The Revealed Mystery - Summary of Christianity Revealed in the Bible

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THE REVEALED MYSTERY,

 

OR

 

HIDDEN WISDOM OF THE DEITY, EXPOUNDED IN

 

A SUMMARY OF CHRISTIANITY REVEALED IN THE BIBLE

 

A Discourse on Eternal Life;

 

AND

 

AN ANALYSIS OF THE BIBLE DOCTRINE OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD.

 

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BY JOHN THOMAS, M.D.,

 

(Author of “Elpis Israel,” “Eureka,” in 3 vols., an Exposition of the Apocalypse and other Works, West Hoboken, New Jersey, United States.)

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PRICE TWO PENCE.

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BIRMINGHAM (England) TO BE HAD OF R. ROBERTS, ATHENÆUM BUILDINGS, EDMUND STREET.

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A.D. 1869: A.M. 5969

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PREFACE

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The Bible is the most difficult of all books to understand. First, because the Old Testament division of it contains “The Hidden Wisdom of the Deity in a Mystery,” and mysteries are not self-evident; secondly, because “it is the glory of the Deity to conceal a thing,” that it may be searched out by the honourable and noble-minded; and thirdly, it is difficult of comprehension by the multitude, because their eyes are closed, their ears are hard of hearing, and their hearts are made gross, by the morbid influence of the “strong delusion” entailed upon them, which, as a veil upon the face of all nations, prevents the light of revelation from shining into them.

 

Into the hidden wisdom of the Old Testament both prophets and angels desired to look; but they were unable to lift the veil - (1 Peter 1:10-12). The mystery could not be successfully searched out; but was, in the wisdom of the Deity, to remain an impenetrable secret until, in His own previously-arranged and appointed times, He should think proper to make it known. The fulness of times was at length reached in the last days of the Mosaic Dispensation. In those days, now eighteen centuries past, “He commanded the light to shine out of darkness into men’s hearts, for illumination of the knowledge of the glory of the Deity (already extant in the prophetic writings) in the face of Jesus Christ.” This Spirit-light shed its illuminating rays upon the hidden knowledge of the divine glory, through the doctrine taught by Jesus Christ and his Apostles; which they delivered to the world “not in the words that man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Spirit teacheth” and which, as “the Revelation of the Mystery,” they afterwards reduced to writing and transmitted to posterity, as “the New Testament of Jesus Christ.”

 

Now, it is the design of the forty-eight articles of this “Summary” to facilitate the reader’s acquisition of the knowledge of the REVEALED MYSTERY, in the exposition of which the Lord Jesus was crucified; and the Apostles lost liberty and life. The great cost at which this enlightening doctrine was made to shine, shows that it was considered by the best and wisest of men, “more to be desired than gold-yea, than much fine gold.” The reader is, therefore, invited to an unprejudiced study of the invaluable system of divine truth outlined in the propositions and proofs of this pamphlet. If he conclude to do so, the benefit will be all his own; if he unhappily refuse, no one will be injured but himself.

 

In the hope, then, that the reader, whether lay or clerical, may do himself the honour of, at least, endeavouring to understand the no-longer-concealed wisdom of the Deity; and that, notwithstanding the Gospel-nullifying traditions of the LAODICEAN APOSTASY, in which we have all at some time lived and moved, he may at length attain to an enlightened “acknowledgment of the Mystery of the Deity, of the Father, and of Christ; in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” and that by that obedience into which faith that works by love invariably leads an honest and good hearted enquirer after truth, he may finally become “a partaker of the inheritance of the Saints in light” the Author in aid of this earnest desire, sends this missive forth, in concert with the liberal publisher, who issues it at less than cost, as so much bread upon the waters to be gathered for the truth in days to come.

 

JOHN THOMAS

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PART I

 

Summary of the Christianity Revealed In The Bible

 

PROPOSITIONS.

 

I.

 

ALL NATIONS shall be blessed in Abraham and his seed.

 

PROOF.- Gen. 12:3; Gal. 3:8

 

II.

 

ABRAHAM and his seed (the Christ) shall possess the Holy Land for ever.

 

PROOF.- Gen. 13:15; Gal. 3:16-19

 

III.

 

ABRAHAM having died, must therefore be raised up from the dead, to live for ever, and possess the Holy Land.

 

PROOF.- Luke 13:28; 20:37; Rev. 11:18

 

IV.

 

ABRAHAM’S seed (the Christ) dying, must also rise from the dead to deathlessness; and departing from the earth must return to possess the Holy Land for ever, which likewise necessitates the final expulsion of the Gentiles from that country.

 

PROOF.- Lev. 25:23; Psa. 10:16; 37:29, 32-34; Zech. 2:12; 14:4; Ezek. 45:7-8; 48:21; John 1:11; 14:3; Acts 1:11

 

V.

 

ABRAHAM’S seed (the Christ) shall be Melchisedeck King of Jerusalem.

 

PROOF.- Gen. 14:18; Psa. 110:4; Heb. 7

 

VI.

 

THE HIGH PRIEST and King of Jerusalem shall possess the gate of his enemies, and having triumphed over the kings who held in captivity his brethren and their goods, shall bring forth bread and wine when the passover shall be fulfilled in the kingdom of God, and shall then and there, as priest of the Most High, bless Abraham and his seed, who shall give him tithes of all.

 

PROOF.- Gen. 22:17; 14:17-20; Ezek. 43:7-9; 45:13-16, 21; Luke 13:29; 22:15-16, 18, 30; Rev. 19:12-21; 20:4

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VII.

 

“THE SEED OF ABRAHAM” is not only a singular, but a multitudinous Christ; they that are the Christ’s at his coming - and afterwards the twelve tribes of Israel who walk in the steps of his faith; and the many nations joined to the Lord in the day when he dwells in Zion, are all comprehended in this phrase.

 

PROOF.- Gen. 17:5; Psa. 72:11-17; Hosea 1:5, 10; 2:28; Zech. 2:10-11; Rom. 4:12, 18; 8:17; 9:6-8; Gal. 3:16-29; James 2:5

 

VIII.

 

THE EVERLASTING POSSESSION of the Holy Land by Abraham, by the Christ, by them that are the Christ’s, and by the twelve tribes grafted into their own olive tree again, was covenanted and typically confirmed 430 years before the night of the exodus from Egypt and the promulgation of the Mosaic Law. The commencement of the everlasting possession, of course, was to begin at some time subsequently to the bringing that typically confirmed covenant into force.

 

PROOF.- Gen. 15:21; Rom. 15:8; Heb. 9:15-16; Gal. 3:17

 

IX.

 

THE LAW OF MOSES was an additional covenant, imposed upon the twelve Tribes because of transgressions, until the seed of the Christ should come, to whom the promise of the everlasting possession of the Holy Land was made.

 

PROOF.- Gal. 3:19

 

X.

 

CIRCUMCISION outward in the flesh was a token or sign of the covenant betwixt GOD and ABRAHAM; and a mark or seal of the righteousness counted to him because of his believing the promise that he should be the father of many nations, which should be blessed in him when as yet, being an old man and his wife past bearing, he had no child. Hence, it was a sign “that all nations should be blessed in him,” and a seal of his faith in that Gospel - circumcised flesh significative of previously circumcised heart and ears in regard to the truth of God. The cutting off of the flesh of faithful Abraham memorialized “the putting off the body of the sins of his flesh.” when his faith in the promises of God was counted to him for remission of sins. But multitudes of Israelites and Mohammedans are circumcised who have no faith. This is not true circumcision; for “that is not true circumcision which is outward in the flesh; but circumcision is that of the heart, in spirit and not in letter” of the law. A heart affectionately believing the gospel of the kingdom, or “the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus the Christ” (Acts 8:12), and putting on the Christ by being immersed into him (Gal. 3:27), being thus in the Christ who, like Abraham, had the sign of the covenant in the flesh, and the righteousness thereof in his heart, such an one “is circumcised with the circumcision made without hands in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of the Christ, having been buried with him in the baptism by which also ye are raised up with him through the faith of the energy of God who raised him from among the dead;” - Therefore the Apostle says to the saints at Philippi, “We are the circumcision, who worship God in spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and put no confidence in the flesh.”

 

PROOF.- Gen. 17:1, 11; 18:18; Rom. 4:3, 11, 18-19; Col. 2:11-12

 

XI.

