COMMUNION AND FELLOWSHIP. OME! to Emmaus let us walk to-day, And fill our souls with joy, our lips with praise. Oh come, Thou blessed One, with us abide, Sit at our table, break the bread and bless, Open our eyes, nor vanish from our side. Come! and within our troubled hearts abide, And breathe sweet words of peace our souls to cheer; Those wounds, those blessed wounds! how sweet a voice In Me stern Justice sheathed its glittering spear. Have I not flesh and bones? No spirit hath; And come, behold thy Saviour's wounded hands, For thee I answered ALL the law's demands." My Lord, my God, while gazing on Thy wounds, The glorious form we shall for ever wear, To bask us in the radiance of Thy smile. Swift, swift ye angels, haste, unloose the bars! He is the Lord of Hosts, the King of glory. Our Saviour God, He is the King of glory! Oh send the promise of the Father down, THE ETERNITY OR THE NON-ETERNITY OF PUNISHMENT. HAVING lately read with much pain, several 66 articles on the non-eternity of punishment, in a magazine hitherto devoted to prophetic subjects, I fear that many who are just awakening to the importance of prophetical truth, will give no longer heed to "the sure word of prophecy," lest they should be taken in the snare of the devil, and be led, step by step, first to doubt-to question, and finally to deny the plain statements of God's Word. In the Old and New Testament we find the same word used by the Holy Spirit, to set forth the eternity of the Godhead, the eternity of blessedness, the eternity of punishment. They must all stand or fall together. If there is no eternal punishment, there is no eternal life-no eternal God. Are the setters forth of these doctrines of the annihilation of the wicked, or their purgation by individual sufferings, prepared and willing to go to such a length as boldly to deny THE ETERNAL EXISTENCE OF THE ETERNAL GOD? I am quite aware that the words, "for ever," everlasting," &c., have been appropriated, even in Scripture, to things that have come to an end, (Cruden in loco: Hebrew and Greek Concordance); but the context must then determine the meaning. If used in reference to what is called "man's world," they may be associated with what comes to an end; but when used in relation to God's eternity, as that has no end, so also there can be no end either to the blessedness bestowed, or to the punishment pronounced by God our Saviour from the great white throne, after this earth (man's world) shall have passed away (Rev. xx.), and this use of words is surely according to natural custom, e.g., the medical man says of a child that has met with an accident:— "He will be lame for ever." In legal phraseology, the grant of land is said to be made for ever. also, "God is from everlasting to everlasting." Again, "Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever." The meaning therefore must be according to the context. But have believers, I would ask, anything whatever to do with the actual duration of the punishment to be assigned to the wicked by Jesus Christ, the Judge of quick and dead from the great white throne, after this present earth and heaven shall have passed away? They, as assessors with Christ (1 Cor. vi. 2, 3), will surely then assent to His righteous judgment, whatever it may be. And if, on the one hand, we reject with abhorrence the doctrine of the annihilation of the wicked, as unscriptural, unsound, repugnant to our nature, and tending to open the door to most licentious living (all fear of future punishment being removed, who would wish to live in a world thus given up by its Creator to the lawless and the disobedient?), so, on the other hand, as believers in the all-sufficiency of the atonement made by Jesus Christ at Calvary, 66 once for all;" so that now there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin," we must assuredly loathe and utterly reject the doctrine now set forth by men of talent and position, that the wicked, and even Satan and the fallen angels, will be You say, restored to the Divine favour, after a period (how long or how short matters not) of punishment for their sins. If this doctrine be God's truth, why then did Christ die? Why should the beloved Son of God lay down His life to save sinners? Why shed His precious blood to cleanse us from all sin? if the sins of the utterly lost, and even the sin and rebellion of Satan, and the angels who kept not their first estate, can be purged away-burnt out in the lake of fire; and the sinner, by his intense personal sufferings for "a little while," make a complete atonement for his transgression? Thus man is made his own deliverer from the pit. He needs NO OTHER SAVIOUR. The endless ages of perfect freedom from all suffering, and restoration, to the Divine favour, will fully compensate for even millions of years of torment. It would indeed be a balm, more precious than that of Gilead, to soothe the agonies of the lost, to know that SUCH SUFFERINGS WOULD HAVE AN END, and that to them there would be "times of refreshing, times of restitution," when there should be NO MORE PAIN. This would make the lake of fire bearable, and Satan, the fallen angels, and the wicked, would rejoice for ever and ever; that they owed their salvation and deliverance from punishment, not to the mercy of God-not to the atonement for sin made by Jesus Christ upon the cross, but to themselves alone. They sinned, and by their punishment they made a full, perfect, and complete atonement for all their transgressions. "Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto Thy Name give glory." "Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto HIм that sitteth upon the throne; and unto THE LAMB, for ever and ever."