture it to our minds, when His victorious spirit, having won for ever and ever the crown of glory, left it on the tree ;^ to commune* for a while with His Almighty Father and the Holy Ghost, approvingly and encouragingly waiting, in the midst of all the angelic hosts, greetingly assembled, unheard and unseen, above the consecrated spot, of His ail-sufficiently consummated universal atonement !
There leave we that exultant happy family of " Divine and angelic^ Grods," with —
THE WORD. 135
" The Grlorious Company of the Apostles ; "
" The G-oodly Fellowship of the Prophets ; "
" The Noble Army of Martyrs : " praising Him :
The most devoted Martyr of them all,
The King of Grlory ! the Omnipotent^ Messiah ! the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost !
And, look we back, penetrated with awe and gratitude, at that murderous cross, for-ever-dreadful, yet to-be-venerated symbol of fraternal a.ffection, and infinite Divine mercy !
"J(3 Deum landamusP^
World-witnessed Homicide; Predestinated^ Martyrdom.
Inanimate and cold, indeed, there the long-expected Saviour's degraded, defaced, and desolate earthly tabernacle, in solemn repose, waits its long-foretold^ burial place.
Sighs, and sobs, maternal, with holy prayers of all around, ever and anon disturb the dismal stillness of the gathering evening gloom.
0 sad and momentous interval* of anguish and terror !
The pacified roaring winds, the crashing thunder-peals, have stilled their resentful, condemnatory voices.
The now "hopeful" dead,^ in their winding-sheets, have, blessing His holy name as they passed, retm'ned to their sepulchraP homes.
Not a whit or tittle of that daring outrage^ to the universal law of nations should be omitted, in the consequent reflec-
136 THE WORD.
tions, of all "good" Christians, on tlieir piously taking retrospective views of such an awful scene.
Ay ! heartlessly perpetrated, horrible murder of thousands of thousands against One ! ^ chronicled by prophets of old, recorded by apostles and martyrs, disciples and historians, both sacred and profane !
Whose body was it, they so reverently laid, in that newly excavated rock, angels attending ?
See, what care they have taken of those limbs ; cruelly, brutally perforated with nails !
It was, nevertheless, with those mangled hands, with those feet, so frightfully transfixed, that mercilessly bruised and gashed body, that your Saviour, during a life of incessant sufi'ering and contumely, so benevolently performed, in their behalf, and our own, the most inconceivable acts of ineffable grace.
And that heart, overflowing with love and unlimited com- passion, towards foes and friends alike; that heart, whose every pulsation was for His Grod and for man —
" It beats stiU. for us all;" our most merciful Redeemer's heart !
Look into that gaping wound in His side. Still imagine it there, as the murderous steel was withdrawn.
Gush after gush, poured out your devoted Saviour's blood ; and every drop that gushed out, ransomed and saved myriads of myriads of souls !
THE WOKD. 137
Sacred Body of Jesus Christ, oiir blessed Lord! Indeed, and truly, they knew not what they did !
They knew not that Thou wast their affectionate Brother, " from the beginning," graciously " predestined " to save them, by theii' Father, the King of kings and Lord of all.
They knew not, in their incarnated state, that, having formerly, i.e., eternities back, offended their Omnipotent Euler in heaven ; compelled by His impartial justice, that God had indignantly driven them from His kingdom, with the malignant deceiver, who had, at last, totally corrupted and degenerated their souls ; and, to such an extent, that it was no longer possible for Him, to let them inhabit the bright and holy realms of pure light and truth.
They knew not that, through Thy persevering, all-sufficient intercession, before Thy Father, the everlasting God, Thou hadst, 0 Lord omnipotent of infinite grace, obtained per- mission finally to redeem, and to save us all.
Such an act of awful disobedience as that of Eve — ^
Such a detestable and unpardonable crime ^ as that of Cain —
Such a disgusting state of moral turpitude as that of the antediluvian tribes, and that of many of the subsequent populations —
Such a monstrous degree of depravity and loathsome licence —
Such an atheistical absence of all principles, of fit and pro- per rectitude, as those of the primitive Gentdes and Pagans, down to the very advent of Jesus Christ, — could not possibly have occurred, infinitely less have existed, had not
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138 THE WORD.
" The Fountain of all goodness," the "Lord of all mercies," the " Griver of all good gifts," " whose nature and property is ever to have mercy, and to forgive " — had not our Almighty Father preordained that such enormous evil should, most graciously, albeit most incomprehensibly, paved the way to Universal Redemption and Salvation.
This, we shall, Grod willing, prove more evidently still, in the following pages ; which we purpose devoting to closer in- terpretations, as well as to visionary^ meditations, in both of which, sacred truths may, (as we cannot help expecting it,) reveal themselves, like particles of purest gold, sometimes found on alluvial river strands.
THE WORD. 139
CONCLUDING ARGUMENTS,
IN FAVOUR OF OUR SCRIPTURAL INTERPRE- TATIONS.
"WHATEVER THINGS WERE WRITTEN AFORETIME,
WERE WRITTEN FOR OUR LEARNING."
Rom. XV. 4.
Abundantly as eventful circumstances, like those we have just endeavoured to expound, furnish miraculous^ results, for the pen of the fervent interpreter of sacred truths and facts, now^ most urgently demanding to be promulgated far and wide : —
Folios, by thousands, would not suffice to collect the myriads of momentous details that, the genuine portions alone,^ of the evangelical writings would require, to be made adequately known.
Now, with due regard to the sacredness usually defending the approaches of all sanctuaries, in which, as holiest of holy tabernacles, the Lords* and Grods of heaven, in heaven, choose, at certain periods, to retire ; we shall humbly select a mode of access, which will most probably put us in possession
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140 THE WORD.
of a conjecturaP key; partly formed from reliable data, and partly from deductions, gathered at the purest of legitimate springs.
We conclude, therefore, in the first place, that, having met in such a celestial tabernacle, infinitely beyond the bounds, at which all celestial powers and principalities were unac- countably forced, submissively to check their way : —
Divine communications were interchanged between the Triune^ Grods, relatively to the character and extent of the mischief already done, the vindictive, although^ subservient, Satanic perpetrator's further resources, his malicious designs, the number of angels already tainted, and the just retribu- tions to be mercifully, yet not less impartially, awarded* from the worst to the least guilty, of those haplessly unpardon- able offenders.
HOLY TABERNACLE OF THE TRIUNE CHRISTIAN GODHEAD.
Oh ! the infinitude of that Almighty Counsel of Grrace ! Divinely foretold, and foreordained, all-embracing compassion ! Total destruction, deemed unavoidable, graciously converted into glorious existence, never-ending, and imiversal !
So we find, throughout those consecrated and frequently quoted portions of the scriptural records we daily read.
Por there you may, as plainly as we do, " mark, learn, and inwardly digest " that the Lord Almighty God is said, by the Apostle Paul in his Epistle to the Ephesians, to be —
THE WORD. 141
A " Grod who is rich, in mercy"; and further on, adding in his own words —
" For by grace are ye saved through faith."
" We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works ; which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them."
" For through Him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father."
" Now therefore, ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens mth the saints, and of the household of God."
" Unto me ... is the grace given, that I should . . . make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which, from the beginning of the world, hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ."
" According to the eternal purpose, which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord."
" Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named :
" That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might, by His Spirit in the inner man ;
" That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith ; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, .
" May be able to comprehend with all saints, what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height ;
" And to know the Love of Christ, which passeth know- ledge ; that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God '' (Ephes. ii. ; iii.). (See page 149.)
142 THE WORD.
FINAL SCHEMEi OF UNIYERSAL SALTATION, AS
PREORDAINED 2 BY THE MOST
HOLT TRINITY.
Having stated (as we felt ourselves morally and religiously called to do) what we conscientiously conceived to be the truth, according to our private unbiassed study of the Scriptures, where they more particularly concerned the sacred subjects, alluded to in the foregoing pages, we hope that some share of Christian indulgence will be granted to us, considering our purely benevolent motives : —
If, humbly imitating our enviable forerunners, Milton, Young, and Hervey, we abandon, for a while, the reins of our over-excited mind, to the description of fervent trances and visionary transports, whereby we have really seen, most of the wonders which we represent.
Perseveringly as we have striven to define, throughout this work, to all our friends, the genealogical ties existing between spmtual and human beings (our former selves), from the well- known expulsion of the former, into the incarnation of the latter, we cannot consider our task completed, until we have attempted to give some humble accounts also, of the first existence of our heavenly Father, the Almighty Creator of us all ; not omitting, in their appropriate places, to bestow, furthermore, some suitable allusions to that parent of evil, from whom so many blessings have been transferred to us, which he maKciously intended to be, the infallible causes of our utter and eternal destruction.
THE WORD. 143
In the Holy Trinity, why is "None Afore or After Other" ?
It cannot but be confessed that sucb an important dogma as this, stationed, as it were, with several others equally im- portant, at the sacred^ portal of our Divine dicta and in- spired evangelical truths, should be a valuable security offered, that the contents of these pages have been rendered, as worthy of trust as our holy references could enable us to make them.
Our ever-present Guide and Monitor knows, as God only knows, how anxiously we have endeavoured to perform our Christian task ; how faithfully we are striving to end it well.
This part is intended, further to light up, what might still appear insufficiently expounded ; to render more obvious, what might still be considered erroneous or rash ; to mora- lize,^ to theologize and fertilize^ the whole, under the Divine assistance of the Holy Spirit, so as to meet the approbation of that Almighty and Merciful God, of whose only gift it cometh,* that His faithful people do unto Him true and laud- able service.
We are not consequently, through pusillanimous fears, un- becoming devoted servants of the cross, about to abstain from
144 THE WORU.
examining the intrinsicalness of the validity of superan- nuated' doctrines, founded on exaggerated interpretations of Mosaic dispensations and imaginary^ theosophisms.
Down to this period of our Christian churches ; by which we intend to signify all manners of worship, the unique object of which is the service of Grod, in His triune theocracy of the most holy Christian^ Trinity ; we respect equally all those believers, who honestly and piously attend to the sacred duties of their respective creeds.
Again and again, we therefore repeat it. All sincere Christians, whatever their sectarian principles* may be, who act as morally and religiously as they profess to believe, are proportionately well approved of Grod ! Their individual rewards will be meted unto them, according to the extent of their Christian zeal, and the purity^ and perfection of their faith.
" None is Afore or After Other."
Why, then, does the Lord declare that He is Eternal and Almighty, the only true God ?
And why does the same Lord declare, furthermore, that His Son was begotten by Himself before all worlds, thus acknowledging that Jesus Christ, our All-Sufficient Redeemer and infinitely merciful Savioui^, was twice begotten, in heaven first, and next in earth ?
We cannot help conceiving this to be, the master-key with which, by the gracious permission of our omnipotent heavenly
THE WORD. 145
Father, we may be spiritually enabled, partly to unlock the Holy of holies, wherein the miraculous secret of our forgive- ness and salvation, so long, has been purposely hid.
That which might be an ineffable mercy, at one time, at another, might be a most calamitous curse.
Any primeval " angehcal" knowledge^ of ihe Divine pro- creation of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, during the earlier eternities of His Almighty Father's kingdom, must have destroyed the wonderful results, which His preordained second generation, so happily and so successfully pro- duced.
The two conceptions, irrespectively of their equally Divine origin, must have been totally different as to their natures : "the first," purely and wholly spiritual; "the second," materially human and mortal, with the supernatural addi- tional gift, for inconceivably^ merciful purposes, of the faculty of resuscitation.
That there was, at some considerably anterior portion of that infinite time (which we frequently misname Eternity^) ; that there was a fatal moment, during which, a most insi- diously contagious " core of evil," became engendered, in some way or other, for the purpose of imperceptibly taint- ing, the heretofore immaculate purity of the heavenly spirits, cannot be for a single moment doubted. And to the Omni- scient " I AM," the Eternal Jehovah, that immensely* preg- nant fact was, from the Beginning, most minutely known — not merely known, but by Him sanctioned to a triumphantly glorious end, full of inexhaustible grace.
146 THE WORD.
It was known, furthermore, by the everlasting Author of all things in heaven and earth, that :
In His unlimited, universal realms, beauteous and perfect, as He had originallv created them ; awfully prejudicial, nay, vastly destructive, to the coimtless myriads of ethereal beings, who were inhabiting them, there had been, there were still, unmistakable signs and tokens of nascent impurities, and growing banes, which He felt it indispensable to check, and ultimately to annihilate.
A FEW MOEE INDISPENSABLE THEOLOGICAL INQUIRIES.!
Since we solemnly engage to promulgate nothing anta- gonistical that, in any respect whatever, may seem ^ to militate against the Christian faith, such as it is, at the present time professed to be, both by the clergy and the pious laity ; we fearlessly proceed, in our well-intentioned dissemination of, those scriptural^ discoveries in particular, which serve more materially to increase the reasonable hope we entertain, through grace, of being ultimately saved, all in turn ; when our individual ordeals and punishments shall have been proportionately endured,* according to the impar- tial awards of infinitely benevolent Justice.^
Patient and unbiassed meditations, on the pristine state of the kingdom of heaven, as far as it may be attainable, by
THE AVORD. 147
retrogressive thoughts, for that especial purpose, must con- sequently be expected to fill a few of the forthcoming pages.
EXISTENCE OF SATAN: A DIVINE ACT OF MOST MERCIFUL 1 RETRIBUTION.
So terrible "a presence as that of Satan" and his subor- dinates,^ in the very midst of the celestial hosts, could not have happened, considering the gracious^ nature of Grod's most manifold attributes of goodness, each separately repre- sented in the most holy Trinity, without its being an act of " additional grace " in favour of man.*
For who is God ? What is lie ?
Not only that omnipotent Ruler, under whose irresistible commands all things and beings bow, submissive, and obey, whatever their inclinations may be :
But also, that Almighty Creator, whose word or thought alone can make and unmake worlds, — ay, countless systems of worlds, as easily as He can create or destroy motionless atoms, and crawling, next-to imperceptible, mites.
He is that glorious Messiah, our devoted Brother in Grod, who, soon or late, will triumphantly save and restore^ to everlasting happiness again, the whole of the human race (our o"WTi angelic brethren), and ourselves.
He is our all-sufficient, sin and death-conquering Re- deemer.
He is, in short, that eternal Alpha and Omega; the mighty Jehovah; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Grhost, by whom
148 THE WORD.
were, most compassionately,^ most paternally, evoked from utter nothingness,^ all the powers of hell, and the numberless evils of this probatory earth, at the remotest existence of time, the more thoroughly and appropriately ^ to purify, sanctify, ransom, and save, all the fallen souls of heaven and earth : (not a single * one allowed to be lost) .
^
Yery simple reasonings will go very far to prove, in connexion with apostolic revelations, and evangelical testi- monies,^ that our, seemingly bold, foregoing deductions respecting the origin of evil, and the " divinely preordained transitory^ being" of Satan, are rational conclusions, drawn from the purest of dogmas.
Grod eternally was, is, and will everlastingly be, an omniscient King of kings, and Almighty Ruler of all.
The Lord eternally was, is, and will be, the universally confessed Omnipotent Creator of all visible and invisible things, animate or not, material or not.
The Divine attributes of the holy Trinity, besides being incalculable as the sands on the seashore, infinitely surpass, in charitableness and parental love, all other Divine attributes ever known.
Consequently, the infinitely benevolent Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, His only Son, begotten before all worlds, for mercy's sake ; could create, and did create, for mercy's sake likewise, before those worlds also, all the powers of hell, and
THE WORD. 149
the unclean spirits of heaven and earth; the whole co-operation of which, He well foreknew that He should require (for periods only known to Himself) in the glorious scheme of redemption and salvation, which He furthermore foreknew, that He had predetermined from everlasting to prepare.
May not this, very naturally and logically, be a reasonable solution of a vast number of scriptural problems, which have, for ages past, induced wretched imbelievers to persist in their fatal incredulities and doubts ?
TRIUNE CONFERENCEi OF THE MOST HOLT CHRIS- TIAN TRINITY: ITS MOST MERCIFUL RESULTS.
The Divine conference, held by the infinitely compassionate Christian Trinity, in the sacred Persons of the Three, so eminently, so boundlessly^ charitable, but justly offended Gods, conversing, parentally, filially, and fraternally,^ with solemn reference to the proportionate indispensable punish- ments, to be forthwith inflicted on those prodigal sons, many of them already lost, and many, evidently and unavoidably,* following the same unpardonable course, besides vast numbers of future delinquents, foreknown ^ to be the next victims, of irresistible temptations, purposely permitted, resolved itself, no doubt, into an Almighty grace-fraught tribunal, and unanimously decreed the adoption of the probable subsequent scheme : —
Temporal production of Satan and his infernal courts ; of
150 THE WORD.
moral and religious evil, and of future long-protracted carnal death ;
Celestial and terrestrial government of the angelic, spi- ritual, and human races ; and unlimited control over all the powers of hell, sin, and death, entrusted entirely to Jesus Christ and the Holy Grhost ;
Temporal expulsion of the rebellious angels from heaven, until adequately tried first, by human temptations, tribula- tions, ordeals, and sufferings on the earth, till the great day of universal judgment ;
Creation of the world next, for temporal purposes of mercy, exclusively devoted to Divine operations of redeeming and saving grace ;
Miraculous and wholly merciful formation of man ; and most significative extraction of Eve ;
The separate Creation of Eden ;
The unavoidable Flood ; necessitating the gracious regene- ration of a probatory race, yet too unwise and stubborn, gratefully to comprehend the meaning and extent of their heavenly Father's infinite love, and disiDOsition to forgive ;
Immaculate,^ terrestrial conception, and second glorious nativity of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, the sacredly- promised Redeemer, and eternally ^ preordained omnipotent Judge, of all the fallen souls of repentant^ angels and men ;
Indispensable and complete* Atonement, through cruci- fixion, voluntarily sufi'ered by the Son of God, for the ransom of all in heaven and earth, from the first to the last of the
THE WORD. 151
mercifiillj-sanctioned human incarnations of the angelical hosts.
Further than this, we abstain from describing/ although we are firmlj convinced, that all we have written is perfectly true. In words, we may here and there exaggerate ; we may also fall short, at various times, in our appreciation of testimonies, solemn declarations, and prophecies ; but our meanings, despite their logical constructions, always lead, from authentic data, to sound and intrinsic solutions.
We, nevertheless, most j)ositively declare, relying entirely on our knowledge, and long^ experience of Divine goodness and equity that, after judgment,^ when the souls of the elect and forgiven, in Jesus Christ, shall have received permission to return to " their original station " among the greeting ranks of the joyful angels :
The respited,* through Divine clemency, will be transferred to other appropriate worlds, in the starry universe f there to suffer new tribulations, and expiatory sufferings, for centuries ; it may be, for eternities^ more, according to their finaP ver- dict : (promised infallible salvation awaiting them, like the rest, in the redeeming name, and for the sake of our com- passionate Lord, and Almighty God, the eternal King) .
But unless our " angelic origin " be clearly established, as we humbly presume, it has been, our own original sinfulness in the garden of Eden cannot be sufficiently evident, to produce equivalently good converting effects.
152 THE WORD.
It was consonant, no doubt, with the infinitely wise pur- poses of Providence that Christians should, for a time more or less protracted, see through a glass darkly ; but, as we draw daily, nay, hourly, nearer to the great day of final assize, it seems strongly apparent that the minds of reflecting men, through existing spiritual inspiration, should be di'awn gradually nearer and nearer to the full discovery of the blessed sacred truth.
We are now, indeed, being enlightened by the Divine influence of that Holy Grhost so graciously sent among us from above !
Woe unto those who refuse to continue their Christian pro- gress by the light of such a guide ! Their pilgrimage will be found having many and many stages more of tribulations and ordeals to journey through, before they can reach that glorious harbour, in reserve sooner or later, for us all.
•5S-
What can possess Christian ministers and other would-be- deemed just, pious, and charitable souls, during their private and public ministrations, when they insist^ on representing the Most High in the awful light of : —
An implacable, unforgiving, jealous, and revengefuP Judge?
Such an impious assumption, is nothing more nor less than a wicked exhibition of the worst bigotry ; when it does not exhibit the apparent contrivances of venal men, who, hke the Pharisees and Scribes of old, make marketable use of the
THE WORD. 153
terrors of hell, to exact ^ from over-credulous believers ransom moneys and propitiatory fees.^
Such uncharitable threats were never used by Grod the Father, nor by Grod the Son, nor by Grod the Holy Ghost, except on unavoidable^ occasions, when the callous, the obdu- rate, the frightfully benighted hearers of yore understood no gentler terms.
Is terrifying meek and humble, mercy-seeking, penitent transgressors into despair, the way to bring back " wandering sheep," into our deep and most adorable Saviour's flocks ?
A time there must have been, antecedently to the birth of Christ ; and even for a few centuries subsequent to that sacred birth ; when amongst the Jews, as well as amongst Pagans and Grentiles, a kind of convenient mythological* Atheism^ being purposely allowed to prevail, populations knew not, religiously speaking, what they did.
It was during those sad years of incipient^ earthly proba- tion ; so necessarily repeated, so mercifully preordained to be what they were ; experimental ' ordeals, progressively advancing towards that ne plus ultra of true and perfect faith, the wor- ship of God in the Most Holy Trinity, that.
When St. John the Baptist announced the advent of the Messiah, the most obstinate incredulity, deridingly received the happy and joyful tidings, with the most sacrilegious scofis. No- thing less hostile, than this cruel and oppressive reception, could have met the omniscient views of all-foreseeing^ Providence.
M
154 THE WORD.
The most uncharitable acts of hierarchical persecution ; the most fanatical deeds of sacerdotal tyranny had, from ever- lasting, been decreed as, the unavoidable doom, which the Redeemer and Saviour of the human ^ race was' unsparedly to undergo, and that doom, furthermore, was, "by the will of God," to be most severely inflicted on no other, but the only- begotten and beloved Son of that Very God, the Almighty Father of us all.
Such being the irrevocable fiat of the unchangeable^ great Lord of lords. King of kings, and God of gods, where v/as the deicide* sacrifice " redeemingly " to be "most graciously and divinely^ authorised"?
Amongst the Jews, and by the Jews ! For were not the Jews the first human incarnations of fallen souls, mercifully'' sanctioned by the Almighty God, in His miraculous creation of Adam and Eve ?
And may not those fallen souls have been the least guilty of the angelic spirits, which the justly'^ ofiended Lord found it right to banish vsdth the apostate archangel from Paradise ? Oh, yes ; they must have been so ! The whole of the Jewish nation were, and are, and will be, until it pleaseth the Almighty, through Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost, to en- lighten their purposely^ benighted understandings ; they were, and are, and will be, to the last of their tribe, the guiltier and guiltiest souls to whom Divine leave was graciously granted to incarnate. And let us charitably add :
That they were, to an inconceivable^ extent, instrumental auxiliaries in the infinitely merciful scheme of universal sal-
THE \VORD. 155
vation, preordained and carried on, during the excruciating existence of perfect atonement, which our devoted Redeemer had so charitably, so sympathizingly, engaged to undergo.
For, indeed ; and most sacredly true it is, 0 beloved, ador- able Grod of heaven ; graciously made man, by Thine own most^ miraculous paternal will : —
They knew^ not that Thou wast their affectionate Brother, graciously missioned by Thy own heavenly^ Self, under a temporary human form, to save them : —
They knew not, in their incarnated state, that, having formerly — that is, eternities back — long offended their Al- mighty God, in heaven, "Thy Divine* Self;" compelled by impartial Justice, that Almighty Grod had driven them indig- nantly from His presence, with the malignantly cruel, jealous,^ and revengeful, meniaP Deceiver, who had subserviently cor- rupted and misguided them ; as a fit chastisement, for the purpose of a general, indispensable retributive regeneration ; the merciful end'' of which was most mysteriously withheld from their knowledge : —
They knew not, that, through Thy persevering, all-suffi- cient propitiation and intercession, 0 Lord Omnipotent of Infinite Grace, Thou hadst, from the very* commencement of Thy Christian existence, obtained Divine permission® ulti- mately to redeem and to save them.
And consequently it was, in unsuspected^" submission and obedience to preordained decrees, that Pilate condemned Thee, and that the chief priests and officers cried out, saying, " Crucify Him, crucif}^ Him ! " —
M 2
156 THE WORD.
And that Thou, the sovereign, immaculate Source of all Mercy, Justice, and Truth,^ saidst to Thy Father, " Forgive them ; for they know not what they do."
APPARENTLY^ RATIONAL DEDUCTIONS, RESPECTING
THE ANTECHRISTIAN STATE OF THE
ALMIGHTY JEHOVAH'S PRIMEVAL MONOCRASY.
It will seem scarcely credible, no doubt, to a great number of our readers, that, in the immeasurably extensive celestial monarchy, over which had reigned, for eternities past, " abso- lute^ and alone" the mighty Lord of hosts, material as well as ethereal imperfections* should have long existed. But it was so, nevertheless.
It will further seem scarcely probable that, in such a monarchy, beings far from spotless, animate^ as well as in- animate, should long have been occupying their appointed places for predetermined periods, to pass away, turn by turn, at that most inconceivable Ruler's irresistible fiats, as defec- tive agents'^ and experiments, no longer worthy to be tried. Yet it certainly so happened : for thus'^ declareth Holy Writ.
The, now sufficiently^ ascertained, preadamic states of our own earth, enable us to form satisfactory conjectures, whereby to solve many of those heretofore obscure points, which im- pious sceptics brandished in their own defence, whenever they blasphemously called the fundamental truths, on which our most holy faith is founded, a ridiculous^ fable ; and all those who believe in it credulous dupes, or weak imbeciles.-^^
It cannot be irrelevant to our subject, for us to suppose
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157
that celestiaP eras elapsed, during the incomputable chrono- logy of heaven's eternity, when envious archangelic powers, against equally rebellious other powers, alternately warred with each other, to obtain that Divine supremacy, which the Almighty Jehovah had everlastingly claimed, and most legitimately swayed.
Let this be kindly accepted, in this suitable place, as a fair datum, to which we may find it necessary, further on, to invite your attention by way of useful corroboration.
At the momentous crisis which we have here expressly selected, it is imagined (not without having most scrupulously consulted scriptural revelations of undeniable sacredness, and from the best of sources) that, having thoroughly quelled, most efiectively awed, and entirely subdued, for temporaP periods. He alone could protract or shorten, all the hostile spirits,^ which until then had dared to disturb the peace and happiness of His realms, the Omnipotent Eternal resumed His absolute undivided Grodhead.*
But, so omniscient a mind as that of our Lord, so ubi- quitously penetrating a "single glance of His, could not fail to detect the latent evil, still lurking among myriads of other angels and spirits, discontentedly wandering about the heavenly courts.
And this, the Almighty, having detected, He mercifully determined (universally, and for ever) to annihilate.