 

THE SEED OF ABRAHAM, or the Christ, “the Shepherd and Stone of Israel,” was to descend from the tribe of Judah, from which the Sovereignty should not permanently depart, because the Shiloh should come, to whom shall be the gathering of the peoples: and from the God of Jacob. Judah, the mother-tribe of Messiah, and God his Father was the prediction of Jacob. The Son of God and of Judah was also to come of David, and therefore of some female “of his house and lineage.”

 

PROOF.- Gen. 49:8, 10, 24; 2 Sam. 7:12-16; Isa. 7:14; Luke 1:26-35; Heb. 1:5

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XII.

 

THE SON OF GOD, and of David, called Messiah in the Hebrew, Christ in the Greek, and Anointed in the English, is to sit upon the throne of David, and to govern the kingdom for “a season and a time,” or 1,000 years.

 

PROOF.- Psa. 67:4; 72:11; 89:3-4, 24-29, 34-37; Isa. 9:6-7; 22:22; Dan. 7:12; Rev. 11:15; 20:4

 

XIII.

 

THE THRONE AND KINGDOM of David in Jerusalem and the Holy Land, are the throne and kingdom of Jehovah and the king enthroned there, is Jehovah’s viceroy over Israel and their tributaries.

 

PROOF.- 1 Chron. 28:5; 29:23; 2 Chron. 9:8; Jer. 3:17; Psa. 2:6

 

XIV.

 

JEHOVAH’S throne and kingdom, with dominion over all nations throughout all generations, are covenanted or guaranteed to a man of the house of David, styled the Anointed of Jehovah, Jehovah’s Fellow, the Lamp of David, and Jehovah’s Name.

 

PROOF.- Psa. 2:2; 39:24; 132:11-18; Isa. 30:27; Zech. 13:7

 

XV.

 

JEHOVAH’S throne and kingdom of Israel were not to exist uninterruptedly in the Holy Land from their foundation to the last generation of mankind; they were to be “overturned,” and the power of Israel scattered by their enemies until the times of the Gentile powers shall expire, and he shall come in the name of Jehovah, “whose right they are” by covenant with his fathers, ABRAHAM and DAVID.

 

PROOF.- Psa. 118:22, 26; Dan. 12:8; Ezek. 21:26-27; Matt. 21:42-44; 23:39; Luke 21:24

 

XVI.

 

THE ERA introduced by the epochal ending of the times of the Gentiles is “the Regeneration, when the Son of Man shall sit upon the throne of his glory”; the restoration of the kingdom again to Israel; the time of the restitution of all things pertaining to Israel; the building again of the tabernacle of David, the giving of the Kingdom of God to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof-and so forth.

 

PROOF.- Amos 9:11; Matt. 19:28; 21:43; Acts 1:6; 3:21; 15:16; 1 Pet. 2:9

 

XVII.

 

THE ERA of the restoration of Jehovah’s throne and kingdom of Israel in the Holy Land is the beginning of “the Day of Christ,” or, “the day of vengeance” upon the enemies of Israel and the Saints; and the “acceptable year of the Lord” for the approved. Gentilism in all its civil and ecclesiastical manifestations will be abolished; and all things Jewish compatible with the sacrificial and sacerdotal attributes of Jesus of Nazareth, restored. From this epoch David shall never want a Son to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel, nor the priests, the Levites, a man before Jehovah, to do sacrifice continually.

 

PROOF.- Jer. 33:14-26

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XVIII.

 

“BECAUSE he hath poured out his soul unto death, therefore, he shall divide the spoil with the mighty” - hence, David’s immortal Son, who is to be king for Jehovah over Israel and the nations, ascends Jehovah’s throne in Jerusalem at some time subsequently to his resurrection from the dead - “God would raise up the Christ to sit upon David’s throne.”

 

PROOF.- 1 Chron. 17:11; Psa. 2:7; 16:8-11; Isa. 53:10-12; Acts 2:29-31; 13:34

 

XIX.

 

THE KINGDOM OF JEHOVAH, the kingdom of David, the kingdom of the Christ, the kingdom of Israel, and the kingdom of heaven, are all one and the same kingdom, consisting of the united twelve tribes under David II, as “their prince for ever,” established in the Holy Land, which will then be PARADISE IN EDEN.

 

PROOF.- Isa. 2:3; Ezek. 34:22-31; 36:35; 37:21-28

 

XX.

 

WHEN the God of Heaven shall set up this kingdom again, the priests and rulers thereof will be as the KING OF THE JEWS himself, deathless and glorious; while the twelve tribes of Israel, the subjects of the kingdom, though blessed in Abraham and his seed, with other peoples, will still have lives terminable in death.

 

PROOF.- Isa. 65:20; Dan. 7:18; 1 Cor. 15:25-26; Rev. 2:7; 3:20; 5:10; 20:6

 

XXI.

 

THE MESSIAH was to be the Messenger of the Abrahamic covenant, bearing a message to the children of Israel, therein announcing peace to them through himself, when he should be established “LORD OF ALL” upon the throne of DAVID.

 

PROOF.- Isa. 9:7; Mal. 3:1; Acts 10:36; Gal. 3:15-17; Luke 22:20; Heb. 10:10

 

XXII.

 

WHEN he bore God’s message of peace to Judah, he came not to bring the peace, but to preach it.

 

PROOF.- Matt. 10:34

 

XXIII.

 

THE bringing of the BLESSEDNESS OF ABRAHAM upon Israel and the nations, through the restoration of Jehovah’s throne in Jerusalem and the Holy Land; and the promotion of obedient believers taken from among Israel and the Gentiles upon the principle of faith in the things covenanted to Abraham and David, to a share with “the Christ,” in the “power, the riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing,” of the coming dispensation is the subject matter of the Gospel. Hence the message of peace to Israel is styled “the gospel or glad tidings of the kingdom of God;” “the hope proclaimed in the word of the truth of the Gospel,” “the hope of the Gospel” “the hope of the promise made of God to the fathers”, “the hope of Israel,” and so forth.

 

PROOF.- Matt. 4:23; 24:14; Luke 4:43; 8:1; 9:2-6; Acts 26:6; 28:20; 23:31; Col. 1:5, 23

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XXIV.

 

TO INHERIT the kingdom of God is not to be a mortal subject of it, but to possess the glory, honour, power, riches, immortality, and blessedness of it as a priest and a king thereof.

 

PROOF.- 1 Cor. 6:2; 15:50; 1 Peter 5:4; Rev. 2:10, 26-27; 3:21; 5:9-10; 20:6

 

XXV.

 

“IN MESSIAH’S DAY the righteous shall flourish.” Hence the kingdom of Jehovah and of His Anointed will be righteousness, peace, and joy; therefore the unrighteous, the fearful, and the unbelieving, cannot inherit it. A man is naturally unholy, and cannot make himself righteous; and as God has concluded all, both Jews and Gentiles, under sin, whose wages is death, they must, without respect of person, be justified, or “made righteous,” that grace may reign in them through righteousness unto eternal life in the kingdom of God.

 

PROOF.- Psa. 72:7; 1 Cor. 6:9-10; Eph. 5:6; Gal. 5:22; Rev. 21:8; 22:14-15; Rom. 3:9-10, 19; 6:23; Gal. 3:22, 26-27

 

XXVI.

 

JESUS exhorteth those he came to invite to repentance, “to seek first the kingdom of God, and God’s righteousness.” He placed the kingdom of God first in the sentence, because “the righteousness of God” is only for the justification of those who believe His truth concerning His promised kingdom. Hence, in recording the justification of the Samaritans, it is stated that “they believed the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus the Christ, and were immersed both men and women.”

 

PROOF.- Matt. 6:33; Acts 8:12

 

XXVII.

 

THE PHRASE “the righteousness of God” is expressive of that system of means whereby sinners who are subjected to it become righteous in heart and state. It is contained in the gospel of the kingdom, and makes that gospel “the power of God for salvation to everyone that believeth.” He that does as the Samaritans did, is himself made “the righteousness of God in the Christ,” “whom God hath made unto the justified wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.”

 

PROOF.- Rom. 1:15, 17; 1 Cor. 1:30; 2 Cor. 5:21

 

XXVIII.

