The new kingdom...

Preface

When this book was commenced there was existing in some of the periodicals a hvely controversy regarding the utterances of a rather noted infidel. These writings were designed as a few short contributions on the same subject.

But on beginning and proceeding for a time, it seemed to expand and grow into such vast proportions, and to become of such vital importance, as to require a more extended and careful consideration. Hence the production of this volume.

Only a few things of the infinite many, have been touched upon at all, and they in the briefest manner possible.

The chief object has been to give conclusions and deductions, rather than to go into a laborious proof of their correctness.

That the reader should be induced to free himself from the bias of dogmas, from the incubus of traditions, and with untrammeled, unprejudiced mind to seek for the very truth itself, is all that is aimed at by

THE AUTHOR.

Contents

CHAPTER. PAGE.

I. SECTARIAN INFLUENCE INJURIOUS. - - - i

II. WHAT IS REQUIRED IN SEARCHING THE SCRIPT- URES. --..-- 8

Chapter I. Sectarian Influence Injurious

This appears to be a time of general inquiry into the truths of Christianity, and the justification for the numerous branchesc that are attached to the parent stem.

It is a matter of regret that an infidel, one who believes in nothing spiritual, nothing in the Book of books, who derides and scorns that which has stood the test of centuries and been the beacon and the guiding star of millions of earth's good and great, should be the inciting cause to this lively interest.

We must admit that it is natural to h'^manity to defend from attack that which it holds as not only true but sacred. But repelling assaults or even persecution, is not consistent with the teaching of Christianity. Meekness, submission, endurance widiout resistance, are its chief tenets.

And yet at the first blast from the challenging trumpet of this really harmless being, the ministers of a peaceful Prince put on their armor and are ready to meet or to force the deadly conflict, that they must feel can result in no good to man, nor in honor to God.

They know that the bright intellect is prostituted for money; they know that a mind so clear and strong of comprehension as his, so vivid in imagery, so keen in the sharp thrusts of irony cannot possibly be a dullard to the inspired teachings of the Bible; cannot be blind and irresponsive to the supreme grandeur of creation.

How can they meet the attack of ridicule ? How can they dull or turn aside the point of sarcasm? How rebut and neutralize the meaningless ranting of the unbeliever? Surely not by contending with his own weapons. And why use arguments when nothing is opposing? Why desecrate the good and the beautiful by placing them in reach of the tongue that touches only to pollute, whose feet would tramp pearls in the mire.

*'To fight the devil with fire" sounds logical, but it is a proverb that has age without wisdom.

What then is the method that would probably prove most productive of good ? Naturally but two ways remain; give the reason of your own belief in the clearest, most convincing, yet briefest possible manner; and the other, live your belief; let your light shine that all may see; have charity to man, a clean life, reverence for everything pure, and a reaching upward to the source of all purity.

These two should constitute the only weapons of warfare with infidelity; and even they might never convince a single infidel. But- should they not, they could not fail at least to be of vast advantage to others, and, which is of much more importance, sacred things would not be desecrated.

It cannot be denied by the most zealous believers that there are ample grounds for adverse criticism, not of the Christian doctrine itself, but of the almost numberless sects and schisms that exist throughout the world; all founded on the same Rock, all drawing their articles of faith from the same unalterable book of truth, yet diametrically opposite on vital points, contending and clashing one with another, and condemning to perdition with the hearty earnestness of the evil one himself.

What a sharp weapon of attack is put in the hands of the skilled antagonist by the unrelenting contest over baptism, the Eucharist, purgatory, predestination, eternal punishment, and even reaching down to the minor points of church decorum.

The infidel can reasonably ask why should there exist such grave doubts on these points where one would expect the clearest light ? Why is there any obscurity as to the proper method of administering the rite of baptism, and of partaking of the Lord's supper?

Why should one have a choice as to free

SECTARIAN INFLUENCE INJURIOUS. f>

will or predestination? Is only one way right? And if only one, which is the one? And why does not our Bible clearly settle these several points of endless and bitter contests between the different Christian sects ?

There is one other and most effective weapon of infidelity, effective, because believed in by nearly all Christians, and that is the doctrine that a merciful Being elects a few to bliss, and condemns the unnumbered legions to endless torments; a Being that not only created, but that foreknew all things from the becrinnino-.

Taking into consideration all the points of weakness in the armor of the modern churchmen, it is not surprising that the attacks of enemies are frequent and bold, while the defence can not be otherwise than weak, rambling and spiritless.

As an expounder of views that will doubtless seem wild, and, it may be, without warrant of authority from any source, I know that I tread on untried, dangerous ground.