Therefore, to that miraculous effect, a sudden resolve pre-
158 THE WOKD.
dominating, the Lord God of gods, the King of kings, to infinite grace yielding, and by boundless love overcome, instantly designed to be (for the future never-ending peace and happiness, of numberless kingdoms, hereafter to be created) the Eternal and Almighty Father, of an Eternal and Almighty Son : regarding all other necessary^ Divine attri- butes equal to Himself.
With this glorious object in view, the mighty Lord Jehovah first evoked, from within the prolific inmost womb of im- mensity, a subservient^ fiend, by myriads of demons escorted ; himself above all, in wiles the worst and most artful, deeply versed ; a living store of hate, malice, and envy ; a personi- fication of implacable revenge ; a most inveterate foe to every feeling and sign of holiness, sacred love, and pure adoration :
When, crouchingly obedient to that awful mandate,
Satan surged, and, bending low before his di'eaded Master, stood, the "miraculous^ embodiment" of all those imperfec- tions and impurities which had so long contaminated and disfigured the celestial abodes, and which
The soon forthcoming* Messiah would have, by delegated Divine power, to conquer, and at last totally to destroy.
Not long it was after these heavenly wonders (adopting spiritual chronological terms ^) before the Holy Ghost, whose presence was indispensably necessary, as cotemporary with our intended Saviour, "before all worlds," proceeded from the Father and the Son, to assist in the preordained universal annihilation of celestial evil and subsequent terrestrial sin, which were to be accomplished by Divine redemption and
THE WOKD. 159
salvation, according to "the Word," from the beginning; for " in the Holy Trinity none was, or ever will be, afore, or after other."
"So THE WHOLE ThREE PeRSONS ARE CoEQUAL TOGETHER AND CoETERNAL."
Such a miracle, as the theocratic Grodhead of the Almighty Jehovah's being " di\dsible," should not perplex would-be. Christian philosophers, in any respect.
A kind of carno-spiritual and temporal trinity " exists in man," and will^ exist for ever in him, through human life, death, and final resurrection, comprising his body, mind, and soul.
This triunely complex Being, or single bodied triple union of physical, mental, and spiritual powers, only needs an additional quahty, that of individual self-divisibility, to be (humanly speaking) a most formidable phenomenon, whose terrestriaP attributes, as an earthly king, not one of us could possibly define.
The foregoing kind of syllogism has been used, noscit Deus, to render the miraculous fiat, involving boundless grace, operated through the most holy Trinity (our sheet-anchor of ultimate Universal Salvation), all the more intelligible and conclusively evident.
He THEREFORE THAT WILL BE SaVED, MUST NEEDS BECOME AN ENTIRELY DeVOTED SeRVANT OF GrOD.*
Long-protracted woe betides those who will not be so, during their merciful pilgrimage on this probational earth !
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We humbly presume to be sufficiently learned in Holy Writ to tell tbem that, do what they may, there is but one road, that leadeth *' back " to Paradise ; and through " that road " must all, at last, that ever lived ; aU now living, all who will ever live on this earth, piously and penitently, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, wend their way.
And midway, as it were, let them incessantly bear it in mind, a "love-set^ bourn," between heaven and earth, marks the zealous Believer's path. And the love that fixed it was that of Jesus Christ, our own beloved Brother in God.
That "bourn," at first, is not seen; but any Christian Pilgrim, thither fervently bent, cannot choose but follow the comforting Guide standing by, our ever-present Friend, who joyfully and triumphantly conducts each recovered prodigal Son, to the radiant welcome of his all-forgiving Father, the great Lord of hosts.
Let us, in support of this most infallible accomplishment of the Almighty's bounteous scheme of imiversal Salvation, as the glorious fruit of our all-sufficient redemption, gratefully quote the following exultation : —
" Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good- will towards men !"
And further ask : Who was praising God in this way ? Who was saying such comforting words ? — ^promising such mercies to man ?
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It was not our Lord Jesus Christ, for He was wrapped up in swaddling clothes, and lying in a manger.
It was an angel, attended by a multitude of the heavenly hosts — the angel of the Lord : that angel, the Holy Ghost, who said unto the Virgin Mary, " Fear not ; for thou hast found favour with Grod."
Who, on the face of this earth, seeing that mercy-begotten Babe, hearing those enraptured angels, by myriads of myriads assembled, adore Him, and sing the Almighty Father's praise, could refrain, at that moment, singing aloud likewise, from pole to pole : —
" Gj-lory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good- will toward men " ?
Can you doubt, for example, dear reader, that " words like these," bespoke, most unmistakably, universal salvation ?
Where is the want of Omnipotence to accomplish such an infinite act of grace ?
There He is, the eternal King, the glorying Father of that Child, the merciful Parent of us all, in the boundless heavens ; on His everlasting throne ; with might irresistible at His command; and powers, and dominions devotedly repeating : —
" Glory to God in the higliest. Now and for evermore !"
DIYINE IMPOSSIBILITIES; NOTi PROBABLE. We have already noticed this, to many, most amazingly incredible^ declaration.
162 THE WORD.
To oiu'selves nothing just, impartial, and merciful is, in the smallest degree, doubtful, which emanates from God.
Indeed, we always feel more eagerly disposed to ponder over, and tenaciously to strive at unravelling, "mysterious^ words," having the Almighty, or His beloved Son, for their Author, than we are usually inclined to attach importance to the apparently^ necessary scrutiny of Scriptural passages and expressions, which the generality of readers, from their comparative lucidity, readily believe.
This persistence, in our frequently-repeated former at- tempts, to dive into the sacred arcana of secrets, which we were not yet calculated fitly to decipher, became as frequently and fortunately abortive.^ We humbly confess that, until now, it principally was an unholy curiosity that prompted our endeavours to remove the intentionally mysterious cur- tain ; presumption and vanity were then our exclusive motives.
Grod be praised ! we have now considerably passed that dangerous period of human literary pride, during which, egregiously mistaken men foolishly labour to obtain worldly renown, and, very rarely get, adequate pecuniary reward.
It seems consistent, as we proceed in our present task, for us reverently to conceive that the probability is exceedingly* great, that the angelic mother, who gave birth (before all worlds) to the Son of God, in heaven, must have been the same mother whose own^ soul, previously incarnated, prepara- tory to a terrestrial nativity (as the infant Virgin Mary), miraculously assumed, in due time, the natui'e and properties indispensable to be (when the Holy Ghost should appear as
THE WORD. 163
preordained) the earthly mother of our dear Redeemer and all-forgiving Saviour.
Ceasing to be spiritual and^ Divine for a season, as the daughter of Joachim, and the subsequent immaculate wife of Joseph, she was made conscious of the operation graciously renewed within her, only by the vivifying^ annunciation of the angel of Grod, purposely sent by her Almighty Lord and Creator.
Influenced by such enthusiastic sentiments of irresistible^ Christian faith, how could we refrain from gratefully per- ceiving the infinite goodness of God in every separate line and word of those portions of the Testaments which were, to our rapidly awaking mind, like communications expressly* sent to us from above.
At the first mention made in the Bible of the " self-consti- tuted triple^ Grodhead of the Most High; in which was so manifestly comprised the glorious martyrdom and death of our blessed Saviour ; we could not help remarking an incessant accomplishment of all-atoning and all-absorbing predesti- nated^ grace.
Nothing has seemed obscure, nothing doubtful, of late,^ to our singularly expanded imagination on that amazingly pregnant subject, the perfect regeneration and infallible salva- tion of all human souls.
Our retrospective scrutinies of the past; our scrupulous analyses of the present ; our prophetically^ supernatural an-
164 THE WORD.
ticipations of the future ; all combine occasionally to display, before our enraptured thoughts, heavenly scenes of universal felicity, w^hich none^ but an Omniscient and Omnipotent Eternal Trinity could have willed, and could achieve.
MOST MERCIFUL^ SIGNIFICATION OF "BEFORE ALL WORLDS."
Primeval states must have been known, to the primitive Bouls and intelligences, of originaP spirits and angels, omnipo- tently governed, under primitive laws, expressly adapted, by our own actual* Grod, at the most^ inconceivably remote birth
of time.
By "primeval states" is furthermore to be understood'
celestial kingdoms, and individual existences suitable to the
government of a monotheistic ^ Grodhead reigning over all —
gods, spirits, and angels.
An Eternal Grodhead, possessing, consequently then, within its all-sufficient, single Essence the whole of those attributes of might, justice, and boundless mercy, which jt possesses, at this present moment, under the " Christian " tritheistic title of Gl^od the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost.
This reasonable and orthodox'' definition of that primeval Godhead of the everlasting Lord of lords, Jehovah, the Most High, being devoutly confessed, it remains to be admitted, with equal pious ^ confidence, that the primitive angels and spirits existing in a probationary ® ethereal form, in those mono-
THE WORD. 165
tlieistic antemundane eras, need not have been, any other than ourselves, " now poor earthly mortals," undergoing our final ordeals.
Our Almighty and Everlasting God, therefore, knowing perfectly well, from everlasting, what He had already done, and foreknowing equally well, what His omniscient Will and Word had purposely and long preordained to do, gradually to impart future wisdom, knowledge and experience (through trials and temptations), by Him considered the best instruc- tion of all, to the creatures for whom He had originally created all things —
Delivered the whole of those kingdoms, principalities, and dominions to the archangels, seraphim, and spirits of His innumerable hosts, to be governed by them according to immutable heavenly laws, which were, as He solemnly decreed, to be for ever and ever observed.
Then, after blessing His happy and beloved family with an infinitely gracious Grod's benignest of smiles, that " EtemaP Author of Peace and Lover of Concord," " the Fountain of all Goodness," our own present everlasting Father —
Seeing that " All was^ good" —
Majestically rose, amidst myriads of glorying choirs, to resume His throne of boundless might and majesty, love and grace.
Over-scrupulous ^ reverence, too humbly exercised during our anxious endeavours obediently * to reach the full meaning of figurative language ; so frequently recurring in Holy Writ ;
166 THE WORD-
when we are earnestly reading, marking, learning, and in- wardly digesting the Scriptures, should never be :^
For our blessed Lord most evidently caused all holy commu- nications from above, whether in plain terms, or in parables and mystic revelations ; not excepting prophecies, to be written^ for our edification and instruction ; that by patience and comfort of His Holy Word, we might embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life.
Indolent, apathetic readers, alas ! there are many, never- theless, who spend their useless^ lives in listlessly reading their Bibles, without caring in the least to know the Divine, the gracious* object of what they read.
They neither mark the sacred precepts which they meet, to learn " more profitably " how to apply their right meanings ; nor do they inwardly digest, by dihgently searching and studying them, their Almighty God's merciful motives, and His most graciously^ mysterious ends.
And yet that God has said, " Ask, and it shall be given you ; seek [which is ' search '], and ye shall find ; knock, and it shall be opened unto you " (Matt. vii. 7).
" In the Beginning."
When the Omnipotent Jehovah, through goodness* incon- ceivable, and boundless beyond all measure, first '^ begat a Son ; it most evidently was for a godly purpose ; and that godly
THE WORD. 167
purpose, " before all worlds," must infallibly have been no other but one of infinite Christian^ grace.
Such a purely pious conclusion is consistently and rea- sonably arrived at, through a series of deep meditations full fraught with sentiments of " most^ unlimited Christian faith."
Did not the Most High declare, from the clouds, at the miraculous baptism of that self-same only-begotten Son, after His second^ advent, for purposes of additional grace, that, "He was His beloved Son, in whom He was well pleased"? (Luke iii. 21.)
Well, that God of very Grod was Jesus Christ, before all worlds, as positively so as the divinely foretold Infant Jesus was, in this world, the divinely announced only-begotten Son of Grod, miraculously incarnated of Grod, within the virgin- womb* of the immaculate Mary, divinely" predestinated from everlasting to be, for evermore, acknowledged as —
The infinitely^ blessed and pre-elected mother of the " God- of-God "-Eedeemer, and — -
The " Yery-God-of-very-God-Saviour," by whom all the fallen souls of angels and men, past, present, and future, shall be saved.
" God, of the Substance of the Father, begotten be- fore THE World ; and Man, of the Substance of His Mother, born in the World."
No one, after this, in his right senses, will any longer object, most reverently, to accept, as sacredly true, the Divine
168 THE WORD.
statement, wliich so emphatically alludes to a " conception " of the Son of God before all worlds, and " another conception " of the same Son of the same God in this world.
Whereby we firmly infer (as we have already endeavoured to show) that, both the mothers, in both cases, must have been, one and the same mother ; at one time, spiritual and immortal ; at another, incarnated, and perishable, of the same only Son, by the same unique and Almighty Father.
INQUIRIES ARISING FROM THE FOREGOING ASSUMPTIONS.
Why was the presence of Jesus Christ, required so^ early in the primeval heavens by that same Almighty Father who, most sacredly, since then, acknowledged Himself (not only by His own solemn declarations, but, moreover, by those of His prophets and apostles, on this earth) as indispensably^ requiring that very presence again, as well^ as that of the Holy Ghost?
A clearer evidence could not possibly be furnished that the Lord God had, " in the beginning," ascertained through His eternally and ubiquitously gathered experience, that, too early* a knowledge of evil, would prove next to irremediably inju-
THE WORD. 169
rious, to the innocent existences, of those guileless creatures, with whom He had primitively peopled His original^ king- dom, than
The care he took to prevent " all access," during the experi- mental- eras. He had, from the beginning, clearly and irre- vocably fixed, (but now drawing to their termination), ay, and most evidently too, than
The paternal care He took, to prevent all access, to that most baneful and prolific root, of every imaginable temptation :
The dangerous^ knowledge of good and evil.
And, the preordained period having now just elapsed, for initiating His celestial family, long enough prepared, by un- tried submissive innocence, in the midst of bliss ; consequently untaught to deserve, as yet, their intended meed, by necessary trials ; He, their Omniscient Father, probably said —
" They shall now learn to be ' Gods ;' and, thereby, become worthy of entering into our Paradise of perfect happiness, which is to be finally, the everlasting celestial existence of all the intellectual creatures I have made ! ! ! "
On a sudden then —
Archangels, Seraphim, and Spirits ; those secret messengers of Love and Mercy, whose ready wings are never^ spread, save for the godly purpose, of conveying happy tidings, of present or^ future Grace ;
Quickly flew, to execute their mystic errands —
And—
Throughout the unconscious'' heavens,
Evil,
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In ten thousand times, ten thousand thousand hypocritically humble shapes/ and captivating forms, and alluring guises, among the unsuspecting celestial hosts, on prescribed^ mischief, subserviently rushed : their Leader unknown, as well as they !
This act, of inconceivably gracious goodness achieved,
Another, (infinitely more merciful and miraculous), con- temporaneously^ took place !
For,
That one was, an Act of inconceivably gracious Beneficence, greater than all, and immediately proceeding from God : —
The most compassionate Divine Conception, Birth, and Advent, of Jesus Christ, the Messiah, our own Lord.
To well-educated pious minds, that first Advent of our Redeemer among the Angels, of the primeval kingdoms of God, will infallibly suggest the commencement, of the devoted Messiah's most meritorious labours, in the preparatory opera- tions, deemed indispensable, for the accomplishment of the ensuing predetermined Scheme of Universal Salvation. So
that
It must now be sufficiently proved, that, previous to the
apparently fatal Fall, which We underwent, at the time
alluded to, in our primeval state, the Eternal Dispenser of all
things, past, present, and to be ; had deemed it Grood, Very
good indeed ; not only to preordain, by suitable Temptations,
our purgatorial Trials, in heaven ;
But furthermore :
THE AVORD. 171
Our Fall, and just expulsion from Paradise ;
"Without which,
Our infinitely Merciful incarnations, on this earth, with con- sequent, indispensable natnral deaths, could not reasonably have ensued.
For, Adam and Eve had never been graciously subjected again, in Eden, to an ordeal, which was so evidently to termi- nate in their transgression ; their second mercifully-intentional disgrace ; their temporal banishment ; and their own typical deaths.
Consequently, alas !
All 2^osf-mortem, additional ordeals, could not have been per- mitted ; and, appalling truth to tell !
The Grreat Judgment Day, with its most amply deserved condemnations, must have been irrevocably decisive and Eternal ; without any Divine merciful admission of final suffi- cient expiations, through the complete Atonement of an accepted Redeemer and Saviour.
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172 THE WORD.
EEVEEENTLY SPECULATIVE CONJECTUEES.
HUMBLE CONFESSION OF OUR AMBITIOUS LONGING FOR GRAPHIC POWERS,
EQUAL TO THE TASK WHICH WE ARE UNDERTAKING.
Ere we proceed therefore any further, in our attempt to give a descriptive tableau, of the wonders, which our enrap- tured imagination has, not unfrequently drawn, as a private edification, for our faithful soul —
Suffer us, fervently to seek the all-sufficient assistance of that " Ever-present Friend," from whom, all holy desires and good counsels do proceed.
*
And let us cast a long retrospective glance, over those apparently^ unoccupied, celestial realms, of ethereal intermin- able space.-
And, God willing, under the same Divine^ aid, let us moreover, through fair suppositions, and reasonably conse- quent deductions, carefully corroborated, by the best authen-
THE WORD.
173
ticated accounts, piously gleaned in Holy Writ, seek to establish, an uncontrovertible groundwork^ for our present, very legitimately fixed. Christian Belief.
Far from presuming to pass for a learned sage, touching theological philosophy, we most sincerely beg to be looked upon, as a common-place writer, honestly' loving God, and truly venerating holy men,^ and holy things.
Every word we indite, is indited, (the Lord is our Witness !) with the ardent hope, of being admitted to add, our humble mite of grateful praise, and heartfelt thanks, to those of the millions of generations, who have loved and worshipped, with perfect siacerity and truth, the Great God of all, in the name of Jesus Christ,* and the Holy Ghost.
So unselfish indeed are we, in these farewell^ efforts of ours, to render heaven, accessible again, and for ever, to those myriads of fallen souls, who once were^ there {i.e., your souls, readers, as well as our own) ; that we may be seriously endangering our individual chances of salvation, God for- bid! by attempting too'' confidently, perhaps, and philan- thropically, to prove that all, without exception, must, at last,® infallibly be saved.
PRIMEYAL ORGANIC RUDIMENTS OF EXPERIMENTALs CREATIONS.
What could fill universal vacuity, before all worlds ? . . .
God Almighty : the Eternal Lord of Hosts ! ! ! —
From whose everlastingly monotheistic, and Triune^" God-
174 THE WORD.
head, the organic rudiments, of all the embryo^ creations, were to proceed, which should be paternally used for the future succession of worlds and creatures, preordained to be gra- ciously tried,^ and ultimately to become, the pre-elected, eternally blessed kingdom of heaven: —
A Godhead, furthermore, which was, which is, — which will ever be : The "Word !
That "Word-God of God, Yery God of Yery God, our Almighty Creator ; infinitely merciful Father ; All-sufScient Redeemer and Saviour — and —
That ever-present Friend, here below, who even now counsels and guides us all ; that Holy Spirit of Truth, to whom, we ourselves owe* whatever may be found, in these humble pages, conducive, in any respect, to the increase of the everlasting praise, and honoui', and glory, of " Our Father, which is in heaven ! "
Hallowed be His holiest of holy names ! ! !
So was primeval vacuity filled, before all worlds.
" In the Beginning God created the Heaven AND THE Earth."
From various motives, not at all creditable, to the minds and hearts, of those unfortunate individuals, who act and speak, under such ungodly instigations : ^ many self-styled Christians there are, alas ! who, nevertheless, persist in deny- ing most bitterly whatever portion of the Holy Scriptures,
THE WORD. 175
they are not able to understand : be tbe words from tbe month ^ of Grod, or from that of inspired men.
Are we to forget (on such lamentable occasions), now especially that our better enlightened modern generations, are yearly being removed further and further from that period, mystically called (and most indubitably, for an infi- nitely wise and charitable purpose), "The Beginning" as well as " From everlasting ;" are we to forget, that —
In that very " Beginning," evil spirits were purposely sent ; and fallen angels, still unconverted, notwithstanding their mercifully permitted incarnations, were allowed, for a time, (and may still be allowed), to pervert truths most evident, and to disfigure facts, the most positive, to the end that, many of those lukewarm believers, many of them, wisely and inten- tionally rendered so, for their own separate welfare, as well as for that of others, shoidd continue in darkness, and thus unconsciously help to carry out the gracious ends of Provi- dence, towards the final edification of souls, spiritually under- going regeneration and sanctification, on their fortunate way back to their Grod ?
No ; we are not, above all things, to forget that most impor- tant and solemn "prophetical, and evangelical" Declaration:^
" But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction."^ (See also 2 Peter ii. 2—4.)
•3f
176
THE WORD.
Eatlier, in merciful pity, grant, 0 charitable heaven ? Even that, rashly overflowing with enthusiastic zeal, numbers of mistaken worshi2:ipers, should exceed all the reasonable bounds, of moral and religious exhibitions of ritual Faith, in their extravagant^ praise of the great Lord of lords ; and in their fanatical, their bigoted, ceremonial adoration of Jesus Christ—
Than permit fatal scepticism, with its diabolical doubts and delusions, to gain possession of their benighted souls ?
The awful consequence of such unmistakeable signs, of the most deplorable infidelity ; not only being, repeated^ deaths in this world ; but, in our intermediate^ states, and, after judg- ment,* a proportionate continuity of expiatory tribulations, and justly inflicted purgatorial retributions, which may far outlast, (according to our deserts), the longest^ eternity, which this world's most learned divines, could ever ascertain or conceive.
Notwithstanding which, " certainty " —
The Almighty Father's sacred words" of promise are as irrevocable, as His omnipotence is infinite, and His Christian Grace is all-sufiicient and true ; please to read, and inwardly digest the following most consolatory Declaration of ineffable Mercy : —
" Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord : though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow ; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool . . . for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it " (Isaiah i. 18).
It reasonably follows that :
The guiltiest '' apostate of all, whose dreadful sin, may have
THE WORD. 177
been, against the Holy Grbost ; shall, most^ infalHblj, be saved, at last !
"And the Spirit of God moved upon the Face OF the Waters."
The scriptural quotation, to which we here refer the reader, is very purposely aUuded to, that he may, all the more clearly comprehend, the importance of the object, which we had in view, when we thought it, indispensably necessary to suspend, for a while, our current observations,
What, indeed, could claim a greater attention, than the gracious paternity of Grod, from everlasting ; in conjunction with the equally sacred maternity of the immaculate Vii'gin ; and the Divine, as well as human lineage of Jesus Christ from everlasting? For the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it all — Was not Jesus " Gfod, of the Substance of the Father ; begotten before aU worlds ?" (See page 3.)
Our sacred Redeemer's being " Man of the Substance of His Mother, born in the world," cannot destroy the fact of His having been her Son also, "from everlasting;" since He could not have been immaculately begotten by that same Almighty Father in heaven, from any other mother than the pre-elected Virgin, in her primeval spiritual state.
Hence, we cannot help concluding that :
The Son and the Mother, " through infinite grace," both, rendered temporarily terrestrial, and made innocently mortal.
178 THE WORD.
voluntarily submitted, (bj devoted participation), to undergo earthly tribulations, and to suffer martyrdom, in the mysterious accomplishment of the most miraculous and gracious scheme of Universal Salvation.
How so inconceivable a Fact, for, it is a fact, (we feel unable to refrain from boldly repeating it), because the Lord, Him- self, hath, more than once, stated it ; how " such a fact," could have been adopted, imder the unquestionable light of a most sacred truth ; and transmitted most impressively to us, as a people, thereby to be, ultimately ransomed and saved ; ay, transmitted, during the lapse of thousands of centuries, until now, we cannot account for; only, by most reverently and gratefully adding ; that —
Our Grod's holy "Word "is as immutable and eternal, as His goodness is boundless ; His will omnipotent ; His Grace all-sufficient ; and His paternal love incomprehensibly vast.
For the Lord Almighty willed also, at that very time, " from everlasting," and " before all worlds,"
That human knowledge and wisdom, increasing among the sons of men, who were originally, as we are again, with them, to be, " the sons of God," a suitable, propitious, preordained time should come ; at which, ^
The Holy Spirit should be divinely commissioned, (through perfecting purposes of inexhaustible mercy), to enlarge the minds, and sanctify the souls of predestined servants of the cross, who, more than ever then, would be rendered piously disposed and resolutely determined, " at any risk," to remove all further obstacles, which might still obstruct the arduous
THE WORD. 179
way, along the, now, widening road, to the glorious kingdom of His well-beloved Son, Jesus Christ.
Had not the continaal presence of the Holy G-host among us; that invisible triunedeate government, indeed, of the Father and the Son, (carried on by the Holy Spirit), Himself proceeding from them both, been bequeathed to us, by the triumphant Saviour, on leaving His disconsolate disciples and faithful proselytes, our prospect of Universal Salvation, might have been perfectly unattainable.
It was that " infinitely merciful legacy," which completed our convictions ; when we first began to believe in the Divine existence of such an ineffable, unmerited grace.
For, we thereby instantly understood the origin, the pur- pose and extent of all the omnipotent ways of our Almighty Parent-King.
"We retrospectively saw, as it were, in unaccountable waking trances, the wonders of what we imagined to have been " Primeval Unique Godhead." That miraculous first " beginning " of heavenly powers, and creations ; that Word, who spiritually filled, with angelic inhabitants, Paradise, Eden, and the kingdom of Grod, and the everlasting mansions of the pre-elected sons of " our own Christian Father."
We saw the providential evocation of Satan ; the gracious temptations of the angels, and their fall ; preparatory to their redemption and final salvation.
180
THE WOKD.
As far as this portion of our discoveries, it was certainly an immense revelation, which we had been divinely allowed to make, and which we could not forego gratefully accepting, for the benefit of our fellow-creatm-es, in no less a degree than for our own.
It is not His own disciples, exclusively, whom, the blessed Redeemer left the Holy Grhost, to inspire, to guide, and to comfort, until judgment day. It is most evidently the Jews, also, the Grentiles, and the generations of the actual era ; and it is furthermore not only, until our great assize, but after judgment, when our condemnations and punishments shall have been awarded, that the same Holy Comforter, and ever- present Friend shall continually preside over us.
There mainly lies the infinite mercy of the all-sufficient scheme of Universal Salvation.
What else can signify, " until the end of all generations"?
Are God's eternal truths, and His sacred promises of mercy, from everlasting, to be doubted ; that the declarations of men, may be preferred ?
Admit that The Word was begotten, before all worlds — It follows, that it must have been an act of grace, evidently^ performed in behalf of those hapless angels, whose inability to withstand the preordained^ temptations awaiting them, during their celestial ordeals, would require a merciful Re- deemer on the future earth, and a series of indispensable regenerations, pm-ifications, and sanctifications, divinely^
THE WORD. 181
approved, through tlie intercession and propitiation of an AU- SufSeient Saviour, who was to be, in all respects, a perfect and complete atonement, for the salvation of all.
