If Paul thought himself happy for the privilege of speaking in the presence of King Agrippa, I am no less happy and sensible of this privilege accorded me by the Gospel Advocate in the opening of its columns to this discussion and inviting me to participate in it, and, most of all, in its selection for a respondent in the discussion of a man of such ability and Christian character as H. Leo Boles, president of David Lipscomb College, of Nashville, Tenn. I begin this first article of the series in the hope that through this discussion attention shall be turned to the great themes under examination, that mistaken and unfavorable impressions may be removed, that brotherly love and good will may be promoted, and that in all questions the truth may become manifest in love.

      It is understood that in all discussions the disputants must proceed from common ground, and that without such a basis of agreement no intelligent discussion would be possible. In the present instance the basis of common agreement is very large, covering, indeed, the whole scope of the Christian faith, in so far as I know, every point of doctrine excepting such questions as now under investigation. Both Brother Boles and myself stand unequivocally [7] for the entire Bible as the word of God and as the only authority in matters of religious faith and practice. We both believe in the one body, the church of our Lord Jesus Christ, established on the Pentecost after Christ's resurrection, which is God's kingdom on the earth to-day. We both hold one Lord, one faith, one baptism. We were together called in one hope of our calling; and we are, with all God's children, of "one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all, and in all." The questions between us which are now under discussion are indeed not unimportant; they have great bearing upon the Christian's outlook, motive, and spirit of service, and I believe that a proper understanding of them will profoundly affect our conception of God's ways and plans and the whole of his revelation. The differences between us furnish proper themes for brotherly investigation and discussion, for mutual profit and in brotherly love. They do not, however, affect any outward act of religious practice, any act of obedience in work or worship; in fact, they do not refer directly to the present, but have reference to "the things that are to come," of which the Holy Spirit speaks. (John 16:13.)

      Our first proposition reads as follows:

      "The Scriptures teach that Israel (fleshly descendants of Abraham through Jacob) shall be nationally restored." R. H. Boll affirms; H. Leo Boles denies.

      By "the Scriptures" I understand the Bible--the Old and the New Testaments. The term "Israel" is defined in the proposition itself as the nation or people known by that name, which have sprung by fleshly descent from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. By "nationally restored" I mean that they shall be reconstituted in their own land, the land of their ancient heritage (which God by oath granted to their fathers for an everlasting possession) as a free and autonomous nation. This restoration involves the people, the land, and the city, Jerusalem, and necessitates in connection a spiritual restoration; for no one [8] would or should contend that the Jews will be restored in their present unbelief and disobedience or that fleshly Israel as such will be restored. The promise is not merely to a nation which is descended from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in fleshly lineage, but to them as a "righteous nation," forgiven, cleansed, regenerated, turned from ungodliness, and believing in Jesus Christ as their Messiah and King. But that this nation of Israel will some day be in such a case, nationally, and that they shall so obtain all the wonderful promises made to them in the Scriptures, I do earnestly believe and declare.

      The present condition of Israel, a condition in which they have been for many centuries, is one of God's signs and marvels to the world, one of the sure testimonies to God's sure word of prophecy, in which their history was foretold long ago. It is twice marvelous. Aside altogether from the Scriptures, the history of the Jews is in itself a prodigy. Here is a race hoary with age, preserved amid incredible sufferings and vicissitudes, and their afflictions being precisely of the sort that would destroy and exterminate them; and this people, though at times terribly reduced, yet undiminished (of later times even greatly increased), still young and virile and powerful; and though scattered among all nations, without homeland or national base, kept nationally pure, intact, distinct, indestructible. "The history of the Jews," says Ernest Renan, "contradicts the whole philosophy of history." That is to say that the laws which account for the rise and the fall of nations do not seem to apply to them. Afflicted, hated, persecuted as no other people has been, scattered abroad throughout the whole world, driven from place to place, they have continued in existence--yea, have flourished--and without dispute have exerted an influence upon the world of mankind far more powerful and profound than any other nation has ever been able to exert. The Jew to-day is a living miracle. But answering to the miracle of the fact is the miracle of [9] prophecy. Their seemingly impossible career was minutely foretold. Israel's history was written before it had fairly begun. Before ever they entered their land, it was told them what evils would befall them if they obeyed not the voice of Jehovah their God; and Moses moreover predicted that they would not fail to quickly corrupt themselves, and that they would be persistently disobedient, and that all these evil things would come upon them: drought, famine, pestilence, oppression by their enemies, subjugation, finally captivity and world-wide dispersion under intolerable distress and persecution. Yea, he taught them a song (for a song remains with a people when other instruction is forgotten), that they might recall it in the latter days and realize that it was Jehovah that had done it, and that some day they might believe and return to Him who smote them and who alone is able to heal. (See Lev. 26; Deut. 28; Deut. 31:14-29; chapter 32.)

