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unto them, ye are the sons of the living God.' (Hos. i. 10.)"-Pp. 46, 47.

The object and effect of this is clearly to corroborate the position in its plain sense, that the Lord is coming again among them to effect a national conversion of the Jews, that is, of the generation supposed to be living in the day of his coming upon the earth, and they are represented as gathering towards their beloved land in earnest expectation of the event.

But more,-by this scheme, other events are in reserve for the same time. He proceeds, (p. 19,) "The third event to which I proposed to refer, is what is commonly styled the second call of the Gentiles. The expectation of this rests very much upon Rom. xi. 12—15, from which passage this second call follows the conversion and restoration of the seed of Abraham." Now, not to load my present argument, by entering upon a refutation of this doctrine in this place, I only remark that the meaning is, clearly, that the Lord is to come for this purpose also, to extend the knowledge of his name among that generation of gentile nations who shall then be living and walking in their proper bodies upon the earth. And this is to be a subsequent event to the conversion of the seed of Abraham, as that also shall be subsequent to the first resurrection, when the earth and the works that are therein shall be burned up. I think Mr. Pym mistook the objection which he had to answer; sure it ought to have been this :-for we do not see how these purposes, which Mr. Pym insists upon, may be accomplished consistently with the words of Scrip

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ture. The Lord is to come with the trumpet which shall awake the dead, when those that are alive and remain, believers that is, shall be caught up with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air— when all will be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. "And the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat; the earth also, and all the works that are therein, shall be burned up." How shall the Lord come then to convert the Jews, and gather them into the land of their fathers, and call the Gentiles to the faith again? This Mr. Pym has not attempted to reconcile; nay, he has not even professed to see its incongruity. And this is the same inconsistency which brought together the cleansing of the sanctuary and the last end of the indignation. It is, indeed, but another affirmation of the same thing, as the former event leaves a possible connexion with the conversion of the Jews; the latter, with the coming of the Lord. And this is the substance, and these are the steps of the argument which gives Mr. Pym's book its title of a Word of Warning in the last Days. Readers may remember the passage which I transcribed in chap. ii. from Mr. Pym's conclusion, urging to examine and search closely the calculation of this third chapter; and then, if the conclusion should prove favourable, to search diligently and satisfy yourselves upon that other doctrine, that the national conversion of Israel and Judah are to be brought about only by the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ. "Should this also prove correct (he continues) then be honest enough to confess that

we have not followed cunningly devised fables," (p. 66.) Now they may judge; and, that they may do so the more easily, I will repeat the thread of the argument. The cleansing of the sanctuary is to be accomplished in the year 1847. The same is a consequent event upon the national conversion of the Jews; this, therefore, is of previous occurrence, and the Lord is to come again to effect it. The second appearing of the Lord must therefore be very near indeed. It is clear that any one of the preceding propositions wanting proof, the last, which rests but on the united certainty of all the rest, will then be unconcluded. Readers may judge, upon reference, if Mr. Pym has proved any one of them; nay, if he has not rather adduced most persuasive reasons for the impossibility of such a tissue of events.

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If it were necessary to give any further instance of the inconsequence of Mr. Pym's deductions from Scripture, I might instance, in a passage which I passed over in speaking of the first resurrection, wherein he makes the assertion with authority, "that the resurrection of the dead will be divided into two acts, the one in the morning (Ps. lix. 14) of the day of God, the other at the close or in the evening of that day." Upon referring to the Psalm, I find the words to be, " And in the evening they will return, grin like a dog, and will go about the city." If the Scriptures be dealt with in this manner, I am sure there is no scheme so extravagant that cannot be erected upon the asserted testimony of the word of God.

Thus I have concluded that part of my examina

tion which immediately respects the question of the date. I have judged that it were proper to pursue the examination yet further, into the general doctrines of the book; which, unfortunately for conciseness, will require me to allude again to some of the positions already noticed; and what I more regret, the treatment is such as will require me to show the impropriety of some of the assertions, and of the method of reasoning, when I wish that I had only to discuss the doctrines, and the legitimate interpretation of the passages from which the doctrines are derived. How unhappy the exercise has made me, would probably be hardly believed if I should speak of it.

PART II.

THE MILLENARY DOCTRINES OF MR. PYM'S BOOK.

CHAPTER I.

The coming of the Lord, how treated.

THE title of Mr. Pym's first chapter is, " An Endeavour to show that the next Advent of our Lord Jesus Christ is Personal." In these words I am sorry to say there is great subtilty. I could, indeed, have little to say upon the subject, but for the manner in which Mr. Pym has obscured it.

For who doubts that the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, &c., as announced in so many places of Scripture? But Mr. Pym not only employs much argument to prove the doctrine, but has even asserted that it is an article much disputed, and intimates that there is a general desire in the church to explain away this catholic doctrine, that "He shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the quick and the dead," the daily recited creed of all the nations and sects, as I should suppose, in Christendom. Having premised that every believer in the Bible must confess that he will come again, he says:-" Our chief object, in the present chapter, is to ascertain the character of this coming. Some say it will be personal: an actual appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ in his proper person. Others say it will not; and upon this issue is joined.” (P. 7.) It is, indeed, somewhat shocking to hear a minister of the church propound this as a disputable or disputed question, to those who must so often repeat, in the Te Deum, "We believe that thou shalt come to be our Judge." What are the unlearned, for whom the book is written, who alone indeed are liable to be perplexed and misled by it, what can they think, but that there certainly exists in those who have the guardianship of sound doctrine, a design to impugn the truth of that which themselves have always held as an object of unquestioning faith, when they are led to believe that it is necessary for Mr. Pym, as a solitary individual at this age of the world, to reason for the doctrine that the Saviour shall come again in person? What mistrust shall they not be induced to enter

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