Admit, besides this, that The Word, "in the^ beginning," created the heaven and the earth ; Adam and Eve ; and all living things —
It follows, that it must have been, for the " sake of the spiritual hosts, which the Almighty would find it necessary, impartially to drive away, for^ ever, from His heavenly kingdom.
And it justly ^ follows, in the last place, that Adam and Eve, were to be the "fii'st of the fallen Spirits," (all of them being thoroughly well known to the omniscient wisdom of the Most High), who should experience the merciful eJ0Fects of His most benevolent mercy, according to the many proofs, which we have clearly furnished, in the foregoing as well as the following pages.
Such a universal blessing, as that miraculous commence- ment of general human incarnations, of which so convincing an example is graciously given to us in the creation of our first parents, could not have been better accomplished, by our omnipotent Grod, who is both infinitely just and good, than —
By the subsequent terrestrial existence of His well-beloved celestial Son ;
And therefore, in accordance with His irresistible will, most mysteriously fixed " from everlasting,"
182 THE WORD.
The Word, was, a second time, to be begotten.
An expiatory atonement was next, by a mercifully pre- ordained Deicide, to be cruelly yet intentionally, committed ;
Then, and last of all, a Day of Judgment ; as a most provi- dential consummation, should happen, perfectly unforeseen ; and —
Irrevocable verdicts, with their consequent acquittals or retributions, would most infallibly follow —
When — 0, unexampled, most inconceivable proof of infi- nite and all-sufficient Divine Grrace !
The whole human race (as centuries should elapse, by hun- dreds and by thousands ; in obedience to " final condemna- tions," never overruled), the whole human race, resuming their former angelic forms and states, each forgiven soul in turn, should ultimately serv' e to form that New Kingdom of God, which is to be, for evermore, the glorious inheritance of Jesus Christ, our beloved Redeemer, Saviour, and Eternal Lord.
"THERE IS BUT ONE LIYING AND TRUE GOD; EVER- LASTING, WITHOUT BODY, PARTS, OR PASSIONS."
It is perfectly evident, as a very plausible conclusion, that : Monotheistic Autocracy, must have been the Divine Grovern- ment, of the Antichristian^ Godhead, assumed by that Omni- potent, Omniscient, ubiquitous and Eternal Ruler, whose
Infinite power, wisdom, and goodness, as
THE WORD. 183
Creator and Preserver of all things, both visible and in- visible, to celestial eyes, maintained, from everlasting, the existence and harmony of the numberless wonders, spread throughout the vast infinitudes of His inconceivable and in- comprehensible realms.
The above quoted ex cathedra datum, authorises the fore- going most ^excusable conclusion, respecting the apparently positive "non-existence" of either Son, or Holy Grhost, as primarily necessary Triumdei, in that, (theretofore everlast- ingly), undivided Grodhead.
How happened it then, after an eternal lapse, of undis- puted, absolute sway, so described, a pantheistic^ mysterious Spirit, should have found it expedient,^ to transform His monocratic Godhead, (for a time^), into a most Holy Trinity, consisting, ever since the first celestial nativity of Christ, (our blessed Messiah), of "Three plainly revealed Persons": the Father, the Son, and the Holy Grhost ?
It happened, God Almighty be everlastingly praised and adored ! ! ! in consequence of an inefiable overflow of all-suffi- cient Divine* Sympathy and Grace.
For,
Retrospectively and presciently^ reflecting over the mira- culous past, present, and future creations, of His infinitely more miracidous power and wisdom, that Eternal Lord of lords, who so long had reigned alone, momentarily stopped under a sense ^ of pain, when,
184 THE WORD.
Sorrowfully contemplating the dieadful havoc, propagated by the presence of an^ Evil, until then unavoidably necessary, but, which it was now time to check, if it could justly be done, resolved to ponder over the lamentable crisis, so in- dispensably preordained. And,
That fatal crisis, alas ! dear Christian Brother, was, from^ everlasting.
The predecreed expulsion, of those still misguided^ angels, whose first expiatory* ordeals, in some former^ heavens, having been, a long series of temptations, had failed in their submission and faith, and again'' rebelled against their God : regardless of the Messiah's compassionate admonitions, and the friendly warnings of the Spirit of Truth ; both'^ endea- vouring to prevent their ruin.
Their doom, consequently, could not be revoked.
But the Eternal Jehovah,
"Whether, in His triune Unity, operating alone ;
Or, in His separate Holy Trinity, each Grod acting apart, is still, and will ever be, a great and glorious God ;
Whose compassion and grace, together united to Paternal Love, are ever on the watch, to stay Divine Justice, when the indispensable stripes, that impartial arm must inflict, may, by sufficient atonement, be set aside,
Through the incessant intercessions of
A Beloved Word,
Which, never sues in vain.
Let us add now, and we cannot deny that we do it, with- out the slightest fear of any really malevolent^ contradiction, save from —
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The pedantically doctrinal ; the venally ecclesiastical ; the illiterate or the bigoted ; let us add that :
When the actuaP kingdom of heaven, shall have recovered the total ^ presence of its primeval angelic hosts, including the countless myriads, so deservedly expelled by their indig- nant Lord, for their dreadful apostasy —
When, all further temptations shall have been completely withdrawn from this world, not excepting all other, post mortem^ probationary states; as it was, at the beginning, most sacredly preordained, by inexhaustible, all-sanctifying grace —
When evil and hell ; the arch-fiend, and his embodied de- ceits, iniquities, vices, and crimes ; shall have been extermi- nated, and totally swept away, from the paths of angels and men, according to Divine promises of old —
Then:
When, the last, and, the most^ obdurate transgressor of all, (let his sins have been as scarlet, and figuratively num- berless, as the sands, on the sea-shore^), when that subdued, weeping, broken-hearted^ transgressor, shall be heard, fer- vently, penitently and trustingly pouring out, the agonies of his soul, no matter where l'^ Through —
His acknowledged dear Redeemer's best and most effica- cious of prayers, by saying, in His name :
" Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name.
" Thy kingdom come.
" Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.
*' Grive me,^ day by day, my daily bread.
o
186 THE WORD.
" And forgive me my trespasses ; as I am now also most anxious to forgive every one that is indebted to me.
" And lead me no longer into temptation; but deliver me from evil." (See page 23.)
Then, and, not until then ! ! !
The Holy Grhost, triumphantly ascending to the joyful, glorying heavens, will proclaim :
Universal Salvation won !
Behold therefore,
0 infinitely blessed souls and spirits, of fallen^ angels and men !
The former heavens and worlds are, even^ now, passing away — for your sakes^ —
" They are being folded up as a vesture, to be changed —
"As a garment, the present universe hath waxed old."
And the everlasting foundations of the new, are imper- ceptibly, but, for ever, being laid !
Glory be to the Lord Almighty God ! Infinite, indeed, are His bountiful acts of goodness and mercy !
0
SUMMAEY OF THE FOREGOING INTERPRETATIONS.
If it be a triumphant satisfaction, to Christians of all ranks and sects, (as it ought most unquestionably to be), to have
THE WORD. 187
the following sacred facts, proved to them, beyond all manner of doubt : —
First, that our ovra Divine Redemption, comprised the " Universal Atonement " and " complete Eansom," not only, of ' every soul,' incarnated by the infinite grace of Grod, from that of Adam, to that of the very last human being, who shall appear on earth . . .
But moreover, to the perfect purification, regeneration, and forgiveness, of all the rebellious angels, whom the Omni- potent Jehovah's impartial Justice found it indispensable to expel from Paradise . . .
Such piously charitable Christians, formed after the im- maculate model, of their devoted Saviour, Jesus Christ, will obtain that most desirable satisfaction, by reading this book, patiently and searchingly, from end to end.
And secondly : those good Christians will enjoy, to the fullest extent of their brotherly desires, the additional con- viction, that all those, so graciously regenerated souls, by the blessings of that Divine Redemption, will ultimately form with themselves, (not one exception permitted), that heavenly seraphic and spiritual court ; the glorious and numberless hosts of which, (totally incorruptible then), will for ever and ever exist in
Joyously serving,
Fervently loving.
And everlastingly adoring, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, as a perpetual monocratic Trinity, once^ more and then for ever united.
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188 THE WORD.
When Christians are alluded to, in our seemingly exclu- sive references ; it must not be supposed, that —
Jews, Pagans, Idolaters, Atheists even of the worst de- scription, are excluded in a single instance from the Universal Eedemption and Salvation, which we most triumphantly pro- claim, on sacred authorities, of the most irrefragable Divine Origin.
We affirm, on the contrary, that, the greater the sinner ; the less inclined the ungodly feel to beheve, to repent, and to pray :
The more thoroughly unprincipled and impious the wretches are, who have rebelliously given themselves up, mind, body, and soul, to the detestable service of Satan, (biblically speak- ing), we cannot help affirming that
The more positively indubitable is their final salvation. (See Luke xv. 1, 6, 10, 18 ; Matt. xxvi. 74 ; Isaiah i. 16—18.)
Are not all the merciful attributes of the most Holy Trinity, both infinite and eternal ?
What spot then, what indelible blemish ; what awful sin, what inveterate vice, what hateful crime, is there, committed on this earth, in addition, even, to those we, all of us, com- mitted in heaven, (before^ our faUs) —
That, such omnipotent attributes, could not totally cleanse, in the course^ of eternities —
That, such Divine attributes, could not sufficiently atone for, could not entirely wipe away ?
Not One ! ! !
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189
For us therefore, in our deeply^ faith-founded interpreta- tions of G-od's Holy Word, to leave one soul, unsaved, would be most criminallj and impiously, to deny the infinitude and endlessness of boundless grace, of paternal love, of universal forgiveness and mercy.
And, would it not be furthermore . . .
To allow the arch enemy of mankind, under an endless variety of human^ forms, assumed here below, malignantly to scoff at the Almighty's inconceivable power; profanely to ridicule His sacred promises of pardon and mercy ; and most daringly to set at nought our compassionate Redeemer and Saviour's all-sufficient mediation ?
The foregoing declarations and affirmations, are purposely and solemnly^ repeated in this place, that we may have an additional opportunity, of making more perfectly evident still, consolatory and encouraging truths, on which, for full fifty years past, we have, entirely and constantly relied.
The infallible scales, dear reader, in which, all our indi- vidual moral and religious merits, will be separately weighed, at the last awful universal summons, (reverently using a figu- rative allusion, to be, all the better understood), are of a celestial make ;
Immoveable to all natures of ponderance, which have not :
Fervent and sincere contrition ; perfect Christian faith, in the all-sufficient grace of Grod ; everlasting brotherly grati- tude, to our Lord Jesus Christ, touching His infinite love
190 THE "WORD.
towards us ; present and never-ending submission to tlie Holy Grhost, for His incessant spiritual inspiration and continual aid, throughout our probationary temptations and earthly trials — as their chiefest of all makeweights !
General, and amply sufficient, thougb the grants of redemption and salvation may be, which the boundless goodness and mercy of God hold out, through the infinitely meritorious sin-ofiering of our adored and beloved Lord and Saviour ;
There will, nevertheless, be
A vast number of punishments and tribulations ; ordeals and trials, to be undergone, during proportionate numbers of centuries, and adequate myriads of eras, to which, we shall have been, and we shall be, justly condemned, before and after death —
Not punishments, tribulations, ordeals, and trials, of the fabulous description, we read of, in the earKer annals of primitive worships, instituted by mercenary churches —
But, body-and-soul infiictions, which Omniscience and Omnipotence alone, can, and most certainly will appropriately award, to each of us, in proportions, suitable in every respect, to our separate deserts.
Are the means of equivalent retributions, at the Almighty's disposal, so limited, that
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The obdurately wicked, and the weakly sinful, must, all alike, be everlastingly burnt, in continually incandescent fire furnaces ; or incessantly exposed to be gnawed at, by never- to-be-glutted worms, as immortal as their preys ?
It may be so,^ for determined lengths of time ; with regard to the bodies of some, in their passage through intermediate states, antecedently to their final judgment, at the awful Com't of Last- Arraigns —
Our pen, however, refuses itself to notice such doubtful, overdrawn martyrdoms, further than by inditing against their ^ invention that
" The grace of Grod is infinite ; and the limits of His mer- cies, are past finding out."
Until the permanent and firm foundation of the Christian faith, in Europe, both Catholic and Protestant : —
The more terrifically the tableaux were drawn of hell, the devil, and the torments inflicted within those horrid caverns, over which, he was reported to have been and to be eternally the despotic monarch —
The more successfully the proselyting efiects of intimida- tion, appear to have progressed over the weak-minded, the barbarous, and benighted populations, under ecclesiastical rule.
"We shall not, in this work, inquire whether that deplorable state of religious feelings arose, more especially, from the venality of the priesthood of those unsettled days of public worship, or from a universal sense of dread, created by the timid perusal of scriptural passages, purposely rendered
192 THE WORD.
appalling, to serve, occasionally good, motives of piously authorized zealous worship.
We nevertheless denounce them all, now, as perfectly out of date ; more particularly, as it concerns Protestant believers : the lucratively disinterested, and the piously fervent and true.
Has the ever-present Holy Spirit of Grod, presided over us, for the last eighteen hundred years and more ; to leave us, groping still along our uncertain way back, to the mansions of the blessed, and to the ' sacredly promised welcome ' of our Almighty Father, and his well-beloved Son, our Lord ?
Are we, to be limited in our knowledge of temporarily veiled holy truths ; are we, never to be permitted to seek, further devotional acquaintance and intimacy, with those mysterious revelations ; those dogmatical secrets ; those important arcana, of heaven's Grodhead, and heaven's genealogies ; which the Lord God hath commanded us so clearly —
To read, learn, mark, and inwardly digest.
Because —
Hierarchical Grovernments, from those of Jerusalem, to those of the present day, have forbidden, and stiU forbid, their disciples to step, one step further than they ?
A FEW OBSERVATIONS MORE REGARDING JUST AND IMPARTIAL PUNISHMENTS.
Notwithstanding our own finite resources of invention, we cannot readily acknowledge that : —
Were our means of just retaliation, and proportionate chas-
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tisements, boundless ; our will, irresistible ; our dominions, vast beyond all conception ; in short, were we —
A Mighty Sovereign, with attributes of paternal aflPection, and merciful justice, like those of our own Almighty parental Creator ; we cannot own, (this is speaking foolishly, albeit honestly, we confess it), that we should be at a loss to pre- scribe, compassionate, as well as effectual antidotes, to all the dreadful evils of this Earth, incomparably superior to many of those, which our original translators, and commentators of the Holy Writings, have heedlessly, ay, not seldom too, very wickedly ascribed to the awards and verdicts, of our infinitely Merciful and Omniscient, Lawgiver, Judge, and Gruide.
In this life, as well as in the next ; on this earth, as well as on the numberless spheres, comprised in our actual, well- known,^ universe of worlds, what admirably well-fitted stages are there, whereon to finish purifying and sanctifying, the still rebellious souls ; the perverted hearts and minds ; the sensual flesh, of the obstinately impm-e ; the desperately mun- dane, and the originally lost —
What penitentiaries ; what reformatories, so to say, may not those countless stars represent, — whereon to continue,^ con- verting and saving, after Judgment, all those who shall have been justly^ condemned ?
That this globe, with the whole of its concomitant system, shall be destroyed by an unexpected and general conflagra- tion ; and that —
This huge phenomenon of terrestrial destructions shall
194 THE WORD.
occur, as a thief rushes upon us, in the night ; not a rational Christian behever would venture to doubt. For
In addition to its being a sacred and solemn verity ; the frightful catastrophe, must inevitably be the effect of an organic law, decreed before all worlds, by the Almighty Grod, as
Indispensably necessary to the most miraculous formation of that Enormous Plain, on which, the last awful, yet merci- ful operations, of most inconceivable Divine Universal Grace, shall be performed.
On that levelled, lengthless, breadthless, vast expanse, the crumbled cinders, of our charred, so recently magnificent sun and moon ; and the pulverized ashy wrecks, of this horror- struck earth ; altogether forming a single arena, strewed with human bones, and just refrigerating into treadable ground —
The Archangels and Seraphim shall, by loud and universal trumpet-blasts, arraign the Dead, before the Lord of Hosts.
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INDISPENSABLE ADDENDA.
WERE NOT THE THREE SACRED PERSONS, OF THE
MOST HOLT TRINITY, ACTIVELY AND
SEPARATELY PRESENT AT THE CREATION ?
(See First and Fifth Articles of Religion ; also the Creeds, in the Book of Common Prayer.)
We are consequently here, representing the seven Miracu- lous Days, at the commencement of the terrestrial existence of mankind, according to the definitions, which we find detailed in the Gospels.
The separate presence of the Triune Grodhead of Jehovah, the Lord Almighty, must have been cotemporary with the earliest dawn of evil in heaven : eternities before the Fall of the Angels.
Such an evangelical deduction as this, very naturally led us to believe that, being present, and separate, they triunely operated, in so glorious an act of infinite grace and universal mercy.
Therefore, we most reverently substitute to the Mosaic accounts, founded on verbal traditions, the following evan- gelical construction : —
196 THE WORD.
God, the Most High, monocratically superintending, by omnipotent will and almighty fiats (Gren. i.). (See also Isaiah xliii. 10—12; Rev. i. 8—11.)
Christ Jesus, our Lord, as the future Redeemer of men submissively creating, under the decrees of His most com- passionate Father.
The Holy Ghost, as Giver of life, proceediug from both, the Father and the Son ; moving over the face of all things, in compliance with the Supreme Creator's behests :
The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost !
Archangels ; Seraphim and Cherubim ; all Angels and Spirits ; rejoicingly and blessingly performing their appointed shares of universal grace.
Implacable, vindictive, jealous, Satan, there besides : mali- ciously designing further deeds of hate.
First Day.
" In the beginning God," the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, " created the heaven and the earth."
" And the earth was without form, and void ; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Holy Ghost moved upon the face of the waters."
When God, the Most High, our own merciful Father, " said, Let there be light ; and there was light."
And Christ Jesus, our Lord, the preordained Redeemer and Saviour of the human race, " divided the light from the dark- ness ; which God saw that it was good."
And the Holy Ghost, " called the light, day ; and the dark-
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ness, He called night. And the evening and the morning were the first day" (Gen. i. 1 — 5).
Second Day.
And God, the Most High " said, Let there he a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters."
And Christ Jesus, our Lord, " made the firmament, and divided the waters, which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament : and it was so."
And the Holy Ghost " called the firmament heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day " (Gen. i. 6—8.)
Thikd Day.
And God, the Most High, said, " Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear."
And Christ Jesus, our Lord, separated the dry land from the waters, and He called the dry land earth ; and the gathering together of the waters, called He seas :"
And God, the Most High, " saw that it was good."
And God, the Most High " said. Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth :"
And the Holy Ghost moved upon the face of the land : " and the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind:"
198 THE WOKD.
And Grod, the Most High," saw that it was good. And the
evening and the morning were the third day" (Gren. i.
9—13).
The Fourth Day.
And God, the Most High, " said. Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven, to divide the day from the night ; and let them he for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years :
"And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven, to give light upon the earth :"
And Christ Jesus, our Lord, " made two great lights ; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night : He made the stars also."
"And" the Holy Ghost "set them in the firmament of heaven, to give light uj)on the earth,
"And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness :"
"And" God, the Most High, "saw that it was good."
" And the evening and the morning were the fourth day " (Gen. i. 14—19).
The Fifth Day.
" And God," the Most High, " said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven."
" And " Jesus Christ, the Son of God, " created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the
THE WOKD. 199
waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every
winged fowl after his kind :"
And Grod, the Most High, "saw that it was good." "And" the Holy Ghost " blessed them, saying, Be fruitful,
and multiply, and fill the waters of the seas, and let the
fowl multiply in the earth."
" And the evening and the morning were the fifth day "
(Gen. i. 20—23).
The Sixth Day.
And God, the Most High, " said. Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind,"
And Jesus Christ, the Son of God, " made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every- thing that creepeth upon earth after his kind :"
And God, the Most High, " saw that it was good."
And God, the Most High, " said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness : and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing, that creepeth upon the earth."
So Jesus Christ, the Son of God, "created man in the image of His own Father, and of His own self ; male and female created He them."
And the Spirit of God " blessed them, and said unto them. Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and
200 THE WORD.
subdue it : and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over everything that moveth upon the earth."
And God, the Most High, " saw everything that He, (con- jointly with Jesus Christ, His only-begotten Son, and the Holy Grhost, His Spirit of Grace), had made, and behold, it was very good."
"And the evening and the morning were the sixth day " (Gen. i. 25—31).
The Seventh Day.
" Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them " (Gen. ii. 1).
" And on the seventh day God, the Most High, and Jesus Christ, His only Son, and the Holy Ghost, ended their work which they had made, and they rested the seventh day from all their work which they had made " (Gen. ii. 1, 2).
And God, the Most High, " blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it:" because that (in Trinity miraculously per- sonified) the three Omnipotent and Omniscient Gods, " in the seventh day had rested from all their work, which they had created and made " (Gen. ii. 1 — 3).
MOST SIGNIFICATIYE, SEPARATE, AND SINGULAR CREATIONS OF ADAM AND EYE.
And God, the Most High, seeing the man, which His beloved Son had " formed from the dust of the ground,
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201
breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soid " (Gen. ii, 7).
And Christ, the Son of God, " planted a garden," (of pro- bation and merciful^ ordeal) " eastward in Eden."
" And out of the ground made the Holy Ghost to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food ; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil " (Gen. ii. 9).
And Christ Jesus, our Lord " took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden ; to dress it and to keep it."
And God the Most High, " Commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat :
" But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it : for in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die " (Gen. ii. 17).
And the Holy Ghost said, "It is not good that the man should be alone, I will make him an help meet for him" (Gen. ii. 18).
And Christ Jesus, our Lord, " caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept : and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof :
" And the rib, which" Christ Jesus, our Lord, " had taken from man," God the Most High, our most merciful Father, " made a woman, and brought her unto the man " (Gen. ii. 21, 22).
GRACIOUSLY PRE-ORDAINED TEMPTATIONS OF EYE, OF ADAM, AND OF GAIN.
" Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the
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THE WORD.
field, which the Lord Grod had commanded His well-beloved Son to make.
" And the serpent said unto the woman, Yea, has Grod said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden ? (Gren. iii. 1).
" And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden :
" But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said. Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
" And the serpent said unto the woma'n, Ye shall not surely die.
" For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
" And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her ; and he did eat.
" And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked " (Gen. iii. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, to the end of the chapter). ^
FIRST INCARNATIONS OF THE FALLEN ANGELS: AC- CORDING TO PRE-ORDAINED PURPOSES OF GRACE.
" And Adam knew his wife ; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord.
" And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a
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keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground " (Gren. iv. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7).
" And Cain talked with Abel his brother : and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him" (Gren. iv. 8 — 16).
" And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod, in the east of Eden.
" And Cain knew his wife ; and she conceived, and bare Enoch : and he builded a city, and called the name of the city Enoch" (Gen. iv. 16—26).
p 2
204 THE WORD.
PAGINAL PEECIS:
SCEIPTURAL AXIOMS ; DOOTEINAL PRECEPTS ;
ETC.
[see general index.]
PAGE
Why are tlie Scriptures, in general, left so unin- telligibly expounded, by the Clergies of Christian nations? ......... vii
Is it not the sacred Duty, of every faithful servant of Grod, to make the language of the Holy Bible as plainly readable as possible to the devout of all degrees of intellectual faculties ? . . . . viii
When the Omnipotent Creator, operating on the dark, chaotic, penitentiary ^ world, first said, " Let there be light!" it was, "Let us begin Our labours of regeneration and grace !" which He addressed to His only begotten Son, and the Holy Ghost . xix
A fervent and well-read Christian, whatever he is be- sides, should always feel able and willing, kindly and successfully, to reply to and check all unbelievers, in the awftd act of jesting on Holy Truths . . xx
How glorious it must be for a Militant Pilgrim, to
THE WORD was brought out early last year.
^^^ Notwithstanding its List of seemingly paradoxical \ Contents, it is, throughout its pages, essentially Scrip- tural and truly Gospel-fraught.
The Author entreatingly recommends an initiative , perusal of pages 54, 55, to 139. They will, in all proba- bility, serve to induce the Reader kindly to attempt further readings, which may reveal greater merits.
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205 PAGE
find himself able to pursue to the end, his career of enthusiastic Faith, victoriously defending the Holy Cross ! xxi
Neither Astronomers nor Philosophers are mad, as some declare, when they reverently labour, by their noble researches, to read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest, the mysterious works of Pro- vidence ; all the better to know their Almighty Creator ; and to love His adorable Son, with greater fervour still xxii
Thoroughly evangelical Christians, need neither be Protestant nor Cathohc : their High Priest is God ; their Church, wherever Jesus Christ is wor- shipped and glorified ...... xxiu
See what you must think of the Most Holy Trinity, to be saved ........
Our Heavenly Father neither exercises hate ; nor does He feel revenge or wrath .....
By having dwelt with us on this earth, may we not make sure of the boundless compassion of that Redeemer, who died on the Tree to save us all ?
Was He not Cod of Very G-od : co-equal with God ? and did He not say to His Father, " Forgive them ; for they know not what they do " ? .
Had the Son of God not been, in this world. Omni- potent to save ; He had not been, in His intercessions above, all-sufficient to provide us with an Ever-
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present Friend, to guide us, through this vale of tears,
in which He himself so often had wept ... 5
Aie, aie, all these are the infinitely merciful acts of the Omnipotent Word of Grace ..... 6
When first the Messiah, by the side of Jehovah stood, and the Holy Ghost had proceeded from both ; Eternities back, Universal Eedemption and Salvation were irrevocably sealed ...... 6
The Redeemer, the Saviom* declared it — No time is to be lost : what was covered must be revealed ; what was hid must be known ...... 7
When the Divine Son of the Virgin Mary bid Simon Peter follow Him, to fish men ; He tj^ically bid, all successors, who were that way inclined, to do the same. We consequently, so considering, are attempting, less worthy by far, to make, nevertheless, all men see what is the " fellowship of the mystery " which, from the beginning of the world, hath been hid in God . . 8
There is nothing that a truly pious man may not achieve ; whenever, what he zealously undertakes, is exclusively to redound, to the praise and glory of God; and whenever prayer ushers in the faithful efibrts he is about to make, to that most laudable end . . 9
Wise men, who seek to merit just applause, in their en- deavours, fitly and fervently to serve their God, should strengthen their labours of faith in Christ Jesus, by the sanction of well-approved Holy Writers, whose lives as well as writings have been impartially revered . 10 — 12
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PAGE
The Divine attributes of "Our Father" which is in heaven, are sacred securities, bequeathed to us, by the Son of Gl-od, respecting the infinite love of "His Father," who is the Fountain of all Groodness . . 13
Can there be any terrestrial worth, in any degree equi- valent, to that Mercy of Grod, which is on them that love Him, throughout all generations ? . . .14
The Trinity, being a Spiritual embodiment of the three distinct Persons, of the Omnipotent Father, the Almighty Son, and the infinitely Omniscient, and in- fluential,^ Holy Ghost, for most unmistakable purposes of grace, what have we to fear,^ respecting our ultimate purification, regeneration, and infallible reception back, into the Kingdom of Grod ? . . . .15
A careful perusal of, and trustful reliance on, the bright promises, so frequently contained in the beautiful Col- lects, adorning, as it were, like hospitable gates, the approaches to the Epistles and Grospels of your Book of Common Prayer,^ ought at all times, to be a most con- solatory refuge, in the sanctuary of which you should concentrate your j^ious meditations. For our Grod is a blessed God, who has caused all Holy Scriptures to be written for our learning. He is the Author of all good things, and properly to know him is everlasting life. 16, 17
•55-
It was only by assuming a Triune Christian Godhead, which the Most Holy Trinity represents, that the
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THE WORD.