      And how do we account for this double, miracle? The Jew is God's witness, inexplicable apart from Jehovah his God. It was he that called Abram, the nation's ancestor, out of Ur in the Chaldees, and gave him a son of old age, Isaac, and of him chose Jacob to be the forefather of the twelve tribes. The family of Jacob developed into a nation during their sojourn in Egypt; and from thence Jehovah brought them forth by the hand of Moses, and made a covenant with them at Mount Sinai, and brought them into their own land, because he loved them, and because be would keep the oath which he swore unto their fathers. (Deut. 7:8.) But they proved themselves unworthy of his love and goodness. Nevertheless he wrought for them for his Name's sake (Ps. 78; Ezek. 20) in the wilderness and in Canaan and throughout their entire career, and be suffered not his faithfulness to fail. Their latest prophet told them that it was only because of Jehovah's unchanging love and faithfulness that they had not been destroyed. "I have loved you, saith Jehovah." (Mal. 1:2.) "For I, Jehovah, change not; therefore ye, [10] O sons of Jacob, are not consumed." (Mal. 3:6.) But with the same faithfulness he fulfilled his threatened chastisements upon them, stroke after stroke, until they were carried away into captivity--the northern kingdom first, and about one hundred and fifty years later the southern, the kingdom of Judah, also. Since that time (about twenty-five hundred years) they have never been an independent kingdom and country. After seventy years, there was a partial restoration, something less than fifty thousand returning to their land under Ezra, chiefly of Judah and Benjamin, with some Levites. (Ez. 1:5; 2:64, 65.) There they resumed their temple worship, and despite terrific sufferings and persecutions they again multiplied. But they crowned all their disobedience and rebellion against God at last by their rejection and crucifixion of their Messiah, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and the refusal of the subsequent offer of mercy. (Acts 2:7.) Therefore, God gave them up, and the Romans came and destroyed their city, and they were scattered abroad, wanderers and fugitives upon the face of all the earth, the while the salvation they rejected went out to the Gentiles. Yet even this had been foreseen and foretold in the prophets. (John 12:37, 38; Rom. 10:21.) But all along Jehovah's faithfulness watched over them, and his loving care over them has not lapsed even yet. "He that keepeth Israel will neither slumber nor sleep." (Ps. 121:4.) "For I am with thee, to save thee," the Lord says to Israel. "For I will make a full end of all the nations whither I have scattered thee, but I will not make a full end of thee; but I will correct thee in measure, and will in no wise leave thee unpunished." (Jer. 30:11.)

      That is why the Jew is with us still.

      "Thus saith Jehovah, who giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, who stirreth up the sea, so that the waves thereof roar; Jehovah of hosts is his name: if these ordinances depart from before me, saith Jehovah, then the [11] seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me forever. Thus saith Jehovah: If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, then will I also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith Jehovah." (Jer. 31:35-37.)

      So long his power hath kept them; sure it still will lead them on,

And Israel's long night shall know its morning--"a morning without clouds, through clear shining after rain," though her darkest hour be just before the dawn.

      If I were asked to trace, even in barest outline, the future history of any nation other than Israel, I should have to confess my utter inability to such a task; but it is not thus in the case of Israel. Her future is mapped out in God's word as clearly and minutely as her past had been foretold before it came to pass. There are certain definite promises of God's word regarding Israel--the people, their land, and their city--which still await their accomplishment. The word of God teaches that the present rejection of Israel is not complete nor final, and that some day all of God's predicted plans and intentions concerning them shall be realized.

