To the Editor of “The Bible Treasury.”
Dear brother, The above, as you are doubtless aware, is the title of a Fourth Appendix to the recently published volume of “Warburtonian Lectures” by the Rev. E. B. Elliott. A considerable part of this Appendix is occupied with a review of the Futurist controversy, in reference to which Mr. E. notices, among other works, a volume of mine, the title of which he misquotes, and the authorship of which he attributes to another. May I ask a page in “The Treasury” for the purpose of correcting these mistakes? In doing so, I would further, if I may, make a remark or two on Mr. E.'s quotations from the book referred to, as well as on the general question of Apocalyptic interpretation.
The title of the volume quoted by Mr. Elliott is “Plain Papers on Prophetic and other Subjects.” Mr. E. calls it “Plain Tracts on Prophetic Subjects,” and attributes it (with the qualifying clause, however, “as I believe”) to “Mr. Macintosh.” The fact is, the volume was published anonymously, without the least desire on my part for its authorship to be known; but as the French translation of it in two volumes, by M. Recordon, was, without my knowledge, published with my name, their remains no motive for longer withholding it in this country. And as I perceive the “London Monthly Review” has attributed the work to my valued friend, the author of “Outlines of Typical Teaching,” a series of papers now appearing in that Review, it seems desirable, once for all, to acknowledge that the sole responsibility for the work devolves on your unworthy correspondent, whose name will be found at the close of this letter. I have no complaint to make of any one; I am only ashamed to have occupied so much space with so insignificant a subject.
The subject of Apocalyptic interpretation, however, is far from being insignificant; and whatever may be the amount of present differences of judgment among prayerful, diligent, students of prophecy, we may well rejoice in the amount of attention which is being directed to it, and we may surely trust the great Head of the Church to bless the calm, dispassionate discussion of points on which differences exist, to the gradual clearing up of the subject, so that seeing light in His light, we may see “eye to eye” with one another also. It ought to be easy to us all to consider what may be advanced against those views which may have commended themselves to our own minds; and should such counter-arguments have real weight, it should be equally easy to acknowledge our mistakes, and bow to the truth by which our views are corrected and enlarged.
Mr. E. re-asserts, in the Appendix above-named, the objection urged by him in former works to that which is known as “Futurism” in the exposition of the Book of Revelation, and states his conviction that they have not been answered in any works on the subject which have since appeared. Would it not have been well for him, as he does quote “Plain Papers on Prophetic Subjects,” and has evidently read the volume, to notice the reply afforded by the following paragraph to one of his chief reasons for the historical mode of interpretation? His committing to notice what follows is the most remarkable, as he does, for another purpose, quote the very context of the paragraph itself:-
“The weightiest argument urged by those who maintain the exclusively historic application of chaps. 4—19, is, that to interpret them of the future, leaves an interval between the days in which they were written, and the commencement of their application, longer than we can suppose would have been left without any information as to the events by which it should be marked. The whole force of this argument rests on the assumption that it is in chaps. 4-19, alone, that such information is to be sought for or expected. We have the information in chaps. 2 and 3. The argument is, therefore, without value and without force. Nay more, it suggests an argument of real weight in favor of the futurism of chaps. 4-19. Seeing that we have, in chaps. 2 and 3, that which applies to the whole period from the apostles' days to the excision of the professing body, why should we have it repeated in the succeeding chapters? Further, chap. 9 begins the declaration of 'things which must be after these;' and as 'the things which are,' exhibited in chaps. 2 and 3 are still in existence, it is clearly not in the present or past—not in a period contemporaneous with 'the things which are'—that we must look for 'the things which must be after these.'“ (Plain Papers, &c., pp. 350, 351).
Now, who that has read the fourth edition of Mr. E.'s Horse, and especially his “Review of the Futurists' Apocalyptic Counter Scheme,” in the latter part of vol. 4, does not remember that his first argument is “The supposed instant plunge of the Apocalyptic prophecy into the distant future of the consummation.” With such a “plunge” the futurism of “Plain Papers,” &c., is not chargeable; and here I must beg the reader to remember that the paragraph just quoted from the volume is merely a statement of the position maintained, not of the reasonings by which it is supported. For these reasonings I must refer to the work itself; especially the paper on “Apocalyptic Interpretation,” commencing from page 341.