 

THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD without the law of Moses attested by that law and the prophets, is sometimes styled “the wisdom of God in a mystery,” or secret, which was kept secret during the times of the ages, but through the apostles was made manifest, and by the Scriptures of the prophets made known to all nations for the obedience of faith; sometimes it is styled “the mystery of the Christ,” “the mystery of the gospel,” “the word of God, the mystery which hath been hid from the ages and generations, but now is made manifest to His saints,” “the mystery of godliness,” and “the mystery of the Deity and of the Father, and of Christ” and so forth. It was styled “a mystery” because it was so long impenetrably hid, that the prophets who uttered oracles concerning it, and the angels themselves, could not see into it.

 

PROOF.- Rom. 16:25-26; 1 Cor. 2:7; Eph. 3:3; Col. 1:25-26; 2:2; 4:3; 1 Tim. 3:16; 1 Peter 1:9-12

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XXIX.

 

“THE FELLOWSHIP of the mystery of the Christ” is expressive of the truth that “God is no respecter of persons: but in every nation, he that feareth Him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted of Him. “It teaches that Gentiles should be fellow heirs with Jews, and of the same body with them, and partakers of His promise concerning the Christ through the gospel; that is, that Jews and Gentiles, by the obedience of faith, should attain to one new manhood before God, and be equally eligible as heirs to the possession of the kingdom.

 

PROOF.- Acts 10:34; Eph. 2:15; 3:6; 1 Cor. 1:9; Phil. 3:10; 1 John 1:3,6,7

 

XXX.

 

THE GOSPEL of the kingdom was preached to Abraham, to the tribes in the wilderness, and to Judah by Jesus, before his crucifixion; it was afterwards preached by the apostles, in his name, for the first time on the succeeding Pentecost. “In his name” is a phrase indicative of something peculiar in their preaching of the gospel of the kingdom, compared with the Christ’s. That peculiarity consisted in their inviting all who believed the glad tidings of the kingdom to become heirs of it by repenting and being immersed into the name of Jesus as “the Christ,” who was to be raised up to sit on David’s throne, for the remission of their past sins. In announcing this new way of justification they preached “the mystery of the Gospel” for the first time on Pentecost; and some years after, Peter preached ‘“the fellowship of the mystery of the Gospel” to Gentiles at the house of Cornelius.

 

PROOF.- Matt. 4:23; 24:14; Acts 2:38-39; 10:34-43; Gal. 3:8; Heb. 4:2

 

XXXI.

 

WHEN Jews believed the Gospel of the kingdom, that Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ destined to occupy the throne thereof, that he died for sins, and rose again for the justification of the believers of that Gospel, and were immersed into the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, they did not cease to be Jews, but became “Israelites indeed,” “Jews who are such inwardly,” “Jews who, in saying they are Jews, do not lie,” and so forth; and when Gentiles or men of other nations did the same things, they did not continue to be Gentiles, but became Israelites in every particular, save that of the accident of natural birth, “fellow citizens with the saints of Judah” - that is, by “the adoption which pertains to Israel.”

 

PROOF.- Rom. 2:28-29; 9:4-8; Eph. 2:11-22; Rev. 2:9; 3:9

 

XXXII.

 

THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD as a system of means for making believers of the Gospel of the Kingdom righteous, is based upon the death and resurrection of the Messiah. “Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins.” This is witnessed by the law of Moses and the prophets. “In sacrifice and offering, and burnt offerings and offering for sin, which were offered by that law, Jehovah had no pleasure,” for “it was not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.” Therefore it was necessary that one not born of the will of man, or of the lust of the flesh, but of God, should become a sin offering - that one “who knew no sin should be made sin” for believers of the Gospel that he might “bear their sins in his own body to the tree” that by putting him on “they might be made the righteousness of God in him.” No son of Adam had ever appeared among men capable of fulfilling this necessity but Jesus the Christ. The Messiah must, therefore, needs have suffered and risen again from the dead. In pouring out his life-blood unto death as the offering for sin (“for the life of the flesh is in the blood itself,” and “it is the blood that maketh a covering for the life,” or soul - Lev. 17:11) he poured it out as the life-blood or ritual principle of the covenant or will God made with Abraham concerning himself and his seed of all classes thereof, which, as the Mosaic had then “waxed old,” and was about soon to “vanish away” in about forty years after, is styled the “NEW” or “SECOND” covenant, testament, or will, though typically confirmed 430 years before the law was added; but, by the death of the Messiah, then newly or for the first time brought into force; by the which will initiated, vitalized, and consecrated by the sacrifice of the Messiah’s body, they who are called to the kingdom are sanctified or made holy.

 

PROOF.- Heb. 9:22; 10:4-14

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XXXIII.

 

BUT if the Messiah must needs have suffered to bring into force the sanctifying covenant, he must of necessity also have arisen from the dead, for an unresurrected Christ would have been unprofitable for the purposes of Jehovah. God’s system of righteousness would have been incomplete and inefficient; repentance, remission of sins, and eternal life in the name of the Christ would have been impossible; faith in the gospel of the kingdom and in Jesus as the SON OF GOD and David, and therefore rightful Sovereign thereof, would have been vain; resurrection and kingdom there would be none; in short, the promises of God would fail, and all mankind would perish.

 

PROOF.- Psa. 30:9; 1 Cor. 15:14-19

 

XXXIV.

 

THE DEATH, burial, resurrection, ascent to the Father, and assumption into heaven of the Christ, are the “FACTS” of the Gospel’s mystery, and that he died for the sins, and rose again for the justification. sanctification. and redemption of believers in the covenants of promise and the NAME of the true MESSIAH, is the signification or doctrine of the facts. That Jesus of Nazareth is that Messiah has been attested of God according to the testimony of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John; so that it is the truth, that Jesus is the Son of God and of David, who has been raised up to sit upon their throne in Jerusalem as High Priest and King of Israel, and that he died for sins according to the prophets, was buried, and rose again from the dead, for the justification of the faithful.

 

PROOF.- Rom. 4:25; 1 Cor. 15:1-4; John 20:17; Acts 1:11; 1 Cor. 1:30

 

XXXV.

 

THE NAME by which the Deity wills to be known is neither God nor Lord, but YAHWEH or YAH, commonly pronounced Jehovah and Jah, - “Extol him that rideth upon the heavens by His name Yah” (Psa. 68:4). He was not known to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob by this name; they knew him by the name, AIL SHADDAI - the strength of the powerful ones. The memorial He ordained as the basis of His name is Ehyeh asher Ehyer. I WILL BE who I WILL BE; not as in the English version, “I am that I am;” I who speak to thee, Moses, WILL BE manifested in the seed or nature of Abraham. When the Eternal Creator should be thus manifested, the flesh-manifestation would be the Christ, Messiah, or YAHWEH-NAME. This name was incipiently manifested four years before the Vulgar Era, and was called by divine command, by the Hebrew name YASHUA, he who shall be, the Saviour, rendered into Greek Yai-sous, or Jesus. This incipient manifestation of Elohim, was “perfected” on the third day after crucifixion, and taken up again into glory forty days after being “made perfect.” The proximate manifestation of the YAHWEH-NAME is the development, during the times of the Gentiles, of “a people for the name” by the “obedience of faith,” and the perfecting of this doctrinal and ecclesial manifestation, in the subjects thereof, being made like to what Jesus Christ now after their emergence from their graves: “the manifestation of the sons of the Deity,” at the near and thief -like advent of CHRIST THE KING. These all constitute the one YAHWEH ELOHIM, or Christ and his brethren, “the Saints;” as saith Moses, “Hear, O Israel, YAHWEH (He who shall be) our ELOHIM (Mighty ones) is ONE YAHWEH.” The ultimate, complete, and final manifestation of the YAHWEH-NAME is the development, during the thousand years ensuing upon the end of the times of the Gentiles, of an intelligent, faithful and righteous multitude, which shall attain to perfection at the end thereof - “the Deity, the Father of all, over all, through all, and in all men.” “The name of Jesus Christ” is a phrase summarily expressive of the things which make up the Scripture character styled JESUS. “The name of Jehovah, saith Isaiah, “cometh from afar.” The prophetic and apostolic testimony concerning the Christ, or Messiah (in English, the ANOINTED ONE) is the exposition of this name, because Christ is “Deity manifested in flesh.” To “believe on his name” is to believe intelligently that testimony concerning the Christ, and that Jesus is he. “The blood of Jesus Christ, Son of God, cleanseth from all sin;” and he is the covering for sins, through faith in his blood, for the remission of sins that are past. This sin-cleansing quality makes the name of Jesus the Christ purifying to all the believers of the gospel of the kingdom upon whom it is Scripturally named.

