Poetry, Original and Select. THOUGHTS ON DEATH. (From the German.*) The tent of a departed soul; Ah! who can tell how near the hour! Notes of the Month. IN the House of Commons, on Wednesday the 23d ult., Mr HEYWOOD moved an address to the Crown for the appointment of a Royal Commission, to consider of such amendments of the authorized version of the Bible as have been already proposed, and to receive suggestions from all persons who may be willing to offer them, and to report the amendments they may recommend. He assigned various reasons, and cited passages in which, he contended, the sense had been incorrectly rendered. SIR G. GREY opposed the motion, thinking, as Mr. Heywood had admitted, that the House would do wrong to move in the matter without being urged by public opinion, and he believed that, so far from there being a desire for such an enquiry, it would create great alarm. The authorized version of the Scriptures was, in his opinion, justly entitled to respect and Gentile dispensation all the hopes and promises were of the latter character. It was important to enquire whether those temporal promises had been fulfilled to the Jews. If they had, the Jew had nothing more to expect, but if not, he was placed in a very different position, and a doubt was cast on the fulfilment of the promises of the New Testament. The temporal promises to the Jews had not yet been fulfilled. Their performance, however, was certain, and the Jew had yet something to which to look forward, namely, the restoration of Jerusalem to their possession, and a pre-eminence among the nations of the world. It was therefore the duty of the Gentile church to provoke the Jew to jealousy by the spread of the true religion in the earth. The meeting was then addressed by Lieut. Van de Velde, the Rev. J. Kelly, Capt. Layard, and the Rev. J. Baillie; and the proceedings terminated at half past 9 o'clock. The last of the series of meetings of this society in the hall in Maddox Street, was held on Tuesday, July 8, Mr. Harman in the chair. A paper was read by the Rev. J. Cox on "The neglect of the Study of the Prophetic Scriptures." He believed we were living in serious times as regarded the fulfilment of prophecy, but that there were special truths provided for us. He alluded to the partial neglect of truth by many who were otherwise its friends. In all ages he said there had been some who magnified the importance of their own period, and there might be danger of doing so at the present day, but undoubtedly these were times calling for much watchful earnestness. Things recently past, things taking place, and the general opinion that we were hastening on to a crisis, seemed to point to the conclusion that there was no uncertainty as to the ultimate result. In the book that God had given us there was a warning for the present age. This was an age of christian enterprise and zeal beyond all precedent; yet God's true people were but few, and the masses remained unconverted. The nations that had been favored with the gospel had not continued in God's goodness, and must be looked upon by him as having been weighed and found wanting. There were Bibles in abundance in the present age, but there was not that regular reading of the sacred oracles that there was formerly. He referred to the evil results of the general neglect of the prophetical and dispensational portions of God's word. It was important, he said, to distinguish between what had been, what was, and what was future, though throughout the whole there were great principles applicable alike to all ages. The end of the present dispensation might not be so near as was supposed by some, but there was not the less cause A MEETING of this society was held at the Hanover Square coming evil 120 years before any signs of it appeared. Among for apprehension on that account. Noah had prepared for the Rooms on Monday June 30, the Hon. Capt. F. Maude, R.N., in the consequences of a neglect of the apocalyptic portion of the chair, when a paper was read by the Rev. W. R. Freemantle Scripture, were the cherishing of wrong expectations, and the on "the right position of Jew and Gentile." Having stated that in the illustration of all subjects connected with prophecies liness which distinguished the present times was one of the want of separation from things temporal. The intense worlda close adherence to the Word of God was absolutely necessary characteristics of the last days, which were also to be days of in order to arrive at right conclusions, the author proceeded to judicial blindness. Many saints, indeed, had gone to their rest divide his subject under the three heads of, Ethnology, Chron-having given little attention to the prophecies, and notwithology, and Theology. The Ethnology of the Jew he said, went standing all the good they might have done while living, their as far back as the days of Noah, (though some had placed its