DECLINE AND LOSS OF THIS SCIENCE AMONG THE JEWS.
O horrid! awful! melancholy sight!
A nation, wont to soar 'mid realms of light,
Degraded, fallen, sunk in dark despair,
The hiss, the scorn, the bye-word everywhere;
No eye to pity, and no arm to save,
Till wearied nature finds an exile's grave.
It now becomes our painful task to trace the decline of the science of
Theology and its powers among the nations, and to review the awful
consequences of such decline.
We will commence with the Jewish nation.
The science of Theology, as we have just reviewed, was enjoyed, and
its powers were wonderfully developed, under the several dispensations
called Patriarchal, Mosaic, and Jewish.
There had, however, been a great decline, a retrogression of the
powers and knowledge of the same, previous to their restoration by
John the Baptist and Jesus Christ.
This was owing to the general prevalence of sectarian principles,
divisions, precepts, commandments, and doctrines of men, by which the
Law and the Prophets were made void, and a veil was thrown over them,
or over the hearts of men, by which means they were misunderstood, or
rather, not understood at all.
It therefore became the duty of Jesus Christ and his Apostles and
Elders, as well as of his forerunner, to reprove those sects, denounce
their doctrines and traditions, and restore that which was lost in
this great science.
This restoration was at first confined strictly to the nation of the
Jews. But seeing they turned from it, and judged themselves unworthy
of eternal life, preferring their own powerless forms and doctrines,
to the science of revelation, miracles, visions, and prophecy, which
had ever illuminated the pathway of their more ancient fathers, the
Apostles turned from them, by the commandment of the Lord, and
translated this science, with its keys and legitimate powers, to the
Gentiles.
The nation had rejected and slain the Messiah, stoned the Prophets,
and imprisoned and even murdered many of the Apostles and Elders; and
Jesus had already, in tears of anguish, announced their doom--
"_O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the Prophets, and stonest
them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy
children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her
wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.
For I say unto you, ye shall not see me henceforth till ye shall say,
Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord_."
Again, on another occasion, the Messiah uttered his voice,
saying--"_There shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon
this people. And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall
be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden
down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled_."
Again he spake, concerning the Temple, saying--"_There shall net be
left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down_."
All these things, foretold by the science of Theology, were fulfilled
in that generation. And Jerusalem has been destroyed, trodden down by
the Gentiles, and the Jews have remained in captivity among the
nations until now.
Our readers will readily discern the entire loss of the science and
powers of Theology among this nation; the time, circumstances, and
reasons of its decline; and the time or circumstances which will
restore it unto them.
They lost it when, by the hand of the Apostles, it was taken from them
and given to the Gentiles.
The result was, the destruction of their city and temple, and of their
national existence.
Their temple, priesthood, and offerings were no longer attended by
divine power. Its outward forms were, therefore, of no possible use.
From that very time to the present--One thousand eight hundred and
fifty-one of the Christian era, the voice of a Prophet has not been
heard among the Jews.
Angels have not ministered unto them.
There has been no vision from the Lord.
No dream or interpretation.
No answer by Urim or Thummim.
No Prophet.
No voice.
No sound.
No reproof.
No comforting whisper.
All is silence--stillness--solemn blackness of despair.
All is as the similitude and shadow of death.
Oh the weariness, the painful suspense, the watchings, the wanderings,
the anxieties, the pains and sorrows of eighteen centuries! Oh the
mist of ages which has shrouded a nation as it were in the gloom of an
endless night!
When--O when, will their day dawn, and the day star of their ancient
science appear above the horizon, disperse the cloud, and usher in the
morning of a brighter day?
_When the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled_.
When they shall welcome a messenger in the name of the Lord.