It is from that paper Mr. E. quotes, in representing me as strongly asserting “the principle that a prayerful scripture student, 'entirely unacquainted with the details of profane history,' or 'the vicissitudes of political and ecclesiastical affairs, during the last eighteen centuries,' may 'equally with the most learned,' study and understand prophetic scriptures, in so far as they concern 'Christ's glory, in His relation to the Church, to Israel, or to the world.'“ To his charge of inconsistency with myself on this point, I hope shortly to advert. Had the whole passage been transferred to Mr. E.'s pages, instead of a clause here, and another there, his readers would have seen that I am far from denying that human learning is of any use in prophetic studies, or from affirming that history may never with propriety be referred to in their prosecution. What I maintain is, that the Christian is not necessarily dependent on such resources. These are my words— “If the glory of Christ be the object, the things of Christ the subject, and the Holy Ghost Himself the communicator of prophetic instruction, the Christian cannot be dependent for the possession of it on human learning. A man might possess vast stores of erudition, and be able with ease to quote every page of this world's dark history, and not be in the least better prepared for the study of God's prophetic word. The humble Christian, unable to read the scriptures in any language but his own, and entirely unacquainted with the details of profane history, may, nevertheless, prayerfully study the prophetic scriptures. Equally with the most learned, he may count on his Father's faithful love to enable him, by the teaching of the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, to understand and receive what these scriptures unfold of the diverse glories of Christ, the Son, whether in His relation to the Church, which is His body, or to Israel, the world, and creation, over the whole of which His rule is yet to extend. It is in the establishment of this blessed universal sway, and in the dealings of God, whether in judgment or in grace, by which it is immediately preceded, that we have the great subjects of prophecy, and especially of the Apocalypse—not in those vicissitudes of political and ecclesiastical affairs throughout the last eighteen centuries, with which the pages of historians are filled.” (Plain Papers, &c., pp. 343, 344).
Mr. E. seeks to prove me inconsistent with myself on this point by adducing instances in which I have referred to well-known historical facts and epochs, in illustration of certain subjects, or in support of certain arguments. Had I maintained that human learning and historical information were absolutely useless or invariably mischievous, his proof of inconsistency would have been complete, and I must have pleaded guilty to the charge. But when all that I have affirmed is, that these qualifications are not. indispensable—that “the great subjects of prophecy” are such that the uneducated, but humble and prayerful, student of scripture may become acquainted with them, I see nothing in such a position to interdict my own use of any acquaintance with history I may possess, or to forbid my appealing to well-known historical facts, especially in controverting views which mainly depend on historical evidence. Such a use of history bears no real resemblance to that made of it by Mr. E. in his “Horae,” and in his Lectures. The results of historical and antiquarian research, and that on the most gigantic scale, form the staple of his Apocalyptic exposition. These results must either be taken on trust—and this Mr. E. would scarcely desire—or they must be tested by those competent to judge of their accuracy. The qualifications for this are possessed by few indeed: and can we suppose that it is to such a few that acquaintance with God's revelation of the future is designedly restricted? Mr. E. may seek to identify his principle of historic interpretation with the very occasional and subordinate allusions to history made by writers of futurist views; but there is no more real identity between them than exists between Paul's quotation from a heathen poet, in his address to an Athenian audience, and the sermons of certain preachers of past generations, who made quotations from the Greek and Latin classics the staple of their pulpit ministrations.
