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(Continued from page 208.)
LETTER V.
On the Formation of The Union
of the Congregations of Israelites in the United
States.
(Exposition of the Diving Plan
for the Government of Man, Continued.)
GENESIS.
Were it believed that all
souls, after separation from the body, will live in
consciousness of the life held on earth, and that,
according to some, they will have to appear before
the great Judge, and from Him receive reward or
punishment, according to their deeds in the flesh:
an opinion at variance with scriptural authority,
and with the attribute of divine justice, a great
difficulty would at once arise, for properly
comprehending the divine economy.
For, though God has declared
that He reserves to himself “to be gracious to whom
He will be gracious, and to show mercy on whom He
will show mercy,”* we yet cannot reconcile, with the
notions imbibed of his revealed attributes, that He
would punish eternally the multitudes of human
beings that, while living in the flesh, and having
no knowledge of Him or of his laws, were in the
habit of constantly committing acts contrary to the
tenor of those laws, all the time believing they
were guilty of no wrong in so doing! or, that He
would reward others who, though guilty of no actual
breach of his laws, had never in this life performed
a single, act that, to human comprehension,
entitled them to it.
Conscience could not guide
benighted creatures; for conscience must have for a
basis some correct standard of right and wrong, by
which man might be able, internally, to judge the
nature of his thoughts and actions.
The conscience of beings
uninstructed in the correct standard supplied by
God, would not accuse them for doing that which, to
the better taught sons of Adam, would at once be
felt as most reprehensible.
Though we keep in mind “that
the secret things belong unto the Lord Our God; but
those things which are revealed belong unto us, and
to our children for ever,Ӡ still, we are encouraged
to believe the <<259>>views we are taking of this
very difficult question are correct, and supported
by the revelation vouchsafed to Daniel upon the very point:
“And many of then that sleep in the dust shall
awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame
and everlasting contempt; and they that be wise
shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and
they that turn many to righteousness as the stars
for ever and ever.”‡ By which, we are informed, that
not all, but many only of those that sleep in the
dust shall be called to render an account, in
another world, for their deeds in this.
Physiologists will have it,
that the principle by which all animals, man
included, think and move, is merely material; and
that, on the death of the body, there is no longer
any means for producing those effects; whence, they
conclude, the principle dissolves with the body.
If this be granted, as respects
the principle common to all animals, that is to say,
the faculty of thinking to a certain extent, and of
self movement: yet as, when the body is resolved
into its constituent elements, there is no loss or
waste of a single atom or particle, it may be
inferred, likewise, that neither is there is any
waste or loss of the principle in question, matter
though it be, but which, being of a purer texture
than matter in a grosser state, enables animals to
set their bodies in motion, to obey their instincts
in supplying their wants, and even to evince, in
some kinds, a faculty approaching to reason, but as
far below that principle understood to be the soul
of man, as matter is conceived to be inferior to
spirit.
But that consciousness of
identity and of pre-existence which constitute a
being capable of existing in a spiritual world,
would, with the body’s dissolution, be lost by man’s
own indifference to its value; or it might not be
attainable by beings who, uninformed in a correct
standard of right and wrong, might not be amenable
for acts performed in the body, and, consequently,
subjected to neither punishment nor reward in an
after state; while the souls of those having
cognizance of God’s laws, and even of those who,
through the witnesses alone borne by the works of
the creation to the existence of a God, have acquired a kind of
instinctive though imperfect sense of those
principles that constitute conscience, are not
suffered to escape, but will, hereafter, be called
upon to render an account of their conduct here,
when according to its tenor, reward or punishment
will be dispensed to them.
Adam’s disobedience probably
placed him among those of the first category; it
may, therefore, be permitted to interpret the
warning, that <<260>>on the day he eat of the tree
of knowledge of good and evil, “Dying he should
die,” as meant to inform him, that, unless by
repentance he procured remission of that penalty,
the day of the dissolution of his body would be that
of his spiritual existence also; which we think is
implied in his subsequent sentence, “In the sweat of
thy face, shalt thou eat bread, till thou return
unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken; for
dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.”
(Gen. iii. 19.)
Matter, when unconnected with
the living principle, common to all animals, is
totally unconscious, and that principle which
constitutes animal life, if understood or admitted
to be material, possesses consciousness to a certain
extent, only while united to the body, and is lost
on the body’s dying. But widely different is that
other and far superior principle understood as the
living spirit or soul of man.
The Hebrew text distinguishes
these principles by two distinctly different words;
one signifying the principle by which all animals
breathe, live, and move, which, with the dissolution
of the body, ceases to act; the other, signifying
the spirit, or living soul imparted to man only.
But God has proclaimed that “He
is merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and
abundant in goodness and truth,” (Exodus xxxiv. 6.)
