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ELPIS ISRAEL (THE HOPE OF ISRAEL) BEING AN EXPOSITION OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD, WITH REFERENCE TO THE TIME OF THE END, AND OF THE AGE TO COME by JOHN THOMAS, MD, AUTHOR OF "EUREKA" ETC. "For the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain" — Paul. Build by whatever plan Caprice decrees, With what materials, on what ground you please- But Know, that ISRAEL'S HOPE alone shall stand, Which Paul proclaimed in Rome to ev'ry man. CONTENTS CONTENTS Part First THE RUDIMENTS OF THE WORLD CH. 1. — The necessity of a Revelation to make known the origin, reason, and tendency of things in relation to man and the world around him. It is an intelligible mystery, and the only source of true wisdom; but which is practically repudiated by the Moderns. — The study of the Bible urged, to facilitate and promote which is the object of this volume 1 CH. 2. — The earth before the creation of Adam the habitation of the angels who kept not their first estate — A geological error corrected — The Sabbath day and the Lord's day — The formation of man and woman — The "great mystery" of her formation out of man explained — Eden — The garden of Eden — The original and future paradises considered — Man's primitive dominion confined to the inferior creatures and his own immediate family — Of the two trees of the garden — And man in his original estate 10 CH. 3. — Probation before exaltation, the law of the moral universe of God — The temptation of the Lord Jesus by Satan, the trial of his faith by the Father — The Temptation explained — God's foreknowledge does not necessitate; nor does He justify, or condemn, by anticipation — The Serpent an intellectual animal, but not a moral agent, nor inspired — He deceives the woman — The nature of the transgression — Eve becomes the tempter to Adam — The transgression consummated in the conception of Cain — A good conscience, and an evil conscience, defined — Man cannot cover his own sin — The carnal mind illustrated by the reasoning of the Serpent — It is metaphorically the Serpent in the flesh — God's truth the only rule of right and wrong — The Serpent in the flesh is manifested in the wickedness of individuals; and in the spiritual and temporal institutions of the world — Serpent-sin in the flesh identified with "the Wicked One" — The Prince of the World — The kingdom of Satan and the World identical — The Wiles of the Devil — The "Prince" shown to be sin, working and reigning in all sinners — How he was "cast out" by Jesus — "The works of the Devil" — "Bound of Satan;" delivering to Satan — The Great Dragon — The Devil and Satan — The Man of Sin 75 CH. 4. — The trial of the Transgressors — Of the Literal and the Allegorical — The sentence upon the Serpent particularized — The "Peace and Safety" cry — Jesus came not to send peace, but a sword CONTENTS — The Peace Society the enemy of God — Cain, Abel, and Seth — Atheism defined — Cain rejected as the progenitor of the Woman's seed, and Seth appointed — The Antediluvian apostasy — The Cainites and Sethites distinct societies — Their union the ruin of the old world, of which eight sons of Seth only survive — The Foundation of the World — The sentence upon Woman — Her social position defined — The sentence upon Adam — The constitution of sin — Of sin as a physical quality of the flesh — Of the hereditary nature of Jesus — Of "original sin" — Men, sinners in a two-fold sense — The Constitution of Righteousness — Men become saints by adoption — The Three Witnesses — The "new birth" explained — The Two Principles — Of "the light within" — The scripture revelation the divine principle of illumination — The awful condition of "the church" — Of the Hidden Man of the heart 109 CH. 5. — Immortality in the present state a positive evil — Immortality in misery unscriptural — The professing world religious from fear — The world's religions useful as a system of Ecclesiastical Police — The Religion of Christ destitute of all worldly goods till his return, when it will possess all things — The doctrine of immortality a divine revelation — The Heathens baffled in their endeavors to discover it — The Mosaic Cherubim God's throne in Israel — The Cherubim of Ezekiel and John — The Cherubic Veil — The Faces of the Lord — The Flaming Sword — Illustrated by Ezekiel's description of the glory of the God of Israel — The brightness of the Spiritual Body — The Way of the Tree of Life — The etymology of the word RELIGION — False religion based upon the idea of appeasing the wrath of God — God already reconciled to the world — The "Word of Reconciliation" committed to the apostles in the beginning — The apostles the only ambassadors of Christ — "The word" preached by the apostles entrusted to the disciples of Christ — "Clergy" and "Laity" distinctions of the apostasy — Religion defined — Its grand desideratum — No true religion without belief of the Truth — The word "faith" scripturally defined — How faith comes — The "religious world" infidel of "the faith" — "Love" scripturally defined by "obedience" — The religious world destitute of the Spirit of God — Religion contemporary only with sin — Summary of principles 146 CH. 6. — God the builder of all things — Nothing accidental, but all things the result of divine premeditation — Whatever exists He created for His own pleasure and glory — The purpose of God in the work of creation and providence, revealed in the scriptures — The present order of things merely provisional — The economy of the fulness of appointed times the true "Intermediate State" of a thousand years' duration — The tower of Babel builders, peacemen, and socialists — The principle upon which men attain to the angelic CONTENTS nature, and dignity, defined — God's two-fold purpose in the foundation of the world stated — The means by which it is accomplishing — Dissertation on the Elohim 176 Part Second THE THINGS OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD, AND THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST CH. 1. — The truth indicated — None but the believers of the truth can inherit the Kingdom of God — Abraham, "the Heir of the World" — To inherit with him, men must believe what he believed; and become his children by adoption through Jesus Christ — The gospel and the things of the Kingdom one and the same — It was preached to Abraham, Israel, and the Gentiles, by the Lord God, by Moses, by Jesus, and by the Apostles — Gospel things susceptible of a threefold classification — The Keys of the Kingdom — Entrusted only to Peter — The Mystery of the Kingdom — The Fellowship of the Mystery — "Apostolic Succession" — Qualifications of an apostle of Christ — Import of the phrase "the end of the world" — "The sign" of its approach — The gospel preached to every creature by the Apostles — Modern missionary ism inadequate to the end proposed 192 CH. 2. — Five points of prophetic testimony — The general elements of a kingdom constituents of the kingdom of Christ — The promise made of God to the fathers, the hope of Israel, and the gospel, the same — Who the fathers are — Abram originally from Babel, and an idolator — The Lord preaches the gospel to him in Mesopotamia — He believes it, and emigrates westward in consequence — Becomes a wanderer in the land of Canaan, which is promised to him and Christ for ever — His faith counted to him for righteousness — The promise of a resurrection to eternal life — Confirmation of the covenant of promise — The extent of the land defined in the Will — The personal reappearance of Christ necessitated by the nature of things — The phrases "in thee," "in him," and "in thy seed," explained — The nations God's people in no sense — Abraham, Christ, and the saints, "heirs of the world." — The token of the covenant — The signification of circumcision — Modern Israel under the curse of the law — Circumcision of the heart — The Allegory — The two seeds — Parable of the Seed — Summary of Abraham's faith 224 CH. 3. — The gospel preached to Isaac — The election of Jacob — The scripture doctrine of election — Not according to popular tradition — How men are elected, and how they may know it — Esau hated — Vision of Jacob's Ladder — Jacob's care for his body after death — Joseph's anxiety about his bones — Jacob's prophecy of the CONTENTS Last Days — Summary of "the faith" at Joseph's death — Things established — Chronology of the Age before the Law 268 CH. 4. — State of Egypt and Israel before the exodus — The time of the promises arrives — Call of Moses — God's everlasting memorial — Moses is sent to Israel — He is accepted as ruler and deliverer — He declares glad tidings to them; but they refuse to listen — The Exodus — Israel baptized into Moses — The song of victory — They are fed with angels' food — The Lord's passover — How to be fulfilled in the kingdom of God — The Lord's supper — The Twelve Tribes constituted the kingdom of God — The gospel preached to Israel — They reject it — Of the Rest — The Royal House of the kingdom — "The sure mercies of David" — The kingdom and throne of David — David's kingdom also God's kingdom under its first constitution — Chronology to the captivity 293 CH. 5. —Israel unable to redeem themselves; and the nations equally powerless to their own regeneration — The reconstruction of the social fabric the work of Omnipotence by the hand of the Lord Jesus at his approaching manifestation — He will re-establish the kingdom and throne of David — The priesthood of Shiloh — The Ezekiel temple to be built by Christ — Of the Name of Jesus — Of repentance, remission of sins, and eternal life — Death-bed, and gaol, repentance 317 Part Third THE KINGDOMS OF THE WORLD IN THEIR RELATION TO THE KINGDOM OF GOD CH.

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