The crisis, or, Last trumpet

Preface

No small part of the following work will be occupied with the prophetic parts of the Divine Oracles, as to prophecy and promise ; ever bearing in mind the distinction between prophec) r already fulfilled, and prophecy fulfilling ; for without we regard this distinction, we may be groping in the dark. For it happens in regard to some of the more important subjects of prophecy (at least it has been my case), that we have not so much to learn as to unlearn, as the traditions of men have, in some respects, rendered void the Word of God. Prophetic scripture, and all scripture, must be adjudged of by its context and general scope ; for example, when it speaks of a man, we understand a being who possesses a spiritual soul, dwelling in a mortal body. The chief commands and promises of scripture are addressed to his spiritual part ; but that does not prove that the soul will not be hereafter manifested in a body, any more than it proves that it is not now in the body. When, therefore, we use the word soul, for man, we include his body, as a matter of course ; for who would suppose, that because it is written, that Abraham took Sarah and Lot his brother's son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran, and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan ; who, I say, would conclude that they took only the spirits of those persons, and left their bodies behind ?

Now apply this principle to the things of God, which, we have seen, is the city, the New Jerusalem, the Holy Mountain. If, then, the whole stress of practical religion rests upon scriptural predictions, yet unfulfilled to the church, I would ask whether prophecy be not, in its varied details, the great theme of hope and of consolation to the whole Christian Church? Whether a single motive to

IV PREFACE.

exertion, a single reference to responsibility, a single solace to misfortune, a single excitement to infirmity, can be brought to bear upon the understanding and the will, but through the medium of unfulfilled prophecy ?

May the Gracious Redeemer bless this feeble effort, to the increase of scriptural knowledge, the benefit of his own church, and the good of every one who may read it.

E. PUTNAM.

Albany, June 1, 1847.

NOTE.

One important object with the author, has been to induce a more thorough search of the scriptures, at least among professors ; for it has been my painful experience this twenty years past, that the Bible has been the last and least read of any work or print in the world : And therefore the following queries were put to those who had read the manuscript :

1. Is not tin" following work well calculated to beget a greater love and veneration for the word of God, as the only infallible rule of faith and practice ? Answer, I think it is.

2. To lead the inquiring christian to a more diligent search of the scriptures, like the noble Bereans, to see whether those things be so or not? Ans. Yes.

3. To lead to reflection, meditation, and prayer for divine teaching? Ans. Yes.

4. To promote watchfulness, preparation, and practical piety ? Ans. Yes.

And further says : " I am well acquainted with the Author, and have read the most of his manuscripts. They have all been pencilled out after he passed the age of eighty-one years ; and they are written with an excellent spirit, giving a reason of the hope that is in him in meekness, and also abundance of scripture testimony is quoted."

Rev. P. BULLIONS.

" To the last paragraph of this paper, I assent with the greatest pleasure." Rev. J. N. CAMPBELL.

" Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall."

Proverbs xvi. 13.

POSTSCRIPT.

If we turn to the foregoing Note, we shall perceive that the Author has had eighty years experience in this sinful conflicting" world; and if the reader will examine the appendix to this work, he will see something of that experience. Up to the present time, the author has had no cause to retract what he has written. His greatest grief, on reflection, is that he is to leave the world so much more apostate from God, than it was when he entered it, among the puritans of New-England, eighty-three years since.

E. PUTNAM.

Albany, October 20, 1847.

THE CRISIS.

Chapter I, Present And Future State Of The Church

Do not the scriptures clearly represent the three following points ? 1. That the cause of God and righteousness has been, hitherto, a depressed and militant cause upon earth ; and that, from the fall of Adam up to the present hour, the whole world lieth in wickedness. 2. That a time is coming, when true religion will be ascendant and triumphant; and that the kingdoms of this world will then become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ. 3. That before the final close of God's dispensations in this world, his almighty power will interpose and separate between the righteous and the wicked.