Had Mr. Elliot deemed the volume worthy of a fuller notice, or even this single paper on “Apocalyptic Interpretation,” his readers would have found that there is a kind of “futurism” held by some, entirely distinct from the Tractarian futurism of Dr. Maitland, and differing in several important aspects from that of Mr. Molyneux. They would have found it supported, moreover, by a class of arguments such as Mr. E. has certainly not met, nor attempted to meet, either in his older or more recent writings on the subject. The distinction between the course of providential events, with which history is concerned, and that solemn final crisis, to which prophecy in general seems to point; our Lord's own three-fold division of the book of Revelation, the one part succeeding the other, instead of their being contemporaneous; the possibility of chapters 4-19, being rightly understood, both on a protracted scale, and as having their definite fulfillment in a short future crisis; the difference between the divine names and titles in the Apocalypse and in the other apostolic writings; the judicial character which attaches to heavenly scenes and personages in this book, so strikingly contrasting with the full unmingled grace of the present dispensation; as well as the marked differences between the cries for vengeance which characterize the Apocalyptic sufferers and the prayers for forgiveness of their enemies, by which Christ and Christian martyrs are distinguished—are all arguments for the futurity of Apocalyptic scenes, with which it would be well for the esteemed author of the “Home” and the “Warburtonian Lectures” to grapple, when he again writes a review of the Futurist controversy. On one point, if not trespassing too largely on your space, I should be glad to furnish another extract from the Paper on “Apocalyptic Interpretation.” It is in reference to the systems, such as Mede's, Bishop Newton's, and Mr. Elliott's own, “which tie down the Apocalyptic visions to a supposed fulfillment in historic details.”
“It would be easy, from the contrariety of these systems to one another, to show that they are mutually destructive of each others' claims definitely to explain the particulars of what they all allege to be fulfilled prophecy. But though this forms no part of our object, it may be well, in adverting to this topic, to point out to the reader a distinction of no small importance. Twenty students of the Apocalypse, agreeing in this, that from chap. 4 it is as yet unfulfilled, may have different interpretations of this unfulfilled prophecy to suggest. Such differences do but prove that the prophecy is as yet far from being understood. The partial or total ignorance of the expositors accounts for such differences. But suppose twenty expositors should agree with each other in maintaining that these chapters, or most of them, are absolutely and finally fulfilled, and yet have twenty conflicting theories of interpreting them—what do such differences prove? Not only that the expositors are mistaken in their theories, but also that the basis on which they all proceed is a mistake. What claim can a prophecy have to be a fulfilled one, when twenty can suppose it to have been fulfilled in twenty different events?... Scripture does contain fulfilled prophecies; but no such obscurity hangs over them. There are not twenty ways in which godly people suppose the prophecies of our Lord's birth, earthly parentage, miracles, betrayal, and crucifixion, to have been fulfilled. And had the Apocalyptic seals, trumpets, and vials been actually accomplished, there would not have been among expositors so many conflicting methods of explaining them.” (Plain Papers, &c., pp. 352, 353.)
The writer of “Plain Papers” has never represented Antichrist as “both enthroned within the city (of Jerusalem) and besieging the city from without at one and the same time.” The truth seems to be that Antichrist, in. league with the apostate portion of the Jews who will have returned to their own land, will be in possession of Jerusalem, and himself besieged there by “the king of the North,” (Dan. 11:40, 4140And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him: and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over. 41He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon. (Daniel 11:40‑41)) when the Lord appears, to the destruction of the wicked both among besiegers and besieged.
Mr. E. notices, as a peculiarity in “Plain Papers, &c.,” that they “make the two sackcloth-robed witnesses' three and a half years of witnessing to precede, instead of being identical with, Antichrist's three and a half years of supremacy in Jerusalem, the one being the first half, the other the second half, of Daniel's last hebdomad.” “But,” objects Mr. E., “unfortunately Apoc. 11:22But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months. (Revelation 11:2) expressly defines the two witnesses' three and a half years as the three and a half years of the Gentiles treading down the holy city.” I have turned, since reading this, to Rev. 11:2,2But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months. (Revelation 11:2) and can find no mention in it of the two witnesses. They are not named before the 3rd verse; and it certainly seems to me open to serious question whether the “thousand two hundred and threescore days” of verse 3 are the same period as the forty and two months of the previous verse. But the question of Daniel's last hebdomad, and its connections with the Apocalypse, is much too wide for a communication like the present.
The Lord give to all His people humbly and prayerfully to search His word, and vouchsafe to us a good understanding in all things.
Believe me, my dear brother, Yours faithfully, WM. TROTTER.