Surely a candidate on the hustings of a county election may make “a clever and humorous speech without the fear of a theological journal before his eyes; whilst it would be a grave offence against common sense and general freedom for any one, on such an occasion, to assume the ecclesiastical office, or, "to give himself wholly to the ministry, like Paul," as your correspondent suggests, in violation of the apostolic injunction, Let all things be done decently and in order." Excepting the unmeaning expression, "for goodness' sake," (though I do not class it in the vocabulary of "swearing,") I see nothing in your correspondent's quotations to authorise his "dislike," &c. Most of them are not Mr Drummond's own words, but are remarks made by others; and for want of fair discrimination herein, your correspondent's censures are more fastidious than truthful. For instance, he asserts that " Mr D. calls men in jest poor devils!" whilst he proves Mr D.'s language is only "But they say, those poor devils !" I, for one, approve the terms adopted by Mr D., as plainly, strikingly, and correctly descriptive of the facts mentioned-such as the twistings and turnings of the two cabinet ministers referred to, who really have been (both) "turned out without a month's wages or a month's warning," and who actually and frequently have "upset the state coach." These terms not only truly convey the facts of the case, but they are commonly used and approved as such by all parties; and I trust Mr D. will not be deterred from expressing either his political or theological opinions in the way most natural to him, and "not as the scribes." Even Paul had to ask, "Am I not an apostle? am I not free?" 66 I have no objection to plead guilty to a preference of cheerfulness to lamentation of mirth to sadness-like one who daily expects his Lord, the coming Bridegroom,” “ holding up my head" as if "redemption drew nigh;" and, from my experience (of half a century) as the son of a popular London preacher as a member of the ex-National Scotch Church-and last, not least, as (for many years) archdeacon of the Catholic Apostolic Church-I assert that more injury is done to the general cause of religion by puritanical mournfulness than by constitutional cheerfulness. Thus, your correspondent's grave and cynical letter is more objectionable in many respects than Mr Drummond's "clever and humorous speech." Permit me to record (for the first time) an anecdote of the beloved Edward Irving, whose solid wisdom and sparkling wit well combined the solemn and the cheerful with the devout and the truthful. On being called to the office of deacon, with approval of the large church then assembling in Newman Street, I hesitated acceptance thereof, on the good ground of not possessing that "gravity" which the apostle clearly made a needful qualification. Your correspondent would have said, "Stand by." Edward Irving said, "Serve the Lord with your cheerfulness, and assume not a gravity which you have not!" With this mention of my illustrious pastor, allow me to introduce his opinion of Henry Drummond, as a good set-off to your correspondent's "dislike," &c. I quote from the Dedication to Mr D. of " Edward Irving's Occasional Sermons," vol. iii. :— "To waive all considerations of personal friendship and esteem, no one whom the religious stir and tumult of the last thirty years hath brought conspicuously before the Church, hath so strenuously served her best interests through good and bad report, or doth so well deserve her thanks, as doth the man who brought forward from their obscurity and persecutions both Burckhardt and Wolff, and upheld their way against the sharp tongues of prudential and worldly-wise Christians; who laid the foundation of the Continental Society, and hath built it up in the frown and opposition of 'the religious world;' who detected and dragged to light the false reports concerning the state of religion on the Continent, with which the Bible Society, in its palmy times, had glozed the charitable ear of the Church; who hath stood forth as the friend and patron of every society which hath any shew of favour to the Jews; and, finally, who hath taken us poor despised interpreters of prophecy under your wing, and made the balls of your house like unto the ancient schools of the prophets. . For you were not afraid of Ahab or of Jezebel, and hid us not in your Evelyn's rocky cave, to feed on roots and water, but entertained us as princes are wont to entertain the most excellent men of their court. For which may the Lord enlarge still more your generous heart, and still more enrich your generous store.' .... I have only to express regret that one who has laid at the foot of the Cross the pride of high station, the privileges of great wealth, and the power of varied talents, and who, long before the establishment of your journal, proclaimed and defended "the coming of the Lord," when to do so was very obnoxious, and all but ruinous, should be twice assailed in your pages by brethren of the same hope, and made "an offender for a word" or two, used (chiefly as quotations) in the freedom and excitement of a political meeting, whilst his life-long services of hospitality, benevolence, patriotism, and catholicity pass unmentioned! To counteract the impression which your correspondent's intimations convey, that Mr D. is merely a political talker and jester," more merry than wise, (though I would rather be merry as he is, than wise as his censor,) I refer to any of his recent publications on subjects the most solemn and essential, treated with appropriate gravity and spirituality, with a desire to learn "the whole counsel of God," to say nothing of the author's early and numerous writings in promotion of the particular objects of your own labours, although you have never favoured your readers with any review of, or extracts from such writings, which would have been more congenial and ornamental to your pages than the correspondence I am protesting