Without aiming to be wise above what is written, I would just observe, upon a general review of these scripture statements, how admirably the whole is fitted to display the wonders of the divine administration, so that " unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdoni of God." Man's eventful history displays the field on which the powers of light and of darkness contend for victory. In the first scene, righteousness and unrighteousness appear in conflict, while the latter holds the ascendant; in the second, the same powers are engaged, but their places arc changed, and righteousness becomes the ruling principle : the last scene displays the final and utter expulsion of evil, when the gates of thai celestial city are opened, into which nothing that defileth can 1

THE CRISIS.

enter, but they only whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life.

Isaiah lx., lxi.; Dan. ii. 44 ; vii. 14, 18, 22, 27; and from other parallel passages of the scripture, it will appear that there is a time coming, when the God of heaven shall set up a kingdom on this earth, which shall never be destroyed, but it shall break in pieces all other kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. Now, according to the word of God, there is to be a righteous government or administration over the whole earth. This government is outward and visible in its nature; and as it is opposed to those governments which are to be destroyed, so it is to take their place.

Now, my dear friend, will you for once lay aside all prejudice, prepossession, bigotry, the dogmatism and the tradition of men, and carefully and candidly weigh and consider well what those holy men of God have written, " who spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost," while I, in a few particulars, endeavour to exhibit the contrast between this righteous, and these unrighteous governments. Let us try, in the fear of God, to make a scriptural application to each. In the first scene, we will endeavour to portray that which history and experience will fully corroborate and confirm, up to the present period, that the god of this world, the prince of darkness, rules in and over the hearts of the children of this world; that his influence predominates over all the empires of this world.

I have heard from both professors and non-professors, again and again, that, when they went to the polls to vote for a candidate, they had nothing to do with God; they had nothing to do with the moral character of their candidate; that they would as soon vote for an infidel as for the best christian in the country. These things I have seen and heard, and these things have been done, and are still doing, by an overwhelming majority of both professors and non-professors : they have one mind and one purse. By such means they keep this mighty machine in motion for the extension and perpetuation of slavery, and every abomination in the land; so that the spirit of infidelity is to be found worming its way to its last consummation. For it is not the nominal christian that, by his name and profession, excludes the essence of antichrist. The clergy have become so infected and infatuated with the love of fame, of popular honor, that they have not heeded the apostle's admonition (Rom. xi. 18, 20); but they have become high-minded; they claim pre-eminence >

STATE OF THE CHURCH. 3

as though they would rather reign on the earth, in this world, as potentates, without Christ, than to reign with Christ, the glorious King and Head of the church. Does not this key unlock many mysteries ?

True national glory and honour, we believe, are comprehended in righteousness; that grace or quality, both in rulers and people, and that only, which exalteth a nation; while sin and rebellion against God is both a reproach and the ruin of all nations ; for it is said of the wicked, they shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God; and it is said, also, of that nation which is exalted by righteousness, " I will make thee (speaking of the Jewish nation) an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations. Strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the alien shall be your ploughmen and vine-dressers; but ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory shall ye boast yourselves. " Will any one inform me whether these times be past, present, or future ? and, also, what nation on earth has yet been made "an eternal excellency? a joy of many generations?" It will be remembered this was spoken of a nation on earth, in a national character; for in heaven above there are no ploughmen or vine-dressers, or feeding of flocks, in the proper sense of the term. In heaven, there is neither Jew nor Greek, bond nor free, male or female. The scene described by the prophet is evidently on the earth. This is no question of party politics; for all parties are alike guilty before God, in their individual character : all are Sabbath-breakers, all are covetous together, all seeking their own and not the things of Christ. They are charging the gathering cloud with additional vengeance, to spread wider desolation when it shall burst. A stream of wickedness is going up, day by day, and Sabbath after Sabbath : it cries to God for vengeance, although he is still patient.