 

PROOF.- Exod. 3:13-15; 6:2-3; Isa. 7:14; 9:6-7; 30:27-28; Jer. 23:6; Luke 1:31; 13:32; John 20:17; Heb. 2:10; 5:9; John 17:5, 24; Acts 1:3, 11; 1 Tim. 3:16; Acts 15:14; John 5:29; Rom. 1:5; 8;19, 23; 14:10, 12; 1 Cor. 15:28; Eph. 4:6; Rev. 21:3; Rom. 3:25; 1 John 1:7; 2:2

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XXXVI.

 

WHEN a woman is united to a man according to law, his name becomes hers; and in acquiring that new name, she acquires all that it legally imports; so, also, when a believer of the “things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus the Christ” is united to Jesus according to “the law of faith,” the name of the Christ becomes his; and he becomes by the adoption a son of the Eternal Father and a brother of Jesus Christ (Christadelphos); and in that act by which the Christ-Name is named upon the believer, he acquires a right to all it Scripturally imports.

 

PROOF.- Luke 24:47; John 1:12-13; 20:31, 17; Acts 2:38; 4:12; 10:43; 13:26, 38-39; 1 John 2:12

 

XXXVII.

 

REPENTANCE, remission of sins, sonship to God, confraternity with Christ, and immortality, are offered to devout believers of the Gospel of the kingdom, whose faith leads them into the NAME of Jesus the Christ.

 

PROOF.- See XXXVI for references

 

XXXVIII.

 

THE SUBSTRATUM of repentance is a disposition of mind, such as was in Abraham, resulting from the understanding of “the word of the kingdom,” and the full persuasion that what God has promised therein, He is able also, and will perform.

 

PROOF.- Luke 1:17; 3:3; Rom. 4:3, 18, 20-21

 

XXXIX.

 

THE ABRAHAMIC disposition of mind resulting from faith in “the exceeding great and precious promises of God,” that is, “the divine nature” thus created in a man, is granted to him for repentance in the name of Jesus the Christ.

 

PROOF.- Acts 2:38; 5:31; 11:18; 1 Peter 1:3-4

 

XL.

 

IMMORTALITY is deathlessness. God only has a nature in which the death principle never existed. Incorruptibility and life constitute immortality; so that immortality may be defined as life manifested through an incorruptible body. A diamond is incorruptible, but not living; therefore, it is not immortal. Paganism defines immortality to be a particle of divine effluence in all men, hereditarily transmitted, and having personality and consciousness after death! The Scriptures, however, reveal no such conceit. The immortality they bring to light is, “life and incorruptibility through the gospel;” or “eternal life through the Christ Name.” Immortality is promised only to those who are justified by the name of Jesus; and, being justified, walk worthy of the name. In being introduced “into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,” a right-minded believer of the truth obtains to the tree of life, and to an entrance through the gates into the city,” or kingdom of God.

 

XLI.

 

IMMORTALITY is an investment imposed by divine power upon certain who come forth from their graves; and who, on judicial inspection afterwards, are accounted worthy of glory and honour in the Kingdom of the Deity then about to be set up. In this, the resurrection-epoch and era of Israel’s regeneration, the earthy bodies from the grave, to wit, the bodies of Christ’s accepted brethren, together with the living of the same class who are contemporary with the crisis, are clothed with incorruption or spirit from heaven, which, in the twinkling of an eye, transforms them into spirit, and makes them consubstantial with the corporeal nature of the Father and the Son.

 

PROOF.- John 5:28-29; Luke 20:35-36; Rom. 14:9, 12; 1 Cor. 15:44-49, 51, 54; 2 Cor. 5:1-11; Gal. 6:7-8; Phil. 3:20-21; 1 Thess. 4:13-18; James 3:2

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XLII.

 

JESUS said that the Gospel of the kingdom he preached before his crucifixion should be preached in all the habitable subject to Rome, for a testimony to all the nations thereof: and that he that believed it, and should be immersed, should be saved through his NAME. This condition of salvation has never been modified or repealed since it was decreed. It is therefore in full force to this day. Paul was saved from his past sins, and obtained a right to eternal life and the kingdom, by believing that Gospel and being immersed; and being an honest and earnest man he preached to others the faith he had confessed and obeyed, and pronounced a curse upon all, whether angels or men, who taught otherwise than he.

 

PROOF.- Matt. 24:14; 28:19-20; Mark 16:15-16;Luke 24:47; Acts 22:16; Gal. 1:6-9, 23

 

XLIII.

 

BELIEVERS of the Gospel Jesus preached are justified by faith, THROUGH HIS NAME; that is, their Abrahamic faith and disposition are counted to them for repentance and the remission of sins, in the act of putting on the name of Jesus the Christ, which is the same “as putting on the Christ.” Paul says to such, “In Christ Jesus ye are all children of God through the faith. FOR AS MANY AS HAVE BEEN BAPTIZED INTO THE CHRIST HAVE PUT ON CHRIST, AND IF YE BE THE CHRIST’S then are ye Abraham’ s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” Hence, the evidence of man’s being the Christ’s, by faith, is his being scripturally baptized into him.

 

PROOF.- Rom. 5:1; 6:3-5; 1 Cor. 6:11; Gal. 3:26-29

 

XLIV.

 

THERE is but one way for a believer of “the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus the Christ,” to put him on, or to be invested with his name, and that is, by immersion into his name. BAPTISM is for this specific purpose - namely, for the introduction of devout believers of the truth into the name of the Christ, that through it they may receive repentance and the remission of sins, and a right to eternal life. From the Day of Pentecost to the end of the Apostles’ mission, there was no such thing as an UNIMMERSED Christian, though there were many who had passed through the water that were a disgrace to the name.

 

PROOF.- Acts 2:38; 8:12, 16; 10:48; 19:5; James 2:5; 1 Peter 3:21

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XLV.

 

ROMISH AND PROTESTANT SECTARIANISM is not Christianity. The aggregate of sects vaguely termed “the Church,” or the ecclesiastical system of Europe and America, is “the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth.” Their abominations are “the harlots,” styled “women,” Rev. 14:4, with whom the Christ’s virgins are not defiled. Every system or tradition that makes the Word of God of none effect is a harlot abomination, and proceeds from the “carnal mind;” that is, from the thinking of the flesh-ignorant of the gospel of the kingdom and the obedience it requires. This is the fountain and origin of all those heretical formulae which are incorporated in the Romish and Protestant sects, which are all of them “corrupters of the simplicity that is in the Christ.” As a whole, they are “the Apostasy” foretold by Daniel and Paul. Their clerical and ministerial orders preach “another Jesus,” are animated by another Spirit, and proclaim another gospel, than those ministered by the apostles. Their “faith” is the credulity of excitement, or of authority; their “Lord,” the thing they call “the Church”; their “baptism,” an irrational and blasphemous invention; and their “hope,” the mere baseless fabric of a vision. It is because of these abominations and their fruits, the judgments of God are impending. The hand of God is manifestly against them, as evidenced in Britain, Ireland, Italy, and Spain. From such a system of defilement, then, it is imperative for every man who would be saved to separate himself, even if he stand alone, as it is written: “Come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and tough not the unclean, and I will receive you, and be a father unto you, and ye shall be my SONS AND DAUGHTERS, saith the Lord Almighty.”

 

PROOF.- Matt. 15:6-9; Rom. 8:6-7; 2 Cor. 6:15-18; 11:1-4; 2 Thess. 2:3; Rev. 17:5

 

XLVI.

 

THE WICKED shall be turned into SHEOL; all the Gentiles that “forget God.” The wicked are those “who know not God, and obey not the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.” Of these there are three classes: first, sinners that never heard of the one true God, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the gospel; and others who are physically incapable of faith and obedience; second, those who have come to an understanding of the gospel, but have rejected it; and third, those who have obeyed it, but do not hold fast the beginning of their confidence steadfast to the end, nor walk according to its precepts, but after the flesh. The first class dies and perishes as the beasts; the second also dies, but comes forth from the grave again to encounter the burning indignation of Christ, the Judge of the living and the dead, at his appearing and kingdom; and the third also comes forth to be judged, and to undergo, in condemnation, “a sorer punishment” in the fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries.