against. The concluding remark is so extravagant as to induce me to request its explanation. "It is one of the signs of the last days that men assuming exclusive apostolicity for themselves, and exclusive catholicity for their church, should yet use unbecoming slang-one day speaking in an unknown tongue, and the next day swearing!" Something of this sort I have met with in The Record newspaper, certainly not in the Record of Truth. Your correspondent is not only guilty of "foolish writing, unbecoming slang," &c., herein, but is illustrating in his own case that indisputable sign of the last evil times, "Men shall be false accusers." So I fear. With respect, I am, dear sir, your humble friend, OL VER LYNDALL. HULL, Aug. 10, 1859. To the Editor of the Quarterly Journal of Prophecy. HEB. III. 15 TO HEB. IV. 11. SIR, It has occurred to me that the real import of "the rest," referred to in the above passages, is addressed "to the brethren" only; for St Paul says, "We are made partakers of Christ," (as members, doubtless, of His mystical body,) "if we hold fast" (shewing the adoption by faith) "the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end." This seems clear from the context; for it is added, "some, when they had heard, did provoke." Now, the meaning of the word "rest" is a cessation, one of leisure, so to speak; and in the passages given it may have this meaning, and not of continuity. The promise of the rest" spoken of must, therefore, be "the heavenly calling," or "the calling up," or "rapture," "seeing, therefore, that some must enter therein," doubtless the heavenly Jerusalem, "to escape these things coming upon the earth," when they shall meet Him in the air! The "high calling in Christ Jesus" evidently refers to the "rest that remaineth," which He (not Joshua, as many learned divines would have us read,) had promised them. It is called "a day :" "For if Jesus had given them rest, then would He not afterward have spoken of another day"-" the day of the Lord," as manifestly appears from the subjection that "the Son shall also be unto Him that put all things under Him, that God may be all in all." "The rest that remaineth," however, has also a reference to the Abrahamic promise of the land of Canaan, as the passage illustrates; so that there is a twofold import the terrestrial and the celestial; for the glory of the one differs materially from the other. During the terrestrial “rest that remaineth," the nations of the earth are to walk in the light of the heavenly, where the glory that excelleth shall shine over them as the Shekinah; and it was unto this royal city St Paul must have applied the words, "that he pressed on toward the mark for the prize of the high calling (or calling up) in Christ Jesus," as the Lamb's Bride. It is declared in this chap. iv., that it was "the rest" preached in the gospel. Now this good news has a superlative place to the Abrahamic promise. Hence the necessity for believers remembering the words of St Paul"Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Jesus Christ," "whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end."-I am yours, &c. J. C. S. Poetry. LORD, COME AWAY! HAND and foot are weary, Heart and soul are weary ;- Years are swiftly flying, Heaven and earth are sighing, And thy Church is crying, Lord, come away! Broken lies creation, Shaken earth's foundation, Anchorless each nation; Lord, come away! Kingly props all failing, Boldest bosoms quailing, Fear forlorn prevailing ;- Thrones of ages shaking, Bonds of empire breaking, Sullen priesthoods quaking;- Evil darkly reigneth, Might the right is wronging, Lonely hearts are singing, To the light upspringing; - Calm, 'mid night-winds blowing, Lord, come away! 'Tis no time for sorrow, See the glorious morrow, Its gladness let us borrow;- 'Tis no time for dreaming, See the day-spring's gleaming Sounds the last long thunder, Bursts the day of wonder, Glory, gladness yonder ;- Lord, come away! NOTICE. All readers of this Journal are most earnestly besought to give it room in their prayers; that by means of it God may be honoured and His truth advanced; also, that it may be conducted in faith and love, with sobriety of judgment and discernment of the truth, in nothing carried away into error, or hasty speech, or sharp unbrotherly disputation. BALLANTYNE AND COMPANY, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH. THE QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF PROPHECY APRIL 1860. ART. I.-THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST, AND NATURE OF THE AGE TO COME. (Continued from p. 26.) CHAPTER II. That all the descendants of Israel, then living, will be restored to their own land. That they will be exalted to great national dignity and power; and be constituted, under the Messiah, the rulers of all other nations. THAT the reader's mind may be prepared to enter more fully into the precise and proper meaning of the Scriptures about to be produced, his particular attention is requested to the following preliminary observations. 1. A distinction is made in some of them, between Israel and Judah; the reason of which is as follows:-After the division of the kingdom in the time of Rehoboam son of Solomon, the ten tribes which separated were called, the kingdom of Israel; and their descendants are collectively called by the prophets, Israel, and sometimes Ephraim; because Ephraim, the younger son of Joseph, had the birthright conferred on him instead of Reuben. See 1 Chron. v. 1, 2. And also, because the tribe of Ephraim was superior to the others in number and political power. The two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, which remained with Rehoboam, constituted the kingdom of Judah; and their descendants, together with some who fell to them from the other tribes, particularly Levi, were collectively called Judah. Since their general dispersions, the descendants of the ten tribes have been called Israelites; and those of the other, Jews. |