      In the earliest prediction concerning the career of Israel, after enumeration of the fearful judgments that should fall upon the disobedient nation, Moses foretells their national repentance--the humble confession of their sins and acknowledgment of their punishment, and God's promise to regard them. (See Lev. 26:40-45.) "Then will I remember my covenant with Jacob; and also my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham will I remember; and I will remember the land." "And yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them [12] utterly, and to break my covenant with them; for I am Jehovah their God; but I will for their sakes remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God: I am Jehovah."

      More definitely he speaks in Deut. 4:27-31: "And Jehovah will scatter you among the peoples. . . . But from thence ye shall seek Jehovah thy God, and thou shalt find him, when thou searchest after him with all thy heart and with all thy soul. When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, in the latter days thou shalt return to Jehovah thy God, and hearken unto his voice: for Jehovah thy God is a merciful God; he will not fail thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them."

      Again he points forward to the great day of Israel's turning and their subsequent restoration, in Deut. 30:1-10: "And it shall come to pass, when all these things are 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 Jehovah thy God hath driven thee, and shalt return unto Jehovah 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 Jehovah thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the peoples, whither Jehovah thy God hath scattered thee. . . . And Jehovah 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. And Jehovah thy God will circumcise thy heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love Jehovah thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live. . . .

      Like the "prodigal son," they will come to themselves in the far country, as it were, and to their God they shall turn, and he will bring them back to their own land, and [13] they shall again possess it as in the days of yore--only that their borders will be extended to embrace all the land Jehovah sware to their fathers; and the land itself, and most especially their city, will undergo a marvelous change. Moreover, Jehovah shall perform a spiritual work upon them, a circumcision of the heart, that they may love Jehovah their God with all their heart and soul and mind and strength.

      This latter fact is strikingly declared by Ezekiel in a different way: "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep mine ordinances, and do them. And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God." (Ezek. 36:26-28.)

      From that restoration there will be no relapse. Once they are thus returned to their land, they shall never again be rooted up out of it, "neither shall the children of wickedness afflict them any more, as at the first." (2 Sam. 7:10.) "And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be plucked up out of their land which I have given them, saith Jehovah thy God." (Amos 9:15.)

      The limits of this article forbid quoting even a considerable fraction of the Scriptures touching upon these things. Isaiah tells us of the restoration of the city (Isa. 1:24-27; 4:1-6; chapter 60); of the regathering "again the second time" of the outcasts of Israel "in that day"--that is, as the context shows, the day of the Messiah, the reign of Christ (Isa. 11:1-12). "For Jehovah will have compassion on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land." (Isa. 14:1.) Jeremiah foretells of their regathering from the land of the north and from all the countries whither God has driven them, back to their own land, as an event so stupendous as to eclipse [14] utterly their glorious redemption from Egypt. (Jer. 16:14, 15.) In fact, this final restoration of Israel is always represented as the manifest and marvelous work of God, a feat of sovereign power and omnipotence, an accomplishment of the impossible, as a resurrection from the dead. (Ezek. 37.) All the nations will be amazed and convicted, and a world-wide recognition of the God of Israel will result. Nations from afar shall run unto them because of Jehovah their God. (Isa. 55:5.)

      In the passages quoted and referred to, an examination of the immediate or remoter context will show that it is the identical nation of Israel, long rejected and punished for their disobedience, but at last converted, that will be so regathered, restored, and exalted.

      "For, lo, the days come, saith Jehovah, that I will turn again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah [the ten-tribe kingdom and two-tribe kingdom], saith Jehovah; and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it." (Jer. 30:3.) "He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd doth his flock." (Jer. 31:10.)

      It is not, then, the church of whom these things are spoken, nor some people other than that self-same nation that once possessed the land of Canaan, and whom for their disobedience God scattered abroad over the earth. Them, and not another nation of men, will Jehovah restore.

      "For thus saith Jehovah: Like as I have brought all this great evil upon this people, so will I bring upon them all the good that I have promised them." (Jer. 32:42.)

      Many expositors (as witness the misleading chapter summaries in the older editions of the King James Bible) are willing to let the literal people have all the literal punishments, but the promised blessings they complacently spiritualize and appropriate to themselves. But the evil prophesied was literally fulfilled upon that people; and "so will I bring upon them all the good that I have [15] promised them." There is not one evil denounced upon them, but in the promises of the restoration there is a corresponding blessing.