But I pray patience and serious reflection.

There is a spirit of unrest in the land. Many ministers of high repute, churchmen of national renown, are disavowing- the creeds of their churches, creeds that they have clung to through years and years of prayer and preaching, and now are apparently wandering aimless, guideless in a wilderness of doubt.

It is too evidently true that the creeds of the different churches are based on a more or less forced interpretation of the Scriptures; forced, inasmuch as they do not perfectly harmonize with all the Scriptures as an entirety.

Each sect, having established its faith on some particular doctrinal point, immediately expounds the Bible as agreeing perfectly therewith. The Lutheran and the Calvinist draw their antagonizing creeds from the same teacher. The believer in a burning hell as well as the believer in universal redemption, brings the Bible in as clearly authorizing his creed.

Is there not something radically wrong in the common method of Scripture study?

Or is it because of having been reared from childhood within the influence of these sectarian differences, the mind never gets beyond using them as a gauge in scriptural interpretation ?

This is a grave error. We should investigate and seek after the truth for the truth's sake alone, and without desiring or trying in the least to find support for any particular bias or belief. Such an investigation is not only possible, but it is the only kind that can ever result in the solution of these disputed points.

There surely can be some exposition of the providence of God toward man that is consistent with all parts of his revealed word; an exposition that would, we feel assured, not only dispel all doubts, all disputes and bickerings, but would fill us with awe and wonder at the grandeur of the great plan whose conception was before tin^e began, its consummation when time ends.

METHOD OF SCRIPTURE STUDY.

CHAPTER 11.

WHAT IS REQUIRED IN SEARCHING THE SCRIPT- URES.

We accept the Bible as the book of God; a book that, although It has been in the hands of man for nearly twenty centuries, is substantially true in all its parts; a book that reveals the works of His creation, and the laws that he requires us to observe; gives the account of man's fall and his continuous disobedience, the penalties so often inflicted, and the plan of his final redemption ; the rise and fall of mighty nations of antiquity; and in general, a concise statement of the most important events in the world's history down to the coming of the Savior. A period that would otherwise have remained in almost impenetrable obscurity.

It is worthy of continued remembrance that from the beginning to the end of this sacred volume, there is one thing imperatively demanded of mankind; one requirement standing pre-eminent to all others, and that is, entire belief in its statements, a credence* unlimited, a trust unclouded with a doubt. Adam doubted God's word and fell: the antediluvians had no faith in the oft given warnings, and the flood came; the Jews in the wilderness, and afterwards, endured the penalties of unbelief.

On the other hand, most signal blessing always attended faith. Abraham was blessed beyond all the children of men, not only in worldly wealth, but in promises for the future that did not fail.

When the Son came, faith in his word, the simple belief that he was the Son of God, wrought miracles, healed the sick, even raised the dead to life again.

It is the Christian's present strength and his hope for the future. It is the one chief and only support of the church of Christ, as without it there is no Christianity.

In order therefore to study the Scriptures in a proper manner, we must do so in a faith that is as limitless as the power of God;

doubting nothing, whether it is understood by us, or not understood; never for a moment questioning the word of that Being who rules the universe, and who is infinite in all his attributes.

We are not required to believe that the Bible is a book inspired in all its parts. A large portion of the Old Testament is devoted to a history of the Jewish nation, of its various rulers, and of its many bloody, devastating wars with other nations. We can judge of the accuracy of these by reflecting upon the eminence and reputed truthfulness of the different authors or compilers, the care with which their writings were kept and handed down to succeeding generations, and the invariableness of their verification by contemporaneous histories whenever the same events were recorded.

It may be also admitted that owing to its numerous translations into other languages errors have crept in, but none of a character to in the least change the sense, or in any way detract from its common repute of being strictly true.

The New Testament can safely be taken as inspired. That is to say, all of the writers, as is admitted by all Christians, were possessed of the Holy Ghost, as was promised them by the Savior; and we need have no fear that any statement made by them, any revelation of spiritual import, any doctrinal points stated, or rules of life prescribed, was not given under divine direction and binding upon all.

We should also bear in mind that no more is ever stated than the case required.

There are no reasons given, no minute details of events are recorded, but only the abrupt, positive assertion of facts, or proclaiming of laws, that are and of necessity must be true and binding without proof.

It will be worse than profitless to investigate the Bible records while possessed of an inclination to doubt, a disposition to quibble and criticize.

It tells us that the world and all that therein is, and the sun, and the moon, and stars, were all created in six days.