Therefore, as Adam lived many years after his act of
disobedience, repentance, and perseverance in a
right course, subsequently, may have procured him
remission of the penalty, and forgiveness of his
sin. A good and merciful Creator abandons not his
children on a first offence, delights not in the
death of sinners, but affords ample time for
repentance and amendment. In proof of this being the
beneficent nature of his plan for the government of
man, many instances from the Scriptures might be
adduced, as well as from the experience of many an
erring soul at this day; but we consider it
sufficient, on the present occasion, to refer to the
whole of the eighteenth chapter of Ezekiel, which
not only sets forth God’s merciful dispensation,
but, likewise, affords additional and convincing
proofs that the expression “Dying thou shalt die” is
meant to inform man, that in his sin, on the day the
body dies, the soul, united to it, shalt likewise
cease to live, or live in a state of “shame and
everlasting contempt.” (Daniel xii. 12.)
In the explanation now about to
be given of their meaning, we shall continue to
treat the sentences pronounced upon the guilty pair
and their deluder, as lessons, clothed in allegory,
to warn not only Adam and his partner, but their
posterity likewise, of the dire consequences that
inevitably follow, even in this world, the want of
faith in the wisdom and goodness of God, and of its
still more fatal effect in causing spiritual death.
<<261>>
Under the figure of a serpent
may be understood that impious course of man when he
presumptuously assumes to himself the judging of his
Maker’s acts and will, either through want of faith,
notwithstanding all that had been done to instill it
into him, or through being bent on gratifying some
unlawful passion or appetite. He then shuts his eyes
to that which should have guarded him against
indulging in vain theories of his own, and
questioning the goodness and wisdom of Him who
formed him. For, as the consequence of these, he
will give up no feeling, passion, or appetite,
however the gratifying of them may be in direct
violation of the laws of God.
Such was the case with Eve,
whose subtle mode of reasoning, ascribed to the
serpent, and aptly represented by the naturally
tortuous course of that reptile, was resorted to by
her to gratify an improper curiosity or unlawful
appetite, in the course of which, she presumptuously
questions the justice and wisdom of her Maker.
The figure is still kept in the
curse pronounced upon the serpent, as showing the
evil consequences attending man’s departure from a
straight-forward course. Hence all the real evils
that afflict the human race! Hence the growth of
unrighteousness of all shapes and hues! Hence the
mistaking or willfully misinterpreting the divine
attributes! Hence, at length, the resorting to the
worship of human beings as gods and goddesses. Of
all descriptions of animals, and even of stocks and
stones!!
Such are the effects
represented by the most appropriate figures in which
the curse pronounced on the serpent is recorded.
“And the Lord God said unto the
serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art
cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of
the field: upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust
shalt thou eat all the days of thy life.”*
Which may be thus interpreted:
upon man’s presumptuously reasoning against his
Maker’s acts and commands, such consequences will
ensue as will degrade him below every other living
thing. For, sin will be sure to enter where faith is
wanting, so debasing man that, while under its
influence, he cannot be said to walk erect, but will
resemble the serpent, a reptile, crawling on this
earth, the vilest instead of the noblest of God’s
creatures.
Sin produces no aliment for the
soul; it is as dust, affording no nourishment to a
spiritual nature, but rather kills it; and so long
as man is under its influence so long does he feed
on dust. “Dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy
life.”—Sin is here addressed.
<<262>>
But see the continued goodness
of God, even to his fallen creatures, in the
concluding portion of the sentence pronounced on the
serpent: “And I will put enmity between thee and the
woman, and between thy seed and her seed; he shall
bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel.”*
How truly is it seen, that sin
and wickedness are continually waging war with man’s
better feelings; for, through the constant care of
his Maker to keep alive within him the seeds of
virtue, he acquires an instinctive distaste for
vice, though too often betrayed into its snares by
his passions and appetites;—constantly quarrelling
with himself for wrongdoing;—ever proposing to
amend, and ever relapsing into wrong, until, through
the very reason whose perverted use will have
wrought infinite mischiefs, the folly of persevering
in so unprofitable a course will have been perceived
as well as felt. When man abandons vice and
unrighteousness, and returns penitent to his God,
who will heal his wounded spirit, and confirm him in
his virtuous resolves, virtue will have triumphed
over vice, and the head of the serpent will leave
been bruised: though, until then, sin and its
baneful effects, represented by the figure of the
serpent wounding the heel, will have impeded, or
caused man to make slow progress towards attaining
the perfection of his nature here.
We are the more confirmed in
the correctness of the interpretation given of the
sentence pronounced on the serpent, because it is in
perfect keeping with the whole teaching of the
Scriptures;—with the facts disclosed in the history
of man, sacred and profane;—and with the
predictions, through the prophets, that a propitious
day awaits man, when coming to the conviction that
his happiness here, and his aspirations for a
happier hereafter, can be realized only through a
perfect faith in his Maker, an ardent love and
proper fear of Him, he will no more deviate from the
course laid down for him.
