The Daily state journal. [volume] (Alexandria, Va.) 1868-1874, 1871-02-01
rCnMMuNICATEp.

were attracted to the place by the known repu-
tation of the speaker for honesty and out
spoken sincerity as q thinker. Though we
happened TO know in advance what positions
he would assume, yet we could not deny our
selves the luxury of listening to one whose
manly intellect had broken the fetters Of estab
lished formularies, and with the bible for his
guide, dared to challenge and contend with
hoary errors wherever found. We do not
agree with Mr.. M. in his conclusions but we
do admire that heroic honesty to his own
convictions that prompts him to maintain
them in the face of that proscriptive dog
matsm that denounces all who see truth
in a new light. Contented acquiescence ia
old Orthodoxy" is the "dry rot" of the human
intelect and hence we hail, as an omen Of
better things, the appearance of progressive
mind moving in the realm of theology towards
| the goal of higher truths than those that were
stereotyped in medieval ages and transmitted
as a sealed book from father to son. Mr.. M. is
Virginia gentleman, and hence cannot be
suspected of that reckless tendency which, in
| the name of Progress" tramples upon all
| that is venerable in the past. His mental aim
| is manifesty to ''prove all things. and hold
fast that which is good" Having hatched the
shell OF sectism, priestcraft and precedent are
| to him of no authority save as "helpers to his
| faith"
| But we design to state some reasons for differ
ing from the position taken by the lecturer,
| that the Jews are to be restored to Jerusalem,
| and that that city is to be the metropolis OF
the whole earth, with the Lord as a temporal
king. We think the following points will be
clear to the attentive student OF revelation
| There are but too captivities OF the Jews re-
| ferred to BY the Prophets-one in Egypt, the
other in Babylon. The prophecies concerning
the latter captivity and the restoration of the
Jews were all given eitherbefor the captivity
| [as in Isaiah and Jeremiah) or during the cap
tivity' as in Ezekiel, David, Haggai and Zecha-
riah. The return of the Jews from the Baby
| lonish captivity fulfilled all those prophecies,
and there is nothing in the Scripture to war
rant the expectation of a third return. They
| have accomplished their use as separate
| nation, having preserved the "Word" and the
prophetic "genealogy Concerning the incarna.
| ton of the Lord, as the Jehovah in whom all
| ancient prophecies types, &C., had their literal
| fu6lment of those prophecies-the "letter"
which "kieth" is to have no farther fulfill
| meut The "spirit which "maketh alive is
henceforth to be accomplished and realized by
the reign of truth, when He who is the "Light
of Truth comes the second time upon. the
clouds of Heaven that is upon the "clouds or
obscured sense of The letter." Hence Paul
says that henceforth che is not jew who is
one outwardly," and in Hebrew, 'fye (the
christians of his day are come unto Mt. Zion
and unto the City of the Living God"-the
Heaueniy Jerusalem.
|
the Lord is to reign King of Nations, as he
reigns King of Saints. In proof of our first
position, (that prophecy concerning the Jews
points no further than Babylon for its literal
fulhlment,) we refer to the words OF the pro.
phecies themselves. In Isaiah XII IL. you lind
this declaration And it shall come to pass IN
that dav, that the Lord shall set his hand again
a second time to recover the remnant OF Hi
people, &c. The captivity in Egypt being
first, that in Babylon being second, where Ii
the room for looking forward to any future
, literal realization Of these words? In the
! later prophets you will find an equally specific
mention OF Babylon-e. g., zech. z. 5-8
where the prophet says: "Deliver thyself, o
Zion, that dwellest where the daughter o
Babylon" &c. We grant that Babylon has {
spiritual as well as literal significance, ant
that there is now existing spiritual csptivit,
in Babylon, delverance from which is .ye
future. But there is a spiritual as well as lite
raj sense in all the prophecies What we need
therefore, is an eve to see spiritual change
! now going on, in fulfllment of prophecy-th
day of literal ful6ment having past when II
GOT whom Moses and the prophets spake" said
, "Woman believe me the hour cometh when We
shall neither in this mountain nor yet il
, Jerusalem worship the Father - the hou
cometh, and noD is when the true worshipper
, shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth
: Again the Limitation of the literal fultillmen
is expressly given, when our Lord says 9Th
Law and the Prophets were until John, sine
,, that time the kingdom OF Heaven is preached,
&C., !. O. the spiritual Kingdom. Again, SIN
kingdom is not of this world" not "to here
nor to there, for the kingdom of heaven
| within you"
Mr.McGruder as lawyer will understand U
, when we say that he "sticks in the letter.
: according to our view, just what the Jews di
:, ia our Lords day, when they struck and mad
- - shpwreck of their theology. They wanted
slt.ral" king, and "literal" exaltation owe
all the nations of the earth; just such as M
u NJ. promised to the elect.
q A kingdom in which we (the Faithfully al
IS to come in for a share of temporal glory an
/ preferment, is very pleasing prospect for on
i, selfcomplacent Pharisee.
a But we incline to think that reign
e Truth, fl eshly opening out in the Word, an
of Righteousness, more fully exemplihed in Il
n life, is a more rational fulflment Of those pr
h phecies that say jerusalem shall be, and
e called city of Truth" Czech. 8, 81. As Joh
h saw this New Jerusalem descending from Go
out of Heaven, would it not be wise to look
that direction for the Light ofthat City that
IT to be the Light. the JOY, and rejoicing of II
"a whole earth? The prophet Joel 6, l7) max
d this matter very plain when he says 81 am Il
sr Lord your God, dwelling in Zion;" since Il
10 Zion in Jerusalem was eonfessedy not ii
Zion in which Jehovah was then dwelin
a. why should we longer wait for the Lord to &
n to an earthly Zion, especially when we thin
No that. perhaps, Heaven is. after all, mo
Ia appropriate place for the Lord OF all worlds
r. dwell? Surely Mr.. NJ. cannot think that Il
o. Great Jehovah i going to leave in person t
he Throne of the Universe or transfer His empi
no. from the inaccessible glory to this atom Of
g earth, leaving all the innumerable earths
the Universe in orphanage, to envy our u
he merited pre- .emnence among the planets.
oh But Mr.. NJ. thinks that because the I
40 Kingdoms or the Dynasty of the Ten TOT
he did not have an existence until in our tim,
II. therefore. the prophecy concerning the rest
IN. ration of the Jews must be contemperaneo
on in their fulfillment with the overthrow of th
a dynasty Too fast, MIR. NJ. The two thin
10 belong to different dispensations. The I
&c. Dynasty OF clay and iron went to pieces
af. separated into Ten Toes precisely in that CO
tury, when truth in science, art, and religi
realized fresh unfoldment and application
?. the advancing civilization among men. II
in Lord is not creating nop thew heaven"
ion certainly is creating a "new EARTH" SO
to of us think He is as really doing the one or
We other; and that if Mr.. NJ will lend an att
est tive ear to what the Spirit saith to the churc
he he will hear the rumblings Of that "stOne
out of the mountain" which has alrea
broken in pieces the temporal dynasty Of Bal
a lon or the Pope.
isa To any who may desire to know how p
are phecy is being fulfilled from spiritual sta
inc point, we say read "Light on Last Thing
lis by w. B. Hayden, to be found in the libr'
,is' Of the Young Mems Christian Association