example in regard to prophetical investigation was wanted commencement at the time of the call of Abraham) for in the 10th chapter of Genesis the youngest son was specially marked Rev. W. Stone, Col. Stace, Major J. S. Philips, and the Rev. The meeting was then addressed by the Rev. E. Auriol, as the father of Heber. He then noticed the distinction J. Baillie; and the proceedings terminated at half-past 9 between the two elder brothers, and saw in Japheth's dwelling in tents, under the protection and headship of Shem, the shadowing forth of the future Gentiles and their engrafting into the living tree in order to their growth and protection. As God had divided the people into two parts, so he had divided the time into two great epochs. In the first the Jews had almost the exclusive benefit of divine revelation, but in the fulness of time they killed the heir, and the vineyard was given to the Gentiles to cultivate and bring forth its fruits. The Jewish dispensation had its appointed time, and so, the author contended the Gentile dispensation had its fixed dura-it tion. With regard to the theology, there was an important difference between the hopes and privileges of the Jewish and Gentile nations. Under the Abrahamic and Mosaic laws, temporal blessings were united with spiritual, while under the reverence. MR. HEYWOOD then withdrew his motion. PROPHETICAL SOCIETY. By an anonymous but excellent author. now. o'clock. Postscript to Contributors and Correspondents. We have received replies to the Scripture Queries in our last, sufficient to occupy about one half of our entire number of pages. Our correspondents will see that it is impossible that we can insert more than one or two, and they must kindly condense their replies as much as possible. The MS., "The First Resurrection," came safe, and we hope to insert in an early No. Thanks for our correspondent's good wishes. D.V., we shall write again soon. We are much obliged to "R. C. M.," but the MS. is not suited to our pages. Die Recension bei K. wird uns willkommen sein. Von Ihnen eine Zahlung zu verlangen, war unrecht; ich wundere, dass Sie zahlten! Unser Bible Treasury enhalten Sie frei. Received: "W. B., Cheapside," "Epsilon," and several others replied to privately. Reviews. No. IV. THE "THREE-FOLD CORD": OR, CHRIST'S THREE THE object of Mr. Waldegrave's second lecture is indi- mediatorial offices of the Lord Jesus are, in operation, separable We are not at present called upon either to affirm or deny that Christ "has never yet exercised dominion as God's anointed King": but as to our author's mode of proving that he has, we may safely affirm, that it would be difficult to find within the same compass in the works of any sober-minded Christian writer, so many erroneous and contradictory statements as the passage just quoted contains. Have Christ's three offices of Prophet, Priest, and King, as respects their actual exercise, the same unto them, THIS DAY is this Scripture FULFILLED "The expositions thus supplied must, without hesitation, be accepted as sound. Nor should there be any reserve in our submission to them. For indeed to speak of accommodations, of inadequate and inceptive accomplishments, where Jesus speaks of fulfilments, is virtually to set aside His prophetical authority, and to open the door to a most dangerous licence in the interpretation of Scripture.” Most heartily do we concur in these sentiments. But how condemnatory they are of the position maintained by their author, that Christ began the "actual exercise" of his prophetic office when he ascended on high! Is not Luke iv. 18, 19, a "direct quotation' from Isa. lxi. 1, 2? Is it not " coupled with express Where besides have we mention of its fulfilment"? the mention of such a fact in terms equally express? "This day is this Scripture FULFILLED in your ears"! And was it "fulfilled"? Then, Mr. W. is in error when he says, "their actual exercise (that of Christ's three offices of Prophet, Priest, and King) began with the ascension of Jesus." If it was not "fulfilled," our Lord's words would have to be under stood by way of "accommodation, of inadequate and " and to understand them tradicts himself on this subject. "The three offices have, as respects the discharge of their several duties, the same beginning and the same termination. Their actual exercise began with the ascension of Jesus," p. 40. "But where are the words of this great Prophet recorded ? To begin with the four gospels: each contains enough, and more than enough, to establish him for a Prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people. And yet these were, as the Holy Ghost testifies, but the beginning of his instruction," p. 18. beginning and the same end? And did they begin with his ascension ? Did not our Lord discharge the functions of a Prophet-yea, of God's anointed Prophet-while on earth? What meant, then, his quotation of Is. lxi. 