PAGE
everlastingly living, true, and unique Grod, without body, parts, or passions, could be the Maker and Preserver of all things.
Thus it was, most evidently, that God the Father, and God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, were indis- pensably present at the Creation. . . . .18
As it is distinctly stated in the IXth Article of Religion, that Original (or birth) Sin, cometh from Adam ; all good Christians may infer, that Original Guilt cometh furthermore from the rebellious angels, who were, more deservedly still, driven from the presence of God. (See Arts. XVII., XX.) 19
Why is Divine Grace from everlasting ? Because it abideth in God ; and God is Eternal, Omnipresent, Omniscient, and Omnipotent. ..... 20
The Books of Moses, the Prophecies, and the Gospels, originally contained, and still contain, designedly hid- den verities, which we are bound to unravel, through the Assistance of the Holy Spirit, in the name of Jesus Christ, for our own edification, and that of all . 21
Our Celestial Genealogy once admitted ; the Holy Bible, scarcely ofiers one single passage, that exclusively refers to our ultimate salvation, which an intelligent Christian could not clearly comprehend ... 22
Csecilius Cyprian wrote, about 1610 years ago, that the Lord's Prayer was a Collection of Sacraments, so nu-
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PAGE
merous and weighty, gathered up in few words, but with such wealth of Spiritual Virtue, that not any- thing for prayer and petition of ours is left unincluded in this comprehension of heavenly doctrine.
We pray Thee furthermore. Dear Reader, to recollect that this infinitely merciful Legacy, worth all the treasures, that this earth could produce, were words of ineffable grace, affectionately transmitted to us, by a devoted Brother, incarnated* like ourselves, and under- going Ordeals similar to oiu* own, for the sake of bringing us back to the Kingdom of His Father, who was originally the Father of us all , . . . 23
Whatever may be thought, said, or written, respecting the incalculable merits of this invitation of Grod Him- self, individually as well as collectively addressed to us, to return with Him, soon or late, to everlasting happiness, prepared and recovered for us, from the very commencement of our earliest celestial existence, would fall, as infinitely short of its most incomprehen- sible Paternal Love and Mercy, as our original Gruilt in Heaven, until our most merited expulsion, thoroughly deserved the Eternal Punishment which Impartial Divine Justice felt it an insuperable duty to inflict. . 24
We all should look upon that prayer, as if it were daily taught to us, every morning and night of our earthly days 25
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THE WORD.
PAGE
First conviction, gratefully felt, on reading or saying the Lord's Prayer. ....... 26
Refusing to accept and acknowledge the blessed Holy Trinity, as all that is, and will ever be^ Equitable, Merciful, and True, is wickedness inconceivable . 27
Who could know better than Our dear Redeemer did, how much our fallen souls needed penitently to re- peat : " Our Father which art in heaven " ? . . 28
See who it was in reality that said to you so earnestly, "Lead us not into temptation." .... 29
It is clearly evident that, " Hallowed be Thy Name," at the beginning of our compassionate Saviour's all- sufficient Orison, signifies : For ever and ever be Thou Glorified, Yenerated, and Praised, 0 Almighty Grod of gods, and Eternal King of kings, whom we have so long offended and despised ..... 30
What supplications could we express, more likely to allay Divine Indignation, than repeating daily, hourly indeed, from the inmost depth of our souls, " Thy Kingdom Come " ? ....... 31
It was Thou, 0 Lord Omnipotent of Heaven, who (fore- knowing our individual, as well as universal, celestial, and terrestrial destinies) , willed from everlasting and pre-ordained all things : " Thy Will be done ! " Thy Will be done ! the sooner the better : for it is very good 32
No language was ever more expressive of pardon, and ultimate Salvation, than that which is used in this in- comparable prayer .33
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PAGE
Had we lacked expressions, of sucli an explicit meaning as to allude more pointedly than in any other way, to our Heavenly Parentage, we could not have collected them from a better source, than from the very life of the Son of Grod. Comparisons cannot be clearly estab- lished, unless it is between well-known objects. Con- sequently " As in Heaven," implies a retrospective knowledge of Our Almighty Father's will, when we were in heaven ....... 34
In other words, The Divine Instructor was literally say- ing to His disciples : Thy will be done again, on the earth, as Thou didst exercise it over us, in heaven. The pre-elect and elect understood it well, in this guise : and they, no doubt, explained it so, to their Neophites 35
Nothing but perfect regeneration of mind and soul, will ever enable a Christian, properly to comprehend " The Lord's Prayer " 36
Very few indeed are those who pray, even as humble and dutiful supplicants, Beseech their God to give them each day, their daily bread, under the impression, which our most merciful Teacher wished to impart . 37
Unless the readers of these pages, have trustfully endea- voured to adopt our interpretations of the Holy Scrip- tures, where we thought it most important, to modify and to enlarge their significations, for the more profit- able edification of present and future generations ; the strictly evangelical constructions, we have put on many passages, will not appear sufficiently to coincide with
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their own Cliurch instructions, well meant as they may be. This however should not preclude a continuation of their perusal, inasmuch as we solemnly engage, by the end of the work, to prove that, whatever fervency of belief may be their own, at the present moment, that fervency will not, in the slightest degree, be altered, but, to an infinite extent, improved and enlarged . 38
Evangelical Precis, and Scriptural Axioms. Cease never to hope and pray, for the Lord is our Father,
and He is Omnipotently operating to save us all . 26 Most evident origin of Man's first disobedience . . 27 Authorized filial acknowledgements of Grod, as our own
Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, our own Brother 28 Best watch- word we all can use for admission back into heaven ......... 28
" Intreat me to permit my Kingdom to come again " . 29 Hallowed be the Three Co-equal Names of God . . 30 Temple that should be raised, bearing no other inscrip- tion but the Lord's Prayer, in golden letters, and all modern languages. . . . . . .31
Before the wondrous worlds were framed, the Al- mighty pre-conceived and pre-ordained innumerable births, from exhaustlessly regenerative wombs . . 32 Most compassionate embodiment of the Holy Trinity . 34 Thy Will be done, as pre-ordained, regarding the whole submission of mankind ! How can Satan possibly thwart the Fiats of Jehovah ? . . .35
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PAGE
Bj prayers, all hidden holy truths, in time, become pro- fitably known ....... 36
What better bread can we pray for, than that which we once ate, alas ! with our Dear Redeemer in the halls of Heaven ? . . . . . . .37
If man refuse to forgive their fellow-men their debts, let them beware ....... 38
How sceptics interpret the Word of God ... 39
Evils exist on earth, exclusively for our ultimate welfare 40
Temptations pave back all our respective ways to Heaven ........ 41
Each predictive word of Jesus Christ was an Oracle of God 42
Saved are all who feel, believe, and practice the Lord's Prayer. The Alpha and Omega of Jesus Christ's progress, was Satan's presence on earth. Men's motives alone are weighed in heaven . . 43
Christian co-existence of the Virgin Mary, with our Lord and Saviour ....... 44
Eternal Monocracy of the Most High. Permitted birth of Evil 45
First appearance of Satan in heaven for purposes of grace 46
Satan and all Evil Spirits must evidently be mortal. Humbly supposed Divine scheme of Universal Re- demption and Salvation ...... 47
Satan existed first, and will exist to the end of all or- deals, through the boundless mercy of Our Heavenly Father 48
214 THE WORD,
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Evocation of the Devil, tkrougli most evident mercy . 49
The best of all Christian creeds is decidedly the Lord's Prayer . 50
Jesus died for Jews, as affectionately and charitably as for Gentiles, Pagans, and Atheists . . . .51
Are there many who would venture to say, as Jesus Christ instructed us to say : " For we also forgive every one that is indebted to us " ? . . . . 52
Are Christians in general sufficiently aware of the enormous importance, solemnly attached, by the Divine Teacher, to the last words of his prayer : " For Thine is the Kingdom " ? Whose were the King- dom, the Power, and the Griory ? . . . .53
Our individual Debt to God, is unredeemable : it is eternal gratitude ; contracted from everlasting. Without Terrestrial Death, our souls must have
been eternally damned 54
Eepent, through gratitude and love alone . . .55 What is the evangelical construction we should prefer- ably select, in allusion to the Fall of Adam, and the crime of Cain. Thank God continually for the Fall of Adam, and for the equally merciful curse of Cain . 56 Principal origin of this work : all-absorbing motive of our labours ........ 57
Why were Adam and Eve made mentally so helpless ? 58 In human flesh is naturally insuperable weakness . 59
THE WORD. 215
PAGE
The crime of Cain was most evidently a merciful means of redeeming and saving mankind .... 60
Our terrestrial system, including its sun, moon, and planets, was from tlie beginning, and will be to the end, purely Christian . . . . . .61
There is no reason why men should not die, to resusci- tate again in this world, for the gracious purpose of undergoing a succession of additional ordeals, and means of carnal purifications ..... 62
A few men die, through grace, at once to be saved . 63
The best Doctrine is that which is contained in our in- finitely compassionate ^^Pater-JSfosfer" such as Jesus Christ taught it to His disciples, before His all- suflScient death of universal atonement ... 64
The more concise and plainer the Creed, the easier and deeper the persuasive impression made ... 65
Ecclesiastical terrorists are the worst possible servants of the Church of Christ 66
Graciously self-imposed Humiliation of the Angels . 67
Universal Salvation prepared from everlastiag . . 68
Universal Redemption predestinated and accomplished, from the Fall of the Angels to the Birth of Jesus
Christ 69
Intentional insufiiciency of all former Christian Doc- trines .... 70
216 THE "WORD.
PAGE
Positive insufficiency of present Doctrines ... 71 Chief Scriptural bases of our private belief ... 72 Purely gracious Creation of entirely new systems of
Worlds 73, 75
To former most mysterious states, new heavens suc- ceeded ......... 76
The Lord Almighty, we humbly hope, sees fit, most compassionately, through us, in the name of Jesus Christ, to unveil the truth ..... 77
We may reasonably and hopefully look upon this wide earth, as upon a vast ante-room, wherein, through re- pentance and prayer, in the name of Jesus Christ, to edify and prepare our souls for readmission into the
Courts of Heaven 78, 79
Ordeals and tests, justly imposed on us by our Hea- venly Father, through the intercession of our adorable Redeemer, serve amply to cleanse the foulest of stains ....... 80
Exemptions, none, from earthly trials, was divinely sought ......... 81
Men's future states, in consequence of their angelic
origin, needed spiritual regenerations ... 81 During The Creation, what myriads of creations more ! 82 Good, therefore, very good, was all that God had made 83 Man's sinfulness entitled Fallen Angels to Redemp- tion. Interpret The Word as an exhaustless Fount of Mercy 84
THE WORD. L>17
PAGE
Eden was the chief gateway to worlds of Spiritual Re- generation ........ 85
Was Eve's soul as pure as that of Adam ? . . .86 Were Adam and Eve simply instrumental or guilty ? . 87 The knowledge of good and evil was indispensable, as a principal means towards the accomplishment of the scheme of grace.^ " So Eve took of the fruit,
and did eat" 88
Satan, most reluctantly paves, with Christian virtues, all
the paths,^ which lead back, through grace, to heaven 89 To Grod's infinite parental love and mercy is mystically due the bane of evil. ...... 90
Not any are safe, but those who fervently, and frequently pray. Even the best, who cease to pray, are tem- porally lost ........ 91
By skilful physicians, the rankest poisons are used . 92 Could a Fratricide have been perpetrated, so early on tliis
earth,^ had it not been towards a profitable end ? . 93 Salvation was apparently impossible, without universal incarnations ........ 94
Human souls were impure Spirits before the Creation . 94 Through the flesh our souls are most mercifully purified 95 The marriage of Adam saved us all * . . . . 96
The saints in heaven and earth are blessed associates of divine grace .... . . 96
Original use of the chaotic earth in the beginning . 97 Most probable effects of the gracious^ curse of Cain . 97 How Cain's soul must stiU be wandering on the face of this earth ........ 98
218 THE WORD.
PAGE
Our own eyes probably saw, at the beginning "tbe Light which Grod had made " . . . . .99
Sins as red as scarlet, only need Divine regenerative
waters, to be perfectly washed out and purified . 100
Sinners help men to be saints, as Satan helped Jesus Christ to save us ...... . 101
To Jesus Christ, our Lord, all men were known from everlasting . . . . . . . .102
To Jesus Christ, all generations were, and will be for ever known ........ 103
Reasons given for our claims to Angelic descent . .104 May not unblemished Angels,^ for Mercy's sake, as elect and pre-elect ministers of divine compassion, have been frequently permitted to become men ? . 105 Incarnated^ Angels were doubtlessly our progenitors . 106 Jesus Christ was to all intents and purposes our terrestrial Brother in God ; a human Son of a divine
Father 106
God, the Creator and Father of us all, could not be, unless
intentionally, Creator and Father of imperfect beings 106 How could the Angels and Spirits be better gifted^ than we were from the beginning ? . . . .106
The simple Fact " that the most Holy Trinity is Eternal, Omnipotent and Omniscient," sacredly proves beyond all possible doubt, that Universal and infallible re- demption and salvation were, from everlasting, the merciful will and purpose of God . . . .107
THE WORD. 219
PAGE
Gracious original cause of human marriages between angels and the daughters of men . . . .108
Preordained repeated deaths and resurrections ^ from the Creation of Adam to the last of men . . .109
How the fallen Angels have consequently been graciously and impartially redeemed, after just and well-de- served retributions. What befell them for ages . 110
Twice begotten, for mercy's sake, was the Son of Grod . Ill
Rich, as well as poor, must learn to stoop before their Almighty Lord 112
Proportionate punishments await us all . . . 113
Sacred mysteries are gradually permitted to be revealed 113
The marvellous Era of universal Revelations is fast approaching . . . . . . . .114
Forms of Worship are unheeded f whilst fervent prayers, and sincere acts of contrition, are registered in heaven 115
Most merciful paternal acknowledgments of our re- lationship to the Sons of God, through the Redemp- tion of Jesus Christ . . . . . .115
Were those men divine, at Abraham's door, for no mer- ciful purpose ? — What could Jacob's ladder signify, save a very important revelation, for future genera- tions, of the divinely sanctioned visits of Angels among us ? . . . . . . . . 116
Holy visions are foretastes of heavenly blessings . 116
Mild measures, used by the mighty and strong, have always been, will ever be, the best of successful means, to subdue the wicked, and the rebellious . 117
Q 2
220 THE WORD.
PAGE
How awfully wicked and unjust must it be, to represent the Lord God Almighty, whose Gentle Messiah was Jesus Christ our Lord, as revengeful and unforgiving ! 118
And how imgrateful it is to call "Our Father, which is in heaven," implacable and jealous ! . . . 118
Evils and woes, frequently with far stronger proofs than blessings, are gracious harbingers of good . .119
On the Gospels and Epistles alone,^ Dear Christians of our days, firmly establish your Faith . . .119
Temptations beset us, from our first rational steps into life, until our latest moral power of action . .120
But our consolation should be that, each temptation to do evil, which we overcome, is a step forward we take, in our way back, to the everlasting kingdom, which is preparing, for the piously good and wise . . 120
Every temporal agony, endured by our compassionate Saviour, will prove to have been, an incalculable addition to our eternal gain ..... 121
Why Jesus Christ descended into Hell ! . . . 122
Our dear Redeemer descended into Hell for the purposes of Grace ........ 123
The Conquering Hero bade Satan set all his victims free 124
Frequent and familiar visits affectionately paid by Angels to the daughters of men .... 125
Presence of Our Lord Jesus Christ on this earth, in
merciful communions, which we shall know hereafter 126 It is always upon merciful errands of infinite Grace, that Our Adorable Kedeemer visits this World . . 127
THE WORD. 221
PAGE
Immaculacy glorified, contrition rewarded, obduracy punished, in the presence of angels and men . . 128
Learn by constantly practising what is good, to eschew what is evil ........ 129
Fittest time for parables ; best time for the promulga- tion of truths ....... 129
How the crucified Malefactors were ; the one, saved ; and the other, lost . . . . • . .130
Can one imagine the occurrence of such a scene, as that of the Crucifixion of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, without being struck with the utmost amaze- ment, at the apathy with which its appalling details are perused by so many of us, down to the present day ? 131
Most convincing additional proof of pre-ordained uni- versal salvation . . . . . . .132
Pharisaical pride was the intentional origin of Christian Humility ........ 133
Christian Faith grew strong under Jewish^ oppression . 134
Inanimate and cold ; Jesus was dead . . . .134
His heart beats stiU for us all ! 135
Gush after gush, poured out Our devoted Saviour's blood 136
Body of Jesus Christ, Our Blessed Lord ; indeed, and truly, they knew not what they did . . .137
Thou alone knewest the full purpose of infinite Crace, for the manifestation of which Thine Almighty Father had sent Thee 138
Every pang of mental or bodily sufibring, endured by our adorable Redeemer, fully atoned for the souls of millions ...•..-. 138
222 THE WORD.
PAGE
Folios by thousands would not suffice, to enumerate, and tell of, the miraculous acts of Divine Grace, performed, from everlasting to everlasting, in our behalf . ,139 Holiest of holy Tabernacle in heaven, within which the
mysterious Trinity met, in the Beginning . . 140 Oh ! the infinite mercy of that Almighty Counsel of
Grrace ! 141
Description of fervent trances and visionary transports, whereby we have really seen most of the wonders we are attempting reverently to describe . . . . 142 Why Jesus Christ was begotten before all Worlds . 143 Double nativity of the Son of Grod : Master Key, with which we have, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, (for so we most thankfully believe), un- ravelled, in part, the Great Mystery of our Redemp- tion and ultimate Salvation, through Jesus Christ, our
Lord 144—146
Who is God, and What is He ? 147
The Divine Attributes of the Holy Trinity, infinitely surpass, in charitableness and parental love, all other
Divine attributes ever known 148
Temporal production of Satan and his infernal courts , 149 Destinies of the fallen Angels through Grace . .150
Unavoidable flood ; regeneration of a probatory race . 150 Divine Operations of universal Redemption commenced 150 The condemned at the Great and Last Assize, will be respited, proportionately punished, and finally for- given ......... 151
THE WORD. 223
PAGE
The cruel comminations, collected and registered hy men, are not of God. — Grod is neither unforgi\'ing, implacable, nor vindictive, nor repentant^ , .152
A time existed when parabolical threats, were necessarily- used, for the laudable purpose of awaking the dormant feelings of apathetic, benighted idolators, who had totally forgotten their Maker, to follow after Idols, whose detestable orgies they infinitely preferred . 153
Divine preordinance of all the sufferings of Jesus Christ our Lord ; through the foreknown, but not preordained instrumentahty of the fortunately^ obdurate Jewish nation ......... 154
Graciously^ permitted persecution of the aboriginal Christians ; under the Romans as well as the Jews . 155
It was consequently, in unsuspected submission to pre-ordained decrees, that the Son of God, our Saviour, was so cruelly, yet so mercifully crucified . 155
No fear there will be very soon, that sceptics shall con- tinue to exist, who will have it in their power, plau- sibly to call the Christian Faith, a ridiculous Fable . 156
Eebellions discovered in heaven, long before the Fall . 157
Why Jesus Christ was first begotten in heaven . . 158
Surging of Satan, from the fiery depths of Chaos, at
the command of Almighty God . . . .158
Separate coexistence of the Holy Ghost, with Jesus Christ the Son of God 159
Camo-spiritual trinity of Man, in part evident . . 159
The road back to heaven, which we all must finally take 160
224 THE WORD.
PAGE
On what occasion was it that, the glorying hosts of heaven, joyfully choired with thankful hymns and human acclaims ; by loudly repeating above and below, " Grlory to Grod in the highest, and on earth, good will toward men "? . ..... 161
An all-sufficient Eedeemer was spiritually begotten of God among angels, before all worlds ! — An omnipo- tent and omniscient Saviour, was materially begotten of the same God among men, in the midst of worlds! 162
Nothing has seemed obscure, nothing doubtful, of late, to us, regarding the perfect regeneration and infal- lible salvation of all human souls , • . . .163
Primeval states must have been known, to the primi- tive souls and intelKgences, of the original Spirits and Angels 164
Primitive Creations of the experimental heavens . 165
The most culpable sin of Omission, will be severely laid to the account, of those who have heedlessly read the holy Word of God :^ it is the triunely-inspired com- pilation, of no less an Author than : the Most Holy and Omniscient God, in Omnipotent Partnership united, for the universal welfare of mankind . .166
The greatest evidence of wisdom is : reading, marking, learning, and inwardly digesting the Bible . .167
Why was the presence of Jesus Christ, our Lord, re- quired so early in the primeval heavens ? . . 168
Cause of the Messiah's first Presence eternities ago . 169
THE WORD. 225
PAGE
The necessary and salutary Presence of Evil, among the celestial hosts . . . . . . .169
Another Act of inconceivably Grracious Beneficence
subsequently took place . . . . . .170
The expulsion of the rebellious Angels from Paradise,
besides its necessary purgatorial results . . .171 Evil from the Beginning was most evidently unavoidable 171 Apparently unoccupied celestial realms of ethereal
interminable space . . . . . . .172
Grood thoughts, words, and deeds, come to us from God
alone, through fervent and incessant prayers addressed
to " Our Father " in the name of Jesus Christ . .173 Infinite Grace clearly forbids eternal damnation . . 1 73 "What could fill universal vacuity before all worlds ? . 173 A Godhead which was, which is, which will ever be
The Word 174
There were, and there are still false prophets, for
merciful ends,^ among the nations of this earth . 175
Antichristian scepticism is a diabolical suggestion of
Satan. Nevertheless, the guiltiest^ apostate of all,
must infalliby be saved, at last . . . .176
Maternity of the Virgin Mary from everlasting . .177 WTien the Holy Spirit would be divinely commissioned,
(through perfecting purposes of inexhaustible mercy),
to enlarge the minds of men, to the full knowledge
of God 178
Christian origin, purpose, and extent of the ways of
God 179
226 THE WORD.
PAGK
Whose ever-present Almighty and Omniscient Friend was to be the Holy Ghost ? 180
It was for the sake of the spiritual hosts, which the Almighty would find it necessary to drive away from heaven, that the twofold Miracle of Universal Redemption, and Salvation was sanctioned and pre- ordained ........ 181
Principal object of the Creation of Adam and Eve . 181
How the new kingdom of Grod shall come . . . 182
A Monotheistic Autocracy, was, before all worlds, con- verted into a Most Holy and equally Omnipotent Trinity, for evermore to reign and to last . . 183
Period irrevocably decreed for the perfect Salvation of all, according to the will and co-operation of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost 184
Future ransomed, regenerated, forgiven, and sanctifi.ed, " New Kingdom of Heaven " . . . . . 185
The Holy Spirit of God, triumphantly ascending to the Joyful, Glorying Courts of Paternal Love, Devoted Filial and Fraternal Affection, will finally proclaim : Universal Salvation won . . . . .186
0, infinitely blessed souls and spirits, of fallen angels and men ! — The former heavens and worlds are even now, gradually passing away, for your sakes . . 186
For your own sakes, therefore, dear Readers, study this book from beginning to end, patiently and searchingly too ....... 187
Then mark well and digest what the consequence will be 187
THE WORD. 227
PAGE
Jews, Gentiles, Pagans, and Atheists themselves, should all be equally eager to ascertain what this book teaches : to them, as well as to all ! . . . .188
Every truthful Christian expounder of the Holy Scrip- tures, who allows that one single soul can be lost, is leaving means, at Satan's disposal, to prove that Divine Mercy is not infinite ; heavenly Love, not boundless; paternal Grace, not all-sufiicient^ . .189
Best weights to be weighed by at last . . .190
Tribulations and punishments justly kept in store, for the obdurately wicked ; for the obstinately blind ; the mysteriously reserved . . . . .191
Are Christians to be limited in their piously fervent inquiries after evangelical truths ? ... 192
Be faithfully zealous, and, in the name of our blessed Lord Jesus Christ, judge for yourselves . . ^ 192
Penitentiaries and reformatories await sinners after death : Others will await them further on- , . 193
Huge phenomenon of destruction heralding Judgment Day : Eternal condemnation will not be^ . . 194
In the four Gospels of the Evangelists, and that of St. John in particular, you will find that the three Eter- nal Persons of the Most Holy Trinity, must have been actively engaged, during the miraculous labours of the Creation ....... 195
Satan himself was there also ; indispensable, but in no respect meritorious. His menial services, per- mitted, yet not sanctioned, nor preordained . . 196
228 THE WORD.
PAGE
It will be observed, we humbly request, tbat God the Most High, during the whole of the six miraculous days, omnipotently decrees and omnisciently approves 197
That Jesus Christ, dutifully creates, in silent charity, hope and love ........ 197
That the Holy Spirit, almightily vivifies, fertilizes, and sanctifies, in triune compliance with the will of both, the Almighty Father, and Almighty Son . .197
It was God alone, the Most High, who separately saw
that ALL WAS GOOD ...... 198
And we must not above all overlook, that the end of the Sixth Day, was the joyful evening, upon which, God the Most High (foreknowing the triumphant results of all those wonders), having seen that Jesus Christ His Son, had fitly created Man, in His own image, bid the Holy Ghost, to bless them, and de- clared that ALL WAS VERY GOOD .... 199
So God the Most High, " blessed the Seventh Day, and sanctified it," pre-eminently above all the other days ; because on that day, God the Father, and His well- beloved Son, and the Holy Ghost, in Trinity most mercifully and for ever united, had completed and perfected their six principal steps, in the marvellous Scheme of Universal Eedemption and Salvation ; fore- known, and consequently preordained before all worlds ......... 200
For the Garden, which Jesus Christ, the Son of God, planted, according to His Father's will, in Eden, was
THE WORD. 229
PAGE
a probationary ground ; and the trees of forbidden fruit, were to be most merciful means of ordeal, under the boundless blessings of infinite Grace. . . . Now,
as Divine Omniscience knew from everlasting, that Satan would tempt ; that Justice with Mercy would purposely permit ; that Adam, unable to withstand, unwarned, the threefold allurements, of knowledge, love, and beauty,^ could not help yielding himself a prey ; they both were most evidently predestined to eat the fruit and to fall ; that Mercy's ends might, all the better, be answered and gained. (Gen. iii. 4 — 6) 201 The very circumstance alone, which first reveals the transmigration of Satan, amongst the reptiles of Paradise, for the purpose of deceiving' the woman, makes clearly known to all Christian souls, the bound- less extent of Divine compassion ; the infinite love of our Eternal and Almighty Redeemer ; His omnipo- tent power to save ....... 202
Has it been furthermore sufficiently noticed thsct, the size of the Garden of Eden had not been, from the first, calculated as that of a ground, permanently to
last? 203
That beautiful abode, imagined in the secret Councils of the Most Holy Trinity, was no other than a tem- porary intermediate way, between heavenly forfeited joys and earthly trials of unknown duration : a gra- cious station of compassionate tests, repeated falls and most merciful recoveries ; graciously granted by
230 THE WORD.
PAGE
our Father the Lord of lords, with a divine view to ■ultimate purification, regeneration, and, in the name of Jesus Christ, His only Son, to unlimited atone- ment and universal salvation . . . . .203 Such was the Garden of Eden ; such its most wonderful and incomprehensibly glorious end ! . . . 203
Many reasons, of a perfectly uncontrovertible nature, might easily be furnished, with reverent and pious precision, to prove that our first parents were never intended to pass their lives, where the Lord God had created them. Inquirers need only read over the Third, the Fifth, and the Sixth Days of Creation plainly to ascertain this fact (Gen. i. 11, 12, 20 — 22, 24 — 28).