Researches in the fossiliferous rocks of the earth demonstrate the fact that it was In a process of construction for unnumbered cycles. As the word and the works of God cannot disagree, we conclude at once that by six days was not meant six revolutions of the earth, but six vast periods of millions of years each, during which he was preparing the earth for man's occupancy.

Although the fossils, like a book with only a torn leaf here and there remaining, bear evidence of an order in creation somewhat similar to that given in the Bible; still no explanation is needed where the six days are evidently meant as typical. The Lord had divided his work of preparing man's future home into six periods; he required man to forever commemorate it by resting on the seventh of his days.

The account of the fall of man is^iven with equal terseness; but what would avail anything more elaborate ? It was sufficient to narrate the circumstances that have especial bearing on and lead up to the great catastrophe — the existence of the tree, the command against eating its fruit, the violation of the command and the penalty imposed.

The same brevity of narration, the same meagreness of detail, is ever found in the Bible. No more is said than is necessary to impress the meaning with sufficient emphasis.

We can rest in the assurance that whatever is obscure and mysterious is either designed to be so, or the fault lies with us; that whatever seems contradictory is only so in seeming, as there can be no contradiction.

The Bible was given us as a teacher and a guide, and inculcates no errors.

As we have all the riches of its contents open before us, the narration of events from before the creation to the coming of Christ, as well as the prophecies reaching forward to the end of the world, it would seem eminently consistent with the intelligence and the reasoning powers we possess, and with the spirit of inquiry with which we are endowed, to read and meditate on the grand revelations of both the Bible and nature, and to reflect, compare, and construct from the evidence before us. ,

How profoundly moved we are when we look backward through and beyond the dim past; forward to the bright realms of assured eternity ; down at the dark recesses of earth ; its rivers of poured out blood; its crimes and oppressions; its mocking of all that is good; its blasphemies and corruptions that, from the creation of man, have befouled the pure air of heaven.

Then we turn upward the reflective gaze to the sun and its planets, and to the shining worlds beyond; those far-away, gleaming, sparkling gems of light, those mere points of scintillating brilliancy, millions on millions in number and billions of miles away, which we know are in reality gigantic, glowing suns, the central ruling powers of encircling planetary systems.

We see and are filled with awe. All things in nature are incomprehensible in magnitude, unerring in operation, whether it be in creating and controlling systems of worlds, or in bringing up from the mould of the earth the beautiful, fragrant little flower.

All show attributes beyond our comprehension, infinite in all things, in wisdom and power, and in beauty and magnitude of design as in perfection of execution . Seeing only infinite wisdom in all things else, can we for a moment suppose that there was not design, a fixed purpose in creating the earth, and in placing innocent, weak man in the garden of Eden, and subjecting him to a dual temptation? We cannot doubt there was. What that design was and is we can only know in the great hereafter. But we can be quite certain of one thing, yea, of two — when the great work is finished there will be legions more of angels to glorify God, and not one additional sufferer of eternal torment.

We cannot reconcile eternal punishment with infinite mercy. There is not the least doubt that the plan of salvation as adopted, was the one that perfectly secured the Divine aim, and at the same time was in strict accord with his mercy.

Before enlarging upon the subject of man's relation to God in his creation, and in his present and future state, we will proceed to a consideration of the word and works of

God, as impressing us with the conviction that there is, and has been from the beginning, some grand scheme of heaven's great King, of which our existence forms but a part, and that our creation, with all the subsequent incidents of the temptation and death penalty, the coming of the Savior and restoration to life, are only portions of this foreordained, unalterable design that will end with time in a grand consummation.

The revelations on this subject are abundant, and in some respects most clear, in others obscure. Still there is enough to form conclusions that seem not only warranted by the Bible but are consistent with the divine attributes.

Chapter III. Fall Of Satan And Destruction Of His King- Dom

The Devil and his angels were once servants of the Most High ; angels of light, and obedient to His will.

We cannot comprehend the possibility of their desiring to rebel, believing, as we do, in the perfect purity of the angel nature ; and still less can we understand how they could, in the least degree, expect to war successfully against infinite power. Though the Bible, from beginning to end, abounds in angel history, we know nothing of their real appearance, their individuality, as they are spirits, invisible and indescribable to us.