1, 2, in the synagogue at Nazareth? "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord." Let not the reader suppose that we have any satisCould any language more fully express his being faction in exposing such self-contradiction for its own anointed to the Prophetic office? And was it only sake. Gladly would we pass it by as a slip of the pen, anticipatively of his ascension that he quoted these were it not that each of the contradictory propositions words? Hear what he says. When he had closed maintained by Mr. W. is, in its turn, essential to his the book, given it to the minister, and sat down; when argument. It behoved him in the first lecture to mainall eyes were fastened upon him; "he began to say tain that Christ was a prophet, and acted as a prophet while on earth the position he secks in his second lecture to establish, requires that Christ should only begin The three to act thus when he ascended on high! offices are to be co-eval in their exercise; and to maintain that Christ acted as a king while on earth would be more than any readers could be expected to believe; while, as to the Priestly office, the apostle explicitly declares, that "if he (Christ) were on earth, he should not be a priest," Heb. viii. 4. Scripture decides that * Contributed by the Author of "Plain Papers on Prophetic and other 1. New Testament Millenarianism; or, The Kingdom and Coming of Christ, as taught by himself and his apostles: set forth in eight sermons, preached before the University of Oxford in the year 1854, at the lecture founded by the late Rev. John Bampton, by the Hon. and Rev. Samuel Waldegrave, M.A., rector of Barford St. Martin, Wilts, and late fellow of 2. Notice of the above, in "The British and Foreign Evangelical Re Subjects, and being a review of the following works: All Souls' College. London: Hamilton, Adams, & Co., 1855; 8vo., pp. 686. view, No. XIV., October, 1855. 3. Notice of the above, in "The London Quarterly Review," No. x., January, 1856. 4. Millennial Studies: or, What saith the Scriptures concerning the Christ's exercise of his priesthood dates from his asKingdom and Advent of Christ? By the Rev. W. R. Lyon, B.A. London: Ward and Co. No. 4. Vol. I.-September 1, 1856. cension to the right hand of God. Our author, to prove need not be disappointed to find it of still less cogency with his opponents, against whom it is directed. Our author's second preliminary argument in favour of his proposition, that "the kingdom of heaven, as now existing, is the proper kingdom of Christ," is a singular one indeed. It is no other than its invisibility! that his kingly office also had its commencement then, maintains (though in contradiction of his own statements, as well as of God's Word) that it was then he entered on the discharge of his prophetic functions. Such must always be the confusion attendant upon the effort to bend God's Word to a system of our own. The very opposite of Mr. W.'s argument is the truth. He To walk by faith, not by sight,-to endure as seeing Him says that the three offices of Prophet, Priest, and King, who is invisible, is the characteristic, the duty, the prerogative are co-eval in their exercise; but instead of this, the of the Christian. Hence the fact, that the present, true, real, and Lord first fulfilled his prophetic ministry while in hu-effectual kingship of Messiah calls for the exercise of his faith, is in very deed a strong presumption in its favour,” p.p. 41, 42. miliation on the earth; he then entered on his priestly functions when he ascended up on high; and it is when If this be not to confound things that differ, how could such a censure be incurred? We had always he comes again in his glory that he will be manifested as king. We do not mean by this that he ceased to be supposed that the period of faith and patience stood "God's anointed Prophet" when he began to act as and glory, in which Christ and his saints are to share contrasted in Scripture with that of rest, and blessedness, "God's anointed Priest "; or, that he will lay aside his priesthood when manifested in the glories of his the reward of his sufferings on their behalf, and in kingly power. which their endurance of suffering for his sake is also We know that to be "a priest upon to find its recompense. It was for Mr. W. to discover, his throne," Zech. vi. 13, is his distinctive glory in that the distinctive features of the one period prove it that day. Nor do we object to Mr. W.'s thought, as identical with the other-the contrasted period! The expressed in his first lecture, that Christ continues to fill on high the prophetic office on which he entered apostle, in writing to the Thessalonians, does speak of while on earth. All we maintain is, that what dis- glorying in their patience and faith, which says he, “is tinguished his sojourn here was his prophetic work, a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, tinguished