Progenies and generations alone, issuing from such innu- merable stocks, as those which God the Almighty had created and made, for totally different ends, would wonderfully soon have replenished the land of Eden. And outlets into the wide world, must right early have become indispensable from all quarters.
Adam and Eve, with their countless ever-renascent genera- tions, required quite another stage, whereon to undergo the unavoidable vicissitudes of their forthcoming incarnations.
As we cannot feel satisfied with our present humble labours, finite and imperfect as they will nevertheless still continue to be, without endeavouring to explain and interpret the mean- ing, alluded to in the fourth chapter of Genesis, beginning at
THE WORD.
231
the sixteenth verse, we beg to be allowed to offer those im- portant verses in an interrogatory form : —
What was, for example, the Land of Nod ?
How came an inhabited land to be there at all ?
Who could be that people for whom Cain built a city ?
And, might not the daughter, whom Cain married, in that land of Nod, eastward of Eden, be the offspring of two of those Angels, so justly driven away from Heaven with Satan, for having wickedly rebelled against their Almighty Lord, The Eternal and Omnipotent Jehovah ?
Above all things, it behoves very materially all good and faithful Christians to expound, whenever they are able, and to the best of their abilities, (after repeatedly offering up pious entreaties, for aid divine), all those Scriptural references and allusions to sacred truths, which they meet in Holy Writ ; that no stumbling-block remain, which might by patient teaching be removed ; that all crooked paths be made straight again, which lead back to that heavenly Boui-n, from which our original sins have now so long estranged us all.
Such, we solemnly and devoutly declare it, is the bounden duty of every human creature, baptized, no matter how, and no matter where, in the name of Jesus Christ Our Lord : whether born to Royalty, to Rank, to Professions, to Trade, or to Want.^
He alone, is a fervent and faithful Christian : (the most honourable, the highest of all earthly titles !) And he alone can hope, soon or late, through the all-sufficient Redemption of our eternally-omnipotent and infinitely-merciful Saviour,
232 THE WORD,
to return, thoroughly cleansed and saved, among the Angels, the Saints, and the Just, who are anxiously awaiting the total Salvation of AIL
Another important quotation cannot fail here very appli- cably to conclude this part of our corroborative elucidations. It appears particularly necessary, in this place ; in order to complete the militant armour, which we have, all through our subjects, striven to furnish, towards the defensive arguments, that Christian logicians but too often need, to repel with advantage the flippant and impious scoffs of unscrupulous unbelievers. It relates to the exclusive punishment of Eve,
" Unto the woman, the Lord God said, I will greatly mul- tiply thy sorrow, and thy conception^ ; in sorrow shalt thou bring forth children . , ." (Gen. iii. 16).
This dreadful tribulation, besides implying a vast number of other afflictive results, leads one very reasonably to infer, that, had not our first parents transgressed, in Eden, concep- tion and childbirth would have occurred without sorrow, and without pain. Just as " the sons of God " in heaven doubt- lessly were, at the beginning, begotten and born.^
There must have been, eternities ago, exhaustless nativities of gods and angels, as necessarily,^ as successive creations of heavens, and celestial mansions.
Spiritual generations must have ensued, not, in any respect, as generations proceed on earth, but as they origin- ally must have proceeded (without sorrow or pain), when the boundless universe first was called into actively sentient useful* existence, before all worlds.
THE WORD, 233
There is nothing presumptuous in this assertion ; because we reverently ground it on the significative quotation which we have just expressly selected.
Did not the Almighty solemnly declare His divine pater- nity in the presence of the hearing heavens, saying, " This is my well-beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased " ? (Matt, iii. 17).
A sacred foretype like this, was purposely set up,^ as a commandment to be observed by the angelic hosts ; in some measure similar to that, which the Omnipotent Creator sig- nified, by saying to Adam and Eve, after having blessed them, " Be fruitfiil and multiply, and replenish the earth " (Gen. i. 28).
The immaculate Virgin Mary's conceptions, both, evidently must have been free from sorrow, as from pain.^
Now, let us briefly state, in its turn, what we conceive to have been the Land of Nod ; that nothing important may be omitted ; which in the least degree assists, to make plainer still, the theory, which we have uniformly adopted, on Scrip- tural grounds, and which is that.
The whole human race consisted, and still consists, of those myi'iads of angels and spirits, which God the Almighty found it impartially just, and equitably charitable, through Divine Grace, to drive away from Heaven ; and, on the chaotic earth, long before the Creation of Adam and Eve, to await in proportionate tribulations and suitable trials their ultimate Dooms.
2^4
THE WORD.
Therefore, tlie Land of Nod, East of Eden, and the whole land, at that time occupying the dismal surface of the chaotic block, which ages of ages later became Adam's habitable Globe, through the infinite mercy of his most compassionate Maker ; that Land of Nod was. from pole to pole, and East to West, the vast terrestrial arena on which, " Our Father which is in heaven," through the all-sufficient intercession of His well-beloved Son, mercifully consented to cast our heaven-begotten progenitors, when they so ungratefully rebelled against His laws.
It follows that the people, for whom Cain built a city, and one of whose daughters he married, were simply a portion of our banished celestial brethren, still undergoing earthly tribulations, as we are; some of whom perhaps being yet among us, subjected to further ordeals, arising from their obstinate commission of further transgressions.
THE WORD. 235
ADDITIONAL SCEIPTUKAL AUTHORITIES.
(See pages 13 to 17 and 195.)
FEOM THE OLD TESTAMENT.
First Proofs of Infinite Divine Mercy — Creation of Adam — Temptation of Eve.^
1. " And the earth was without form, and void ; and dark- ness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit ^ of God moved upon the face of the waters" . . . (Gren. i. 2),
2. " And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind : and it was so.
3. " And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and everything that creepeth upon the earth after his kind, and God saw that it was good," (Gen. i. 24, 25).
4. " And God said. Let us make man in our image, after our likeness" . . . (Gen i. 26).
R 2
236 THE WORD.
1. "So God created man in His own image . . . male and female created He them" (Gren. i, 27).
2. " The Lord Grod formed man of the dust^ of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of hfe ; and man became a living^ soul" (Gren. ii. 7).
3. " And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food ; the tree of life ^ also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and* evil " (Gen. ii. 9).
4. "And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat :
Most Gracious Temptation of our First Parents. — Second Proofs of Infinite Mercy.
5. " But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not ^ eat of it : for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely *' die.
6. " And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone ; I will make him an help meet '^ for him " (Gen. ii. 16—18).
7. "Now the serpent was more subtil* than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman. Yea, hath God said. Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden ?
8. "And the woman said unto the serpent. We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden :
9. "But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said. Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURAL AUTHORITIES. 237
Intentional Presence of Satan in Eden.
1. "And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die :
2. " For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing ' good and evil.'
3. " And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat" (Gen. iii. 1—6).
4. "And the Lord God said unto the serpent,^ Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field . . .
5. "I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed ; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel " (Gen. iii. 14, 15).
FEOM THE NEW TESTAMENT.
GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. JOHN.
The Son of God before all Worlds.
6. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.'^
238 THE WORD.
1. " The same was in the beginning ^ with God.
2. "All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made.
3. " In Him was life ; and the life was the light of men.
4. "And the Word was made ^ flesh " (John i. 1 — 4, 14).
GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW. Nativity of our Redeemer.
5. " Now the birth ^ of Jesus Christ was on this wise *, When as His mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Grhost.
6. " But while [Joseph] thought on these things, behold, the angel* of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife : for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.^
7. " And she shall bring forth a Son, and thou shalt call His name Jesus : for He shall save His people from their sins.
8. " Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the East to Jerusalem,
9. " Saying, Where is He that is born King of the Jews ? for we have seen His star^ in the east, and are come to worship Him.
10. " Ajid, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was.
ADDITIONAL SCKIPTURAL AUTHORITIES. 239
1. "And when they were come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down, and worshipped^ Him " (Matt. i. 18, 20, 21 ; ii. 1, 2, 9, 11).
GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MARK. Most evident Proof of the separately-active Pre- sences OF THE Father, the Son, and the Holy Gthost.
2. " John, the messenger of God,^ was clothed with camel's hair, and with a girdle of a skin ahout his loins ;
3. " And he preached, saying. There cometh One mightier than I after me, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy* to stoop down and unloose.
4. "I indeed have baptized you with water : but He shall baptize you with the Holy Grhost.
5. "And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth to Galilee, and was baptized of John* in Jordan.
6. "And straightway coming up out of the water. He saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit^ like a dove descending upon Him :
7. " And there came a voice from heaven, saying. Thou ART My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased " (Mark i. 6—11).
GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. LUKE.
Angelic Participation, in the Miraculous Scheme of Universal Redemption.
8. " There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia: and
240 THE WORD.
his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth.
1. "And they had no child, because that Elisabeth was barren, and they both were now well stricken in years.
2. "And it came to pass, that while he executed the priest's office before God in the order of his course,
3. " There appeared unto him an angel of the Lord^ stand- ing on the right side of the altar of incense.
4. " And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him.
5. " But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias : for thy prayer is heard ; and thy wife EHsabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John.
6. "And thou shalt have joy and gladness ; and many shall rejoice at his birth " (Luke i. 5 — 8, 11 — 14).
CRUCIFIXION OF JESUS CHRIST.
ACCORDING TO THE FOUR PRECEDENT EVANGELISTS.
7. " When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just Person : see ye to it.
8. "Then answered all the people, and said. His blood be on us, and on our children.
9. " Then released he Barabbas unto them : and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered Him to be crucified.
ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURAL AUTHORITIES. 24
1. "And they stripped Him, and put on Him a scarlet robe.
2. " And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon His head, and a reed in His right hand : and they bowed the knee before Him, and mocked Him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews !
3. " And they spit upon Him, and took the reed, and smote Him on the head.
4. " And after that they had mocked Him, they took the robe off from Him, and put His own raiment on Him, and led Him away to crucify Him" (Matt, xxvii. 24—26, 28—31).
Celestial and Terrestrial Evidences of the con- comitant, BUT now incessantly-active Divinity of Christ.
5. " It was the third hour, and they crucified Him.
6. " And the superscription of His accusation was written over. The King of the Jews.
7. "And they that passed: by railed on Him, wagging their heads, and saying. Ah, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days,
8. " Save Thyself, and come down from the cross.
9. "Likewise also the chief priests mocking said among themselves with the scribes, He saved others ; Himself He cannot save.
10. " Let Christ the King of Israel descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe . . .
242 THE WORD.
1. "And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.
2. "And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud Toice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani ? which is, iDeing interpreted. My Grod, my Grod, why hast Thou for- saken me ?
3. "And Jesus cried again with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost.
4. "And the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom.
5. "And when the centurion, which stood over against Him, saw that He so cried out, and gave up the ghost, he said, Truly this Man was the Son of God " (Mark xv. 25 — 39).
Efficacy of Repentance, even at the Eleventh Hour : WHEN Sins have been as Scarlet.
6. "And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified Him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and one on the left.
7. " Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them;^ for they know not what they do. And they parted His raiment and cast lots.
8. " And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on Him, saying. If Thou be Christ, save Thyself and us.
9. " But the other answering rebuked him, saying. Dost thou not fear Grod, seeing thou art in the same condemna- tion?
ADDITIONAL SCRIPTITRAL AUTHORITIES. 243
1. "And we, indeed, justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds : but this Man hath done nothing amiss.
2. "And he said unto Jesus, Lord,^ remember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom.
3. " And Jesus said unto him, Yerily I say unto thee, To- day shalt thou be with me'^ in Paradise.
4. " And Jesus said. Father, into Thy hands I commend my spirit : and having said thus. He gave up the ghost.
5. " And all the people that came together to that sight, beholding the things which were done, smote their breasts, and returned" (Luke xxiii. 33 — 48).
Our Promised Redemption and Universal Salvation
INFALLIBLY SeCURED.
6. " Then saith Pilate unto Jesus, Sj)eakest Thou not unto me? knowest Thou not that I have power to crucify Thee, and have power to release Thee ?^
7. " Jesus answered. Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above : therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin.
8. " From thenceforth Pilate sought to release Jesus : but the Jews cried out, saying. If thou let this Man go, thou art not Csesar's friend : whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Csesar.
9. " When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth . . . and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your King!*
244 THE WORD.
1. " But they cried out, Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered. We have no king but Caesar.
2. " Then delivered he Jesus therefore unto them to he crucified, and they took Our Lord, and led Him away.
3. " And He bearing His cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha :
4. " Where they crucified Him, and two other with Him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst.
5. " And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross. And the writing was, Jesus or Nazareth the King of the Jews.
6. " After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled,^ saith, I thirst.
7. " Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar : and they filled a spunge with some of it, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to His mouth.
8. "When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar. He said, It is finished : and He bowed His head, and gave up the ghost.
9. " Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with Him.
10. " But when they came to Jesus, and saw that He was dead already, they brake not His legs :
11. "But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced His side,
ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURAL AUTHORITIES. 245
and forthwith came thereout blood and water " (John xix. 10—19, 28—34). ■
JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD : HIS BURIAL AND
ASCENSION.
1. " When the even was come, there came a rich man of Arimathsea, named Joseph, who also himself was a disciple of Jesus :
2. " He went to Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be delivered.
3. " And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth,
4. " And laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out of the rock : and he rolled a great ^ stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed"^ . . . (Matt xxvii. 57 — 60).
5. " And very early in the morning, the first day of the week, [Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome], came unto the sepulchre, at the rising of the sun.
6. " And they said unto themselves : Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre ?
7. " And when they looked up, they saw that the stone was rolled away : for it was very^ great.
Angels converse with the Daughters of Men.*
8. "And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white gar- ment, and they were affrighted" (Mark xvi. 2 — 5).
246 THE WORD.
1. "And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in shining^ garments.
2. " And as the women were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they- said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead ?
3. He is not here, but is risen : remember how He spake unto you, when He was yet in Galilee.
4. Saying, The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again " (Luke xxiv. 4 — 7).
RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST.
5. " Then the same day, at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were^ shut, where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith* unto them. Peace be unto you,
6. " And when He had so said, He shewed unto them His hands and His side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord" (John xx. 19, 20).
7. "And . . . Jesus commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith He, Ye have heard of me . . .
8. " For John truly baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost, not many days hence . . .
9. " And ye shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea . . . and unto the uttermost parts of the earth.
ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURAL AUTHORITIES. 247
1. "And when He had spoken these things, while they beheld, He was taken' up ; and a cloud received Him out of their sight.
2. " And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven, as He went up, behold, two men^ stood by them in white apparel" . . . (Acts i. 4, 5, 8—10).
DESCENT OF THE HOLT GHOST.
3. " And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
4. " Suddenly there came a^ sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
5. " And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it* sat upon each of them.
6. "And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
7. " And there were dwelHng at Jerusalem, Jews, devout' men, out of every nation under heaven.
8. " Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them® speak in his own language " (Acts ii. 1 — 6),
248 THE WORD.
SACRED WORDS, FROM THE LIPS OF ALMIGHTY GOD.
1. " Before Me, there was no God formed, neither
SHALL THERE BE AFTER Me. I, EVEN I, AM THE LoRD ;
AND BESIDE^ Me THERE IS NO Saviour " (Isaiali xliii. 10, 11).
Third Proof of God's Infinite Mercy : — Crime AND Curse of Cain.
2. " And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil : and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for^ ever ;
3. " Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken " (Gen. iii. 24).
4. " And Eve conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from^ the Lord.
5. " And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.
6. " And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord.
7. " And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat* thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering.
8. " But unto Cain and to his offering He had^ not respect. And Cain was very*' wroth, and his countenance fell.
ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURAL AUTHORITIES. 249
1. "And the Lord Grod said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth ? and why is thy countenance^ fallen ?
2. "If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted ? and if thou doest not well, sin Keth at thy door. And unto' thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.
3. "And Cain talked^ with Abel his brother : and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.
Foreknown Condemnation of Cain.
4. "And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother ? And (Cain) said, I know^ not : am I my brother's keeper ?
5. " And Grod said. What hast thou done ? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground.
6. "And now thou art cursed* from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand.
7. " When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength ; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth" (Gren. iv. 1 — 12).
SACRED WORDS, FROM THE LIPS OF OUR OWN DEAR REDEEMER, JESUS CHRIST.
Divine Example of Filial Submission.
8. " Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him.
9. " But John forbad Him, saying, I have need to be bap- tized of Thee, and comest Thou to me ?
250
THE WORD.
1. " And Jesus answering, said unto him, Suffer it to be so now : for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then He suffered Him.
2. " And Jesus, when He was baptized, went up straight- way out of the water : and, lo, the heavens were opened unto Him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon Him :
3. " And, lo, a voice from heaven, saying, This is my be- loved Son, in whom I am well pleased " (Matt. iii. 13 — 17).
THEN JESUS IS TAKEN, OBEDIENTLY TO
THE COMPASSIONATE WILL OF HIS FATHER, TO BE
TEMPTED OF SATAN, FOR OUR SAKES.i
4. " Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilder- ness, to be tempted of the devil."
5. *' And when He had fasted forty days, and forty nights, He was afterwards an hungered.
6. " And when the tempter came to Him, he said. If Thou be the Son of God,^ command that these stones be made bread.
7. *' But Jesus answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
8. Then the devil taketh Him up into the Holy City, and sitteth Him on a pinnacle of the temple.
9. "And saith unto Him, If Thou be the Son of Man,« cast thyself down : for it is written, He shall give His * angels
ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURAL AUTHORITIES. 251
charge concerning Thee, and in their hands they shall bear Thee up, lest at any time Thou dash Thy foot against a stone.
1. " Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy Grod.
2. " Again the Devil taketh Him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth Him aU the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them.
3. " And saith unto Him, All these things will I give Thee, if Thou wilt fall down and worship me.
4. "Then saith Jesus unto Him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written. Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve.^
5. " And, behold, angels^ came and ministered unto Him " (Matt. iv. 1—11).
SEPARATELY IMPORTANT SAYINGS OF JESUS CHRIST, OUR LORD.
6. " Ye are the light of the world."
7. " Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works."
8. " Go ye, and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice " (Matt. ix.).
9. " Pray ye the Lord of the harvest, that He will send forth labourers into His harvest."
10. " Take no thought how or what ye shall speak : for it shall be given you . . . what ye shall speak."
11. " Fear not, therefore : for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed ". . .
s 2
252 THE WORD.
1. "What I tell jou in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the house- tops". . .
2. " Whosoever . . . shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father wliich is in heaven" (Matt. X.).
3. " Whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother " (Matt. xiii.).
4. "I speak to them in parables : because they, seeing, see not ; and hearing, they hear not, neither do they under- stand ", . .
5. " Every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall inherit everlasting life " (Matt, xix.).
THE GREATEST COMMANDMENTS OF ALL.
6. " Then a pharisee, which was a lawyer, asked Him a question, tempting Him, and saying,
7. " Master, which is the great commandment in the law ?
8. " Jesus said unto him. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. . . .
9. " Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. . . .
10. " On these two commandments hang all the law, AND the prophets " (Matt, xxiii.).
ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURAL AUTHORITIES. 253
1. " And suddenly there was with the angel, a multitude of the heavenly host, praising G-od" (Matt. ii. 13, 15, 21).
UNDENIABLE MERCIFUL CONNECTION,
BETWEEN THE ANGELS OF GOD,
AND THE INCARNATED SOULS OF THIS EARTH.
IN SAINT LUKE.
2. " And there appeared (unto Zacharias) an Angel of the Lord, standing on the right side of the altar of incense " (Luke i. 11—13).
3. " He shall go before him in the Spirit and power of Elias". . . (17, 18).
4. " And the Angel answering said unto him, I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God " (19, 26 — 28).
5. " And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God, unto a city of Galilee" (26—28, 29—31, 34—38).
6. " And, lo, the Angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them " (ii, 9, 10).
7. " And devils also came out of many, crying out, and saying. Thou art Christ, the Son of God " (41 ; vi. 18 ; vii. 21).
8. " Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way " (vii. 27).
9. " And certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits ". . . (viii. 2, 12, 27, 29, 33—36, 38).
254 THE WORD.
1. " And her spirit came again " (the maiden's soul, which had left her) (Luke viii. 55 ; ix. 8, 26—30 ; xii. 8 ; xvi. 22 ; XX. 36 ; xxii. 43 ; xxiv. 4, 23).
SAINT MATTHEW.
2. " But while he" (Joseph) " thought on those things, be- hold the Angel of the Lord appeared unto him " (i. 20, 24 ; ii. 2, 9, 10, 13, 19—22; iii. 16).
3. " Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilder- ness to be tempted of the Devil " (iv. 3, 5—7, 10, 11, 24).
4. " When the even was come, they brought unto Him many that were possessed with Devils : and He cast out the ' Spirits ' with His word " (viii. 16, 28, 31—33 ; ix. 32—34 ; X. 1, 8).
5. " For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you" (x. 20 ; xi. 14, 18 ; xii. 22, 24, 27, 28, 43, 45 ; xiii. 19, 39).
6. " The Son of Man shall send forth His Angels " (xiii. 41).
7. " So shall it be at the end of the world : the Angels shall come forth" Txiii. 49 ; xiv. 26 ; xvi. 22).
8. " And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high moun- tain apart " (xvii. 1, 2).
9. " And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias, talking with Him" (3—5, 11, 12, 15—17).
10. " Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones: for I say unto you, that in heaven their angels do
ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURAL AUTHORITIES. 255
always behold the face of my Father, -which is in heaven " (xviii. 10).
1. " For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, bnt are^ as the angels of God in heaven" (xxii. 30—32).
2. " He saith mito them, How then doth David, in spirit, call Him Lord, saying. The Lord said unto my Lord ?" (43, 44).
THE ELECT ANGELS, AND SOULS ELECT, "BEFOEE ALL WOELDS:"
Glorious Associates, predestined by the Almighty Father, to assist in the Glorious Operations of Universal Redemption and Salvation.
IN SAINT MATTHEW.
3. " For then shall be great tribulations, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be" (xxiv. 22).
4. " And the Son of Man shall send His angels . . . and they shall gather together His elect from the foiu: winds, from one end of heaven to the other" (30).
5. " But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only" (36, 40, 41).
6. " When the Son of Man shall come in His glory, aud all the holy angels with Him" (xxv. 31—33).
7. " Then shall the King say unto them on His right
256 THE WORD.
hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world " (34, 41 ; xxvi. 29).
1. " Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and He shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels" (53; xxvii. 52; xxviii. 2, 5).
FROM CRUDEN'S CONCORDANCE.
Angels. Gen. xlviii. 16 ; Exod. xxiii. 20 ; Numb. xx. 16 ; Judges xiii. 19 ; 2 Sam. xxiv. 16 ; 1 Chron. xxi. 15 ; 1 Kings xiii. 18 ; 2 Chron. xxxii. 21 ; Eccles. v. 6 ; Dan. iii. 28 ; Isaiah vi. 9 ; Hosea xii. 4 ; Zeeh. i. 9 ; John v. 4 ; Acts vi. 15 ; X. 7 ; 2 Cor. xi. 14 ; Gal. i. 8 ; Eev. i. 1 ; Exod. xiv. 19 ; Judges xiii. 6 ; 1. Sam. xxix. 9 ; 2 Sam. xiv. 17 ; Acts xxvii. 23 ; Gal. iv. 14 ; Gen. xvi. 7 ; Numb. xxii. 23 ; Judges ii. 1 ; xiii. 3 ; 2 Sam. xxiv. 16 ; 2 Kings xix. 35 ; 1 Chron. xxi. 12 ; Psakn xxxiv. 7 ; Zech. i. 11 ; Acts v. 19 ; Gen. xix. 1 ; Psalm viii. 5 ; Heb. ii. 7 ; Acts vii. 53 ; Eom. viii. 38 ; 1 Cor. iv. 9 ; Gal. iii. 19 ; Col. ii. 18 ; 2 Thess. i. 7 ; 1 Tim. iii. 16 ; Heb. i. 4 ; 1 Peter i. 12 ; 2 Peter ii. 4 ; Jude 6 ; Eev. xxi. 12 ; Gen. xxviii. 12 ; Heb. i. 6 ; Job iv. 18 ; Psalm xci. 11 ; Heb. i. 7 ; Eev. xii. 7.
And Spirits.
Matt. iii. 16 ; Luke iii. 22 ; 1 Cor. xii. 8 ; Matt. xxii.
43 ; Gal. iii. 2 ; Eom. viii. 1 ; Matt. xxvi. 41 ; 1 Tim. iv. 12 ;
1 Cor. V. 4 ; John iii. 6 ; 2 Cor. iii. 6 ; Col. ii. 5 ; Psalm
Ii. 10 ; Acts vii. 59 ; Heb. i. 14 ; Mark v. 13 ; Luke vii. 21 ;
ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURAL AUTHORITIES. 257
1 Sam. xviii. 10 ; Matt. xiv. 26 ; Luke xxiv. 37 ; 1 Jolin iv. 1 ; Eph. iv. 30 ; Deut. ii. 30 ; 1 John iv. 3 ; Gen. xli. 38 ; Numb, xxiv. 2 ; Eom. viii. 9 ; Zech. xii. 10 ; Isaiah xii. 2 ; Joel ii. 28 ; Zech. xiii. 2 ; Isaiah xi. 2 ; Deut. xxxiv. 9 ; Eph. i. 17 ; Numb. xvi. 22 ; Psalm civ. 4 ; Prov. x. 2 ; Zech. vi. 5 ; Heb. i. 14 ; Eev. x. 13.
