Redemption drawing nigh : a defence of the premillennial advent

Preface

We must attach importance to every doctrine and fact that is found in the Word of God. All has been selected for us by our Prophet, the Eternal Word, who utters the mind of the Godhead. We must, therefore, find leisure to give a proper measure of attention, and of prayer also, to every truth held forth in the Scriptures. Did Witsius speak too severely when he said of those who plead exemption from such a range of study in the Divine Word, “Non advertere divines institutioni animum, consulto nescire quce disci tamen poteranty ascendendi labore deterritum ad culmen non enitif sed ininferioribus otiose consistere, in eodemprimorum elementorum orbe repetito identidem gyro circumagi, et in hoc instituto tanquam tutissimo prudentissimoque sibi placere .... Non est hoct quicquid honesti nominis prcetextatur , non est hoc (mihi credits ) laudibilis modestia , sed culpabilis socordia et damnabilis inertia .” (De Theol. Mod.)

The writer was led to undertake this work by vi

PREFACE.

meeting brethren who had looked into several books that have been written to prove that the Lord’s Coming is still a thousand years distant — especially the recent work of the Rev. David Brown, entitled “ Christ s Second Coming , will it be Premillennial ? ” These brethren have asked him how he could shew it reasonable to continue a Premillennialist after perusing what Mr. Brown has so ably written. Now, being as deeply convinced as ever, after reading all the Antimillennarian works within his reach, that to look for the Coming of the Lord before the Millennium is to hearken to the shepherd’s voice, the author was induced to give this statement of the Scripture argument on the matter. Though he has no authority beyond what is derived from occasional converse with the brethren who hold these same views, yet he ventures to state that what he brings forward in this work is, in the main, an exact representation of the mind of those brethren in the Free Church of Scotland, who are looking for the Premillennial Coming. He writes for Scotland chiefly — and hence, has not made such frequent reference as he might have done to those men of God in England who have searched into this truth.

Things are much changed since Dr. Hamilton took up his pen against Millennarianism. The crudities of “ The Dialogues on Prophecy ” are not

PREFACE.

Vll the tenets of those who in our day hold the personal Reign of Christ, though even then it was hard language to use concerning them ; “ there is nothing too absurd and ridiculous to be beyond the reach of their belief.” (Hamilton, p. 107.) But on both sides, those who have handled this matter have too often employed a bitter and dogmatic tone. Mr. Brown, in his recent work is not free from this fault. But these things are fruits of the flesh. Are we both looking along the King’s highway for the appearing of the chariot of one whom we equally love ?.' Why, then, should we break out into harsh words, and cast unkind imputations on each other because the one says, “ I do not believe the chariot is yet near ; ” while the other maintains, “ It is so near that the sound of its wheels may be heard, and the dust it raises seen.” Richard Hooker would have said, “Beloved in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, the love which in Him we bear unto all that would but seem to be born of Him, it is not the sea of your gall and bitterness that shall ever drown.”

It is remarkable that while Mr. Brown’s work is the ablest attack on Premillennialism that has yet appeared, it nevertheless contains more in it that a Premillennialist can sympathize with than any other Antimillennarian treatise. It is pleasant to be able to observe this, at the very time when we must viii PREFACE.

necessarily assume the aspect of opponents. It gives us hope. For where there are many points on which we can hold most perfect fellowship, there is room at all times for our dwelling with more delight on these points of agreement than on the points of difference, and thus entering the shadow of the guiding Pillar-cloud ; “ and if in anything ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.” (Phil. iii. 16.)

Independently of the point in controversy, there is so much that is solemn and overawing in the fact itself, “ the Lord Cometh,” that the writer looks up in hope that the Master will use what is Concerning Himself for the awakening of the unsaved, and building up of his own. And heartily does he adopt the request of the illustrious Bengel , who, in writing an Exposition of the Apocalypse , expresses his hope, “ that, should any who love Christ’s Appearing find that his attempts cast a single ray of light upon what remains obscure in the prophetic Word of God, they would help him by prayer to desire, out of the fulness of the Lamb that was slain, whatever should still appear wanting.”