his sojourn here was his prophetic work, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, while as yet he had not entered on the functions of his priestly or his kingly office; that what distinguishes his for which ye also suffer," 2 Thess. i. 5. Nay, says our session at the right hand of God is the discharge of his It is the place of a Christian to walk by faith; therefore, author, it proves that the kingdom has already come! priestly functions, however he may yet, in a certain sense, fill the place of prophet; and that what will argues Mr. W., the present exercise of the proper and distinguish the coming dispensation, will be his proper, ferred from its being an object of faith, not of sight! only royalty ever to be exercised by Christ, may be inactual reign, however the glories of his priestly and But it is not of Christ's royalty that the apostle treats, prophetic offices may be conjoined therewith. where he says, that " we walk by faith, not by sight": it is of heaven's joys; and Mr. W.'s argument is as It as much applicable to the one subject as the other, proves, that we are now, in the only sense in which we the only sense in which he ever will reign. Alas! we are ever shall be, in heaven, as that Christ now reigns in not in heaven. It is by faith, not by sight, that we walk. But does this mean that the future objects of that faith -the "things hoped for," of which faith is doubtless "the substance"-does it mean that these are actually present? No, but the reverse. When these are present, and we are present with the Lord, "sight" will take the place of "faith"; and when Christ reigns, in that sense in which his glorious reign is foretold in Scriplonger, as at present, an object of faith alone. ture, his royalty will be manifest to sense, and no It may be interesting, ere we leave this subject of time, to observe how our post-millennarian brethren differ from each other, besides contradicting themselves. Pre-millennialists are expected to be of one mind on every important subject; and their differences, even on subordinate points, are dwelt upon by their opponents, as a strong presumption against their views.* If such an argument be of any weight, it may be well to see how it bears upon our brethren by whom it is used. The Bampton lecturer dates, as we have seen, the commencement of Christ's "actual exercise" of all his three offices from his acension to heaven. Mr. Lyon, on the other hand, dates his reign, at least, from the promise to our first parents in the garden. "His kingdom really began when the first promise was given." Millennial Studies, p. 4. Mr. W. maintains that, "" as respects the discharge of their several duties," the three offices of Prophet, Priest, and King have not only "the at present engaged in prosecuting the discoveries commenced same beginning," but also "the same termination." by Layard and Botta, has lately discovered, in a state of perfect Mr. L. teaches, that "he will continue on the throne as preservation, what is believed to be the mummy of Nebuchad king, though not as priest, his priestly functions ceasing nezzar. The face of the rebellious monarch of Babylon, because there will no longer be any need for them." It is covered by one of those gold masks usually found in Assyrian evidently not by Mr. W.'s argument of "the threefold commanding, the features marked and regular. This intertombs, is described as very handsome-the forehead high and cord" that Mr. Lyon has been led to reject pre-millen-esting relic of remote antiquity is for the present preserved in nialism; and if it has so little weight with his friends, he MUMMY OF NEBUCHADNEZZAR.-Colonel Rawlinson, who is the Museum of the East India Company. Of all the mighty empires which have left a lasting impression on the memory, See Millennial Studies, p. 16, where Mr. Lyon says, "It may be none has so completely perished as that of Assyria. More than proper to observe here that millenarians are far from being agreed among two thousand years have gone by since the two "great cities," themselves, in their views of Christ's kingdom. . . . Among anti-mille-renowned for their strength, their luxury, and their magnifinarians there is at least consistency and agreement." With admirable consistency, this writer almost immediately afterwards, speaks of Mr. cence, have crumbled into dust, leaving no visible trace of their Birk's views as similar to those usually held by millenarians. existence, their very sites forgotten. THE HOPE OF CHRIST'S COMING AGAIN, AND THE grand question begins in Chapter ii:-Is habitual 1. Christ's Second Coming: Will it be Pre-millennial? By the Rev. David Brown, D.D., St. James's Free Church, Glasgow. Fourth Edition. 2. Outlines of Unfulfilled Prophecy; being an inquiry into the Scripture testimony respecting the "good things to come." By the Rev. T. R. Birks, M.A., rector of Kelshall. Seeleys, 1854. 