SACEED PEOMISES, PKOPHECIES, AND EEYELATIONS.
ACCORDING TO THE GOSPEL OF ST. JOHN.
1. Chap. i. 1—3, 14, 17, 32, 51 ; iii. 5, 6, 17; iv. 23, 24, 26 ; V. 26, 27.
2. " Marvel not at this : fur the hour is coming, in the which all^ that are in the graves shall hear His voice " (28).
3. Chap. vi. 35 : " For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent me " (39, 40).
4. " No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him : ^ and I wiU raise him up at the last day" (47).
5. "I am the living Bread which came down from heaven : if any man eat of this Bread, he shall live for ever : and the bread which I shall give him is ' my ^ flesh,' which I will give for the ' life of the world ' " (53).
6. "Whoso ' eateth* my flesh' and ' drinketh my blood* hath eternal life ; and I mil raise him up at the last day " (55-58).
258
THE WORD.
1. "It is tlie SjDirit that quickenetli ; the flesh profiteth nothing" . . . (63 — 66). "Then saidJesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away ?" (68, 69).
2. " Jesus answered them, Have not I^ chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil ?" (70)
3. " She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her. Neither do I condemn thee : go, and sin no more " (viii. 10, 11).
4. Chap. ix. 1, 2 : " Jesus answered, Neither has this man sinned, nor his parents :^ but that the works of God should be made manifest in him" (4 — 7, 38, 39).
5. " And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold : them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice ; and there shall be ' one fold, and one shepherd ' " (x. 16, 26, 27).
6. Chap. xi. 1 — 3 : " When Jesus heard that, He said. This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory ^ of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby" (5, 6, 11 — 14, 33, 35, 41, 43, 44).
7. " Then gathered the chief priests and the pharisees a council, and said. What do we ? for this Man doeth many miracles" (48—52).
8. " Now is my soul troubled ; and what shall I say ? ^Father, save me from this hour : but for this* cause came I unto this hour " (xii. 28 — 30). "Now is the judgment of this world (31) : and I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me."
ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURAL AUTHORITIES. 259
1. " Wliile ye have the light, believe in the light,^ that ye may he the children of light "... (xii. 36 — 40.)
2. " Jesus cried and said, He that belie veth on me, belie veth not on me, but on Him that sent me. And he that seeth me seeth^ Him that sent me " (45 — 47). " I came not to judge the world, but to save ^ the world " (50).
3. Chap. xiii. 2 : " The devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray Him ; Jesus riseth from supper" (3 — 5, 10, 11, 14, 15, 18, 27).
4. " Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him" (32—34).
5. " By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have^ love one to another " (36 — 38). " Yerily, verily, I say unto thee. The cock shaU not crow until thou hast denied me^ thiice."
6. " Let not your hearts be troubled. In my Father's house "^ are many mansions : if it were not so, I would have told you" (xiv. 1— 5).
7. "Jesus saith unto him [Thomas], I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life : no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."
8. " Philip saith unto Him, Lord, shew^ us the Father, and it sufficeth us. He that hath seen me hath seen the Father, and how say est thou then. Shew us the Father ? " (xiv. 9, 14).
9. "If ye love me keep my commandments" (16 — 18,21,23) ,
260 THE WORD.
1. " But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name. He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your^ remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you" (27, 28).
2. Chap. XV. 1,2: " Every branch in me that beareth fruit, ' He purgeth^ it,' that it may bring forth more fruit " (3—5, 8, 9, 12, 13).
3 "Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.
4. " Henceforth I call you not servants ; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.
•5f
5. " Ye have chosen me, but I have chosen you, and or- dained* you .... These things I command you, that ye love one another" (15 — 20).
6. " If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not* had sin : but now they have no ^ cloke for their sin " (23 — 25).
7. " They hated me without^ a cause " (26, 27).
8. Chap. xvi. 1 — 4: "And these things I said not unto you at the beginning, because I was with you" (5, 6).
9. " Nevertheless I tell you the truth : it is expedient for you that I go away. I have yet many ' things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now " (xvi. 7, 12, 13).
10. " He will shew you things^ to come" (14—17,19, 20,22). " Yerily, verily I say unto you, Whatever ye shall ask the Father iu my name, He will give it you " (24, 25).
ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURAL AUTHORITIES. 261
1. " The time cometli, wlien I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but ' I shall shew you plainly^ of the Father ' " (26—30).
2. " Jesus answered them, Do ye now believe ?
3. "In the world ye shall have tribulations : but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world" (31, 33).
4. Chap. xvii. 1, 2: " This i« life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent" (4—12).
5. " I pray not that Thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that Thou shouldest ' keep them from the evil ' " (16—19).
6. " Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through^ their words " (xvii. 20).
7. " That they all may be one ; as Thou, Father, art in me, and I in Thee, that they may also be one in us : that the world may believe Thou hast sent me " (22, 23).
8. " Father, I will^ that they also, whom Thou hast given me, be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory, which Thou hast given me ; for Thou lovedst me before * the foundation of the world " (25, 26).
9. Chap, xviii. 1 — 3 : " Jesus therefore, knowing all things that should come upon Him, went forth, and said unto them, Whom seek ye ? " (5 — 7).
10. " Jesus answered, I have told you that I am He : if therefore ye seek me, let these go their way " (9 — 13).
262 THE WORD.
1. " Now Caiaphas was he, whicli gave counsel to the Jews, that it was expedient that one man should die for the people " (15—17, 25—27).
See Chap. xix. 30, 38, 41, 42 ; xx. 12, 13, 17, 20, 22 ; xxi. 1, 4, 7, 15—17, 20—24.
DWELLINGS OF THE DEAD.
THE AUTHOE'S DEEAM.
OUE STAES AND PLANETARY WORLDS.
ORTHODOX AND PURELY EVANGELICAL REFLECTIONS,
IN SCEIPTUEAL ACCOEDANCE WITH THIS PEESENT AGE.
EXORDIUM.
Some years having elapsed, since the first appearance of the following lines, in a volume of poems, published by Professor George Marin De La Yoye, on a very remarkable and most impressive occasion;^ it was thought that their insertion, after careful revision and correction, at the end of these " Scriptural Interpretations," might serve well as anticipated echoes.
They would furthermore tend to prove how long, and how deeply, the Writer has continually had at heart, the sacred sub- ject of " Universal Salvation," as a perfectly evangelical, and divinely sanctioned doctrine.
With regard to the rhythmical form, which the author has ventured to adopt, in order more impressively and effectively to express, the fidl fervency of his thoughts and feelings, he humbly begs to state that he entirely relies on the charitable indul- gence of his Readers.
Senile poets seldom possess those enthusiastic energies of mind, which enable younger Bards, so plentifully to draw, from their imaginary Helicons, those vivid lights and erebian shades, by means of which, they have at times portrayed Omnipotence and Majesty, in the midst of such terrific grandeur and state, that their innocently over-wrought readers, have fallen mentally prostrate, before the ideal thrones of their unholy Gods.
T
266 EXORDIUM.
Professor De La Yoye aims at no such pre-eminence of poetic talent : his ardent wishes are bent in one direction alone ; he now seeks no approbation, but that of his Eternal Father, and the fraternal Love of his well-beloved Redeemer Jesus Christ.
Yet there are in old age, other raptures of heavenly birth, that, from their daily increasing approximation, to the blissful realities of after-life, reveal (even to Octogenarians) a boundless store of Celestial truths, which, God be praised ! the fascinations of this Avorld have long ceased to cloud over, iiy, sometimes, totally to obliterate.
Such are the rational, all-solacing and hopeful extacies, which may, here and there, be gathered, in the prose, as well as in the poetry of this book. Ed.
DWELLINGS OF THE DEAD,
EEFLECTIONS.
To Die ! . . .
Not thence to Sleep ; but thence to Wake : To things eternal, sound and spotless, Wake !
Entombed, Thou think'st thy peaceful time hath dawned : Deluded Mortal ! . . . Eead the Book of Truth ! Those fateful pages tell of states, so rife With restless motion, and existence new, That human life, to after-life compared. Is earthly movement, dull, of slothful wheel. Liken' d to whirl of sphere, in swiftest orbit Revolving ! . . ,
No ! Thy Grave's the threshold dark, Through which, condemn'd, thou art to pass, in form, Mysterious, more than all thou canst conceive.
When flesh, of sense deprived, inert and cold. No longer stirs, a sacred Vestibule, Th' unsentient mass receives, its Dwelling Place ; Its habitacle ; till, relentless Time, Crumbling, ay ! pulverizing stone like bone. Commingles Dwellers, and their Dwellings, with . . . Almighty God ! . . . with that productive Mould, Thou hast made — parent, and the nurse of all : Destroyer too, how strange ! of all Thou'st made !
A Vestibule at first, and next, a Dwelling Place ! . . . Mark well the fact, replete with moral stern.
T 2
268 DWELLINGS OF THE DEAD.
The Soul, disrob'd in One, beyond this ball, Takes wing for realms of purest love and bliss ; Or, hurled adown th' unfathom'd void, awaits The fatal knell of universal doom.^
What Angel Sounds are those ? . . .
*iS. " A warning from the skies ! " The Voice divine replies : " When roughly Boreas blows, " Dost thou know where it goes ?
" Then, foolish man, dare not,
' ' So rash, to hint at things unknown : " Too wise, when once a man has grown,
" Endanger'd most, becomes his lot !"
"Yet wait! . . . By supplications, well expressed, " Thou may'st the lore obtain, that suits thee best : " Some favoured seers have secrets caught by stealth, " Outweighing far high rank, great fame, and wealth . " No creed offend; no feelings wound; then start, " Allowed to tell thy tale, to act thy part. " The sacred ground thou tread' st, unsafe may be . . . " Humbly, thy thoughts reveal, and trust in me !"
•j- TF. 0 ! may my grateful thanks above ascend ! . . . With help so strong, my course must safely run. Success, from temp'ral springs, there can be none . . On Those alone, who pray, Bless'd Gifts descend !
Within the Dwelling Place, thou know'st full well How, part from part, asunder decomposed. Becomes so changed, so disfigured and null. That sceptics, woe to them, unless they wake !
* The writer seriously imagines that a tutelary Spirit apostrophises him.
t He resumes.
W. for "Writer — S. for Spirit.
DWELLINGS OF THE DEAD. 269
Set Resurrection Last, as false, aside.
Know'st thou, besides, a wonder greater still ? That human Flesh, in pyramids concealed. Or burnt, within sarcophagi of old. Nay, earlier much, interr'd with hapless Eve's And Adam's spoils, to Life^ hath oft returned? Return' d to live, and die, and live again ! . . .
Each herb, each tree that grows, each man and beast. By mould'ring Death, in course of time, assists To form a huge amalgamated Store, For vital sparks and human souls, to choose^ Their Garments in . . .
0 ! what a Dawn of Gbace Was that momentous Morn, on which was seen Th' embodied earth, a human form assume ! . . . Commencement of Redeeming Love, evinced By canc'Uing Death, the Greatest boon oe at,t. ! !
In sacred Shell consigned, of late departed, Httmblest Remain, on whom, the coldest hearted Dare not to sneer, much less presume to rail : Though hare's the soil, that owns thine home-shed frail ; The Great around, the Rich, the Haughty dwell. In homes, no softer, now, than thy i'OOR shell !
See'st Thou, at last, that earthly joys are short ? The happiest life of man ? . . . A piteous sport ! . . . We all, to This, must come : none can escape, Whate'er his rank, his name, his giant shape. Brief is the space of years, to men assigned. Gifted or not with wealth, with might or mind . . . But wealth and might, e'en talents rare, bring pangs. Not one like thee can know, sharp, deep-struck fangs, By mental pain, inflicted on his heart. Who never felt, before, the slightest smart.
270 DWELLINGS OF THE DEAD.
None leaving, save survivors, used to pain, Th' INDIGENT die, while Death, for them, is gain ! Sad Gain ! alas ! as well, to friends around. Who find one less to feed, above the ground . . .
Fare ye well, then, whose present homes admit The glorious hope of being call'd, to sit, By His Eight Hand, who loved both young and poor ; Having endured. Himself, a vast deal more.
Unfathom'd Nature, pregnant Mysteries scan ! What is this Pause, in certain Death ? . . . that myth. Now fixed and proved, wherein th' immortal soul. Through forms ethereal, and material,^ moves In Mediate States, unmeant to be supine ?
Most bounteous Signs ! ... In Graves and Tumuli,
May we not see, just such as God's own goodness.
Most infinite, hath vouch'd, of old, to grant ?
Forgiveness, past all Christian ken ! ... To fallen.
And, falling men ! . . .
May we not, grateful, speak ?
May we not figurative language use,
To stamp on those, who venture still to doubt,
This Truth, this Fact, most undeniable,
That Grace abounds, that Love by far exceeds
All Faith may hope, all Hope is taught to trust in :
Justice impartial, to whom Sacred Writ,
A fabled Story seems — with Mercy tempered,
To whom, " The Triune" on th' Eternal Throne,
Is earthly Bond, and everlasting BKss ?
TF". Are words, presumptuous like those,* to guide Frail Mortals' doubtful, trembling steps ? . . . Decide, 0 ! Thou, whose sympathy, so like divine. Does, erring thoughts, and wand'ring minds incline ? .
* Evil suggestions are impiously crossiug the writer's mind.
DWELLINGS OF THE DEAD.
271
W. Eeflections, such as mine, herein presumed, May they, with due submission, be resumed ? . . .
Through undiscovered paths, to find a mean, Whereby to solve, with reverence, a Dbeam, On human reason stamp'd, but once before ;
In ideal states, imagined oft of yore, To witness proofs, that Love divine redeems Eejected souls, for whom no Hansom seems ;
By Facts, existing since the world began. Show why stern Death's the kindest ekiend of Man :
Such are the themes, on which these lines may dwell ; Shall they no further run ? . . . Great Mentor, tell ? . .
^'S. " Hast thou not read that evil spirits wait, " As well as Angel-friends, on sinful man ? *' The scoffing laud,^ to which thy prayer alludes, "Is praise derisive, sung to lead thee wrong.
" So laugh and sing the false, to cheat their friends : "A dang' reus throng, abounding most in towns " Where flatt'ry reigns ; but, most of aU, where gold " And rank predominate . . . The bride avoid ! " 'T might glad thy mind ; thy soul 'twould surely soil !
"In good time, pray, remember this : Advice " On thee bestow' d, by whom thou know'st as pure, "And holy prone, instant, thou should' st adopt : " In acting weU, by no delusion stopi^ed !
" Whate'er thou speakest, speak, with motives good! " Unfitly fed, thy mind ? . . . seek better food :
" A Book there is, for pious lore, by none " On earth excelled — its pages read, and Learn. . . " For sounder laws, believe ! Thou need'st not yearn. " All thou attemptest forth, 'twill be well done : " Thy Christian's course, thou canst not better run.
* Again the tutelary Spirit warns.
272 DWELLINGS OF THE DEAD.
" To mortal eyes, so brightly shown,
" Though God's most marv'Ilous works outshine, "By countless folds, all deeds divine,
" Of gods and men, who ever shone ;
" Though minds mayn't know those Titles claimed ' ' By Him, whose power and wisdom reach "Beyond the utmost bounds, men's speech
" To kings assigns and heroes famed ;
"Though He, in myst'ries deep be veiled, " So that no mortal thought can mete " His worth, His attributes complete,
" By learning weighed, or science scaled ;
"Why shouldst thou not, with pious care,
" Thy rational solutions speak ?
" On holy themes, new judgments seek, " And facts, with problems dark, compare?" . . .
TF. But fears my soul dismay, lest reas'nings should Turn Bight to "Wrong, make Evil seem like Good ?
S. " Thou need'st not dread, as long as, loving Eight,
" Unknown to thee, perchance, thou choosest wrong "He's guilty, who, with pen profane, doth write, " To suit the vicious, please the guilty throng ! "
W. My longing's to indite what best may show. That Potency divine and heavenly Love, In thought, in word, in deed, are far above What men may think, express, or do below :
What men may think, of God-Creator, first ;
What men may say, of God-the-Saviour, next ;
How men may act, by Trinity perj)lexeJ, Regarding Soijls redeem'd and Soitls accuksed !
THE author's dream. 273
S. " Bless'd be thy Labors tlien ! . . . Nor fancy spare ; "Nor shun imaginative flights, to tell " Of wonders, none can ever laud too well ! **T' interpret Death, thou seem'st designed to dare."
W. Ye, burial Caves of old, then lift your heads ! Huge catacombs, and subterranean vaults ; From Saint Sebastian's Holy Graves, to those Of ancient Eome, and Syracuse the Great ; Ay ! those include, besides, of modern days. Not less deserving note . . . far-famed Lutetia's, And Mighty Albion's crypts, where lie the bones, The evanescent dust of men, renowned For words and deeds, more evanescent still.
Incarnately renascent, perishing And living Globe, wherein the dust of ages. So oft, has powdered down and disappeared. Incessantly to reappear again : Hereby, we gratefully salute ye all ! . . .
THE AUTHOR'S DREAM.*
Creation.
Most wond'rous scene ! . . .
Deep, soundless gloom o'erveiled
Yoid, universal space ! — Time, none could name,
For none was there . . . When, sudden, fell a Yoice,
Predestinating Birth of Future Life,
Throughout that gloom ; predestinating birth
Of Death, as well, and Resurrection Last !
* WMcli has frequently recurred, under various aspects, since 1812, when the writer well remembers at college, in Paris, first meditating on such holy themes.
274 THE author's dream.
That Voice was Triune, and triune th' effect produced. A gleam illumined vast, immeasurable, Quick'ning Immensity. — 0 ! mighty throes ! Miraculous production of ? . . . A World !
The Heavens and the wide seas ; dry laud with trees ; And all those things, that grow and germinate ; Into perfection sprang. Eive setting suns, Creation's marv'llous works beholding, ceaseless, Proclaimed those " Labors " done : the sixth not dawned ! The Blessed Sixth ! . . . Momentous to Mankind, More, infinitely, than the whole amount Of earthly Weal !
A dazzling Centre shone Amidst these sapphire-coloured clouds of night ;
Prismatic hues and tints were, not alone. To deck that beaming, radiant flood of light.
There hover' cl round, in myriad circles spread, Angehc forms, with adoration, kneeling ;
Seraphic melodies, their accents shed
On prayers, through choirs celestial, softly stealing.
Beneath, apparently compelled to hide.
Vast Myraids more of " other forms " stood still . . . Their Chief, vindictive, his dark malice plied.
Each, with wrath and malevolence, to fill.
The FiETH Day closed. The Voice had said 'twas good !
Good, as the four preceding days had been ! . . . But wonders, far surpassing all that could.
By Heaven's bright hosts be hoped, were not yet seen.
Each living thing, on earth, at present moving.
Had serv'd His ranks to thin, whose name is " Fiend :"
Erom whom, no good proceeds, that's worth approving ; By whom, no soul was e'er from evil weaned !
THE author's dream. 275
Alone, lie stood at last, except a fav'rite band.
Who, like himself, eternal hate selected ; Preferring much, 'gainst Heaven's commands, to stand.
And, spite salvation, strive to blast th' elected.
0 ! Day of days ! ... Be hail'd thy glorious rise ! How beauteous grow the roseate orient skies ! . . . Ye stars, farewell ! Adieu ! thou. Globe so white ; Benignly hung, to serve, as lamp of night ! Where dost thou go, withdrawing thus from day Thy modest face ? 'Tis plain ! . . . Each beaming ray, Eclipsing more thy placid charms, tells thee. Another globe, thy Eival's soon to be ; And, there He comes, the Lord of mortal life ! Betwixt whom, and night, never ending strife Must e'er exist — Thus Good and Evil, meeting. Are constantly seen, clashing and competing.
What green umbrageous trees ! What limpid streams ! What undulating slopes, o'er which those beams Delight to rove ! Perfection of Creation. . . Defying art, inviting contemplation ! All Living Things save Man, ye skies, behold ! . . .
Then, see, those creatures meet, in friendly play, Disporting all, innocuous and gay. . ,
Dolphins with swans in rivers, here, carousing ; Young lambs with tigers, there, conjointly housing. There's not an atom seen ; there's not a note, By piping bird e'er sung, or warbling throat ; There's not a leaf, there's not a grassy blade, A solid inch, a fluid drop, He bade. But now, this Day, the Sixth, is call'd "Well done :" 0 ! wait until we reach the setting sun ! . . .
276 THE author's dream.
These, thy mii'aculous conceptions, Lord Supreme, must have a cause, involve an aim ! Goodness extreme, stern Justice, and a Wisdom, Incomprehensible to human minds. Lead us, reflective servants of thy Will, Blest instruments, and creatures of thy Love, From Christian zeal, and earnest wish, not merely Ourselves, the better to appreciate Thee, But, furthermore, to make Thee known, transcendent, Throughout this universe. . .
Who can compute The feeblest part of that amount, whereby God's attributes^ are reckoned yet on earth? . . . A meritorious act it must then be To trace out proofs, to bring forth facts, attesting That, where His Mercy seems to reach a bound, Unlimited, it then o'erflows, in floods Of Au. Forgiving Grace. . .
Canst Thou declare That suff'ring animals and tortur'd beasts. And all those living things He call'd to life. Saying, " They were Good," were produced to perish, Without benev'lent motive or design ? . . . Canst thou declare, uncompromising sophist, That compensation none's to be their meed ?
And yet, an all-suflB.cient way there is. To reconcile injustice, seemingly Intentional, with Goodness, strikingly Conspicuous ; a way most militant. It would be base, from dread, to set aside. Devotedly full fraught with faith, to choose.
Save "the Fiend," and his minions, wholly lost, May not, included be, great multitudes. Less criminal, of Those, expelled from Heaven's
THE author's dream. 277
Vast realms, to pass th.' incarnate ordeals, fixed
On creatures, human and promiscuous ? ^
Are we, so deep imbued with. Christian Faith,
Our estimates of Mercy's boundless means
To circumscribe, and, selfish, say : so far,
And, not an atom further, shall extend
DrviNE Redeeming Love ? . . .
Is God, alone
The Grod of Man ? Of fallen Angels, Lord
Implacable, and unforgiving Judge ?
Of things that breathe and feel, besides, a foe ;
To kind commiseration deaf ? No ! No ! !
No!!!
Has not that Grod once said : 0 ! " Father," mine,
** Forgive them ; for they know not what they do ?" And did not that God's prophet, long before. Declare that "to the Lord our God belong " Great " Mercies and forgiveness, although " We have rebell'd against him ; neither have " Obeyed the voice of the Lord our God." . . .
Then, "Why not, impartially, and, with intentions
Most reverential, fitly note and seize Suggestions, purporting a thousand fold, Ay ! multiplied by twice ten thousand times Ten thousand more, to make appear immense, His Triune Mercy, erst presiding o'er That Fiat "Word, which, last of aU, was heard, 0 ! most paternally forgiving Love ! to say :
" Let tjs make Man in our " own " Likeness " too !
Effulgent Glory ! though thy presence tells HE now is " there ; " celestial fragrant smells Perfume the Garden through, and indicate. His final task, this day, the Good and Great Jehovah's set himself . . .
278 THE author's dream.
Afar and near, With, deep amazement filled ; without a fear ; Behold ! how congregate ail living things ! . . .
In circles drawn, still wider grow their rings. Whilst angels bright, in radiant smiles attending, These, fixing here ; those, further still extending ; A broad arena leave, whereon a mound, Conspicuous, is seen, by all around. —
Seraphs and cherubim are ho v' ring o'er. The marv'Uous scene — Ethereal spirits more Are thronging, emulous, to hymn His praise. Whose ruling Will, the universe obeys . . .
Other spirits, too, by lurid mists concealed, Eedueed, discarded band, but half revealed, Impatiently, and horror struck, await Their death-deprived, interminable fate.
A seeming Wall of flames now guards the Mound ;
And Grlass, like crystal waves, flows round the wall. Both beasts and birds are still ; there's not a sound.
Save, in the welkin vague, some trumpet call . . . Some trumpet call, well-known Archangel Blast,
To which, th' angelic hosts, in haste, respond ; At which, the Dead themselves will wake aghast.
To hear their doom, and know there's none beyond.
Sudden, there rose a violent wind, which tore
The quaking earth— Fork' d lightnings flashed anon ;
And rocks were cloven through — A deaf 'ning roar, From things unseen, and thunder claps, came on.
"A STILL SMALL VOICE," and soon, a Second spoke;
A Third, in sound the same, but louder each Than that which first did speak, the silence broke :
Full calm now reign'd, as bade the " still small speech."
THE AITTHOr's DREAM. 279
Debate/ most inconceivable ! . . . One Lord With Two conversing — Power and Love divine,
And Justice, striving hard to meet accord :
The Three in One, Eedeeming Love, combine . . .
And Man's the glorious Theme !— 0 ! Heavens above !
Loud Hallelujahs sing ! . . . The Equal Three, In ONE KIND Saviour join : Most Boundless Love !
Let Joy be echo'd round, and holy Glee !
** So God created Man." — Gen. i. 27.
The wall of flames, the waves, had pass'd away : Celestial forms, though still allow'd to stay, Invisible to mortal eyes, on clouds, Immovable awhile, reclined in crowds ; Sweet symphonies afar, were heard, subdued ; All living things, with wonder, seem'd imbued.
There, on the Mound, a Being stands ! His face Most radiant ; His bright Self, all virtues grace . . . No human charms, no Godlike feature wanted, To make Him loved, admired, widely chanted. Another Being's there ; so like in frame, The images, of both, appear the same : Yet One commands, and One obeys! 'Tis HE, The Lord of Hosts, the Mighty God you see. In Adam's nostrils, now. He breathes the Breath Of human Life, a Man Complete ; till Death ? . . .
Till Death, forsooth ! . . . since, good although it seems To live ; far better 'tis most times, to die. Long lives, the happiest known, are tedious paths, Through which, men, fearful, thread their slipp'ry way. Each birth implies an end ; each end, a birth : For, further Lives, or long or short, foreknown Or fore-ordained, by Whom all things were good. Are good, and shall be good. He will'd and made ;
280 RESULTING REFLECTIONS.
And further Deaths, since that of Abel first, To that of him who shall expire last, Were all, are all, and all will surely be. The destin'd causes, and the fated ends^ Of boundless G-race, and everlasting Love.
Before the Universe, its vast existence From Grod received, the Trittne Spirit knew The length and breadth, the purpose and the fate He meant, each system, far and near, immense. And, by comparison, minute, as share Appropriate, from Heaven's laws shoidd obtain . . .