-this is the song of the redeemed by blood; but this song of praise could never pass the lips of those whose sins had been purged away, not by the precious blood of Jesus Christ the Lamb of God; but by the torment of the "everlasting burnings" of the lake of fire. Thus viewed in the two-fold aspect, either of annihilation or purgation of individual sin by individual punishment, the new, or rather revived doctrine of the Sadducees (who denied a resurrection of the body, and the very existence of angels) will be found to be totally contrary to—yea, repugnant-to the plain words of Scripture. The introduction, into a strictly prophetical magazine, of a subject which can surely lead to no profit whatever among the sons and daughters of God Almighty-the saints of the Most High-the church of the living Godbut rather will cause the holders and setters forth of prophetic truth, from the pulpit and the press, to be evil spoken of, and their warning of the near approach of Christ's personal advent, first into the air for His church (1 Thess. iv.), and then with all His saints to this earth (the mount of Olives--Zechariah xiv. 4, 5), for the destruction of the personal Antichrist, the son of perdition, and the deliverance of Israel, to be disregarded. The introduction of this subject, respecting the eternity or non-eternity of punishment, will only "gender a strife of words," "to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers," and will assuredly cause further division and discussion among the students of prophecy, and will, I fear, lead many to regard the study of unfulfilled prophecy as altogether unprofitable, 66 and even dangerous; and thus the old device of Satan will again prevail of turning men's minds and thoughts from the present truth”. THE COMING AND KINGDOM OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST," "to the perverse disputings of men," ("gallings one of another,") and "profane and vain babblings and oppositions of science, falsely so called," and leading them to reject the plain Word of God, and to believe Satan's lie-“ Ye shall NOT SURELY DIE." How much need have we in these "last days"-" these perilous times," to give earnest heed to the solemn warning of Christ, and beware of the leaven (the evil doctrine) of the Pharisees (Romanists and Ritualists) and of the Sadducees (Rationalists and Free-thinkers) of the present day, when so many "false prophets' abound. It becomes a solemn duty at this crisis, to promote, and in every possible way to increase largely, the circulation of The Voice upon the Mountains, not only as a Scriptural and faithful exponent of "the sure word of prophecy: a light shining in a dark place; " but as AN ANTIDOTE to the unsound, unscriptural teaching of many from whom, we had hoped better things. May the Lord keep the Editor, the readers, and the contributors to The Voice upon the Mountains, from "the hour of temptation" (Rev. iii.) upon which we are surely entering. May our united cry be, "Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly, and take Thy waiting church home to Thyself, to be for ever with the Lord." "The hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear the voice of the Son of Man, to whom the Father hath given authority to execute judgment also, as well as to have life in Himself, and shall come forth, they that have done good unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation," when the thousand years are finished. SAMUEL VALENTINE EDWARDS, B.A., Chaplain Central London District School, Another brother, who withholds his name, writes to us as follows:: "This is a crisis in the work of testifying the Lord's personal coming, which should call for much prayer and very earnest effort. It always has been the most crafty of Satan's devices, when he could not at once destroy any of God's truth, to mix it up with error, and thus neutralize its power. This has been especially the case in respect to the truth of the second advent. The late Edward Irving, brought out that truth with remarkable power; then Satan mixed up with it the folly and wickedness of the unknown tongues. The "Irvingites" now preach very ably and truthfully much truth on the subject; but adḍ to it their own inventions of a "restored apostleship," and the "Elias ministry." The Christadelphians, whose fearful heresies you have (by your able correspondent, Mr. Govett) so fully exposed, hold and preach much truth as to the Lord's coming. And now there is much stumbling of prophetic students by the fearful spread of this annihilation theory. I think it very sad that the most prominent advocate (a periodical) of the Lord's speedy coming, should have publicly avowed, and so boldly stated, these most unscriptural views of the non-eternity of future punish nt. May the Lord guide you; but it seems to me that you, The Voice upon the Mountains, ought to come boldly forward, 1 "stand in the gap," in defence of truth. You have very perly directed attention to the signs of the times. You ght at once to refer your readers to this most fearful sign; I an the defection of so many who have been looked up to as ndard bearers in the church." AN EVENING SOLILOQUY. [The annexed lines have come to hand in a communication ɔm America. Of the authorship I have no knowledge; but cy are sweet and encouraging, and may be made useful by ving a corner in the "Voice."