It will easily be inferred from
what has preceded, that many have been saved, in
this life, a world of evils, and gone to enjoy a
blissful state in the realms above,—nor would such
consist of those only who had received and obeyed
the laws of God, but of the heathen and gentile
likewise who, through our limited faculties, might
have been deemed unworthy their Maker’s favour, but
whom, notwithstanding, he may have been pleased to
include in his gracious announcement, “I will be
gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show
mercy on whom I will show mercy.Ӡ Nor need it be
repeated, that the whole <<263>>eighteenth chapter
of Ezekiel goes clearly to prove, that the
disobedience of the first pair entailed not sin on
the whole human race, nor consequently that all are
born under its penalty; for, by the express
declaration of a just and merciful Creator, every
man will have to answer for his own sin; nor is it
in the power of any but Him to redeem or Save!*
The sentence pronounced upon
Eve has fixed the destiny of her daughters. The
lesson is most impressive, and cannot too early be
instilled into the female mind.
“Unto the woman he said, I will
greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in
sorrow shalt thou bring forth children; and thy
desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule
over thee.Ӡ
Before Eve’s transgression, a
perfect equality of rule with her husband may have
been her due, but which she forfeited by not alone
transgressing, herself, a command of God, but
inducing her husband to join in the act of
disobedience.
Could Eve have foreseen the
miseries to which her daughters would be subjected,
by man’s deviation from the laws of God, far would
she have been to set the first example for her sex’s
tempting man to sin, for great are the sufferings of
woman from man’s vices; still her desire to her
husband has been made an instinct so utterly out of
her power to counteract or control, that she is
found submissively bending to the storms his
brutality and recklessness often expose her to. In
weal or in wo, she is constantly at his side. The
whole world may condemn, abandon, and consign him
over to an ignominious death; it is all one to her
she never deserts, never accuses him. Treated well
or ill by him, she still clings to, still worships
the idol she has erected in her heart. With her
flowing tresses she wipes away his scalding
tears;—on her bosom she pillows his throbbing
temples, and aching head, lulling him to sleep that
he may, if only for a brief period, forget his
sorrows or his shame.
Such are the affections and
qualities given to woman, to redeem the fault of the
first of the sex, and of some of her daughters
likewise, who, forgetting their own and their sex’s
interest, continue to tempt man from his allegiance
to his Maker. But the instinct of self-preservation
has been too strongly implanted by a beneficent
Creator in the breast of by far the greater number
of the sex, who instinctively know that their
interest lies in the encouraging religious feelings
and obedience to God’s laws in their husbands, and
instilling the same into their offspring.
<<264>>
Eve was not long before she
tasted of the bitterness of the fruits of the tree
of knowledge of good and evil. She had given the
first example of not hearkening to the voice of her
God. Cain, her first-born, by a similar trespass,
slays his brother Abel, and the mother loses, at
once both sons; Abel by the hand of his brother, and
Cain, “who went out from the presence of the Lord.”*
The depth of her sorrow at her
privations proved but too well the truth of the
prediction, “In sorrow shalt thou bring forth
children,Ӡ and was indicated by her exclaiming on
bringing forth Seth, “God hath appointed me another
seed instead of Abel whom Cain slew.”‡
Adam's sentence remains to be
considered.
“And unto Adam he said, Because
thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and
hast eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee,
saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the
ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it
all the days of thy life; thorns, also, and thistles
shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the
herb of the field. In the sweat of thy face shalt
thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground;
for out of it wast thou taken; for dust thou art,
and unto dust shalt thou return.Ӥ
Man, wanting faith, and
presumptuously scanning his Maker’s acts and
providence, loses himself in a thousand fantasies of
his own, leading to innumerable mischiefs. Thus, the
earth, destined originally to have been an extensive
Eden, becomes disfigured and cursed by man’s
wickedness, typified by thorns and thistles.
That the ground is cursed, may
likewise mean that, in order to recall man to his
duty, those visitations by drought, floods,
earthquakes, and storms, to which the earth is now
subjected, have been made more destructive and
disastrous than would have been the case, had man’s
course been more in accordance with what was
intended.
These visitations and
convulsions of nature may, then, be considered as
beneficent provisions to humble and impress man with
a sense of his dependence on a Supreme Being,
through which he may be induced to return to his
duty.
Though obliged to win his bread
“in the sweat of his face,” his Creator has yet made
that bread sweet which is gained by honest
industry: while he is reminded of his inability to
procure it, solely, by any labour or industry he
might employ, if the countenance of his God is
withdrawn and the showers of heaven are withheld
from the earth.