We only know that there are two kinds, good and bad ; the former, as the ministers of God, doing His will in heaven and on earth; with the power to annihilate, and the power to create even great worlds, and swing them forth on their orbits in ilHmitable space ; the latter to do evil continually, and strive to undo the works of the e^ood. We infer that there are degrees of angel power and authority. Gabriel stands continuously before God. Michael and his hosts had charge of the Hebrews. There was a Prince for Persia, one for Grecia, and probably one for each of the other kingdoms of the world; and with each prince there were no doubt hosts of assistant angels, each doing his share of the work assigned. Against these were evil angels opposed. An angel told Daniel that he had been delayed in Persia for one and twenty days in a struggle with the evil prince of that nation, but Michael, one of the chief princes, coming to his assistance, they succeeded in subduing the evil prince ; that the Prince of Grecia would come on his leaving, as he had to return and again fight the prince of Persia ; that he had assisted Darius, the Mede, during the first year of his reign ; and the things he was about to tell Daniel were known only to himself and Michael.

We have not the least reason to suppose that there is another world in the universe like ours ; a world in a state of transition from mortality to immortality ; a w^orld reeking in crime, groaning under the ills of the flesh, seething and bubbling in corruption; and where the angels of heaven and hell are fighting their great battles over the souls of the elect of God. We know of but one sinful world ; we know of only one rebellion in heaven. We conclude, therefore, with certainty that all the rest of God's creation is pure and undefiled ; that all those bright orbs that nightly illume the sky, reaching beyond our system into the dark, etherial blue of fathomless space, are the heavenly abodes of angels, and archangels, and spirits of God, that know not sin.

Is it not then more than probable that at some past time our planetary system was a heavenly kingdom, even the kingdom of Satan himself ?

The Scriptures indicate this, and on its admission as a fact, the providence of God tov/ards man, in his creation, and in his uitimate redemption and location on earth, appeals to our intelligence as most grand and God-like in all its parts.

Satan, in the zenith of his glory, was a mighty prince before the Lord, having dominion over principalities and powers, and with legions of angels to do his will.

His was the august imperialism to sit enthroned in gorgeous state on a vast globe of liquid radiancy, surrounded with his great armies of winged angels, who, obedient to his every command, sped, as the lightnings flash, with messages of greeting or command, to the waiting hosts on Venus, or Earth, or away to Saturn, or Jupiter, or further Neptune -— those worlds of angelic abode, moving, with silent grandeur, round about the throne of their great prince.

The human mind cannot conceive the immensity of power, nor the splendor of the realms, of these Chiefs of the hosts of the Lord.

But with power eventually came pride,and with pride, ambition -— a vaulting ambition, that dared the power of heaven's great King.

** And there appeared a wonder in heaven, and behold a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads."

" And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven and did cast them to the earth."

** And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven."

'* And the great dragon was cast out, that old Serpent called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world; he was cast out into the earth and his angels were cast out with him." "He was seen to fall as lightning from heaven."

The rebellion seems to have spread beyond Satan's own dominion, as he drew with him '* the third part of the stars of heaven.'*

And how fearful was the defeat, as driven from heaven's ramparts by the thunder bolts of the great Jehovah, he was hurled back again to his own kingdom, broken, crushed, and held with the chains of Omnipotence.

And in his fall he may have struck an intervening world and crushed it into the fragmentary orbs of Juno, Ceres and their scores of companion asteroids.

Perhaps the just anger of God did not stop there, but the vials of his wrath were poured out on all of Satan's great domain.

The sun, his seat of empire, may have trembled and rocked to its very center, and then burst forth into great mountain billow^s of seething flame, throwing out millions oi tongues of liquid fire, roaring, darting to and fro, for thousands upon thousands of miles ; and the earth, and the moon, and all the planets and their satellites, may have reeled to and fro under the fierce anger of God.

And earthquakes came, with thunders and fearful roarings, until all barriers gave way, and each and every celestial world was deluged with seas of consuming fire, and all the fair mounts were melted down, and the lovely vales were pits of destruction.

The flames of their burning for long ages ascended to heaven as the odor of incense.

But a change came; the brightness that once filled all the firmament of heaven and made perpetual day grew less, and still less; the gloom of a long night drew near; the expurging fires are all out; the sun's sullen red gives no light, and the planets, now dark in their ruin, wrecked, and utterly devastated, swing for ages upon ages, through a rayless night — a night rayless and appalling — where no gleam from friendly star ever entered; where the awful silence was never broken by rustling wings, or if broken at all, 'twas by the moans and mutterlngs of the fallen angels, those shadows of evil, shorn of power and chained, except for a brief period, unto the day of Judgment and eternal condemnation.

There approaches now another epoch in the decreed plans of God, and the earth is taken as the theatre of action. Chaos still reigned. ''The earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep, and the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters."

