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1. What do you call the Divine Kingdom on earth?
A time will come when all the people of the earth will be united under one
paternal government, and when all mankind will acknowledge the ONE and ONLY TRUE God, and
serve Him along in truth and sincereity.
"And deliverers shall go up to Mount Zion, to judge the mount of
Esau; and the kingdom shall be the Lord's." Obad. i. 21.
"And the Lord shall be King over all the earth: on that day the Lord
alone shall be acknowledged, and his name shall also be ONE." Zech. xiv. 9.
2. In what is this description different from the present state of the
world?
In this: that at present parts of mankind are governed by unjust and
tyrannical laws, not founded upon the law of God, but contradicting it in every respect;
and that the knowledge of true religion is confined to a very limited number of human
beings; whereas the greater part acknowledge not the ONE Supreme, but invest Him with
qualities foreign to his being, or worship images and idols of their own invention.
3. Do you think that this state will be altered? and in what light do you
look upon the Revelation at Sinai?
As I said, I believe that nothing but the precepts of the Lord will be the
rule of conduct for all men, and that they will live under a government acknowledged to
proceed from Him; and I believe likewise, that the revelation of the law on Sinai, though
at the time of its promulgation it was only given to the Israelites, will at that period
be the only law by the regulations of which all men will be governed.
"Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the Lord, to
serve Him, and to love the name of the Lord to be his servants, every one that keepeth the
Sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant: even them will I bring unto my
hold mountain, and I will make them rejoice in my house of prayer; their burnt-offerings
and their sacrifices shall be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house
of prayer for all nations." Isaiah lvi. 6, 7.
4. Upon what reasons do you ground this hope?
Upon the promises of the Lord made through the mouth of his servants the
prophets. The other promises of the Lord have always seen their fulfillment, and
consequently no one who has faith in his Maker can doubt the fulfillment of this glorious
hope for all mankind.
5. Through whose agency will the Divine reign on earth be established?
Through the Messiah, or the anointed of God, who is to descend from the
family of David; it is therefore also called the reign or kingdom of the Messiah.
"And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a
scion from his roots shall sprout forth. And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him;
the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of
knowledge and the fear of the Lord; and it shall make him quick of understanding in the
fear of the Lord; and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, nor decide according
to the hearing of his ears. But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and decide
with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his
mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. And righteousness shall
be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his hips.--and on that day it
shall be the root out of Jesse, who shall stand for an ensign to the nations; after him
shall the gentiles inquire, and his rest shall be glorious." Isaiah xi. 1-10.
"Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, Behold the man, BRANCH
shall be his name, even from his descendants shall he grow up, and he shall build the
temple of the Lord: yes, he shall build the temple of the Lord, and he shall bear the
glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and the priest also shall be upon his
throne, and the counsel of peace shall be between them both." Zech. vi. 12, 13.
6. What do you understand now by "the king Messiah?"
The Messiah is to be a person, a human being, sent by God to do those acts
which He purposes should be done on earth at the time of the redemption. He is to be
endowed with wisdom more than any other man; with superior intelligence, and knowledge
more penetrating than were ever given before; and his government is to be terrible only to
the wicked, but peaceful and benevolent to the just, no matter how poor or humble they may
be.
7. Is he to be independent of God's law? or is he to do, like other
messengers of the Lord, just what he is sent to do under the limitation and rule of the
law?
The Messiah is to be entirely the servant of the Lord, under the law, just
as every other Israelite; he is to do nothing which the others ar enot permitted to do;
and his duties will be pointed out and strictly defined. As such therefore he is himself
accountable, and can accordingly have no power to be a mediator between God and man,
farther than Moses and the other prophets and pious men of our people were. In accordance
with this view the prophet says:
"And David my servant shall be king over them; and they shall have
all one shapherd: they shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes and do
them." Ezek. 37:24.
"And the prince shall enter by the way of the porch of that gate
without, and shall stand by the door-post of the gate, and the priests shall prepare his
burnt-offering and peace-offerings, and he shall worship at the threshold of the gate, and
then go forth; but the gate shall not be shut till the evening. Likewise the people of the
land shall worship at the door of this gate before the Lord on the Sabbaths and on the new
moons." Ezek. xlvi. 2, 3.