1. All the national glory and honour of this period is inseparable from unrighteousness; for all national honours are only the grand prizes of political success; and whether combination or opposition be traced in the various wheels of this mighty machine, it is self that supplies the moving power of all . Interest or vanity compose the mainsprings. Principle is outraged; friendship violated; truth disregarded; consistency scoffed at; envy, hatred, and malice are inspired into the rival pretenders to the prizes, and pride into their triumphant possessors. Deceit and fraud, dishonesty and dishonour, are in the way to loftiness and tyranny; luxury and self-indulgence are at the end; and the man.

who would talk of disinterested patriotism, in any other way than with a sneer at the hypocrisy of the pretension, would be considered more fit for transportation to some barbarous clime, than for an election to any post of honour or responsible trust.

2. The national glory, at the present time, consists with infidelity. The man who is an infidel, may be a glorious President, a glorious general or admiral, a glorious statesman. Men of any creed or no creed are alike eligible to national honour and glory, even in this christian land, where the church uniformly approves of it, by their right of suffrage, by which the members of all the churches declare that they make no distmction in the moral character of any candidate for oiiice. And of such a nature is this national glory, that its richest laurels may entwine a brow, within which the fear, or even the existence of God, has ceased to produce a single serious reflection; whose bosom has never felt an emotion of love towards him, who gave his life to save the sinner.

3. The national glory at the present time is inseparably connected with the practice of war, and all the wretchedness and misery consequent thereon. It opens various pretexts to the ambitious despots for aggression : it supplies various examples for imitation, arraying in their train the thousand kindling spirits, ardent to vindicate the nation's glory. Hence duels, bloodshed and murder. Hence the voice of mourning in the land — the widow's tear, the orphan's cry. An appalling case occurred recently at the seat of government, where a Belshazzar feast was held by a great concourse of the nobility of the land, met on board of a ship of war, that they might glorify themselves, and the nation be glorified by them, in bidding defiance to all other powers on earth ; and while in the height of their heated political frenzy, a number of the members of the cabinet fell a sacrifice to one of their own weapons of war. Here was indeed a cause of lamentation and sorrow, both to the widow and orphan. I know not whether any of the clergy were among them, but I suspect they were, for they are in the habit of officiating at such celebrations, even among Papists and Freemasons, or what is now called the Society of Odd Fellows; and this is a specimen, and no small part of the Christianity of the age, or rather of those who make a profession of Christianity, and those who hold a controlling influence both in church and slate.

4. Now, I think it will not be denied that such has been the government or administration of all the kingdoms and empires

STATE OF THE CHURCH. O

of the world, since the fall of man; thai unrighteousness has ever had the ascendant, with the exception of a brief period of the Jewish nation, while God was their king, in the time of Samuel.

Let us now, for a little, view the other side of the picture; what is promised in the word of God, and what we have a full warrant to believe will yet take place on this earth. Am I not warranted in saying, that there is now no christian or righteous nation on earth; nor ever has been since the sceptre departed from Judah, and the Jews were dispersed through the earth; and that there never will be a christian or righteous nation, until they are restored again to the church of Christ, and their own land ? If they are not again to be restored as a nation of true believers to their own land, given to them by covenant with Abram, and to his seed forever and ever, what then becomes of the covenant and promise of God to Abram and his seed, in regard to the promised land ? Gen. xiii. 14, 17; xvii. 2, 19; xxii. 15, 18.

1. The restored Jewish nation, or christian church, shall have national pre-eminence in the earth. "Arise, shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee; and the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising. The abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee; the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee; the multitude of camels shall cover thee, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah. All they from Sheba shall come; they shall bring gold and incense, and they shall show forth the praises of the Lord. Surely the isles shall wait for thee, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring thy sons from afar, their silver and their gold with them, unto the name of the Lord thy God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because he hath glorified thee. And the sons of strangers shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister unto thee; for in my wrath I smote thee, but in my favour have I had mercy on thee. Therefore thy gates shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day nor night; that men may bring unto thee the forces of the Gentiles, and that their kings may be brought. For the nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish; yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted. The sons also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee; and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet, and they shall call thee the city of the Lord, the desire of the Holy One of Israel. Whereas thou hast been forsaken and hated, so that no man went through thee, I will make thee an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations.

THE CRISIS.