Collate, 1847.

Chapter I

THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST, AS IT AFFECTS ' THE UNSAVED AND THE SAVED.

To call attention to the Prophetic Word is to call attention to the eternal purposes of God. It is tracing some part of the stream of his predestination in its course onward to the ocean of his eternal glory.

It may be asked, u Why is the testimony of Jesus the spirit (or soul) of prophecy ?” (Rev. xix. 10.) Because Christ the Alpha and Omega, is God Alpha and Omega. Christ known is God known. Christ is the Word ; that person of the Trinity who gives expression to the thoughts and feelings of Godhead, and utters them to the creature. Hence it follows, that to explore the Prophetic Word concerning Christ, is nothing else than to follow the footsteps of “ the great God,” going before us into the ages to come. And happily, this looking into the future is not now treated as it was in BengePs days, when it was “a subject proscribed alike by the world, by the learned, and by the godly.”

Many have already taken in hand to show, at some length, the blessings that shall be brought to us by the Second Coming of the Lord. On this account we refrain from handling that topic directly, and mean to confine our remarks here to the use that ought to he made of this truth (irrespective of the element of time) in dealing with the souls of men,

I. The fact of the Lord's coming again is fitted to awaken souls. It sounds an alarm in the ear of sinners. It causes us to hear the sound of coming footsteps, “ the steps of the Anointed One.”

It ought to be used in preaching the glad tidings. Paul so used it : he pointed to the flaming sword that shall wave over earth at the Lord’s return, as an argument fitted to show the folly of remaining an enemy of God. “ The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven in flaming fire, taking vengeance on those that know not God, and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (2 Thess. i. 8.)

It ought to be used as the very blast of the trumpet which may startle those whose vain hope is, that mercy in God has extinguished his eternal wrath against sin. Christ’s Second Coming, “ the day of the wrath of the Lamb,” is as much a proof of the Lord’s holy determination to punish the unpardoned with endless woe, as his First Coming,

AS IT AFFECTS THE UNSAVED. 3

when he came as the Lamb for the slaughter, proved his determination to save his own. “ Upon the wicked He shall rain snares ;* fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest : f this shall be the portion of their cup. For the righteous Lord loveth righteousness.” (Ps. xi. 6, 7.)

It ought to be used in dealing with all classes of men, wise or unlearned ; for it is fitted to draw the circle round them, and (jompel them to an immediate decision, as in the presence of the descending Judge. Paul used it thus at Athens. His text was, “ The unknown God and as he handled the theme with holy eloquence, he thundered through the heart of the Areopagites, “ God commandeth all men , everywhere, to repent!” The cry, “ Repent , repent !" rang over Athens, re-echoed by its hills, while Paul demanded from them submission to his God, proclaiming, “ Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained ” (Acts xvii. 30, 31.)

“ But, perhaps it is yet afar off? ” Suppose it

* otto is often used for the fowler’s snares. Here the fowler is the Lord. The wicked are caught in snares, the meshes of which they can never break. They are eternally bound ; no hand can burst the net.

f Perhaps alluding to the black tempest at Sinai. Here is the real tempest of wrath avenging a broken law; only rrtDtfVj includes more, as it implies violent heat, as of furious fire. b 2 were not near, as men reckon nearness, (and jet it is equally possible, that the eyes which read these pages may see the Son of man in the clouds ere they have been closed in death,) still the fact remains. The day of the Lord shall come. The apostle speaks of its arrival as “ Yet a little while ” (Heb. x. 37), reckoning eighteen hundred years as a mere handbreadth compared with eternal ages. And Isaiah’s view is yet more impressive ; for, speaking of an event which is future even yet, he says of it, “ Is it not yet a very little while f ” (xxix. 17.) He speaks of a space that is at least 2,500 years, as “ a very little while” when set side by side with eternity. When a lost soul has been in hell 2,500 years, it may cry out in its woe to its fellow, “ Is this long, long night never to end?” and his fellow will answer, “ Alas, alas ! you have been here only * a little while ! 9 * a very little while!!9 ”