He knew that Angels, lured from rectitude, By deep satanic snares, would so imperil Their blissful state, that stern necessity Would make expulsion, first inevitable. Perchance, hereafter, awful and eternal.^
He knew that intermediate creatures, frail And tempted too, must fall, and fall again. Making destruction of this Earth, by flood. As by fire too, the fruit of long transgressions, His Justice could not pardon, unatoned.
And He well knew that fallen angels, like Fallen mankind, could never be redeemed, Be purified, regenerate, and saved. Without ? . . . That all-sufficient Sacrifice : Th' Immaculate Messiah Crucified ! ! !
This knowing, what may we not be allowed, Most innocently, to conclude ? . . . With Prescience ; Omnipotence, Benevolence, combined, Foreshadow clear impossibility to prove That more than One shall " finally " be lost ! Eternally and unredeemably^ Condemn' d and Lost.
THE author's uream. 281
No, No ! . . . 'Tis Satan's doom Which "never" is to be reversed — That fell Deceiver's doom ; for which, there's no Eedemption, No compromise, no reconciliation, Apparently, ^ can be sued for and gained !
'^S. " Until now, persevering Eeasoner, thou,
" Both shrewd and circumspect, hast kept thy course ; "Too positive thy statements grow . . . Take heed! " 'Mong mysteries, some have a ' sacred source.'
" What knowest thou, unknown to Lore of old? . . . " ' Eeflect ' awhile, on some less holy theme : "Th' Omniscient can thy secret feelings read;
** He may be pleased, He may not, with thy dkeam !
" Thy thoughts, I know to be right well inclined ; "Await the judgment. Learned Seers will pass. " All thou couldst feel and state, by Them condemned, "As useless dross would seem, and withered grass.
" Thy future labours ponder well !
" We know th' important topics fixed, "With what important subjects mixed, "And how. Thou couldst excel, " On such details, to dwell.
"Let morals good, and faith sincere,
" Conduct thy pen, t' indite the truth, " To which, conjoin aflfectio'nate sooth ;
"And make thy motives clear,
" Combine with virtues dear.
" Like placid lake, with waters bright, " Inviting all to come and drink,
* Once more the Spkit warns.
282 THE author's dream.
" Trees redolent, close by the brink, " And fruit for the' appetite, " Fresh source of new delight.
" So are the Thoughts, of men endowed, " O'er pages flowing, rich and full, " Instructive, both, and beautiful ;
" Eich manna, dropp'd from clouds,
" On faint and dying crowds.
" Be my nest errands far or near, a call
" Eequiring me to thine aid, on this ball,
" As lightning flash, shall bring me to thy side.
" Though oft, from sphere to sphere, I'm bid to ride,
" My special mission's, first, on thee to wait." . .
" So spare not me, when barr'd by doubt or straight!"
Again I dreamt. . . .
A trance had charm'd my soul.
Spectator no more ; acting now my part . . . By Angels soon escorted, side to side. We stroUed, conversing ; not of things long past ; Nor yet of things, that morrows should reveal.
But each rehearsing favours, granted late,^ To Heaven's celestial Bann'd, " comprising me," Me, just transformed, whose soul, by Grace transfused, First Blessed of millions more, with fates alike Awaiting them, am hence allowed to speed Through destinies, as mystic as bountiful, Until redeemed, atoned for, and restored ! . . . Thus we stroU'd ; thus communed — 0 happy time ! . . .
THE AUTHOR S DREAM. 283
The sun declining fast, my spotless mates, On wings outspread withdrew : In haste, their blissful states To reach, They each, In whirls ascending, flew.
Alone retiring slow, some grove I sought, • To court refresliing sleep — 0 happiest state ! Methought, Had I, Close by, A genial friend to meet !
Thus, dreaming stiU, on mossy turf reclining, I seemed that man, just made, who stood before His Maker's face, a perfect masterpiece Of Godlike frame. Erect like Him, endowed With gifts so vast, so wonderful, that Heaven, Like earth, appeared a well-remembered realm Of bliss to me : Fair Eden, inferior much ! ^ . . .
All sentient powers, awhile, from self abstracted, A Part withdrawn me-seemed had left, uufelt. My person's side. ^ . . .
And then, a vision loomed, Impressive, terror- with-delight-conferring, From out a mass immense of clouds assembled ! . . .
Strange sense returned ; my feehngs instant rousino- ; Though not yet roused the dormant flesh, Weigh'd down and clogg'd by leaden slumbers still, I, rapt, attentive, wonderstruck, appalled; " O'ercome with gladness too," my gaze transferred To columns deep, emerging and deploying. In wide array, of seraph-like and cherub Phantoms ethereal ... So far reached their ranks ;
u 2
284 THE author's dream.
So high, so low, so vastly spread o'er endless space. That, infinite, although iny visual powers Had dreaming grown, not e'en th' angelic ken, I now possessed, a millionth part could span Of that huge multitude, whose eyes, amazed. Were all converged on me ! ! !
On whom besides ? . .
Converg'd, besides, those eyes appear' d, on Two : — That One, with majesty, with might endow' d ! ! !
An Angel bright of earthly mould was This ^ . . . On bended knees, we, grateful both, low bowed, To God uniting thanks, for so much bliss : Echoed to boundless praise, our Te Deums grew.
Praise universal, hymned by countless voices
Throughout th' Empyrean Vault, and most of all
By souls immaculate, of angels pure, Too firmly bound, by Heavenly love, to fall !
Whom Satan's wiles, oft tried, could ne'er allure ; At sight of whom,^ e'en God our Lord rejoices !
But many more their rapture proved by sighs : Repentant host, though driven from states divine,
Would kneel, devote, in adoration true ; ^ Were Evil's Chief, by chastisement condign. Hurled to perdition, to destruction too. Away from those o'er whom his Malice plies.
** Oh ! would that, opportune, some chance could be, ''Whereby Temptation might, for evermore,
" Leave our celestial homes to Love and Bliss !" Were heard two spirits,'' fervent, to outpour, As down they sank within the dark abyss, Ay ! ne'er again, perhaps, lost Heaven to see !
THE author's dream. 285
Those Two, what Mighty Arm ? what Botjnteous Will Eedeeniingly, forgivingly upholds ? . . .
Their prayer, victorious o'er Thy just award ! 0 ! yes, for them it is this world unfolds Its gifts, its unexpected high reward ! . . . The Saviour's mercies sternest Justice fill.
This seeing, those eyes, on us still converging,
With joy, the pure ; with hate, the envious mark . . .
Their friends not lost, to some who know the end ; To others, less inspired, a legend dark . . . To all a token that He doth yet extend His Grrace on earth, through Mercy's means diverging.
Thus Adam, in my Dream, was I ; and Eve,
The beauteous and the pure, that mate bestowed
By God on me : we both, fallen souls first tried ^ . . . The Fiend, descending soon, with triumph glowed ; To ruin us straight, an exc'llent plan he spied, Well knowing we, so weak, would all believe.
He little deemed how well his fell design. Successful, has th' intended purpose served. By Provident Benevolence ordained^ . . , Through him we fell ; through him have all deserved Mysterious paths to tread, by time explained ; For him, sad bane ; for us, a prize divine !
TV. Honest Logician . . . Judge impartial, say, That First of men, why, why created He ? . . That woman, too. First mother of her kind, So frail, so prone to fall, why left He there, ^ (Defenceless unsuspicious prey), to guiles. Before the least of which e'en angels yielded. Thus sullied and undone ? . . . And why ?
286 IMAGINARY COMMUNION.
S. "Say on, " Unmindful of results ; for none can be, " Save approbatory — Thy motives pure ; "Thine aim? . . . Increase of Glory to thy God ! . . . " The guerdon sought, for ventu'ring so to speak? . . . "Additional encouragement from Heaven, " Conferred by inspiration, for thy zeal."
W. 0 ! why, then, why the kind Redeemer present, ' When, the Great Spirit moved upon the face Of those dark waters ? when, our God next said : " Let there be light ?" . . .
And when the Holt Ghost, The Comforter Himself, assisted there ? , . . Might not thine Answer be, most reverential That fair Creation, that Salvation, both. Were not for Adam and for Eve alone. But for those hapless angels cast away,^ Through retribution just, but mitigated By love's atonement, and by sanctifying Commiserating Grace ?
Thy next reply ; Might it not rationally be ? . . .
S. "No, Dreamer; " It could not be !" . . .
That Yoice benign, in dread, Abruptly interposed — " Not rational, " Nor reverent ! . . . Does not the potter fashion " His plastic clay, according to his will ? . . . "Thy thoughts, suggestive, have as yet, agreed "With wise ratiocinations, tempered right, "As human thoughts should be." . . .
W. What ! There to warn, To check, to guide, as Thou, so friendly didst.
THE author's dream. 287
Dread Evil luring me,^ when one step more Destructive bolts had drawn on me ! . , . I cried . • .
S. " Thy bold Replies, too bold are grown, "Most prudently, th' Eternal Throne " Should mortals dare t' approach ! "Thou chancest now t' encroach
" On awful ground . . . "Make thy Eeflections clear, and sound " As should be found." W. Are queries wrong ? May not all creatures ask, What best may help, complete to make their task ?
S. "We read thy queries right; we know " Thou meanest them for ' facts ' to go , . , " The last,^ in haste to thee, " Erom furthest space, brought me . . . " A check I bring : " Both, morally and meekly sing ! " To reason cling ! " . . .
W. No meaning's mine, to give the least offence ; I aim to set down nought, but common sense . . . 'Tis true, I wished to make appear that Grod, Formed Man, for purpose better than to plod. With Eve, in Paradise a weary life,^ Next, on this sphere, exposed to fruitless strife.
A motive seems, to Wisdom such, required. That earthly woes, in frightful guise attired, And all the many tribulations felt. Should be by souls deserved and justly dealt.
With mental powers endowed, so great and vast. Mayn't we conclude that, t' evoke the Past, The Present scrutinize ; the Euture solve. On those, who deeply ponder, may devolve ?
288 FERVENT INVOCATION.
A Fact exists, no Christian pen or tongue, To lioly truths, through Faith, that ever clung, Could dare ignore, less still misunderstand ! . .
That fierce temptations were to fill that land Which God created, and His Son controls ; On which, that Son was sent to save oiu' souls ; In which. His Spirit, too, was left to dwell. As guard and shield, against the snares of Hell.
A fact, so positive, that Christian Creeds Containing it, through ages gone, by deeds Heroic ; deaths of martyrs, burnt on stakes ; The gore of armies slain ; the thousand aches Of tens of thousands more, devote and true ; Have been, must be upheld, long ages through ! ^
S. ' ' Intentions, so replete with faith, thou'rt sure, ' ' Will gain disciples to thy side . . . " Thy notions none can blame ; abide, "And hold by th' Holy Word, thou'lt prosper more ! . . .
" It may, and may not be that fallen souls,
"As sinful men transformed, are we.
"No matter 'tis, so long as Hk "Thy saintly thoughts, thy love sincere unfolds "...
W. So far am I, believe me, heavenly Guardian, From worldly pride or mean ambitious views, That, sooner would I, suatch'd from earthly fame, Spoiled of all chance of gain, be rendered null, Ay, impotent until my latest day. Than risk, a single moment, to displease That God, whose praise I so devoutly long Incessantly to sing ! . . . Let rather bolts. From wrathful clouds, on me descend ! . . . fierce whirlwinds The paths I tread destroy ! . . . All I, devoutly,
FAREWELL ADDRESS. 289
Beneath tlie skies, set love or value on, For e'er be lost to me ! ... If renegade To Christian fealty, by thought or -word, Or step intentional, I should offend That Lord, so merciful, who died for me !
S. " When such the feelings are of pious men, ** Mistaken, though their words may seem ; "Always, for them, sweet mercies beam, " And angels veil all th' errors of their pen ! . , .
*' To think that Jesus Christ, with Grod presiding *' When worlds were made, Redemption shows ; "But clearly proves thy trust o'erflows,
"In 'All-sufficient' Gloriofs Grace confiding! . . .
" To dream that fallen Angels were, from Eve,
" Through generations, earth-condemned,
"Incarnate, too, to be redeemed, " Seems, Holy Truths, but strictly to believe.
" To date the doom of man, from Satan's fall,
"Thy faith displays, as most devout:
" He who sav'd Man, not one dare doubt, " Could Angels save, the worst, as well as all !
" A Saviour, Son of God, all worlds before,
"Means not for earthly sins alone,
"But past apostasies t' atone, ' ' By floods of mercies, sent from kind Heaven's store.
" There's no transgression named, for praising God . . .
" With Love too deep, with zeal too great ;
" His Grace, with power commensurate, " Mio:ht cleanse the foulest fiend that ever trod.'
290 FAREWELL ADDRESS.
" Thy just reflections, now, thou may'st resume. . . " None can object to Wisdom's pleas, " For proving kind the Lord's decrees,
"E'en when they, most, His sternest wrath assume."
Farewell, my serious thoughts, on sacred themes, My soul-absorbing dreams of Heaven, farewell ! . . . Though brief the time consumed in visions bright. Of glorious hosts, and spheres celestial, beaming Effulgent rays, through skies of azure blue, Of worth to me, surpassing mines of gold And jewels rare; Farewell! . . . 0 ! visions past ! . . .
Would that, far from returning here, to things Material, e'en the best but loathsome dross, I, rapt in endless dreams, supremely blest, Could lead, admiringly adoring Him, The Great, the Just, Benevolent and Grood, A pure immortal state of Adoration ! , . .
0 ! when my wond'ring sight observed Creation's Most marv'llous works ; when, next, my mind conceived Its purpose and its end, its motive, too. Forgive, Thou Source Divine of sweet compassion And sympathy, forgive, if dreaming thus I stirred, unconsciously, Thy wrath ? ^ . . . It was Because I thought the myst'ry clearly solved, " Concealment now no longer sought " which veiled Thy boundless, inconceivable designs. 9
To all dear Christian friends, sincere this prayer Is humbly made, that they, to no presumptuous Intent or wish, these thoughtful lines ascribe. . . .
A constant Dream, by night, by day, my soul Incessantly possessing, I, at last, Obedient bowed, submissive to the goad. . . .
THE STARS AND OUR PLANETARY WORLDS. 291
The tilings so beautiful, herein described, Not oft, but constantly, through visions, both Awake and sleeping, I've, transported, felt And heard, observed, and seen above, around And under me revealed.
What pains I took, To banish, from my troubled heart, the stings Inflicted there, by doubts incredulous,^ Not men could tell, for seldom men are found. Unbiassed and unshackled, so as, dauntless. To speak their mind. . . . That aid, so much desired. Me failing, yet devoutly wishing still. All worldly counsels I, for e'er rejected. When supernatural, sudden suggestions ^ My soul impelling, drove me, now inspired, In testamentary divine Commands To seek assistance last. . . .
Great Bible store ! On Thee, 0 ! truly philanthropic Mentor, My whole belief I confidently lay ! . . .
I read, and read, and read again thy pages through ; Those pages most, wherein, through Him abound Excessive Love, Forgiveness, and, declared So many times, God's Charity to Man^ . . .
Thou art our Savioiu-'s voice, our Comforter's Diurnal Monitor, and, ever present Disinterested Guide . . .
Indeed ! indeed ! The real sum, in full, of Christian Hope ; 0 world ! 0 human kind ! 0 good and evil Things, animate, or next to live ! It is . . . God's MERCiFuii ajstd All-sufficient Love ! ! !
292 INTERMEDIATE STATES.
THE STARS AND OUR PLANETARY WORLDS.
" God made the Stars also." — Gen. i. 16. " Praise Him ... all ye stars of nigM." — Psalm cxviii. 3.
Benign and calm Companions of dumb Darkness, Attune our thoughts, by startling themes o'erwhelmed . . 0 ! likewise, let our grateful hearts conjoin Their solemn hymns of truthful praise with yours ?
How great, how good ; how sympathetically Benevolent, is that Forgiving Lord, By whom, ye stars, ye moon, ye countless spheres. Were made ! . . . Not made to meet a present aim. Distinct and separate from past design. Unlink' d with wise ulterior schemes, foreknown ' . . .
Nay, nay ! . . . such stars as ye, such worlds were not. As temp'ral globes, by lavish will, in space Propelled, to whirl, to shine, to last in vain ! ^ For ages more keep whirling on — A period Is drawing near, when glories such as yours, And glories, too, of this sublunar ball Shall quickly pass away, and . . .
Who can tell What ye, what we shall be— God's will be done !
But, Lights so bland, of stars wide-spread, What peaceful joys your gleams convey ! Unlike the sheen of solar Day,
Your rays suit best the humbly bred.
OUR PLANETARY WORLDS.
0 ! tell US, How the Life that's led, By Angels, on your mystic orbs, Their blest existence most absorbs,
So far from Mercy's Fountain-Head ? . . .
Are there poor creatures doomed to die, As here, for sins on earth confined ? Through hateful lures and wiles designed
Deep wrongs to do, then weep and sigh ? . . ,
Yes, Stars of Light ; sad beings dwell, Transformed, on all your hemispheres ; Of Angels, late disgraced compeers —
They're banished so, because they fell ^ . . .
Yes, Stars of Light, His Mercy willed That fallen souls, from earth removed ; By other tribidations proved,
And with dear-bought experience filled ;
Regenerated and redeemed,
Should, last of all, on earth return ; "' Through Grace Divine, their Pardon earn.
As ransomed souls, by Judgment deemed ! !
293
Contributive, fair satellites of systems. As marvellous as this ; whose self-perfections By far, no doubt, transcend all wonders known, Imagined or inspired ; dreamt or preconceived ; Are ye not all, those stars of night, addressed In David's songs? . . . On whom, entranced, he called To praise that God from whom, all blessings flow ? . . .
294 A christian's wish.
0 ! Stars of day, besides, were ye not meant. So wide dispersed, all through, unbounded space ; Your discs, like ours conformed, revolving too, With suns and moons provided, as we are ; Were ye not meant, in seeming, so terrestrial, Likewise to be, for mortal or immortal Inhabitants, occasional retreats ? Homes penitential ? Lands retributive ? With Earth subservient to His Mercy's ends ? ^
Indeed, you must have been ; you still must be ! The Lord of Sabaoth is not vindictive, Not cruel, neither is our God implacable . . .
He draws the sword, when Justice bids it done ; But Jesus wields the blade that strikes the blow '^ . The Holy Spirit heals in time the wound.
So, NONE CAN SAY THAT GeACE DOES NOT ABOUND !
Whate'er my trials might entail,
Through sorrows or through bod'ly pains. That present suff'rings might avail To help remove my moral stains ; 0 ! what great bliss, It would then be for me. To happier regions see, Away, away from this !
What matters distance, when Heaven's Grace
With might so great co-operates ! . . . Eternal time, like boundless space.
Obedient bend, when Mercy waits . . . Here once He came. To order chaos wake ; His fiats, systems shake !
The Lord, the Lord's His name.
A christian's wish. 295
Dear stars, farewell ! again to meet . . .
Would that it were "to-morrow" called, "WTien both we might each other greet ! . . For new probations fresh installed : — I might regain,
By saving Love divine. That place, which once was mine, And there, and there remain !
G. M. De. L. V.
NOTICE.
The small numerical figures, observed in many of the pages, having been inserted, diu'ing our revisions of the proofs, for the purpose of adding apparently useful elucidations and ex- planatory comments, were found to require so excessively great an addition of printed matter, that we have deemed it preferable to postpone their appearance, untd another publi- cation, which is in hand, shall appear.
A fui'ther reason amply justified us in this decision : it was our conviction that, by simply consulting our Precis (p. 204), and om- General Index, p. 299, any desirable solution of con- sequence might easily be obtained.
Intending, besides, to bring out, before long, a French translation, in which, not only such elucidations and com- ments, shall have a place, but many additional topics of great scriptm-al interest, to which no theological writer, to our knowledge, has ever yet adverted, we rested assured that our duty to our Headers would not, by that means, in any respect, be neglected.
All friencQy communications of scriptural importance and auxiliary support to this Work, wiU. be received and acknow- ledged with sincerest thanks.
G. De L. Y.
31, Kensington Gardens SaxJARE, W.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
AND
GENERAL INDEX.
[See also p. 204.]
The "Word ; or, Universal Redemption and Salvation
Christian Dedication to the whole Christian World
Preface addressed to pious Readers of all Persuasions .
The Only Way to Universal Salvation
Divine Introduction, taught us by Jesus Christ our Lord
Interrogatory Scriptural Tests ....
Principal Objects of this Work ....
Astronomical Corroborations ....
Doctrinal Observations . . .
Universal Salvation : preordained through all-sufficient Grace
Divine and Scriptural Confirmations
Universal Salvation, most evidently foretold throughout Holy
Writ
Divine and Scriptural Confirmations
Universal Salvation, finally obtained through the Holy Ghost
Divine and Scriptural Confirmations
Divine Support. Consequent Supplication
" Even I will speak of all Thy Marvellous Works "
Quotations from Great Writers and Philosophers
Scriptural and Ecclesiastical Authorities .
X 2
PAGE
iii
V
vii
viii
ix
xi
xix
xxii
xxiii
1
2
3
4 5 6 7 8 10 13
300 CONTENTS.
PAGE
Divine Attributes . . . . . . .13
Quotations from the Articles of Religion . . .18
Eternity of Divine Grace . . . . . .20
Just Appreciation and real Value of the Lord's All-sufficient and Beautiful Prayer . . . . . .23
Analysis and Interpretation of both the Lord's Prayers . 26
Most merciful existence of the Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ, " before all worlds " . . . . . .44
Eternal Monocracy of God . . . . .45
Division of His monotheistical Attributes . . .45
First and foremost salutary presence of Evil . . .48
Explanatory retrospect concerning our Debts to God . . 54
We are indebted to God for oar mortal life . . .54
We should be gratefully indebted to God, for the fall of Adam, and the Crime of Cain . . . . . ,65
Most evident purpose of the Creation . . . .58
Real purposes of Temptations and consequent Falls . . 59
Experimental Systems of Worlds . . . . ,61
Without Death, no chance of Salvation . . , .62
Man dies to be saved, and Jesus died to save us . . .62
How some ministers seem to strive, by their menacLng discourses, to render Divine mercies abortive . . . .63
Best Evidence, which we could desire to possess, of our ultimate Universal Salvation . . . . . .66
Why it would be most impious in us, to refuse God, our Heavenly Father, the merit of having preordained the Fall of our First Parents . . . . . .69
Questions and Answers tending to prove the Original Neces- sity of Evil . 73
It was an Exclusively Christian World that the Lord God created, when He converted chaos into our present solar system ........ 73
CONTENTS. 301
PAGE
A page or two, for the instruction of lukewarm and apathetic readers . . . . . . . .75
Our reasons for boldly striving to make the Lord God's great mercies and loving-kindnesses better known . . .77
The Omniscient Foreknowledge of God, was the only cause, and merciful motive of the Temptation of Eve and the dis- obedience of Adam . . . . . .79
Adam was made in the perfect image of God, for the express purpose of being all the more angelically formed and con- stituted, himself and his subseqiient generations, that human resurrection should simply be, a preordained resumption of forfeited spiritual forms, and heavenly rights, divinely re- stored, through miraculous operations of infinite Grace . 81
Undeniable evidences of the intentional fall of Adam, as a re- sult of the unavoidable expulsion of the apostate and re- bellious angels . . . . . . .83
The sinfulness of Adam, plainly, not so great as that of Eve ........ 86
The Universal presence of Evil, as it respects this earth, con- sequently proving the ubiquitous presence of Satan, in this world, leads us, likewise, to believe that this Earth and Hell are identically the same . . . . . .90
Satan was not exterminated from the beginning, through a Divine motive of infinite Mercy . . ,92
Why was a Fratricide the first-born son of Eve ? . .93
How came good as well as bad Angels to incarnate ? . .95
Chaos must have been, from everlasting, the predestined nucleus of our terrestrial world . . , . . .96
Important pages about Cain . . . . .97
Motive which must have led Jesus Christ our Lord to choose Peter as one of His apostles ..... 100
Reasons we offer for our angelic origin .... 104
302 COIN TENTS.
PAGE
Excellent authorities, on which to establish the existences of
sexes, among the hosts of Heaven .... 105 Marriages may not be necessary, where all are morally and
religiously pure ; but there is no reason why celestial beings
should not, from the beginning, have spiritually multiplied
and replenished the skies ..... 105
A vast deal might be said, on sound Evangelical grounds, to
settle this point, by rational and most satisfactory arguments 108 Wherefore Three Almighty Gods ? . . . .107
Can excess of Chi'istian Faith, from pious motives, be sinfulness
inexcusable? ....... 110
Why was our dear Brother, Jesus Christ, begotten a second
time? .111
Are Divine Mysteries, all of them, for ever to be veiled from
human knowledge ? . . . . . . 113
Yisible Angelic Messengers, in the beginning, were constantly
visiting this Earth ...... 115
Why it was that our adorable Redeemer was tempted in the
Wilderness ....... 117
Why it was that He died, and was buried like ourselves . 117
Allusions to the retributive dispensations of God . . 118
Why were we taught to say, " Lead us not into Temptation"? 120 Sacred pact agreed to by the Three distinct Persons of the Most
Holy Trinity 122
" Crucified, dead and buried." Why it was that Jesus descended
into hell 123
Merciful visits of our dear Redeemer to this Earth, long before
His human incarnation, and since His glorious ascension . 125 When it is in particular that the Compassionate Saviour visits
us here below ....... 127
Divine objects in permitting the Son of God to be crucified
between two Malefactors ..... 128
CONTENTS. 303
PAGE
" When Jesus had cried again with a loud voice. He yielded up
the Ghost" 131
Observations touching the Body of the Messiah after His Crucifixion and Death ...... 132
World- witnessed homicide ; predestinated Martyrdom . . 135
Heartlessly-perpetrated horrible Murder, committed by thou- sands of thousands upon One ..... 136
A few lines ; amply su.fiicient by themselves to certify that the Lord God, so infinitely abounds with Mercy and Love, that Justice becomes with Him, upon all Occasions, a painful Act of Necessity; which He mostly leaves to His weU-beloved Son and the Holy Spirit, the duty, with tender leniency to exercise 138 Concluding arguments, in favour of our Scriptural Interpre- tations. (Would that we had suflScient room to develop them as they deserve.) See p. 297 ..... 139
Holy Tabernacle of the Triune Christian Godhead . . 140
Final Scheme of Universal Salvation, as preordained by the Most Holy Trinity . . . . . .142
In the Holy Trinity, Why is " None afore or after Other "? . 143 Christian Benevolence appealed to in behalf of subsequent pages 146 Existence of Satan, a diviae act of most merciful retribution . 147 Why it must have been so ..... 148
Triune Conference of the Most Holy Christian Trinity . . 149
Limits which we considered it reverent to fix to our fui-ther interpretations on this solemn subject .... 151
Impious assiimption of some over-wrought Ministers under erroneous impressions ...... 152
Periods during which, kinds of convenient mythological Atheism reigned, in various parts of the Earth .... 153
Apologetic remarks, in alliision to the excusable conduct of the Jewish Nation, duiing the human existence of our Lord and Saviour ....... 154