8. What will take place when the reign of the Messiah is established?
The only pure faith, the law promulgated by God, will spread itself in its
utmost purity, free from all admixture which, in process of time, may have been mixed up
with its precepts, over all the earth, and be the only governing principle of all hearts:
all men will then acknowledge the Only One, the everlasting God, as the sole object of
their worship, and love each other as friends and brothers.
"And it shall come to pass afterwards, that I will pour out my spirit
over all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream
dreams, your young men shall see visions; also upon the servants and upon the
maid-servants even, in those days, will I pour out my spirit." Joel. iii. 1,2.
"Then will I change unto the nations a pure language, that they may
all call on the name of the Lord, and serve Him with one consent." Zeph. iii. 10.
9. What will the Messiah especially effect for Israel?
He will be the means of the making of a new covenant between the Lord and
Israel, and through his agency the conversion of the whole people to righteousness will be
effected, in consequence of which change the Lord will forgive their sins, and be no more
angry with them for their former misconduct.
"For a short moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will
I gather thee. In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with
everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith thy Redeemer the Lord." Isaiah
liv. 7, 8.
"And the redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from
transgression in Jacob, saith the Lord. As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith
the Lord: My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall
not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy children, nor out of the mouth of
thy children's children, saith the Lord, from henceforth and for ever." Isa. lix. 20,
21.
"Behold! days are coming, saith the Lord, when I will make with the
house of Israel, and with the house of Judah, a new covenant. Not like the covenant which
I made with their fathers, on the day when I took hold of their hand to bring them out of
the land of Egypt, which my covenant they violated, and I felt disgust for them, saith the
Lord; for this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those
days, saith the Lord: I have placed my law in their inmost part, and upon their heart I
will write it, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall not
teach any more one his neighbor and one his brother, saying, 'Know ye the Lord;' for they
all shall know me, from their small to their great ones, saith the Lord, for I will pardon
their iniquity, and their sin I will no more remember." Jer. 31:31-34.
10. Is there any other consequences to arise to Israel?
We are also promised that the people of Israel, now scattered over all the
earth, are to be assembled again into one state in the land of Palestine, where they are
to be governed by the king Messiah, under the rule of the divine law, as were their
forefathers in the time of the prophet Moses and at subsequent periods. The divisions and
quarrels of the different sections of the country are to cease forever; and the outcasts
even of the nation, they who have lost the name of Israel, no matter where scattered,
shall be brought back from the most distant countries to the land of Canaan, which shall
then be free from the plague of ferocious beasts and noxious reptiles, and be blessed with
fruitfulness and plenty, and no one shall make afraid or disturb the people, who have so
often been the object of scorn and contempt to their enemies; for these too will then
acknowledge that the children of Israel are indeed the beloved of the Lord.
"And it shall come to pass, when all these things have come upon
thee, the blessing and the curse which I have set before thee, and thou shalt call them to
mind among all the nations whither the Lord thy God shall have driven thee, and thou shalt
return unto the Lord thy God, and shalt obey his voice according to all that I command
thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thy heart and with all thy soul: that then
the Lord thy God will restore thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will
return and gather thee from all the nations whither the Lord thy God shall have scattered
thee. If thy outcasts be at the utmost parts of heaven, from there will the Lord thy God
gather thee, and from there will He fetch thee; and the Lord thy God will bring thee into
the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it; and He will do thee good,
and multiply thee above thy fathers." Deut. xxx. 1-5.
"And it shall come to pass on that day, the Lord will put forth his
hand again, the second time, to recover the remnant of his people, which shall remain,
from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from
Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. And He will set up an ensign for
the nations, and will gather the outcasts of Israel, and gather the dispersed of Judah
from the four corners of the earth. The envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and the
adversaries of Judah shall be cut off; Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not
vex Ephraim." Isaiah xi. 11-13.
"And speak to them, Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I take the
children of Israel from between the nations whither they have wandered, and I will gather
them from around, and bring them unto their own land. And I will make them into one
nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one kind shall be to them all as kind,
and they shall be no more two nations, nor be any more divided into two kingdoms.