“ Knowing,” then, “the terror of the Lord” (2 Cor. v. 11), we seek to bring our brethren to the safe chamber (Joshua ii. 18) where the scarlet line hangs out. That same Jesus is now held forth as “ the man that is the hiding-place.” (Isaiah xxxii. 2.) The man that shall judge, is the man that is the Saviour. Receive Him and all that is in Him. He himself cries, “ Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about

AS IT AFFECTS THE UNSAVED.

thee : hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast. For, behold, the Lord cometh out of his place.” (Isa. xxvi. 20, 21.) The realization of this tremendous certainty of woe is fitted to keep us dealing with men in a decided tone. We are not to invite men to an indistinct hope of salvation. We are not to aim at merely amending their life, as if they might found a hope on that change. Nor is it enough to lead men to right opinions. Along with all this, the conscience and the feelings must be reposing on God. Men need certainty, present certainty, immediate certainty, under the frown of that louring wrath. It is to be found in the person of Jesus ! He gives not barely a hopeful faith ; He imparts full assurance. And is it anything less than full assurance that is needed in such circumstances as ours ? Can less than absolute certainty of thy salvation be sufficient, when eternity, and such an eternity, may be at the door ? “Knowing the terror of the Lord ,” we persuade men to attend to that Gospel which gives immediate salvation, and which, when fully seen, imparts in the same hour full assurance.

Our duty, in this respect, is put before us in a remarkable passage, just at the close of the written Word. Our Master who, before He left the earth, sent out his apostles to preach in his name to all nations repentance and remission of sins, renewed that apostolic commission the last time He spoke from heaven. The same yearning love to sinners remains in the Shepherd. As he was about to leave Patmos, he left this outline of duty for us (Rev. xxii. 17), viz., to be ever calling on the Lord to come again, and at the same time to be ever calling on men to come to Him for life. His words are, — 44 Let him that heareth say, 4 Come;9 and, 4 Let him that is athirst come ; and whosoever will , let him take the waters of life freely9 99

It was the manner of the Old Testament Church to cry, 44 Make haste, my beloved ” (Song viii. 14) ; and we are to be like them. If they so called on Him, specially looking to the hope of his First Coming, yet not looking aside from the Second, but rather including both in the intent expectation of the Person ; even so we are to call on Him now, not at all looking aside from his First Coming, while yet we refer to the blessed hope of his Second in the cry, 44 Come!99 It is the Person who died for us that we long to see again ! Amid our best prosperity, and in our happiest hours, we are still intensely to long for our Lord’s appearing. Whatever the benefits be which we enjoy, himself is still better far. The prey may be valuable, but 44 Thou art more glorious and excellent than mountains of prey.” Therefore, we cry, 44 Come!"

AS IT AFFECTS THE UNSAVED.

But, amid all this bliss on our part, we are not to forget the sad case of the world around us. We are enjoined as anxiously to cry to the perishing world, “ Let him that is athirst come to the waters of life.” As Rahab would most anxiously in her heart invite the advance of Joshua to Jericho, and yet as earnestly, in the meantime, press her father and mother and sisters and brother to come into her safe dwelling, so we must act in prospect of our Lord’s appearing.

The Church on earth is represented as in John’s attitude, listening at Christ’s feet ; and hence is called, “the person that heareth? Now the call to the Church runs thus, — 1. Say to Christ, “ Come? 2. Cry to the world around you, “ Let him that is athirst come , and whosoever will , let him take the waters of life freely?* We are to look up, and then turn and speak to sinners. We proclaim the terror of the Lord to the unsaved, and the bliss

* This form of sentence often occurs. Thus (Rev. i. 11), saying, “ I am Alpha and Omega,” and, “ What thou seest, write.” So Heb. i. 8, 10. “ Thy throne, O God,” and “.Thou, Lord, hast laid the foundation.” So 1 Tim. ii. 19; Mark vii. 10. It is thus we explain Nehem. ix. 5, “ Then the Levites said, Stand up and bless the Lord your God for ever and ever : ” and, “ Blessed be thy glorious name,” &c. When they had said to the people, “ Stand up,” they next began to address God.

