Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1877-12-12

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behlng him one universally received
eplstle, and perhaps second, tho doubts
are entertained about the second.
The book called Rerelation is too high.
ly fgurative to be used as evidence of the
truth Of any doctrine not otherwise
proved 1t was evidently written before
the destruction Of Jerusalem by the Ro-
mans. See chap. XII. 1t contains several
declarations III the first and last chapters
proving that the writer regarded the COM
ing OF Christ as near at hand, 1900 years
ago, Rev. l: /, 3, and Rev. %: G, 7, 10,
IL, 20.
DR.. Adam Clarke says, 81 do not under
stand Revelation" II repeat, do not un-
dcrstand the book; and l am satisfied
that no. one who has written on the sub
ject knows anything more of it than my
self" Again, Dr. Clarke says, "It is my
firm opi.,iDa that the eXpositions Of this
book have Gole great disServicc to reli-
gion." \ book that is SO highly tigura-
tive or metaphorical that no one can be
certain as to the meaning and application
of large portions of it, ought not to be
relied on as proof of the truth of any
doctrine, however useful it may be in
other respects. d
Again, understand Mr.. Damon to say
that he "takes the Bible just as it reads, u
or as the words literally mean. | do so
where the literal meaning is evidently the
true one; but the meaning of the Bible is
real Bible. We must know something OF
the nature Of tigurative language and OF
the nature Of the subjects treated. We
must not take literal language as tropical
or figurative, nor must we take ngurative
expressions as being literal. There are
parallels, tropes, metaphors, metonymies,
and highly, wrought poetical compost
tions, in the Scriptures, and even some
bold hyperboles. The Bible says that
God has hands, face ard feet. 1t speaks
Of his "wngs." 1t calls him Il crock,
and "fountain Of living waters" Christ
is called "bread,"a 'door." Jesus said,
"Whcrc two or three are gathered to-
gether in my name there an in the
midst" and when he sent out his apostles
to preach he said $40, Yam with you al
n m Of hn D,, ~
speaks of "Christs living in him." and
also Of "Christ being formed in us as the
hope Of glory. Jesus said, "Let the dead
bury their dead" Is this to be understood
that Christ was to be personally present
with his apostles? Was he personally in
Paul /? Christ said, "This bread is my
body--this cup is my blood" Does this
prove the Romish doctrine of transub-
sanitation Were the early chrstia IS
literally "washed" in Christ's "blood ~
Rev. |: 8. Is the "sun to be literally
turned to darkness, and the moon into
blood!" OF all absurdites the idea of
taking the Scripture language as all literal
is the greatest. We must use common
sense, reason, human experience, and be
influenced by the divine spirit, in order
to understand the Bible correctly. We
must compare scripture with SCRIPTURE
We must make allowances for poetic
license. AS Paul says, "The letter killeth,
but the spirit giveth life" Jesus said, "It
is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh
protiteth nothing-the words that speak
unto you, they are spirit, and they are
life" "Provc all things: hold fast that
which is good" "Come now, let us
reason together, saith the Lord"
To the Adventsts in this vicinity |
would say, you have declared with your
preacher, repeatedly, and vehemently,
that you have the plain language of the
Bible Oh your side as it regards the time
Of "the coming ofChrist in his Kingdom"
but if you will attend my church at South
Woodstock, on the evening of Sunday,
Dec. 23d, 1877, ! will cndayor to show
you conclusively that the general tenor of
the Scriptures as it regards the time of
His Coming in His Kingdom is in favor Of
the Universalist views of the subject, and
there is no text which directly asserts
anything to the contrary. This is ques-
ton to be settled by an appeal to the IAN
guagc Of the Bible, not by mere infer
ences. Yours, &C.,
ELI BALLOU.