304 CONTENTS.
PAGE
Apparently rational deductions, respecting the Ante- Christian
state of the Almighty Jehovah's primeval Monocrasy . 156
How it was that Evil and Satan first appeared in Heaven , 157
" So the whole Three Persons are coequal together and coeternal 159 He therefore that sincerely longs to be saved, must finally become an entirely devoted servant of Jesus Christ our
Lord . 160
Who should sing for ever, " Glory to God in the highest, now and for evermore ! " . . . . . . 161
Divine impossibilities ; not probable nor possible . . 161
Upon what occasions, we more tenaciously than ever strive, at unravelling the Scriptural sense of the Mysteries we meet in Holy Writ . . . . . . .162
How it has happened that nothing has seemed obscure, nothing doubtful, of late, to us, touching the perfect regeneration, and infallible salvation of all human souls . . . 163
Most merciful signification of " before all worlds " . . 164
To whom did the Omnipotent Eternal, in the Beginning, after having created all the Archangels, Angels, and Spirits, in His primeval heavenly Kingdom, deliver all animate and inani- mate things, to be governed by them ? ... 165 Why overscrupulous reverence, too humbly exercised, in our pious endeavours, properly to reach the full meaning of parables, and other figurative language, should sometimes, now, be set aside ...... 166
Miracles, which, aU, intentionally took place, in the beginning, exclusively, for our sakes ..... 167
God, of the substance of the Father, begotten before all worlds,
Why? 168
Man, of the substance of his mother, born in the world . . 168
Why it was that the presence of Jesus Christ became graciously indispensable so early in the primeval kingdom of heaven . 169
CONTENTS. 305
PAGE
Suitable temptations, mercifully preordained, for our purga- torial trials in heaven; besides subsequent acts of infinite Grace, as compassionately predecreed . . . .170
Reverently speculative conjectures . , . .172
Long retrospective glance, over tliose apparently luioccupied,
celestial realms of ethereal interminable space . . 172
Primeval organic rudiments of experimental worlds . .173
How seemingly apparent Primeval Vacuity was originally filled 174 It must not especially be forgotten that Evil Spirits were pur- posely sent amongst us, i. e., in our pristine terrestrial exist- ence, to make us aware, in the very face of our present errors, that we deserved then, and deserve still, the best of us, to undergo tests of faith, and trials of penitent devotion, indis- pensable to our final purification . . . .175
The most extravagant excesses of piety ; personally genuine, and individually considered right, from erroneous fervour or mistaken zeal, are infinitely more likely to meet Divine forbearance, than the hypocritical exhibitions of hollow worship, enforced by preachers, whose minds alone loudly declaim, whilst their hearts and souls, apathetically silent, are asleep ........ 176
" Come now, let us reason together, saith the Lord " . . 176
The Spirit of God did not move upon the face of the Waters, simply to create the presence of Light . . . .177
It was to draw up, as it were, that universally spread Curtain, which, on being lifted up, was gradually to reveal the first wonders of our forthcoming Redemption . . . 178
Just appreciation of the "Word of God : see fourteenth line, p. . 178 Infinitely Merciful Legacy, bequeathed to us by Jesus Christ our Lord ; by means of which our Redemption was perfected ; our ultimate Salvation infallibly secured . . . From need of which, all our souls had probably been for ever lost . .179
306 CONTENTS.
PAGE
Ai'e God's eternal trutlis, His sacred promises of Mercy, from everlasting, to be doubted ?...,. 180
Most solemn and sacred Proof, discovered in the Birth of Christ Jesus, before all Worlds, that the fallen angels were pre- ordained to be saved . . . . . . 180
Equally solemn and sacred proof, through the Birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, in this world, that the whole of human kind, cannot possibly fail, to be forgiven, and eventually to be recalled, into the presence of our Almighty Father, as the welcome brethren of His "Well-Beloved Son, Our Dear Redeemer, and infinitely Merciful Lord . . . 181
Most glorious, all purgatorial and regeneratory consummation, of the whole blessed scheme of Salvation ; which will most assuredly be realized, before the Omnipotent and Omniscient Throne of paternal Love, Justice, and Grace, of all the fallen Souls of Angels, Spirits, and Men .... 182
There is but one living and true God, everlasting, without body, parts, or passions ...... 183
How it happened that such a pantheistic, most mysterious Spirit, found it expedient, nay, equitably charitable, to trans- form His monocratic Godhead (for a time) into a Most Holy Trinity . . . , . . . .184
What will unfailingly happen when evil and hell ; the Arch- fiend, and his embodied deceits, iniquities, vices and crimes ; shall have been exterminated ..... 185
Universal Salvation won ...... 186
Summary of the foregoing Interpretations . . . 187
Evidences furnished, that, the more positively doubtful, a sinner's salvation appears, the more infallibly certain it is, that he will be saved ...... 188
CONTENTS. 307
PAQE
To leave one single soul, in danger of eternal perdition, in a book of this nature, would be most impiously to question the full efficacy of the everlasting omnipotency of Divine Mercy . . . . . . . .189
Punishments and Tribulations inevitably to be undergone by all alike, in proportion to their individual delinquencies . 190
Our Father which is in heaven is a just and Almighty Sove- reign : He claims attributes so infinitely boundless and equi- valently efficient, that His retributions are, as unlimited as the transgressions of sinners are various, numberless, and more or less criminal ..... 191 — 193
Destruction of this World by Fire .... 194
Indispensable Addenda ...... 195
Triune Operations of the Most Merciful and Almighty Trinity, at the Creation : each acting apart ; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost . . . . . . .195
First Day of Creation ...... 196
Second and Third Days . . . , , . 197
Fourth and Fifth Days . . ... . .198
The Sixth Day. So Jesus Christ created Man in the image of His own Father, and of His own Self . . . .199
The Seventh Day ....... 200
"And on the seventh day, God, the Most High, and Jesus Christ, His only Son, and the Holy Ghost, ended their work which They had made, and They rested the seventh day from aU their work which They had made " . . . . 200
And Christ, the Son of God, " planted a Garden " (of probation and merciful ordeal) ...... 201
Graciously preordained temptations of Eve, of Adam, and of Cain ........ 201
308 CONTENTS.
PAGE
First incarnations of the fallen Angels; according to pre- ordained purposes of Grace ..... 202 Paginal Precis : Scriptural Axioms ; Doctrinal Precepts* . 204 What was the Land of Nod ? How came a land to be there at all ? "Who could be that people, for whom Cain built a
City? 231
Exclusive punishment of Eve ..... 232
Miraculous Types of divine Paternity and Maternity in Heaven 233 Consequent generations of the Angels .... 234
Additional Scriptiu-al Authorities from the Old Testament . 235 First proofs of infinite Divine Mercy — Creation of Adam — Temptation of Eve . . . . . .236
Most gracious Temptation of our first Parents — Second proofs of infinite Mercy . . . . . . .236
Intentional Presence of Satan in Eden .... 237
The Son of God " before all worlds " . . . .237
Nativity of Our adorable Redeemer .... 238
Most evident Proof of the separately-active Presences of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost . . . .239
Angelic Participation, in the Miraculous Scheme of Universal Redemption ....... 240
Crucifixion of Jesus Christ, according to the four precedent Evangelists ....... 240
Celestial and terrestrial Evidences of the inseparably con- comitant and incessantly active Divinity of Christ . . 241 Efficacy of Repentance, even at the eleventh hour : when sins have been as scarlet ...... 242
Our Promised Redemption and Universal Salvation infallibly
secured 243, 244
Jesus Christ Our Lord : His burial and ascension . . 245
Angels converse with the Daughters of Men . . . 245
* Please to consult those Precis ; they form part of our Index and Contents.
CONTENTS. 309
PAGE
Resurrection of Jesus Christ ..... 246
Descent of the Holy Ghost . . . . .247
Sacred Words, from the Lips of Almighty God . . . 248
Third proof of God's infinite mercy .... 248
Crime and Curse of Cain ...... 248
Foreknown condemnation of Cain .... 249
Sacred words from the Lips of our own Dear Redeemer . 249
Divine example of Filial Submission .... 249
Jesus is taken, obediently to the Compassionate Will of His
Father, to be tempted of Satan, for our sakes . . . 250
Most important sayings of Jesus Christ . . . 251 " Go ye, and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and
not sacrifice "....... 251
The greatest Commandments of all . . . . 252
Undeniable connection between the Angels of God, and the
incarnated Souls of this Earth .... 253, 254
The elect angels, and souls elect, " before all worlds " . . 255 Noble Associates, predestined by the Almighty Father, to assist
in the glorious operations of Universal Redemption and
Salvation ....... 255
" Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and He
shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels ? " 256
Angels and Spirits, everlastingly attending on the Son of God 256
Sacred Promises, Prophecies, and Revelations . . . 257 " Jesus answered. Neither has this man sinned, nor his parents :
but that the works of God should be made manifest in him " 258 Many misdeeds and transgressions have been and are com- mitted, for which no responsibility shall be incurred , 258 " Let not your hearts be troubled. In my Father's house are
many mansions " ...... 259
" The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, shall teach you all
things. He will shew you all things " . . . 260
310
CONTENTS.
Parables, Mysteries, and Proverbs, need no longer exist under the reading of tliose, who piously seek to know them, for the edification of others ..... 261, 262
Dwellings of the Dead ..... 263
The Author's Dream . . . . . .263
Our Stars and Planetary Worlds . . ; . 264
Exordium ........ 265
Dwellings of the Dead : Reflections .... 267
To die ! not thence to sleep ; but thence to wake . . 267
Dwellings of the Dead (continued) .... 268
O ! what a Dawn of Grace Was that momentous Morn, on which was seen Th' embodied earth, a human form assume ! . . . 269
None leaving, save Survivors used to pain, Th' Indigent die, while Death, for them is gain ! . . 270
By Facts, existing since the World began. Show why stern Death's the kindest Friend of Man . . 271
Why shouldst thou not, with pious care. Plain Truths, with Problems dark compare? . . . 272
The Author's Deeam (continued) —
Most wond'rotis scene ! . . .
Deep, soundless Gloom o'erveiled Yoid, universal Space !...... 273
The Heavens and the wide Seas ; dry Land, with Trees ; And all those things, that grow and germinate ; Into Perfection sprang ...... 274
Alone, he stood at last, except a fav'rite Band,
Who, like himself, eternal hate selected ; Preferring much, 'gainst Heaven's commands, to stand,
And, spite salvation, strive to blast th' Elected . . 275
CONTENTS. 311
PAGE These, Tliy miraculous Conceptions, Lord
Supreme, must have a Cause, involve an Aim ! . . . 276
Is God, alone
The God of Man ? Of faUen Angels, Lord
Implacable, and unforgiving Judge ? . . . . 277
In circles drawn, still wider grow their rings, While Angels bright, in radiant smiles attending, These, fixing here ; those, further still extending ; . . 278
And Man's the glorious Theme ! — O ! Heavens above !
Loud Hallelujahs sing ! ... The Equal Three, In one kind Saviour join : Most Boundless Love !
Let Joy be echo'd round, and holy Glee ! . . . 279
Resulting Reflections ...... 280
Thy thoughts, are known to be right well inclined ;
Await the judgments. Learned Seers will pass. All thou couldst feel and state, by Them condemned.
As useless dross would seem, and Avithered grass . . 281
Again I dreamt.
A trance had charmed my soul . . . 282
Thus, dreaming still, on mossy turf reclining, I seemed that man, just made, who stood before His Maker's face, a perfect Masterpiece
Of God-like frame 283
" Oh ! would that, opportune, some chance could be,
" Whereby temptation might, for evermore, " Leave our celestial homes to Love and Bliss ! " . . 284
Thus Adam, in my Dream, was I ; and Eve,
The beauteous and the pure, that mate bestowed
By God on me: 285, 286
No meaning's mine, to give the least oifence ; I aim to set down nought, but common sense . . . 287
Fervent Invocation ...... 288
312 CONTENTS.
PAGE
Let wrathful Bolts, from Clouds, on me descend ; If renegade to faith, by thought or word, Or step intentional, I should offend
That Lord, so merciful, who died for me ! . . . 288
Farewell Address ....... 289
To all dear Christian friends, sincere this prayer Is humbly made, that they, to no presumptuous Intent or wish, these thoughtful lines ascribe . . . 290
The Stars and our planetary worlds .... 291
Nay, nay ! . . . such stars as ye, such worlds, were not. As temp'ral globes, by lavish will, in space Propelled, to whirl, to shine, to last in vain ! . . . 292
Were ye not meant, through Grace, alike to be Homes penitential ? Lands retributive ; With earth subservient, to His mercy's ends ? . . . 293
Dear Stars farewell ! Again to meet . . . Would that it were " to-morrow " called
When both we might each other greet ! . . . . 294
Notice . . ... . . . .297
THE END.
W. H. CoUingridge, 117 to 120, Aldersgate Street, London, B.C.
INTEEEOGATOEY SCEIPTUEAL TESTS,
WITH
THEIR COERESPONDINGl PAGINAL EEFEEENCES, THROUGHOUT THE BOOK.
1. How can " Tte Word " be dilFerently, yet reverently, inter- preted ? See pages : vii., xix., xxiii., 7, 9, 10, 20, 206, 207, 209, 235, 248, 252, 258, 260.
2. Is it possible to furnish satisfactory scriptural replies to all tlie subsequent queries ? See pages : 7, 10, 16, 21, 36, 38, 139, 153, 166, 204.
3. Why did the Lord God, in the beginning, create the heaven and the earth ? See pages : xix., 58, 97, 195, 201, 202, 300, 301, 307.
4. Why was Jesus Christ, first begotten in heaven, from ever- lasting? See pages : 2, 4, 6, 18, 20, 44, 300, 304, 306, 308.
5. Why were the devil and his angels driven from heaven, to seek shelter on the dark earth; in which, after a time, Adam and Eve were to dweU ? See pages : 48, 59, 69, 73, 147, 157, 201.
6. For what purpose was Satan ever admitted, with his angels, within the sacred courts of heaven ? See pages : 73, 75, 79, 83, 92, 147.
314 INTEREOGATORY SCRIPTURAL TESTS,
7. Why were sucli innocent beings as Adam and Eve created, and left exposed to tlie irresistible temptations of the serpent? See pages : 55, 56, 82, 202, 236, 237.
8. Is there not a graciously hidden divine motive for the per- mission of such an awful perpetration, as the crime of Cain ? See pages : 93, 94, 97, 200, 234, 242, 243.
9. Could not an excellent reason be given, for the presence of angels in Eden, until the faU ? See pages : 104, 114, 115, 116, 117.
10. Might not angels once have been our celestial companions ; Jesus Christ our Lord ; and the Holy Ghost, our ever-present Guide, in the Kingdom of God ? See pages : 108, 125, 126, 164, 165, 253.
11. Must not the angels, after their expulsion, have undergone incarnation, on their reaching this sphere, to be rendered accessible to earthly sufferings ? See pages : 104, 105, 106, 109, 110, 175, 256.
12. In what way could our first parents have been redeemed and saved ? See pages : 40, 41, 42, 58, 170, 230.
13. Ought we not to make the Lord's Prayer the principal basis of our Christian, moral and religious duties .'' See pages : 23, 26, 27, 28, 29, 40, 73.
14. Axe we not incessantly to hope, having the Almighty God as our Father ? See pages : 24, 25, 30, 31, 45, 46, 53.
15. Should we not read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest every word, that enables us better to understand the gracious significa- tion of the Lord's Prayer ? See pages : 5, 7, 9, 63, 64, 65, 66, 113.
16. What was the celestial existence of the Yirgin Mary, before all worlds ? See pages : 3, 44, 111, 112, 114, 116, 147.
17. Is Satan immortal ? Are his angels so ? See pages : 89, 90, 92, 96, 97, 98, 185.
18. Which is the best Christian creed of all ? See pages : 23, 28, 29, 30, 33, 42, 53.
WITH THEIK REFERENCES. 315
19. What are the greatest blessings, for which we should thank the Lord God, with our endless love and gratitude ? See pages : 38. 54. 59, 62, 68, 66, 72.
20. Who could prove that evil, in heaven, as weU as in earth, was not indispensable ? See pages : 39, 56, 57, 60, 73, 74, 77.
21. Why ought we to be indebted to God, beyond all measure, for our forthcoming judgment day ? See pages : 66, 67, 81, 82, 84, 118, 119, 121, 171.
22. May it not be probable, if not certain, that the fallen angels were permitted to incarnate, for the sake of obtaining Christian regeneration ? See pages : 22, 116, 117, 166, 167, 169, 170, 175, 181.
23. Is it not clear that former doctrines must be insufficient in our present days ? See pages : vii., viii., xix., xx., 28, 43, 54, xxi.
24. On what principles is a creation of new worlds absolutely necessary? See pages: 58, 62, 148, 149, 158, 171, 182, 183, 184. 185, 186.
25. May we not reasonably, and piously, suppose that God permits us to be tempted, from the best of Divine motives ? See pages : 59, 60, 61, 69, 70, 71, 201, 202.
26. Why was the Garden of Eden the principal gateway, back to the Kingdom of God ? See pages : 85, 174, 175, 180, 181, 182, 183, 229.
27. Was it not to serve almighty Mercy's ends, that Adam fell ? See pages : 235, 236, 237, 248, 249, 284.
28. May not Eve have purposely been less perfectly formed than Adam, regarding purposes of grace? See pages: 86, 117, 147, 170, 201, 202, 232.
29. Can any sufficient reason be given for Satan's apparent inadequate punishment in Eden ? See pages : 48, 49, 73, 76. 83, 84, 90, 91, 237.
316 INTEKKOGATORT SCKIPTURAL TESTS,
30. Are we not excusable wlien we attribute to the crime of Cain a previously determined purpose of mysterious Grace ? See pages : 19, 38, 39, 40, 41, 55, 60, 93, 236.
31. Who can ascribe a satisfactorily merciful use to the existence of the original chaotic earth ? See pages : 6, 13, 73, 97, 98, 231, 234.
32. May not countless numbers of our eyes have seen, in our spiritual state, the wonders of Creation ? See pages : 22, 25, 56, 78, 79, 84, 85, 253, 255.
33. Can any one account satisfactorily for the choice of Peter, as an apostle, by Jesus Christ P See pages : 15, 17, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104.
34. Is it possible to give good reasons for our human claims to angelic descent ? See pages : 22, 34, 35, 70, 71, 85, 92, 95, 248, 251.
35. Wherefore three Almighty Gods ? See pages : 1, 3, 5, 107,
108, 109, 110, 111.
36. May not years by myriads have elapsed during the connubial connections of Angels with the daughters of Men ? See pages : 108,
109, 231, 232, 233, 234.
37. For what purpose was om' merciful Redeemer begotten a first and second time ? See pages : xxii., 3, 20, 37, 103, 114, 126, 144, 161.
38. Are divine mysteries, with regard to our salvation, to be for ever veiled? See pages : 21, 146, 148, 149, 151, 152, 162, 163.
39. Had not our Almighty Father an ultimate object when He sent His Son to be incarnated on earth, for our sake ? See pages : 156, 166, 167, 168, 179, 184, 190, 191, 192.
40. Why do we pray not to be led into temptation, and to be delivered from evil ? See pages : 40, 59, 60, 92, 120, 121, 236,
41. Has any one adduced an appropriate reason for the descent of Jesus Christ into Hell ? See pages : 122, 123, 124, 127, 128.
WITH THEIR REFERENCES. 3l7
42. When was it necessary that angels should visit this earth ? See pages : 95, 153, 160, 161, 232, 253, 255.
43. Could it be imputed, without extenuation, as an excess of cruelty, on the part of the Jews, to crucify Jesus Christ between two malefactors ? See pages : 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 51, 133, 152, 153, 154, 155, 157.
44. Where, in the Bible, are there to be found evidences, that Resurrection does not exist ? See pages : ix., 1, 7, 19, 109, 110, 131, 245, 246, 254, 255.
45. Are we not much indebted to the Jewish nation for their oppression, during the Martyrdoms of the prophets and Apostles ? See pages : 129, 130, 131, 134, 187, 188, 189, 190, 191, 193, 194.
46. Was not our sacred Bible compiled under the sanction of the Most Holy Trinity ? See pages : 1, 158, 251, 257, 259, 260, 261, 262.
47. Were not forms and ceremonies, and Rituals, divinely en- couraged dui-iug the Mosaic dispensation ? Were they forbidden, by the Apostles, on the Advent of our blessed Redeemer P See pages : xxiii., xxiv., 20, 21, 22, 176 ; see also Exod. xxv. to xxxi.
48. How far back may we trace the Merciful Scheme of our uni- versal Christian Salvation? Seepages: 1, 3, 5, 6, 45, 61, 73, 107, 140, 141.
49. Have we been commanded, at any time, since the commence- ment of the Christian era, to abstain from reading, marking, and inwardly digesting, any portion of the authorized Holy Testaments ? See pages : 2, 5, 6, 16, 17, 139, 140, 141, 166.
50. Who is God ? What is He ? See pages : 1, 3, 5, 147, 151, 152, 153, 156, 169, 279, 280.
51. What could possibly be the ultimate Destinies of the fallen Angels ? See pages : 102, 150, 169, 180, 181, 182, 184, 199.
52. How will Condemned Sinners eventually be treated through infinite Grace ? See pages : 151, 185, 186, 187, 188, 189, 193.
318 INTEKROGATORY SCRIPTURAL TESTS,
53. In what light did the Jewish nation stand, in the Glorious Scheme of Universal Salvation ? See pages : 51, 21, 133, 134, 135, 136, 137, 138.
54. What was the Ante- Christian state of the Almighty Jehovah's primeval Monocracy? See pages: 61, 62, 75, 76, 156, 157, 158, 159.
55. Where was, primevally, the Holy Ghost, and why ? See pages : 1, 5, 6, 143, 144, 147, 179, 247, 260.
56. May not a human trinity be discovered in man ? See page : 159.
57. What could positively be the meaning of, "Before all worlds"? See pages : 164, 165. 166, 167, 168, 169.
58. Does it not appear to be a very great sin, to neglect searching the Scriptures ? See pages : vii., viii., xx., xxi., 139, 151, 162, 163, 165.
59. How could the presence of Satan and Evil, in Heaven, be any- thing else but gracious and salutai-y ? See pages : 48, 59, 73, 92, 93, 147, 170.
60. What had the Lord God deemed very good to do ? See pages : 73, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 200.
61. Can it be possible that eternal damnation may be, where Infinite Grace is found ? See pages : 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 20, 21, 22, 23.
62. What could fill primeval vacuity before aU worlds ? See pages : 61, 62, 144, 145, 146, 156, 158, 161, 164, 174.
63. Is there a suitable name for antichristian sceptics ? See pages: 151, 152, 153, 174, 175, 176.
64. May not the guiltiest soul of all be saved ? See pages : 97, 98, 101, 102, 103, 201, 242, 251, 258, 289.
65. Was not the maternity of the Yirgin Mary from everlasting ? See pages : 1, 3, 44, 167, 168, 177, 178, 237.
WITH THEIR REFERENCES. 319
66. Have the Origin, Purpose, and Extent of the ways of God ever been properly read, marked, learnt, and inwardly digested? See pages : vii., xix., xxiii., 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 267, 270, 273, 275, 280, 282, 287, 290, 292, 298.
67. Must there not have been, anterior to our revealed. Triune Godhead, an unknown monotheistic autocracy ? See pages : 20, 45, 148, 156, 235, 237, 280.
68. Had not the fall of the angels been everlastingly known to the Almighty Father ? See pages : 1, 3, 5, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20.
69. Is the time at which all the human race and the fallen angels shall be saved, without a single exception, satisfactorily, that is, scripturaUy, ascertained .» See pages: 186, 192, 275, 277, 288, 292, 294.
70. Why should this book be most attentively read through with- out apprehension or prejudice ? See pages : xx., xxi., 6, 7, 9, 21, 26, 290, 291.
71. WiU Jews, Gentiles, and Atheists be condemned to everlasting perdition at last ? See pages : 183, 184, 185, 186, 187, 188, 259, 276, 277.
72. Are all those human acts we call virtues, accepted as such in heaven ? See pages : xxii., xxiii., 14, 16, 18, 19, 24, 28, 29.
73. Can it be possible that the torments said to be inflicted on the wicked, after the great judgment day, are for ever and ever to last ? See pages : 13, 35, 36, 37, 53, 71, 74, 107, 108, 109, 110, 132.
74. What are the sad effects of those awful threats, and, frequently too, the dreadful consequences of those appalling chastisements and agonies, prophesied and described from the pulpits of over- wrought Christian zealots ? See pages : 63, 64, 65, 66, 117, 118, 119' 120, 140, 141, 189.
75. May not, after all, many of those stars and planets which bespangle so gloriously the heavens of our present universe, have
320 INTERROGATORY SCRIPTURAL TESTS.
been, and still be, compassionately prepared Reformatoi-ies and Penitentiaries, that Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost, by the will of God, have, from the beginning, appropriated to the reception of those mp-iads of fallen spirits and souls, which the blessed Son of God was, through permitted terrestrial Incarnations, completely to redeem and to save ? See pages : 255, 256, 257, 292, 293, 294, 295.
76. Why should we not furthermore imagine, that this very ter- restrial sphere itself, so evidently destroyed before, and intentionally reduced to the chaotic mass, on which Satan fell with his malignant hordes, might again be subjected to partial destruction, for the gracious purpose of becoming the most merciful scene of transitory human ordeals, tribulations, and temptations, preordained to carry on and complete the glorious scheme of Universal Salvation ? See pages: 58, 59, 161, 162, 164, 165, 174, 175, 196, 202, 203, 273, 280.
^^ Awaiting the just criticisms of the Press, as well as those of our private friends, from whom we solicit none but impartial and necessary corrigenda ; we are purposely delaying the publication of our own comments and corollaries,^ until the appropriate time has amved for their indispensable appearance.
With respect to the promulgation of such new theories as ours ; such unavoidably subversive, modern, biblical constructions of most evidently super- annuated patriarchal renderings, bereby made known, we very naturally expect, from a great number of our uncharitably-disposed readers, no kinder receptions, than torrents of fanatical and bigoted maledictions, poured upon us, with the utmost rancour of mistaken professional zeal.
This kind of apostohc fate, fully anticipated by us, could not however deter us from devotedly running the risks of dutifully magnifying, on widely different principles, that God of ioiinite Mercy, whose sacred Triune Godhead and Attributes we felt so irresistibly called more adequately to praise and to glorify.
Let the malevolent use us as they may ; we have honestly laboured, as we humbly hope, under the all-sufficient blessings of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, to obtain the benevolent approbation of all conscientiously devoted fellow- servants in Jesus Christ ; and, if we do not, we are perfectly resigned to endure further worldly sufferings and vituperations until death.
Y