'* And God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light, " and time began.

* * Let the waters be gathered together unto one place and let the dry land appear, and it was so."

* ' Let the earth bring forth grass and trees bearing fruit."

** Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creatures that have life, and fowls that may fly above the earth."

*' Let the earth bring forth the living creature, cattle and creeping things, and beasts of the earth," *'and it was so, and all were good."

But many millions of years had passed before all things were finished.

CHAPTER IV. RESTORATIOlSr OF THE EARTH FOR MAN's HAB- ITATION

A wrecked word was to be made a dwelling place suitable for the highest types of animal and vegetable life, and made, not by the uplifted hand of omnipotent power, but by agencies created for the especial purpose.

The only land, were yet smoking mountains of granite, lava and scoriae ; the only water, steaming oceans like dead seas ; the only atmosphere, gases noxious as the breath of a furnace.

But the ages passed, and the sun, and vapors, and beating waves, eroded and washed down the hard granite and the scoriae, forming sloping shores and cozy nooks; and there was placed the first of the new creation, the sea moss. In appearance it differed little from the dead matter beside it.

But it possessed that which nothing else on the whole earth possessed— -life ; and, with life, the power to increase and multiply.

There it lived, the first and lowest of material life ; lived and increased abundantly, nourished by water and air and mineral detritus.

Then came others of the same family, confervae and fungi, all working together in laying the foundation for other and higher orders of vegetable life.

Another kind of life was next created and placed with the primeval one, and that was the animal. The vegetable was required to sustain the animal, the latter having no power to assimilate matter that had not first been acted on by vegetable organization — this last acting as the connecting link between dead matter and spirit life.

These two were the ag-ents that reconstructed the world ; the one on land, the other in the sea.

Other ages passed, thousands of ages, and the great work continued.

The smallest of animal workers, millions of whom could gather in the shade of a single fungus, protozoans, polypes, foraminiferse,

built great mountains of limestone, and even displaced the mighty ocean.

On land the work performed was equally as grand. The world's combustion had left the air heavy with carbonic acid. Although the mountain and reef-builders had used it freely in making carbonate of lime,and a much greater quantity had been taken up by vegetation, and stored away for future use, deep in the earth, in great beds of coal, enough was yet left for continuous service, for the world was covered with herbs and grasses and trees bearing fruit

The animal kingdom had kept in a parallel line of progress.

The waters swarmed with living creatures ; and the dry land was covered, and the air filled, with species, families and orders of animated nature in never-ending variety.

On reading the history of creation, as written in the rocks, we are filled with wonder, not only at the immensity of time it undoubtedly covers, but at the thousands of most wonderful objects it discloses. Everything created in those far-away times, from the very smallest to the most gigantic, was perfect, and often exquisitely beautiful.

The animal kingdom is generally divided into four grand divisions — - the mollusks, radiates, articulates and vertebrates. These divisions only embrace the higher orders of animal life, as there are thousands of species too minute for investigation, and go under some general classification, as protozoans, infusoria, insectivera, baccili and the like.

The first three of the four grand divisions furnish by far the most sub-divisions of orders, families and species, each distinctively different from all the others ; but it is only to the last division, the vertebrates, that all the higher types of animals belong. Fishes, reptiles, mammals and birds are but modifications of one chief design — - an internal bony structure, with vertebrates entire or in part, and with processes for locomotion, changed in all the ways necessary to exactly suit the location and the wants of each animal.

The fins of the fish, the legs of the quadruped, the legs and wings of the bird, are all modifications of one prototype, modifications so evidently designed by supreme intelligence that none can doubt.

This using one original mould, as it were, to shape a thousand different forms is illustrated in every known species of animals, as well as in the divisions. Take, as an example, the ancient family of Trilobites, who flourished before the coal formations, probably twenty millions of years ago.

Remains have been found in the rocks of more than six hundred different species of this one family of crustaceans. Each species belonged to the same great family, but was as distinct from all the rest as though it belonged to a different order.

And the same law of diversity applies to individuals as well. Nature never repeats or duplicates. Of all the millions of men on earth, probably no two are exactly alike. Of all the leaves in the forest, of all the blades of grass, or seeds of grain, no man ever found any two identical in every part.

The proofs are so indisputable of an intelligent, ever present, creative agency, that it would not seem possible for any one to doubt; The theory of evolution by an inherent principle or capability of matter to readjust and modify itself according to surrounding conditions, to change itself into other and higher species, orders and divisions of life, is not only absurd and utterly unworthy of consideration, but no one except an infidel can in the least degree accede to it.