3. Simples Essais sur des sujets prophétiques. Par W. Trotter. Tomes I. II. Paris: Grassart, 1855-56. duction, and especially of its waning glory at the close, as if either or both could be dubious, it has not the shadow of support from the Word of God. For there is no recorded decay till after that day is over; then Satan is let loose, and this is the signal and the means of the apostacy that ensues. Whoever examines the Lord's discourse in Luke xii. and kindred Scriptures with a simple mind, can scarcely escape the conclusion that, besides giving the disciples a personal and a heavenly object of hope, he insists much upon their so waiting that, when he cometh and knocketh, they may open to him immediately. "Blessed are those servants whom the Lord when he cometh shall find watching." Now the Lord himself founds the need of thus watching upon the fact, that he was coming in an hour when they thought not; and it will be shown that no after-communications of the Holy Ghost interfere with this habitual expectancy of the Lord. The Epistles confirm the saints in looking for him, and this, for aught they knew to the contrary, as their proximate hope. Hence the Apostle in his first Epistle to the Thessalonians says, "We that are alive and remain." The Spirit gave them no scriptural intimations which could falsify the looking for Jesus, even in apostolic times, much less since. But so far from Doubtless to the Old Testament saints, yea even to Daniel, much was sealed "to the time of the end," when the wise should understand. To the New Testament saints, on the contrary, all Scripture is open, and John is told not to seal the sayings even of its most mysterious book, and including of course all the prophetic times whether days or years. hinting that the attitude was changed, the last chapter of Revelations more than any other in the book supposes the Christian and the church in constant waiting, without any known obstacle to the Lord's return. Were this the mere hope of unintelligent love, we might hear the bride saying, Come; but "THE SPIRIT and the bride say, Come." It is a loving, longing hope, inspired and maintained by the full intelligence and power of the Holy Ghost, and not the mere sentimentalism of anon seeming long, and anon short, such as Dr. B. describes. It is fully conceded, that the knowledge of the premillennial advent, and this holy, bridal waiting for Christ, are two distinct things. There are those who have the correct theory, and yet know little or nothing of that blessed hope as the expression of their hearts. There are those whose spiritual instincts are sound, in spite of views about our Lord's return more or less erroneous. It has yet to be proved that Rollock and Rutherford shared the scheme adopted by Dr. Brown, as Wodrow did in substance. If they did, all that could be deduced fairly, is that, where the heart is in the main true to Christ and fresh in his love, mistakes, serious though they may be in themselves, cannot stifle, but may hinder and obscure, what is of God. Nor is anything more common than language which goes beyond the narrowness of a wrong system. Who has not known the most rigid super-lapsarian sometimes overflowing with love and desire after the lost? Who has not heard the lowest Arminian now and then owning tarried, he could have done, it seems to us, no other the full and sovereign grace of God that saved him? than he has done. It is not more surprising if spiritual men occasionally But we are told that our view is founded "on a very anticipate the coming of Christ, though doctrinally narrow induction of scripture passages, and stands putting it off for at least 1000 years. It may be an opposed to the spirit of a large and very important class inconsistency, but it is a happy one, and quite useless of divine testimonies"; that we hold up but one future to Dr. B. It proves simply that Scripture often asserts event, (namely, Christ's coming,) and even but one its supremacy in defiance of systems, where the heart aspect of it, (namely, its nearness,) and the corresponis subject to scriptural language and thought. ding duty of watching for it; that other purposes had Dr. Brown puts together Matt. xxv. 5, and Heb. to be served besides these, which have drawn forth x. 37, as if they indicated an oscillation of the heart truths of quite another order; and if the one set of between two very different and seemingly opposite passages, taken by themselves, might seem to imply views of the interval between its own day and the day that Christ might come to-morrow, there are whole of Christ's appearing. It might have struck him as classes of passages which clearly show that the reverse remarkable, however, that the "tarrying" is spoken of this was the mind of the Spirit. "I refer to those of not in the later statement, where one could under- Scriptures which announce the work to be done, and the stand, on his principles, the tried and persecuted crying extensive changes to come over the face of the church, out, "But thou, O Lord, how long?" Now, the re- and of society, between the two advents," Brown, p. 33. verse is the fact. It is the parable of the virgins which The first class of passages includes the commission in discloses the tarrying of the bridegroom, and most cer- Matt. xxviii. 