Strangers shall s<and and feed your flocks, and the sons of the alien shall be your ploughmen and vine-dressers. But ye shall be named the priests of the Lord; men shall call you the ministers of our God : ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory shall ye boast yourselves." (Isaiah lx., lxi.)

These prophecies last quoted describe the nature of the Jewish national glory, when their king shall be king over all the earth. One king, and his name One. It will not consist in such elements of superiority, as now constitute the glory of nations : military and naval powers, literary fame, commercial prosperity, splendid attainments in the arts and sciences, the employment and embellishment of social life, enlightened and liberal policy, improving revenues, for the gratification of the lusts of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life.

2. The restored Jewish nation, or the church of God, on the contrary, shall be what our world has never seen, nor shall see, till Israel presents the glorious consummation — a righteous nation. " In that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah: Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation, which keepeth the truth, may enter in. Thy people also shall be righteous : they shall inherit the land forever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified. A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation : I the Lord will hasten it in his time. I will put my law into their inward parts, and will write it in their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people; and they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, saying, Know the Lord; for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them; and I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear me forever, for the good of them, and of their children after them. I will not turn away from them to do them good, but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean ; from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes; and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. I will also save you from all your uncleannesses. The remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity, nor speak lies; neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouths. In that day there shall be upon the bells of their horses, holiness unto the Lord."

3. The restored Jewish nation, or church of God, shall be a

STATE OF THE CHURCH. 7

peaceful nation, and under their dominion there shall be universal and permanent peace in all the earth. " Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities. Thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be taken down : not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken ; but there the glorious Lord will be unto us a place of broad rivers and streams, wherein shall go no galley with oars, neither shall gallant ship pass thereby; for the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king, he will save us. In his day shall the righteous flourish, and abundance of peace as long as the moon endureth.. .And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. A nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more; but they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig-tree, and none shall make them afraid, for the mouth of the Lord of Hosts hath spoken it. In that day, saith the Lord, will I assemble her that halteth, and I will gather her that is driven out, and her that I have afflicted; and I will make her that halted a remnant, and her that was cast far off a strong nation, and the Lord shall reign over them in Mount Zion from henceforth for ever and ever. And thou, tower of the flock, the stronghold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come; even the first dominion, the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem:" The child that was born unto us of the seed of Abraham, the son that was given unto us of the virgin of the house and lineage of David, the Saviour, on whose unseen arm a chosen people have been long leaning for support in the midst of temptation and persecution and scorn, shall then have the government of the world upon his shoulder, and be manifested as the prince of peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David and his kingdom to order it and to establish it, with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever. The zeal of the Lord of Hosts will perform this.

4. The restored Jewish nation, or church of God, shall be a nation of true worshippers of the one only living and true God — Jehovah in trinity, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Israel. Infidelity will be impossible. They shall all know me, saith the Lord, from the least of them unto the greatest of them. Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with their transgressions. I

THE CRISIS.

will place them and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore. My tabernacle also shall be with them; yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And the heathen shall know that I the Lord do sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore. Thus it appears that the glory of the kingdom, the pre-eminence of the restored Jewish nation, shall consist in their nearness to God, and his nearness to them. His sanctuary in the midst of them will cause all the nations of the earth to do them honour; and their holy superiority shall be exercised in perfect individual and national righteousness, in universal and uninterrupted peace. How can righteousness, and peace, and true devotion, supersede among the nations the high and lofty splendour, the pride and glory of military and naval superiority? The sceptre of Messiah's kingdom in the earth will be a sceptre of righteousness. His people's prayer shall be answered — " thy will be done on earth as in heaven." The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of man shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day; for when his judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness. Great will be the change when God shall make clear to men's eyes and ears, the living, glorious fruits of universal faith; when the disregarded sanctions ot the divine law shall be exhibited with power, so that a man shall say " Verily there is a reward for the righteous, verily there is a God that judges in the earth." The judgments of men will be rectified; that which has been disjointed by sin, will be reset. The fear of the Lord will be seen and known to be wisdom; and a nation pre-eminent in righteousness, and in favour with God, will be acknowledged the most glorious of the nations.