THE SECOND COMING OF CHBIST, awaiting the redeemed on that day which we seek to hasten on ; and by all this we are to call on men to obey the command, “ Let him that is athirst come ” Whatever be your state of soul at present, whether unhappy because of a disappointing world, or unhappy because still unpossessed of the love of God, — whatever be the cause of your misery, come to the Saviour whom we have found. Thirst is a description that marks you to be meant ; indeed, it gives warrant to all to come whose souls long for the favour and love of God. Yes ; and if you doubt this to be its ample signification, “ whosoever wiU 99 sweeps away all hesitation, and “freely 99 renders you inexcusable if you even delay.

Each believing man, as well as minister, is commanded to press this offer on the perishing world, while going onward to his rest. We are not to enter glory alone. Each of us must seek to bring in whom we can. The remembrance of the Lord’s coming should have this effect upon us. We would fain have a great reward and a bright crown, and fain would we be found so doing when the Master comes ; so we cry, “ Come, Lord," and then turn to sinners and cry, “ Come ye to the waters .” O, hear the call ! O, listen to our invitation ! You “hated Him without a cause ” (John xv. 25), you could give no reason for your hatred

AS IT AFFECTS THE SAVED.

of him ; it was gratuitous hatred (dapeav) • there was no reason in God to justify it. Yet, such is his grace, He whose ways are not our ways, comes to you and offers you love, gratuitous love, " waters of life freely ” (da ypcav), when there is not one reason in you why He should have so done.

II. The Second Coming summons attention to the glad tidings of salvation. It leads us to the First Coming. It fixes attention upon what the Gospel really is. It proclaims, “ He shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you.” (Acts iii. 20.) Our attention is drawn to the person of Jesus. We are directed to One who is to come ; and this is that same Jesus to whom sinners are directed now for their salvation.

Our Lord proclaimed the glad tidings often in this form, — " Come unto me, and I will give you rest.” " If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink.” "In me ye shall have peace.” He drew our attention to the person who saves. He seemed to intimate, that when the sinner’s soul was drawn to the Person, other things would follow. It was not his benefits so much as his Person that he held forth ; not the mode of redemption, so much as the Redeemer ; not the work, so much as the worker. Now, in habitually contemplating the Second Coming of the Lord, our eye is fixed on the person of Jesus ; our soul is arrested, not by abstract truths, but by a living Person. The Godman who comes is the grand object that fills the soul.

Is not this the very position of faith ? And is not everything important that strengthens this habit of gazing on the Person of Christ ? Faith finds all its object there. As Bunyan says, “ Here, indeed, is my life, namely, the birth of this man, the death and resurrection of this man, the Son of Mary, the Son of man, the Son of God, the true God ! I say, here is my life ; if I see this without me, by the operation of the Spirit within me. I am safe, I am at peace, I am comforted, I am encouraged ; and I know that my comfort, peace, and encouragement is true, and given me from heaven by the Father of mercies.” “ O Son of God, grace was in all thy tears ! Grace came bubbling out from thy bleeding side ! Here is grace indeed, unsearchable riches of grace ; grace to make angels wonder, to make sinners happy, to make devils astonished.”