 

PROOF.- Psa. 9:17; 11:6; 2 Thess. 1:8-9; Psa. 49:12, 20; Isa. 26:14; Eccl. 3:17-20; Acts 14:16; 17:30; John 5:29; Matt. 25:41, 46; Luke 13:28; 2 Tim. 4:1; Heb. 2:2, 8; 10:27-29; Rom. 8:13; Gal. 6:7-8

 

XLVII.

 

THE SPIRIT when sent was through “faithful men able to teach others,” to convince the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment to come. Judgment is the decision pronounced upon those who, after resurrection, appear before the tribunal of Christ, consequent upon an inspection of their claims to his favour; and by which the righteous shall be justified, and the wicked condemned according to the standard of the gospel Paul preached.

 

PROOF.- John 16:8; Deut. 25:1; Eccl. 12:14; Matt. 12:36-37; Rom. 2:5, 12, 16; 1 Cor. 4:5

 

LXVIII.

 

READER, search the Scriptures, as for hid treasure, that you may be “taught of God” without which you cannot scripturally come to the Christ (John 6:43-45). The Bereans did so; they received the word with all readiness, opened and searched the Scriptures daily to see whether the things spoken by Paul were so; therefore, many of them believed (Acts 17:11, 22). GO AND DO THOU LIKEWISE.

[Resource Manager]

PART II.

A Discourse on Eternal Life

“He who believes on the Son has life eternal; he who rejects the Son shall not see life; but the vengeance awaits him” (John 3:36).

The reading of this portion of the divine word must, I think, have impressed your minds with the conviction that the world is divided into two classes relatively to the Son of God; of which, the one is made up of believers of the Son, and the other of rejecters of the Son. Now this is true as it appears on the face of the record; but permit me to observe that the phrase “the world” must be taken in a limited sense. Jesus, in his discourse with Nicodemus, uses the expression frequently; and in John 3: 17, says, “God has sent his son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world may be saved by him.” Now, if we were to insulate this verse from the surrounding context, we might conclude, that the whole world, without a single exception, would obtain eternal life; but the context is against such a conclusion, and teaches us that Jesus meant whosoever of the world that believes on him. When, then, you say “the world is divided,” &c., you, of course, would restrict the terms to that world of men and women which was related to the Son; in other words, to those who had heard of the Son, and to when the evidence of his divine character had been submitted. For, it must commend itself to your rationality, that a man cannot sustain the character of a rejecter of the Son who has never heard of such a personage; neither can he be regarded as a believer, unless it can be shown that men can believe in things of which they have no knowledge. You perceive then that there may exist a class of people who are neither believers nor rejecters; now concerning this third class of the human family, Paul inquires: “How shall they call on him, in whom they have not believed?” And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?” No, it is impossible: for as the apostle says, “faith (or belief) comes by hearing,” and the hearing by the proclamation of the word of God. Law must be delivered to men before they can obey or disobey. “If,” said Jesus, “I had not come and spoken unto them-the Jews-they had not had sin-that is, they could not have committed the sin of rejecting me; but now they have no excuse for their sin,” because he had done among them such miracles as none other ever did. So that, if Jesus had appeared among the Jews, and claimed to be their King from heaven, and had done no miracles to sustain that high pretension, they would not have been obnoxious to a deprivation of eternal life for rejecting him; their condemnation to eternal death must have been predicated on some other ground.

From these and other considerations, I affirm that the race of man is constituted of three classes in relation to the Pentecostal proclamation concerning the Son of God. First, of that class which believes on the Son; second, of that which rejects the Son; and third, of that which never heard of the Son of God. Now, concerning the first class, John says that its members “have life eternal;” concerning the second: “they shall not see life;” and concerning the third, the principle laid down by Jesus is that God, not having spoken to them, they will not be condemned for rejecting Him, as He had not put them to the proof; and Paul shows that they will not attain to eternal life, for, he quotes the prophet Joel, who says that “Whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved,” and remarks, “how shall they call on him on whom they have neither believed nor heard?” no: from death, this third class cannot be delivered or saved, as no means of escape there from has been propounded to them.

I wish now to rivet your attention upon the things of eternal life; and in doing so I would set before you this

[Resource Manager]

FIRST PROPOSITION

 

Eternal Life is a matter of promise.

 

By eternal is meant unending; - by life is intended a full, perfect, and renewed manifestation of the intellectual, moral, and physical faculties or constituents of man; and by a matter of promise is signified a thing which is assured by a declaration previous to its possession; hence my proposition thus defined, will read as follows:

 

The possession of intellectual, moral and physical powers by man in full, perfect, renewed, and unending manifestation, is the subject of an assurance made previous to its realization.

 

Having stated to you my proposition, and having defined it with as much precision and simplicity of language as possible, I shall now present to you the proofs upon which it rests. Permit me, then, to direct your attention to the following passages of the Oracles of God.

 

1. - 2 Tim. 1:1 - Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, on account of the promise of life which is by Christ Jesus.
    
   
2. - Titus 1:2 - Paul, in hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before the times of the ages-who has now manifested His word (of promise), at the proper season, by the proclamation with which I am intrusted.
    
   
3. - Heb. 7:6 - Abraham holding the promises.
    
   
4. - Gal. 3:16 - To Abraham were the promises made, and to his seed-who is the Christ.
    
   
5. - 1 John 2:25 - This is the promise, which He has promised to us, even eternal life.

 

Now, from the first of our proofs we perceive, that it was on account of this very promise that Paul was constituted an apostle of Jesus Christ. It teaches us that the life promised is by Jesus Christ; that is, that it was manifested by him. In a subsequent part of this chapter, Paul terms the promise the purpose and favour of God, “given before the times of the ages;” and given too “through Jesus Christ,” or the seed or Abraham (according to proof No. 4). “and now (in his day,) made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ; who has indeed vanquished death, and brought life and incorruptibility to light by the Gospel, of which Paul was appointed a herald and an apostle.” Had not the promise of eternal life to “all the families of the earth” been made, there would have been no “Apostle and teacher of the Gentiles;” for it was on account of this promise of life that he was appointed “by the will of God.” Furthermore, he says that “the light which is the light of man” is developed in the Gospel, which he (Paul) preached; consequently, the gospel is the true interpretation of the promise of life made before the ages of the law.

 

My second proof sets forth the subject-matter of the promise as a thing of hope; his phrase is, in hope of “eternal life,” and in Titus 3:7, he speaks of “Heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” Now, as to hope, he says in Rom. 8:24, “Hope that is attained is not (or ceases to be) hope; for who can hope for that which he enjoys? But if we hope for that which we do not enjoy, then with patience we wait for it.” As if he had said,-If a man have immortality within him, he has attained to it, and is in the enjoyment of it; but if he is altogether mortal and corruptible, and he hope for it, then, with patience, he waits for it until it is conferred; for that which a man actually possesses, cannot, in the nature of things, be to him a matter of hope. A man cannot, at one and the same time, be an immortal soul and “long for immortality;” the idea, though popular, is absurd.

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But Paul says, that eternal life becomes a matter of hope by virtue of a promise, which God made “before the times of the ages.” But what period is thus indicated? It is agreed pretty generally, that the times of the Mosaic law are signified, inasmuch as the period of that dispensation or constitution of things, was distributed into ages of fifty years, termed jubilees. It was before the setting up of the kingdom of Israel, then, that God made the promise of eternal life. But it may be asked, how long before, and to whom did He make the promise? These are important queries, and ought to be answered with precision. Paul says, that the (diatheekee) will or promise, was made 430 years before the Law of Moses was delivered, and that it was made to Abraham and his seed, who is the Christ; see proof 4. Of these, Abraham was the holder of the promise, and his seed, the Christ, the subject of the will; for Paul terms the promise-”the will concerning the Christ” - Diatherkeeis Christon,- (Gal. 3:15-17; Luke 22:20; Heb. 10:10). These phrases, then, “The will concerning the Christ” and “The promise of the eternal life,” are one and the same; for the eternal life and the Christ are the same; for John in guarding his brethren against idols says, “We know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding, that we might know him (the God) that is true; and we are in him that is true, in his son Jesus Christ: this is the true God (the father) and the eternal life (His Son)” (1 John 5:20). Besides, Jesus styled himself “the life” as well as the way, the truth and the resurrection.