And they shall not defile themselves any more with their idols, and with their
abominations, and with all their transgressions; and I will save them from all their
places, where they have sinned, and I will purify them, and they shall be my people, and I
will be their God. And my servant David shall be king over them, and one shepherd shall be
to them all, and in my mudgments they shall walk, and my statutes they shall observe and
do them. And they shall dwell upon the land which I gave to my servant Jacob, in which
your fathers have dwelt, they and their children and their children's children for ever,
and my servant David shall be prince to them for ever. And I will make with them a
covenant of peace, an everlasting covenant it shall be with them; and I will place them,
and multiply them, and fix my sanctuary among them for ever. And the nations shall know,
that I am the Lord who sanctify Israel."* Exek. 37:21-28.
*This paragraph has been given at unusual length, in order
to give the whole doctrine at one view. If considered best it might be merely read to the
class without getting it by heart.
11. What will be the external situation of this kingdom?
Peace and good-will shall prevail over all the earth; because the blessing
of God and the knowledge of his law shall be the universal portion of all mankind.
"They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain; for the
earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea."
Isaiah xi. 9.
"And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and
while they are yet speaking, I will hear. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and
the lion shall eat straw like the bullock, and dust shall be the serpent's food. They
shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the Lord." Ibid. lxv. 24,
25.
"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; nation shall not lift up the sword against nation, nor 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." Micah iv.
3, 4.
12. Give me some reasons and extracts from Scripture to prove that the
religion of the Bible shall be the universal religion.
To judge from probability alone, we should say that the law made known at
Sinai would be the law of all the world at the time of the Divine rule on earth.
For in the Lord there is no change of purpose, no want of firmness; and what He therefore
declares to be right at one time must be so always. But Scripture actually declared that
our religion, at least a part thereof, shall be the sole law and religion of all men; and
it is this chiefly which will make the time of the Messiah the period of universal
blessing and peace.
"And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the
house of the Lord shall be established at the top of the mountains, and it shall be
exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and
say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of
Jacob; and he shall teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths; for out of Zion
shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem." Isaiah ii. 3, 4.
"And the Lord alone shall be exalted on that day. And the idols He
shall utterly abolish." Ibid. 17, 18.
"And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the
nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King,
the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles." Zech. xiv. 16.
13. When is the time of the Messiah?
The prophets speak of the time as surely coming, but have not given us
sufficient means to fix the precise period; the day is known to the Lord alone; but it is
in our power to hasten its coming, through virtue and the fear of the Lord. But if even we
should persevere in our wickedness and be undeserving: still God will bring about the
fulfillment of his word at the time beyond which the redemption of the world is not to be
delayed.
"Thus saith the Lord, Keep ye judgment, and do justice; for my
salvation is near to come, and my righteousness to be revealed. Blessed is the man that
doth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it; that keepeth the Sabbath from
polluting it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil." Isaiah lvi. 1, 2.
"I the Lord will hasten it in its time." Ibid. lx. 22.
"Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God, Not
for your sake do I this, O house of Israel, but for the sake of my holy name which ye have
profanced among the nations whither ye went." Ezek. 36:22.
"But it shall be one day, which is known only to the Lord, not day
nor night; but it shall come to pass, that at evening-time it shall be light." Zech.
xiv. 7.
14. But tell me, how are we to recognize the time when it does arrive? how
are we to guard against imposition by designing men, who may assume falsely the dignity of
Messiah?
Whenever all the signs given by the prophets take place, and all the
predictions are accomplished, then, and only then, has the Messiah actually come; and the
person who is gifted with the spirit of God as laid down by Isaiah will be known as the
true anointed; for so it was with Moses, whom all the people believed to be the prophet of
the Lord, because he fulfilled the message with which he was sent. But the time of the
Messiah will also be farther distinguished by the previous coming of Elijah the prophet,
who will prepare the way for the renovation of mankind.
"Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way
before me; and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple; and the
messenger of the covenant whom ye delight in, behold, he cometh, saith the Lord of
hosts." Malachi iii. 1.
"Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the
great and dreadful day of the Lord; and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the
children, and the heart of the children to their fathers." Ibid. 23, 24.*
*As the doctrine of the Messiah has been but briefly given
in the text, the teacher would do well to read at least some of the Bible passages quoted
more at length from the Bible, in order to give the scholar a more complete idea than the
limits of a work like this permit.
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