-JAS. S. JENKINS.] "The night cometh, when no man can work.” (John ix. 4.) NE more day's work for Jesus, But heaven is nearer, Fill all my soul to night. One more day's work for Jesus, To speak His beauty; How Christ her life hath bought. One more day's work for Jesus; To shew the glory, In this poor heart of mine. One more day's work for Jesus ; To Him who hath sav'd me. One more day's work for Jesus; But heaven shines clearer, O! blessed work for Jesus! There toil seems pleasure, I'll serve Thee more another day. PASTORAL ADDRESS. BY THE BEV. J. DIXON, IN THE TABERNACLE, DUNSTABLE, BEDFORDSHIRE. (Continued from page 41.) [We regret that the following was not inserted last month, as promised. It was crowded out by pressure of other matter.] HE dispensational characteristics of the Lord's dealings with His people, have likewise been expounded. In the garden of Eden God dealt with man as an innocent creature, and visited him in love. Outside of Eden, and until the judgment of the flood, God left man to pursue his own ways, and only revealed Himself to the small remnant who walked with Him apart from all the principles of man in the earth. After the flood, God set up a new head of humanity in Noah; but his position of lordship was soon lost. The judgment of Babel scattered and divided the people into nations, and soon almost every trace of Divine worship was lost, Then God separated Abraham, and made him the head and representative of a new and distinct people, to whom He committed His oracles and His worship. At first He dealt with them in pure grace, and carried them as on eagle's wings. Afterwards, as a means of testing their condition and exposing the weakness and corruption of their nature, He placed them under law, which they undertook to keep as the ground of their future standing before Him. This covenant of the law was soon broken, and then the principle of mediation was brought in; for Moses their lawgiver now became their intercessor. The transgressions of the people, though often visited by righteous judgment, brought out into fuller manifestation, the mercy and goodness of God. He gave them leaders, and judges, and kings, He sent prophets among them, and finally, He sent to them His well-beloved Son. All alike were slighted, insulted, and rejected. They said of Christ, "This is the heir, come, let us kill him, and the inheritance shall be ours. They did kill Him. The Messiah was cut off, and got nothing, i. e., He did not get the Jewish inheritance. He set the nation aside, and He went back to heaven, whence He has sent down the Holy Ghost to gather to Himself out of all nations a Body and Bride. This is His present work. He will not take up the Jew again until that day when the nation shall say, "Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord." Finally. We have endeavoured to present, in a clear and scriptural light, the blessed hope of our Lord's second coming. To me this appears to be the crowning doctrine of Divine revelation. The two central testimonies of the Scriptures are, "The sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow." Our hope is, that He who has gone to prepare a place for us, will come again, and receive us to Himself; and therefore, as wise and faithful servants, we desire "to wait for God's Son from heaven. I have long thought, that in all our systems of theology there were two missing links, without which the grand scheme of Divine revelation could not hold together. They consist in the heavenly calling of the Church, and in the blessed hope of our Lord's second coming. These two links appear to me, essential to the completeness and unity of the truth of God. They are the golden bands, wrought into the whole texture of the web of inspired truth. They interlace, as in a beautiful piece of network, the entire system of doctrine, precept, and promise contained in the Bible. In themselves they are inseparable; so that he who intelligently embraces the one, has no difficulty in receiving the other. Moreover, when truth is looked at in its dispensational aspects, the great doctrine of our Lord's second advent is seen to be one of the two central stars (the cross being the other) around which all the other stars in the bright harmonious system of revealed truth revolve and cluster. Generally, I believe, where this doctrine is rejected, it is because it is not understood. Many sincere and earnest Christians have objected to it on account of the wild extravagancies and unfounded speculations, with which injudicious and enthusiastic writers have sometimes surrounded it. Those prophetic teachers who have adopted the "year-day system" of interpretation have, we think, fallen into very grave mistakes. They have sought to open the seals of prophecy by events in history and, failing to discriminate between the heavenly calling of the Church, and the earthly calling of the Jews, they have applied the times and seasons, the tribulatious and judgments, which belong_exclusively to the nation of Israel, to the Body and Bride of our heavenly Lord. One cannot wonder that many very thoughtful Christians have rejected this doctrine, when they have looked at it only in the light of these misguidings and unscriptural surroundings. There are however objections to this doctrine of another order, and which appear to me to be themselves unfounded. It has been said that the doctrine is an innovation, a wild and baseless illusion, the dream of an enthusiast, and unworthy of notice. Again, it has been designated unnecessary, enigmatical, and mischievous. We are also told that