The contemplation of Christ’s Second Coming does thus help us to fix upon the very marrow of his First Coming. It engages our heart to approach Himself, to deal with Himself, to dwell on Himself Was it not thus that he sought to teach salvation to the men of Nazareth ? He proclaimed (Luke iv. 18, 21) good tidings and the

AS IT AFFECTS THE SAVED.

acceptable year of the Lord ; and while every eye was on Himself, he said, “ This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.” How ? Because He who is the substance of these tidings sat there among them. Their eye was surveying the Person of the Saviour. They were handling the shell, and had they but penetrated the heart, salvation would have been theirs ! A true acquaintance with that Person would have led them to God. “ Except we eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of man we have no life in us.” (John vi. 53.) Abstract truths, dry orthodoxy, nay, even sense of sin, and anxieties to be holy, are not salvation. We must have the Son of man as our meat and drink. His work in our flesh feeds our guilty conscience. His wearing our flesh still, meets our feelings. “ In Him,” it has been said, “ we see God’s heart and character and government all laid open, and man’s full salvation lying perfect and free in its bosom.” The history of all God’s holy love is there — in Him. And what we sometimes call real and vital religion , is, properly and truly, acquaintance with Him, a true and vital acquaintance. All is made to centre in the person of Christ ; the contemplations and affections of the believer travelling between his abasement and his exaltation, and finding in Jesus, under both aspects together, a complete salvation.

But in addition to keeping clearly before us the true Gospel, this fixing of our eye on Christ’s Person leads us to assurance of hope.* The very thought of the Lord’s Second Coming raises in us the conviction that we need assurance of our salvation ere we can welcome that event which opens eternity. The man who is to delight in Christ’s Second Coming must have not only a hope, and a good hope, of his own salvation, but must have assurance of eternal life in Him, rejoicing in that blessed hope as being his sure heaven. And while this prospect of the Lord’s Coming enforces the necessity for " making our calling and election sure,” it does, at the same time, greatly aid the believing soul in so doing. For, it concentrates his attention on the Person of Immanuel, and, in so doing, it puts him in the true posture of one who would see full grounds for rising above all fear. Fixing his whole soul on Immanuel himself, the believer finds therein such abundant proof of God’s ability to

* There are three kinds of assurance mentioned in the Word, and they are often misunderstood. The first is, assurance of faith (Heb.x. 22), certainty of acceptance, arising from the belief of God’s testimony. 2. Full assurance of understanding (Col. ii. 2), the soul getting more and more established according as it sees the fulness and riches of Christ. 3. Assurance of hope (Heb. vi. 11), which is the saved man, in possession of acceptance, looking into the future for the things hoped for, sure he shall jet have them all.

AS IT AFFECTS THE SAVED.

clear away the guilt of the guilty as gives his soul deep, deep rest. In the act of looking on this Saviour, he sees “ Peace in heaven and glory in the highest.” (Luke xix. 38.) Like the wise men gazing on the re-appearing star, he rejoices with exceeding great joy in the certainty of what is in Jesus, or in the certainty of what is in the bosom of Godhead, toward the coming sinner. His warrant for assurance is the fulness of grace in God, not some particles of holiness in himself ; and hence, as he meditates on the Person of Jesus, the Divine warrant to sinners sparkles in his view so gloriously, that he cannot see room for hesitation.

It is in such ways as these that this blessed hope is fitted to send us ever back to the Gospel tidings. Instead of drawing us from the First Coming, its legitimate influence is all the other way. Although it has become common to brand the constant reference to Christ’s Second Coming with the imputation of perniciously tending to make us undervalue his First Advent, the truth is altogether otherwise.

It may be said, however, “ Has not this been the fact ? Have not very many who most enthusiastically proclaimed their interest in the Lord’s Second Coming, shown comparatively a slight interest in the Gospel of his suffering unto death ?”