In sorrow many do, indeed, eat
of that bread, not through God’s
<<265>>will, but through man’s own unrighteousness and
wrong-doing towards his fellow-man, contrary to
their Maker’s intention and express commandments.
Thus, it is not the Universal
Father who afflicts us, but we who afflict ourselves
and each other.
The remaining portion of the
sentence pronounced upon Adam,, having reference to
a spiritual death, incurred by man’s shutting
himself out from the only means by which his soul
can be awakened here to life and saved from a life
“of shame and everlasting contempt” in an after
state, has been already fully treated.
The sending forth of Adam from
the garden of Eden, requires to be more amply
treated than it has yet been done.
“And the Lord God said, Behold
the man has become as one of us to know good and
evil; and now, lest he put forth his hand and take
also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for
ever: therefore, the Lord God sent him forth from
the garden of Eden to till the ground whence he was
taken. So he drove out the man; and he placed at the
east of the garden the Cherubim, and a flaming sword
which turned every way to keep the way of the tree
of life.”*
As nothing unholy can enter the
kingdom of heaven, man must here acquire the first
elements of purity and holiness, to qualify him to
be received there. The flaming sword placed to guard
the way of the tree of life being taken
figuratively, as implying that necessity.
In order to force man to have
recourse to the only means by which he can acquire
purity and holiness, he is sent out of Eden to
experience, in a world beyond its bounds, the
sufferings attending the want of faith in his God,
and the consequent neglect and violation of his
laws.
Such means for forcing man to
return to sound principles could not be used within
the bounds of Eden; because that was a place of
heavenly peace, hallowed by the presence of Deity
himself, into which sin, in no more extended sense
than in the disobedience of the first pair, would be
permitted to enter and pollute it.
Had man been allowed to remain
in those sacred precincts, there would have been no
opportunity for his becoming acquainted with the
deformities of vice and the disorders it produces,
in order that through their effects witnessed by
him, and the contrast they present to the beauties
of virtue, he might detest the first and love the
latter.
By remaining in Eden he might
overrate his powers, and even consider himself a
god, and presumptuously argue upon good and evil
<<266>>according to his limited perceptions of those
principles by which he would be led to imagine he
could have established a system void of all
blemishes, constituted wholly of good with no
admixture of evil.
It is easy to perceive how this
would have operated to man’s never desiring to hold
communion with his Maker, and precluded his ever
acquiring those feelings towards Him that conduce to
the awakening of the soul to life; though it would
certainly cause him, while he continued in that
state of blindness and separation from his God “to
live for ever,” but it would be, as may be gathered
from the figure used in the text, in error during
his life here, producing spiritual death, however,
on the body’s dissolution, contrary to the
beneficent intention of his Creator.
Adam and his wife, on
committing their trespass, became conscious that
they were naked, the nakedness produced by sin; and,
incapable to meet their Maker with the erect
countenance of innocence, they laid themselves from
his presence.*
Immediately after pronouncing
sentence upon. them, it is said that “Unto Adam also
and to his wife, did the Lord God make coats of
skins and clothed them.Ӡ
We take these passages to be
beautiful illustrations of the effects of sin, which
expose man to shame and cut him off from his Maker.
It has been wisely ordained
that shame shall ever be the accompaniment of guilt,
from the stings of which, a kind and loving Creator
endeavours to save man; and the clothing of Adam and
Eve with coats of skin may mean, that by constantly
impressing man with virtuous and righteous
principles, he would be clothed with the most
effectual means of defence against the assaults of
his own passions and appetites and the temptations
of others, into that world into which he is sent as
to a school, to learn, through the evils he would
there experience and witness, to appreciate the
peace and purity of the place out of which he was
ejected.
Our exposition, thus far proceeded in, already
discloses the principles upon which the divine plan
for the government of man is founded. All that
follows in the Scriptures are amplifications of the
plan, and illustrations of its operation, to be
given at some future, but not remote period, should
we be spared, and the subject, treated as we are
doing, prove acceptable to our co-religionists.
Through a circular, just come
to hand, it appears that a material change has taken
place in the original plan for the meeting proposed
<<267>>by Dr. Wise, which is now to be constituted
by delegates only from the congregations, by which
arrangement we shall be precluded attending the
meeting, as we purposed doing, in our private
capacity, unshackled by any one; for we have neither
expectation nor pretension to be appointed delegate
by any congregation.
The circumstance, however, is
quite unimportant, because, foreseeing that
something might occur to prevent our attending the
meeting, we responded to the call for ideas on the
union, by submitting, through the Occident, our
sentiments upon it in this series of letters.
Having endeavoured at
perspicuity, we trust the views we have put forth
will have been understood, that they may prove
serviceable to the cause we have at heart, and,
perhaps deemed worthy of attention at the meeting
whenever it takes place.
A. A. LINDO.
Cincinnati, March 22, 5609. |