it creates alarm, it unfits men for the duties of life, it was not taught by the fathers, but is an invention of modern times,-people do'nt like it! it is the occasion of strife in families, and of schism in churches; it is not held by the majority of professing Christians, nor taught by the most popular ministers of the gospel; it is undenominational, and it is altogether out of place! It were impossible this evening to examine and refute these charges seriatim. But surely, with such a terrible array of artillery in full charge against the doctrine, it must be either battered down and shivered to atoms, or else it is invulnerable, being based on the eternal truth of God. If you would take the trouble to examine all the objections which are urged against this doctrine, you would find that, for the most part, they are not drawn from the Word of God; and that those which profess to be drawn from it are founded either on misquoted, or on misapplied texts. On the other hand, if you would investigate and examine what the Scriptures advance in support of the doctrine, you would be perfectly amazed at the number, variety, weight, and clearness of the passages which set it forth. The testimony of Scripture on this subject is irrefragable and inexhaustible. One thing is certain, that among the most thoughtful, intelligent, and pious Christians, the doctrine is extensively and joyfully received. Moreover, where it is held in faith, and a pure conscience, it is connected with a walk and conversation which reflect the light and savour of the grace and purity of heaven. Even our opponents themselves being judges, this doctrine is of immense importance. The Rev. Dr. David Brown, of St. James' Free Church, Glasgow, who a few years ago wrote what is perhaps the most thoughtful and learned treatise against this doctrine which ever proceeded from the pen of man, says, "Premillennialists have done the church a real service, by calling attention to the place which the second advent holds in the Word of God and the scheme of divine truth. This doctrine is THE VERY POLE STAR OF THE CHURCH. That it is so held forth in the New Testament, is beyond dispute. Let anyone do himself the justice to collect and arrange the evidence on the subject, and he will be surprisedif the study be new to him-at once at the copiousness, the variety, and the conclusiveness of it." Again, the immense practical importance of the question is frankly avowed by this writer. "Some may think it," says Dr. Brown, "of small consequence whether this system be true or false; but no one who intelligently surveys its nature and bearings can be of that opinion. Premillennialism is no barren speculation, useless though true, and innocuous though false. It is a school of Scripture interpretation; it infringes upon and affects some of the most commanding points of the Christian faith; and when suffered to work its unimpeded way, it stops not till it has pervaded with its own genious the entire system of one's theology, and the whole tone of his spiritual character, constructing I had almost said, a world of its own; so that holding the same faith, and cherishing the same fundamental hopes as other Christians, he yet sees things through a medium of his own, and finds everything instinct with the life which this doctrine has generated within him." Nothing can be more true than this remarkable and weighty statement; and the immense practical importance of the subject ought at once to be acknowledged by every child of God. Once more, as to the prejudices for and against this doctrine, the testimony of Dr. Brown is remarkable. He tells us, that those who are the most ready to embrace the doctrine are the souls that burn with love to Christ, who, with the mother of Sisera, cry through the lattice: "Why is his chariot so long in coming? why, tarry the wheels of his chariot." And with the spouse: "Make haste, my Beloved, and be thou like to a roe, or a young hart, upon the mountains of spices." "It is indeed singular," says an able reviewer of this work, "that a state of heart so healthful, and so according to the evident desire of the Lord, should predispose in favour of a scheme at variance with the Word of God, crude in its principles, defective as a system, and perilous in its results." On the other hand speaking of the anti-premillennialist tendences which require to be guarded against, Dr. Brown says, "Under the influence of such tendencies, the Inspired Text, as such, presents no rich and exhaustless field of prayerful and delightful investigation: exigetical en quires and discoveries are an uncongenial elements; and whatever Scripture intimations regarding the future destinies of the church and of the world involve events out of the usual range of human occurrencies, or exceeding the anticipations of enlightened Christian sagacity, are atmost instinctively overlooked or softened down. Such minds turn away from premillennialism. "Undoubtedly true," says William Trotter in his review of this book, "but surely unaccountable if, as Dr. Brown thinks, premillennialism be false, unaccountable that the vigorous and spiritual, who burn with love to Christ, should be ready to embrace the doctrine; while the meagre and sapless souls, who search little into and expect less from God's Word, have hardly patience to listen to it. Let the dispassionate judge." (To be concluded in next number.) DISTRIBUTING TO THE NECESSITY OF SAINTS." J T was in the March number of this publication that I made a simple appeal on this subject to my readers, at