5. Into this restored Jewish nation, or church of God, shall be incorporated all the nations of the earth. To this truth bare all the prophets witness. Indeed it is so incorporated in the sacred text, with other subjects, that the passages already quoted have fully declared it.

The second coming of our Lord is announced to us in holy scriptures, in connexion with four leading themes, which embrace the whole subject.

1. The present dispersion and coming restoration of the Jewish people, together with the fulness of the Gentiles.

2. The present suffering and coming glory of the elect church.

3. The present proud prosperity and coming utter destruction of ungodly men.

STATE OF THE CHURCH. \)

4. The present groaning misery, and the coming renovation unto the blessedness of the whole earth.

Thus while the Lord waits to be gracious, sin, persevered in, becomes more aggravated in its guilt, and judgment deferred becomes more overwhelming in its character. In the Lord's language to Jerusalem, we perceive the great and terrible truth, that the climax of the judgment falls upon the last generation. All these things are written for our learning, upon whom the ends of the world shall come. Each succeeding generation of wicked men has been living in aggravated wickedness, not merely in their own individual transgressions, but in transgressions under the peculiar circumstances of longer delayed retribution, transgression under the peculiar provocation of despising so much more patience; thus the longer the patience of God waits, the more inexcusable becomes the wickedness of men. Each generation inherits a burthen of transgression from their fathers, adds their own to it, and bequeaths it thus increased to their children. The long-suspended blow is gathering strength ; and when it falls, it w r ill fall with an energy of vengeance and utter ruin.

That day of vengeance will be the termination of the times of the Gentiles. As it is written, Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles shall be fulfilled. Then shall the* holy city be trodden under foot no more ; the power of the holy people shall no longer be scattered. And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heavens, that is upon all the earth, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him (Luke xxi., xxiv.; Dan. vii., viii., xii.). The separate condition of the Jews, to the end of this dispensation, is that prophetic argument of the apostle Paul, in which he concludes that the receiving of the Jews again to God's favour will be as life from the dead to the Gentile world; for St. Paul styles this benefit the riches of the Gentiles, and the reconciling of the world; that as the Jews have been, so, till the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled, they shall be.

I might pursue this subject much further. I could wish that we might all make ourselves more familiar with the prophetic parts of Scripture, as they have a direct bearing on the times in which we live, and on the works in which we are engaged. I have no doubt that a more careful study of the prophecies would be the means of removing many a stumbling block out of our 1* way, and rendering our future course more clear, and our labors more useful and beneficial to the church and the world at large. I wish to attack antichrist and all his adherents, wherever they are at work, either in church or state. For I verily believe that the last antichrist which the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming; I have no doubt, I say, oa my mind, that this great enemy of God and man will be revealed and matured in what is called the Christian Church, the protestant as well as the popish part of it; for all the bearing and influence, both of church and state, are on the side of unrighteousness : Antichrist in alliance with infidelity and despotism, and every abomination done in the land. Fifteen years ago, in a conversation with some individuals, among whom were two ministers, while speaking of popery, I said that my conviction was that popery would yet have a further triumph in America. They all laughed me to scorn for my visionary notions, as they called them : they all said that popery had been put down by Buonaparte, and could never rise again. Now, I think it will not be denied by any well-informed christian, that my conviction has been fulfilling up to the present day. Well, six or eight years after the occurrence of that conversation, several of the popular divines in New-York, Philadelphia, &c, commenced a course of lectures against the Man of Sin, as though they would soon hurl him from his usurped throne; but as popularity was the mainspring in this crusade, so, after a fewyears' struggle, popery waxed stronger and stronger, while they became weaker and weaker, and at last withdrew from the field of battle, exchanging one sin for another, the less for the greater. They found it more popular, if not more lucrative, to lend their influence to the support of despotism, aggression, war and murder, for the extension and perpetuation of that hell-born system, United States slavery. No small share of priestcraft is both identified and engaged in all this horrid system, at least in America. Antichrist wants no better agents to promote his cause in this world.