 

The promise of eternal life is recorded by Moses in Genesis, and is veiled in the following language, “All the land (of Palestine) which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever” (Gen.13:14-17). “Unto thy seed I have given this land from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates.” This promise was sealed with the blood of an heifer, a she goat, and a ram, all of three years old: the duration of the ministry of the anointed Lamb before he was slain by the Jews. Thus was “the will ratified by God,” (Gal. 3:17), 430 years before the law.

 

The promise was reiterated to Isaac and Jacob (Gen. 25:2, 3, 4; 28:3-4, 13-14), the son and grandson of Abraham. But it may be said, the phrase eternal life is not expressed in the will; and Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob did not, nor have they ever, possessed the land. This is true, but though the phrase is not expressed the thing is implied; and it is quite true that all these, and more, died in faith, or confidence of hope, not having received the land with its rights, privileges, immunities, and appurtenances thereunto belonging (Heb. 11:13,39). But this incident forms the solution of the difficulty. Abraham died without possessing the land; and his seed, the Christ, came to his own land, but left it without acquiring possession thereof. Has God’s promise to these personages failed? No, says Paul, for God who promised it cannot lie (Titus 1:2). What, then, must happen, in order that the will may be administered, or the promise of God fulfilled? The answer is that the Christ must descend from heaven, and Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob must be raised from the dead to realize it (Matt. 8:11; Mic. 7:20). The subject of this proposition takes a wider range than I can describe at present. I shall therefore proceed to affirm my

[Resource Manager]

SECOND PROPOSITION

 

The eternal life of man is deposited in Jesus, the Prince of Life.

 

PROOFS:

 

1. As the Father has life in himself, so has he given to the Son to have life in himself. - John 5:26.
    
   
2. O Jews! ye will not come to me that ye may obtain life. - John 5:40.
    
   
3. Jesus answered, I am the Bread of Life; which descended from heaven; whoso eats of this bread that I will give, shall live for ever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I give for the life of the world. - John 6:35-51.
    
   
4. I am the resurrection and the life. - John 11:24-25.
    
   
5. Your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ our life shall appear, then you shall also appear with him in glory. - Col. 3:3-4.
    
   
6. This is the testimony that God has given to us eternal life; and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has this life; and he who has not the Son of God has not this life. - 1 John 5:11-12.

From these passages it is clear that, though a man may be an heir of eternal life, and in that sense have within him that which springs in to eternal life, yet the life itself is not an inherent principle of his nature, but one that may be acquired by virtue of an interest in the Son of God. He is the bread of life, and it is just as necessary to feed on that bread to live for ever, as it is to feed on the bread which perishes, to live the life of an animal man. Our first proof agrees with the doctrine of the word as revealed in John 1:1-5. The word was God, and in it was life. This life word afterwards became incarnated, and was manifested to Israel by the baptism of John, as the Son, and therefore the equal with God; for the grand difference between the Word by whom all things were created and the Word which sojourned among the Jews, consisted not in their being essentially dissimilar, for they were not - they were one (I and my Father are one)-but in the life-word Creator, assuming in relation to men, the nature of a descendant of Abraham. This assumption, however, made no difference as to the inherent attribute of life; hence, said Jesus, “as the Father has life in himself, so has He given to the son to have life in himself”- the Father the life-word incarnated.

 

The life-word incarnated, named Jesus by the life word, was introduced among men as the fountain of life and light to the world. Hence in conversing with the Jews, he says, in effect, “You search the Scriptures to discover the way by which eternal life may be procured; now these testify that I am he who confers it; and yet you will not come to me, the fountain of living waters, and drink that your thirst may be allayed; I am eternal life-in me the fullness, the favour, and the truth are incorporated; and yet, O Jews, you will not come to me that you may obtain the life you seek.” But if they had within them immortality, why need they go to Jesus to obtain it? It would have been unnecessary; but inasmuch as there was no immortality-not one spark of it within them if they would live for ever in any sense, they were imperatively bound to go to Him “who only hath immortality” to bestow, and obtain it on any terms He might deign to prescribe.

 

Messiah is the resurrection and the life: and no man can enter the presence of the Father unless he introduce him; and because he is the resurrection and the life, Paul told the Christians of Colosse that their life was hid with Christ in God. But if immortality is an inherent principle of human nature, how can it be said to be hid in Christ? It ought then to then read our life is hid in ourselves! But in relation to the true believers, Christ the life is termed “our life,” because all their hope for eternal life is embodied in him. Hence he is called “Christ our hope.” If he is not risen, their hope is vain, and when they die they perish as the brutes. But he has risen from the dead and sits at the right hand of God, waiting until the time appointed for his return hither arrive: and “when Christ our life shall appear, then you also (O true believers) shall appear with him in glory, honour, and immortality,” and not one instant before. “We know,” says John, “that when he shall appear, we shall be like him (glorious, honourable, and immortal)-we shall see him as he is. And every one who has this hope in him purifies himself even as he is pure.”- 1 John 3:2-3. The idea, then of an immediate translation from earth to heaven at our animal decease is excluded; for the believer is not to appear in glory till the appearance of Messiah on earth to raise the dead.

 

My sixth proof instructs us that God has given to the faithful eternal life; but that, although it says elsewhere that “he that eats my flesh and drinks my blood, has eternal life,” yet John teaches in the proof before us, that this life is in the Son of God, and that it is he only who has the Son that has this life: for he emphatically declares, that he who has not the Son has not this life. If, then, this be true, it necessarily follows that the disobedient, the rejecters, and all who have not the Son, in the true scriptural sense, are destitute of all right, title, and property, in the life which endures for ever.

[Resource Manager]

THIRD PROPOSITION

 

My third proposition, which seems, in the nature of things, to come next in order, is that-

 

Eternal life is the free gift of God.

 

By the phrase, free gift of God, is meant any thing bestowed by God as a matter of grace or pure unmerited favour. And here are the

 

PROOFS:

 

1. Jesus said, “If you knew the gift of God, and who he is who says to you-Give me to drink; you would have asked him, and he would have given to you living water. - John 4:10.
    
   
2. The Gracious gift of God is everlasting life by Jesus Christ our Lord. - Rom. 6:23.
    
   
3. By grace are you saved through faith; and this thing not of yourselves; it is the gift of God - Eph. 2:8.
    
   
4. Constantly hope for the gift to be brought to you, at the revelation of Jesus Christ -1 Pet.13.

If, then, eternal life be the free gift of God bestowed through Jesus Christ, it must surely be obvious to the meanest capacity, that or hereditarily derived immortality is not inherent, or hereditarily derived from the animal Adam; and therefore, that immortality is a principle extraneous to the constitution of man, and consequently, if enjoyed by his race must be derived as a gift-a free and gracious gift from Him who alone has it to confer. This gracious gift is an eternal reward, as the rejection of those who seek for it in their own way, instead of in the way appointed by God, will, with its concomitants, be to them an eternal punishment. It is a reward which Jesus will bring with him; as it is written, “Behold I come quickly; and my reward is with me,” which according to Paul, is “glory, honour, immortality, and peace” to every one who does well. Eternal life is styled a free gift; because God bestows it spontaneously - that is, of His own accord. No one prompted Him; it is a gift which flows from His own pure benevolence and love of the race which he planted on this terrestrial ball. He saw the wretchedness into which the world was plunged; being moved, therefore, with compassion, He devised a scheme in conformity with the excellency of His own nature, by which to deliver it from that extinction which He foresaw would ultimately supervene if left to itself. It is written in the chapter we have read, “God so loved the world as to give His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes on him, may not perish, but obtain eternal life.” Let us, then, admire the goodness and philanthropy of God our Saviour for this unspeakable and inestimable gift, and lay hold on it likewise as the very anchor of Gospel hope.

[Resource Manager]

FOURTH PROPOSITION

 

Eternal life, though the free gift of God, through Jesus to the world, is nevertheless conditional.

 

This is my fourth proposition, and worthy of all attention. By conditional, I mean that it is obtainable on certain stipulated terms.

 

PROOFS:

 

The proofs of this are innumerable; therefore, I shall content myself with a selection, as follows:

 

1. Good Teacher, what good must I do to obtain eternal life? Jesus answered - If you would enter into that life, keep the commandments. - Matt. 19:16.
    