18-20, the parables (in chap. xiii.) of tainly this revelation did not hinder the apostles, after the tares, mustard-seed, leaven, and net, as well as those the Pentecostal Spirit was given, and fuller light im- texts which announce the transfer of the kingdom from parted, from increasingly expecting the Lord. It is the Jews to the Gentiles, Matt. xxi. 43; Luke xxi. 24; the apostle Paul, towards the close of his career, who Rom xi. 25-26; and Acts i. 6-8. The question is, comforts the Hebrew believers with the assurance that whether any intelligent Christian could look for all this yet a very little while and the Coming One will come, in his own lifetime. Now, we do not hesitate to say and will not tarry. "The very little while" in the that a true-hearted believer, after the day of Pentecost, one corresponds with the tarrying of the bridegroom in had better grounds for expecting the world-wide diffuthe other; that being over, he will come and "will not sion of the gospel within the span of his own generation, tarry." Both are perfectly harmonious. At the time than Dr. B. has for expecting it now, in ten centuries the Epistle was written, the Lord had tarried; the of such missionary efforts and successes as the world apostle knew not the hour of his return, and was in- has witnessed since. We are aware that this judgment spired simply to announce that it would be sure and will be unpalatable to who those derive their thoughts soon. It is the less reasonable to cite Matt. xxv. in from the strains of modern platforms and reports, and support of the notion that a long revealed delay is recon- we shall be told that we are paralysing their energies. cileable with constantly waiting for Christ, seeing that We do rebuke their Laodiceanism; but God forbid that not a word in the Virgins or the Talents protracts his our belief in the increasing dangers and deceits of the return beyond the lifetime of those first watching or tra- present and future, and in the imminence of divine ding. There is nothing to imply even another genera- judgments, not on Rome only, but on universal Christion to succeed the one addressed. Of course we are tendom, should not lead us to desire quickened zeal and arguing solely from the Lord's own words, and sup- redoubled exertions on the part of ourselves, and all posing the disciples to know nothing of the future, save the servants of the Lord, that at least a true testimony what was fairly deducible thence. Ex post facto we may be rendered everywhere. And this God will know that the delay has been extended; but the ques-surely bless, as far as it seemeth him good, but not tion is: Could-ought the apostles to have gathered a the baseless expectations even of Christians. It is evidelay of eighteen centuries at least, from what the dent that Dr. B. exaggerates the results to be expected; Lord uttered? On our view, all is simple. The such misinterpretation leads to hopes doomed to bitter calling of the faithful, as here presented, was to go disappointment, and so works no little mischief in forth in order to meet the bridegroom: their sin was practice. The Lord, in Matt. xxviii., merely gives that they all slumbered and slept. The delay, which the universal direction of their service, in contrast with should have proved their patience, gave occasion to legal narrowness, its blessed character flowing out of their unfaithfulness; and when the cry was made at the name of God, no longer hidden, but fully revealed; midnight, they have to resume their first position- and his own far deeper than Messiah authority and "Go ye out to meet him!" The course pursued by presence with them. All the Gentiles, or nations, (not our Lord, we need scarcely say, was worthy of himself the Jews only, as heretofore,) were to be the objects -the wisest, tenderest, and best in every way. He of this evangelization; and he guarantees to be with showed the only right object for the virgins; he them, as thus engaged, unto the end of the age: but warned all of such a delay as should check impatience, not a trace of the predicted effects. Indeed, in his but not such as should entitle those then (or at any time) | previous prophecy, Matt. xxiv. 14, the Lord had said alive to say, "The bridegroom is not coming in our that "this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in day." If he had wished his people to be continually all the world for a witness unto all nations." If no expecting Him, but withal not to be stumbled if he more than this had been done, Matt. xxviii. would |