the close of which I stated that there would be abundant opportunity to use, in the most economical manner, at least £200; and for this sum prayer was daily being made to the Lord. After that appeal had come into the hands of the readers of "The Voice" there was not a day allowed to pass without the Lord being earnestly entreated to incline whom He pleased to respond to that appeal. At the close of six weeks--no one having been personally asked for anything, and no other means used but prayer-I had received £215 17s. 8d., and since that time there has come in £20 1s. 4d. A Christian brother, full of faith, says, "If you had not mentioned a sum, still more would have been sent." If I erred in this, the Lord knows that the need was not limited to that sum, and I pray now very earnestly that He may graciously incline many more still to send in for the help of so important an object. Those who have already helped will, I am sure, join me in that prayer. Those cases already ministered unto need additional help, and other cases are now known. The greatest care has been and will be taken to ascertain that every case is genuine and deserving. No proof is required of the fact that poverty and distress is on the increase. Trade is worse, instead of better. Many in all classes are filled with gloomy forebodings, as they look to the future. What an opportunity for the true and devoted to minister to the Lord in helping the needy and distressed of His people. I am not at liberty to say much more about particular cases, for some of the dear Christians helped, ask me not to " expose their condition;" but the following statement, extracted from a public paper, seemed so like some of the cases the Lord has enabled me to deal with, that I could not refrain from giving it as a specimen. It is not more touching than many stories I could tell, if it was permitted me. "A few days ago I stood by the side of a dying girl; her age was seventeen, and this is her history: She was the youngest child in a large family. Her mother was the widow of a clerk in a city bank, who died suddenly, leaving his wife and children destitute. Her sisters went out as governesses; she remained at home until increasing want rendered it necessary for her, too, to make her own living. She found employment as a daily governess. She walked each day four miles to and from her work, and received a few shillings a week. All day long she toiled, getting no food until she reached home in the evening. Who does not remember the hot summer of last year? Through the glare of that cloudless season this poor child starved on. The sun withered up flower and shrub, and also withered the brain of the daily governess. Day by day her strength melted away; at last she broke down. She could go no more to the daily lesson; it was too late now to give her food, kindly smiles, or more wages. Her cry from morn to night, as she rocked to and fro, presing her hands on her burning forehead, was, Mother, mother, my brain is gone." One day she was found with one hand copying verses from the Bible; with the other she had gashed herself with a knife. It was then I first heard of the case. I advised her mother to send her to a hospital for the insane. My advice was taken. I often went to inquire after her. I found the place full of governesses, and all that kindness could do seemed to be done for them. She soon became a raving lunatic. One day I took two of her sisters to see her. It was their first visit to the hospital, and they brought some flowers to give the patient. They were just in time to see her die. In her cell, with an angel smile on her young face, lay the little governess. She had fought the fight of life to its bitter end, and all was over now; and with a look as though she blessed the world which killed her, her young spirit passed away to God. There was a post mortem examination. Congestion of the brain was the cause of her death--hard work, they said, the cause of the congestion. A little food might have saved her life. "The birds were singing gaily, the sun was shining brightly, as they laid her by her father's side in a quiet country grave. There were few mourners; but some poor children and an old cripple, whom she taught and to whom she read the Bible on Sundays, came some miles to see the last of the little teacher." Help to this part of the work is earnestly invited. 10, Harley-road, St. John's-wood, London, N.W. T. GEORGE BELL. NOTES & QUERIES. Will you insert in The Voice a query concerning a great difficulty which lies in the way of not a few? It is this, which arises out of the comparision of 1 Cor. xv. 52, with other passages. The dead and living in Christ are to change at the last trump. How then can we be looking for Christ's advent and our assembly to Him daily, if the resurrection and rapture of saints are to occur only at the last trump? Mr. Darby cuts the knot by ejecting the meaning of "last," -Mr. Purdon by denying that there is any reference to the trumpets of the Apocalypse. On this I should be glad to hear what light any brother can throw. Yours in Christ, R. G. "Christ in the Pentateuch; or Things Old and New concerning Jesus." By Henry H. Bourn, author of "Letters to the Working Classes on Important Subjects," &c., &c. London: S. W. Partridge and Co., 9, Paternoster-row. 1869. Here are ten chapters on the following important subjects-I. The memorial Name. II. The passover. III. The tabernacle. IV. The cherubim. V. The burnt-offering. VI. The meat-offering. VII, The peace-offering. VIII, The sin. |