   
2. He who shall believe (the gospel) and be immersed, shall be saved. - Mark 16:16.
    
   
3. Unless a man be born out of water and Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. - (John 3:5).
    
   
4. Whosoever believes on the Son of Man shall not perish, but obtain eternal life. - (John 3:16).
    
   
5. Whosoever shall drink the waters which I – Jesus - shall give him shall never thirst more; but the water which I shall give him, shall be in him a fountain springing up to everlasting life. - (John 4:14).
    
   
6. He who hears my doctrine, and believes on Him who sent me, has eternal life, and shall not suffer condemnation, having passed from death unto life. - (John 5:24).
    
   
7. This is the will of Him that sent me, that whosoever recognizes the Son, and believes on him, should obtain eternal life, and that I should raise him again at the last day. - (John 6:40).
    
   
8. Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have not life in you. He that eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life; and I will raise him again at the last day. - (John 6:53).
    
   
9. My sheep obey my voice. I give them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any one wrest them out of my hand. - (John 10:27-28).
    
   
10. Jesus said, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes on me, though he were dead, shall live; and every one who lives and believes in me, shall not die in the age. - (John 11:25-26).
     
    
11. He who despises me and rejects my instructions, has that which condemns him. The doctrine which I have taught will condemn him at the last day. The Father who sent me has commanded me what I should enjoin, and what I should teach. And I know that this commandment is eternal life. - (John 12:48-50).
     
    
12. O Father! Thou hast given the Son authority over all men, that he may bestow eternal life on all those whom thou hast given him. Now this is the life eternal, to know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ (the anointed) whom Thou has sent. - (John 17:1-3).
     
    
13. It was necessary that the message of God be first delivered to you (Jews); but since you thrust it away from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles. And the Gentiles, hearing this, rejoiced, and glorified the word of the Lord; and as many as had been appointed to eternal life, believed (the word concerning it.). - (Acts 13:46-48).
     
    
14. God first favourably regarded the Gentiles to take from among them a people for His name. - (Acts 14).
     
    
15. The Gospel is the power of God for salvation to every one who believes (it); as it is written “the just shall live by faith.” - (Rom. 1:16).
     
    
16. God will render to everyone according to his works: Eternal Life, indeed (He will render) to them who, by perseverance in well doing, seek glory, honour, and immortality. - (Rom. 2:7).
     
    
17. If you live according to the flesh you shall die; but if, through the Spirit, you put to death the deeds of the body, you shall live (Rom. 8:13).
     
    
18. This saying is true, that if we die with Christ, we shall also live with him. - (2 Tim. 2:11).
     
    
19. The Son learned obedience by the things which he suffered, and being made perfect (by a resurrection from the dead), became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey him. - (Heb. 5:9).
     
    
20. You must persevere in doing the will of God, that you may obtain the promised reward. - (Heb. 10:36).
     
    
21. He who does the will of God, continues for the age. - (1 John 2:17).
     
    
22. No manslayer, or hater of his brother, has eternal life abiding in him. - (1 John 3:15).
     
    
23. To him who conquers, I will give to eat of the Tree of Life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God (Rev. 2:7). The conqueror shall not be injured by the second death. - (verse 11).

[Resource Manager]

Now, I do not hesitate to say that these passages prove that eternal life is conditional, or obtainable by those who conform to certain fixed and unalterable stipulations. The expressions: “if,” “he who,” “unless,” “whoever,” “as many as,” “to take from among,” “to everyone who,” “them who,” “to them who,” “that you may,” and so forth, are all terms of condition. The reply of Jesus to the young man, gives us the gist of the whole matter-if you would enter into that life, keep the commandments,” Now this teaches us the truth positively; and if ye can ascertain distinctly the affirmative, we need be at no loss to determine what is the mind of God in relation to those who do not the things He requires.

 

If eternal life be conditional, none can possibly attain to it who either cannot or will not observe the terms upon which it is freely and graciously offered.

 

All mankind are born of corruptible parents into a state of sin. By this natural birth, they become members of this sinful and evil state, and heirs of all its disabilities. By virtue of this birth, they are “constituted sinners,” though they could not help, and had no hand in the matter. Now, one would think, there could exist no rational man who could affirm, that if such an one were to die a “constituted sinner,” without the offer of a means whereby he might change his state, he would be turned over to the pains and penalties of hell for ever. Yet, such there are! But the truth is, that “constituted sinners” in such a state of helplessness, are regarded in Scripture as living under “times of ignorance;” hence Paul said to the “constituted sinners” of Athens, “the time of this ignorance God hath winked at,” or overlooked; and to those of Lycaonia, “God, in former generations, permitted all the nations to walk in their own ways.”

 

Now, since the days of Noah, God has not delivered His laws to the world at large, but to sections of it in particular. Hence, He gave the law to Israel, a small and feeble people at the time; fifteen hundred years afterward. He proclaimed His law to the nations the Roman empire; and yet it remains for Him to deliver an authoritative proclamation to the nations of Chin-India, Central Asia, Hindoostan, and so forth.

 

These are the proclamations which convert Times of Ignorance into Times of knowledge. It is knowledge which makes a “constituted sinner” responsible for his sins; and if responsible, therefore, obnoxious to the vengeance of God, if he die unpardoned. When men are made acquainted with God’s law, they can no longer plead ignorance as an excuse; for it then becomes a matter of their own choice, whether they will become “constituted righteous” persons, or “enlightened transgressors;” for the knowledge of God’s law renders it absolutely impossible for them any longer to remain merely “constituted sinners.” It was “through the disobedience of one man (Adam), the many (his descendants, babes and adults) were constituted sinners;” and so it was “by the obedience of the one (Christ), the many (or true believers) are constituted righteous.”

 

In this life then, there are two states in relation to God and the children of Adam-the one a state of sin, and the other a state of favour; the former occupied by “constituted sinners” of all ages, from the babe to the old man, of every shade and variety-and by illuminated transgressors, whose sin is not only constitutional but voluntary; and the latter state is composed of persons who were not only constituted sinners and voluntary transgressors, but who, by obedience to the laws of God and to Christ, are constituted righteous. In regard to the righteous, they are delivered from the fear of death, because, having obeyed the truth, they have passed from death to life; but this is not the case of the constituted sinners and intelligent transgressors. These are both under the sentence of death eternal, with this difference only, that the punishment of the constituted sinners is the common lot of man, aggravated by the demoniac institutions of Idolatry, Mohammedanism, &c., “ending in death” which is uninterrupted by a resurrection; whereas, the actual transgressors who know the law, though subject to all this, are raised to judgment and the terrors of a second death, the eternal consummation of their woes.

[Resource Manager]

It would occupy too much space at present to go into the doctrine of the several proofs in detail. In the general. In the general, they all concur in teaching, that God has set eternal life and eternal death before men and women living under Times of Knowledge; and that their destiny in relation thereto depends upon volition; that is, they will become heirs of eternal life, IF they will obey Him who is the life; or they will continue heirs of eternal death, with the super-addition of suffering, PREVIOUS to that catastrophe, IF they reject his claims to their obedience.

In our second proof, the Prince of Life says, “He that believes the Gospel and is baptized shall be saved.” Saved, salvation, and such like terms are often used in Scripture; and it will not be uninteresting to consider briefly in what sense these are employed. Paul says, that before Christ came, “Jews and Gentiles were all under sin,” and in another place, he says, that “the WAGES of sin is DEATH;” consequently, they were all under sentence of death. Now this sentence was an inexerable one; and could not be set aside, so long as the cause of it, which was sin, remained in force. Being all under sin, they were, therefore, all under condemnation. Sin and death were the things of which they were all the subject; sin was the labour of their lives, and death the well earned wages thereof. Jews and Gentiles were all fellow-labourers in evil, and therefore fellow-sufferers in all the calamities of life, and co-heirs of a common fate.

 

Now, salvation in relation to these, it is clear, must have pertained to a deliverance from sin, and consequently from death; for to deliver a man from the cause of his sufferings is to remove those sufferings likewise; hence, to “take away the sin of the world” is to cancel its liability to the punishment due to sin, which is Eternal Death. When, therefore, it says, “To him bear all the prophets witness, that everyone who believes into him, shall receive forgiveness of sins by his name,” the sentence falls to be completed-and, as a consequence, he shall be saved from death eternal, the wages and punishment of sin. The salvation, then, promised in the Gospel, is a deliverance from sin and death. When, therefore, it says, “He who shall believe the gospel and be baptized shall be saved,” a proclamation is made that all believers of the Gospel who obey it, shall be delivered from sin and eternal death.