14 THE SECOND COMING OP CHBIST,

This we do not deny. But we unhesitatingly assert, notwithstanding, that their neglect of the Gospel was not caused by their attention to the Second Advent . No ; it was in some cases caused by previously- existing tendencies to change ; so much so, that many of this class will be found to have lost very much of their interest in this very matter, after the lapse of a few years. In others of them, this neglect of the Gospel arose from their not sufficiently attending to what is set before us in the Second Advent . Pre-millennialism is excitable if separate from the other truths of Scripture, but is not so at all in connexion with other truth. As we say of a gloomy Christian, “ He is gloomy, not because of, but in spite of his religion.” Or of an inconsistent professor, “ He is unholy, not because he has Gospel views, but because he has too little of them.” So we say in this case. These persons have not attended sufficiently to that very object which unhappily leads them to neglect the Gospel. They ought to have attended to it more. They ought to have penetrated to the kernel ; whereas they have been satisfied with the shell. They have gazed on the glorious robe in which the Coming One is to be attired, and there their eye lingers ; but had they pressed on farther, and gazed more intently on his

AS IT AFFECTS THE SAVED.

person, they would have been of necessity fed with the Gospel, and been more than ever absorbed in the Gospel.

This is our reply to all who so fondly excuse themselves from attending to this matter, by alleging that it has turned some away from the Gospel. We charge them with superficial study of the matter, and with most inconclusive reasoning. Mr. Brown, in his late work against the Pre-millennial theory, has not fallen into this error. On the contrary, he has stated his conviction, that the Church loses very great blessing when its attention is turned away from this subject, saying, that 44 It is an expectation which nothing else can compensate the loss of.” (P. 385.) And then he adds, 44 They love his appearing, because they love Himself.” Yes, it is even so ; although Satan may have tried, by a thousand extravagancies of opinion, to prejudice Christ’s dearest disciples against the hope of seeing again “ that same Jesus." All Pre-millennialists cordially agree with him in his statement. And well might it be said by another, 44 How strange that Christians do not think and speak more of the Second Coming of Christ, when it is expressly said to be 4 the blessed hope.’ The believer’s death may be gain, and the presence of the Spirit may be unspeakable comfort ; but neither the one nor the other is the 4 glorious

16 THE 8EC0ND COMING OF CHRI8T, ETC.

appearing ’ of our great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ, and, therefore, not the blessed hope . ‘ Christ’s personal coming is alone entitled to be so caned.’” *

* “ Texts for the Times.” By the Rev. Robert Macdonald, Blairgowrie.

Chapter II. What Our Fathers Felt Regarding The Second Coming Of Christ

We might venture to say, that the habitual thought of Christ’s Second Coming formed an element of lofty character in almost all the men who have obtained a good report in other days. It lay in their minds, not as a dry doctrine, admitted because it could not be denied, but as a living principle of hope, cherished as well as admitted. We do not, at present, inquire whether or not they looked ✓ for this blessed hope through a vista of a thousand years, or whether they supposed it to be at the door ; but we wish to show that the event itself, the coming of the King in his glory, was habitually in their minds, and formed a subject of refreshing meditation to their active, and often weary souls.

It seems that Columba, in sending forth labourers from Iona, in the sixth century, to evangelize Scotland, often referred to this glorious hope to cheer them under hardship. “ Thou shall awake from the sleep of death to the resurrection of life ,” used C

18 WHAT OUR FATHERS FELT REGARDING

to be one clause in his exhortations ;* and his modern biographer, Dr. Smith (p. 119), represents him as ever holding up the higher rewards and brighter prospects of rising with the martyrs in the First Resurrection. How interesting to know that our Western Isles have been gilded with this Blessed Hope long ages passed.

The incidental manner in which John Knox refers to it is sufficient to show the place it habitually held in his mind. His letter to the “ Faithful in London, Newcastle, and Berwick,” has this clause also in its title, — “ And to all others within the realm of England that love the Coming of our Lord Jesus” He writes another " Comfortable epistle , sent to the afflicted Church of Christ, exhorting them to bear his cross with patience, looking every hour for his coming again , to the great comfort and consolation of his chosen.” His letter to his mother-in-law has this sentence prefixed to the salutation, “ He comes and shall not tarry, in whom is our comfort and final felicity.” And, in his " Treatise on Fasting,” he yet more clearly shews what his noble spirit felt to be desirable in that day. “ What were this else,” he exclaims, “ but to reform the face of the whole earth, which never was, nor yet shall be, till that righteous King