 

And here it is manifest that the proclamation promises deliverance to obedient believers only. It is “he who Shall believe, &c.;” nor does it stop here, for it declares that he who shall not believe the Gospel shall suffer condemnation, that is, the sentence of eternal death under which he lies shall be carried into effect. Again, “Unless a man be born of water and Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God,” in other words, he cannot enter Paradise. This condition is fixed and unalterable; this rule is the unrepealed statute of heaven, announced by the Great King, who shall reign in that kingdom, and proclaimed to the nations in the language of my second proof. The heirs of Paradise, constituted such under the new institution, can only become heirs by submitting to this the spiritualization of the kingdom of God. The being begotten and born of the water by the word, is the passing from the sentence of death to the sentence of life, which says that such an one shall not suffer the condemnation of the second death-see proof 6. He who has thus passed from death to life, becomes by the transition a sheep of the flock of the Great Shepherd (proof 9); one of the people of God (proof 14); a well-doer (proof 16); a subject of the author of eternal salvation (proof 19); a doer of the will of God (proof 21), &c.; and, therefore, entitled to all the blessings predicated of such characters.

 

The conditions, then, to which men are required to conform if they would live for ever, is, in general terms, to keep the commandments. This, I say, is general, and applies equally to the past, the present, and the future. But this condition is resolvable into something more particular. Hence, the sentence falls to be completed, keep the commandments of the Divine Constitution under which you live. Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had to keep the ordinances of the Patriarchal Constitution of Things; Moses, Aaron, and the Israelites, of the Sinaitic Law; the Jews and Gentiles of the Roman World after Pentecost, A.D. 33 and 41, the commandments of the New Institution; and the universal concourse of mankind will, from the coming Christ to his kingdom, have to keep that law of love which is to proceed forth from Zion to every nation, tongue, kindred, tribe, and people of the inhabited earth, which is then to be full of the knowledge of the glory of Jehovah as the waters that cover the depths of the sea” (Hab. 2:14).

[Resource Manager]

But, we have more especially to do with the particular commandments of the times which are. We are to keep the commandments, if we would enter into that life which is eternal; and the first condition is, that we believe the Gospel, amend our lives, and be baptized, or buried in water into the death of Christ, that we may rise from it, not only begotten but born of God; the second is contained in my sixteenth and twentieth proofs, and is, that every son of God persevere in doing His will, which doing is the true import of the phrase “well-doing.” By thus persevering till death, they become conquerors; and though they fall for a time, they will rise again to eat of the Tree of Life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God, according to proof 23.

 

These are the conditions, the fixed and unalterable stipulations, as immutable as the Immutable Himself, to which we must all conform, if we would enter into life by a resurrection from the dead. None has any part or lot in this salvation but the true believers; all others are excluded, physically, circumstantially, or by their own volition. The world of terrestrial animated nature is but the crude materials out of which the Arch-Builder of all eternal mansions is erecting a superb and undecaying edifice. His materials are animal, and of these He is rearing a spiritual, or immortal and glorious architectural order. He incorporates the choice, the living stones into His building; but the worthless and the rubbish He casts away and destroys by burning. To become stones which will never wear away, we must be incorporated into the rock, and be subjected to the preparation of Him whose workmanship is perfect and complete.

 

In conclusion, the following are the corollaries which present themselves from the whole.

 

1. - In relation to life and death there are three classes of mankind; first, the true believers heirs of eternal life; second, the unbelievers rejecters of the truth, who are the heirs of the resurrection to suffer a fiery punishment which will end in eternal death, and, therefore, be an eternal punishment; and, third, the descendants of Adam, not yet placed under law, together with those who are physically incompetent of belief or obedience, and whose lot is consummated in death eternal, and undisturbed by future life or suffering.
    
   
2. - Eternal life being a matter of promise, it is bestowed only on those who can prove that the promise was made to them; in other words, a man to become immortal, must establish his identity as one of the heirs of the will concerning the Christ.
    
   
3. - Jesus must come again; and Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and others, must rise from the dead in order to realize the things promised to them in the will.
    
   
4. - Immortality is not an hereditary constituent of human nature, but a free and gracious gift of God superadded thereto; and laid up with Jesus Christ, as treasure in heaven, to be bestowed at his appearing.
    
   
5. - Eternal life is conferred on those only who conform to certain fixed conditions, namely, obedience to the Gospel preached by the Apostles, and a continuance in well-doing.
    
   
6. - Salvation, as a whole, is deliverance from sin and eternal death.

In conclusion, then, let us remember that our lot is cast, and, by virtue of the appointment of Him who marks out the boundaries of the nations, we are placed under times of knowledge, and, therefore, can have no excuse for disobedience. By His word handed down to us, with abundant evidence of its superior origin, He calls upon us to forsake the error of our ways, and to walk in that way, to seek that truth, and to pursue after that life, which “the way, the truth, and the life,” has delineated and procured. “Behold” says he, “I come quickly, and my reward is with me; I will recompense to every man according as his work shall be.” “Happy are they who keep His commandments, that they may have the privilege to eat of the tree of life: and they shall enter by the gates into the city.” “I am the root and the offspring of David, the bright and the morning star. And the spirit and the bride say come; and let him that hears, say come, and let him that is thirsty, come; whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely.” Here is a free and noble invitation from the Prince of Life. Who would not come and eat and drink, and live for ever?

[Resource Manager]

PART III

 

The Kingdom of God

 

THAT the Kingdom of God will be established upon the EARTH, (a) and be AGE-lasting in its duration; (b) That the once crucified Jesus of Nazareth, the Lord of life, now exalted at the Father’s right hand, is the ANOINTED KING; (c.) That the glorified Saints, washed from their sins in the blood of the Lamb, will be its princes and subordinate sovereigns; (d) That the JEWS who own their supremacy will be the immediate subjects to be gathered out of every nation for this purpose; (e) That the government will be absolute and Divine, and not left to the will of any people; (f) That Jerusalem will be its capital, and the Holy Land its immediate locality; (g) That the Devil and Satan, or the Constitution of Sin, embodied in the government of the world, ecclesiastical and civil, will be destroyed; (h) And that all the nations of the earth will serve and obey him who is their appointed Governor, and participate in that glorious righteousness, peace and prosperity, which shall characterize his reign (i) are TRUTHS which illuminate every page of the BIBLE, and constitute the promises made to Adam, (j) Abraham, (k) David, (l) and all the ancients, (m) and the Gospel proclaimed by Jesus, (n) Peter, (o) Paul, (p) Stephen, (q) and Philip, (r.) the Gospel to be believed for Righteousness and Salvation.

 

To participate in the honour and glory of this kingdom, it is necessary to be adopted into the family of Abraham, by believing the things which concern the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, and immersion into the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (s).

 

The obvious and grammatical sense of the Holy Scriptures demonstrates the above truths. Read, mark, and learn and inwardly digest them. “Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the City.” (t)

 

[Resource Manager]

A SYNOPSIS OF

 

The One Faith Taught By the Apostles.

 

 

 

[The Epitome of the One Faith was included on the inside cover of the booklet]

 

 

EPITOME OF THE ONE FAITH

 

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One God, the Eternal Father, dwelling in heaven in light of Glory inconceivable.

 

One universal irradiant Spirit, by which the Father fills all and knows all, and when He wills, performs all.

 

Our Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, begotten by the Spirit, of the virgin Mary, put to death for sin, raised from the dead for righteousness, and exalted to the heavens as a Mediator between God and Man.

 

Man, a creature of the ground, under sentence of death because of sin which is his greatest enemy – the devil.

 

Deliverance from death by resurrection and bodily glorification at the coming of Christ, and inheritance of the kingdom of God, offered to all men on condition.

 

1. Of believing the glad tidings of Christ’s accomplishments at his first appearing, and of his coming manifestation in the earth, as King of Israel and Ruler of the whole earth, at the setting up of the KINGDOM OF GOD.
    
   
2. Of being immersed in water for a union with his name, and
    
   
3. Of continuing in well-doing to the end of this probationary career.

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“Behold I come quickly”

 

 

Note:

 

Booklet also contained, end page, inside cover:

 

EPITOME OF THE ERRORS OF CHRISTENDOM

 

These have not been included with this file.

 

TheRevealedMystery1869.pdf