      The New Testament also bears witness to the same general truth. "Your house is left unto you desolate," said the Lord Jesus, as he turned his back upon Jerusalem. "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." (Matt. 23:38, 39.) For indeed the day cometh when "they shall look unto him whom they have pierced, and shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son." (Zech. 12:10.) And "Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled." (Luke 21:24.) But "then shall Jerusalem be holy, and no stranger shall pass through her any more." (Joel 3:17.)

      For Israel did not stumble that they might fall, "but through their fall [their lapse--"It is a very soft word," says Wesley, "Notes on New Testament"] salvation is come unto the Gentiles, to provoke them [i. e., Israel] to jealousy. Now if their fall [their lapse, again] is the riches of the world, and their loss the riches of the Gentiles, how much more their fullness? . . . For if the casting away of them is the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?" (Rom. 11:11-15.) For the olive tree of God's promise and covenanted blessing is theirs; and though for the time they are broken off, and Gentiles, wild olive branches, have been grafted in, yet, if they abide not in unbelief, God will graft them again into their own olive tree. "For I would not, brethren, have you ignorant of this mystery, lest ye be wise in your own conceits, that a hardening in part hath befallen Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in; and so all Israel shall be saved: even as it is written, There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer; he shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: and this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. [16] As touching the gospel, they are enemies for your sake: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers' sake. For the gifts and the calling of God are not repented of." (See Rom. 11:17-32.)

      Search then through Moses and the prophets and see the gifts God bestowed by promise upon the nation of Israel, and the destiny unto which God called them: not a jot or a tittle thereof shall fall to the ground.

      In the Millennial Harbinger, 1856, page 275, Alexander Campbell says:

      The unbelieving Jews were rejected and repudiated as the visible and formal people of God; and the believing Jews and Gentiles, harmonized and united, constituted the visible earthly people and kingdom of Jesus the Christ. Still, the unbelieving Jews exist as a monumental people; and, though no longer the depositories of the Oracles of God, they are, in their present position, the subject of special prophecy and of special promise.

      But that we may be better prepared to appreciate the New Testament prophecies of this monumental people, we must sojourn for sometime in the tents of ancient Israel, and still more fully expatiate on the covenanted promises to the Abrahamic race, respecting their future position, according to the covenants and transactions on record in their own Oracles, so faithfully and benevolently transmitted to us.

      We must, indeed, in order to our own edification and comfort, be fully assured that what is yet future, or unfulfilled in their history, will as certainly be accomplished as that their Messiah came at the appointed time, and appeared in time, place and circumstances, in exact conformity to the predictions of their own prophets, and the symbols of their own institution.

      Of the whole Jewish line of prophets in the Old Testament, no one, in fewer or more pointed words, has written concerning the then future destiny of the Jewish people, than did Hosea, in the latter end of the eighth century, before the birth of the Lord Messiah. His words are: "The children of Israel shall continue many days without a king, without a prince, and without sacrifice; without an image, without an ephod, and without teraphim:" or, according to the Septuagint, without a sacrifice, [17] without an altar, without a priesthood, and without oracles. "Afterwards shall the children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God, and David" (the beloved) "their King, and shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days." (Hos. 3:4, 5.)

      This passage, though sought to be applied to the Jews in their captivity in ancient Babylon, cannot, as we judge, be sustained, and is only fully verified in their present and prospective future destiny.

      Again, in a missionary address, speaking with reference to Dr. Barclay, pioneer missionary, sent from churches of Christ to Jerusalem, Alexander Campbell says:

      But, as it is a settled point with us that Jerusalem is and ought to be our first choice, we presume not to argue her special claims upon our Christian benevolence. When we speak of "the rapidly waning Crescent," of the "drying up of the Euphrates," of Jerusalem as "one of the foci of Mohammedanism," anciently "the city of the great King," and long destined to be "the joy of all the earth," "a city not forsaken," "of the year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion," "the Mount Zion which God loves for his servants' sake," we do not argue these glorious and sublime indications of her destiny as though any of us doubted our premises, her influence or her destiny. Jerusalem's fall is already written, and her future rise and glory occupy a large space in the visions of the future. Toward the end of the Babylonish captivity, in the prophetic visions of that day, as presented in Ps. 102, we have some joyful indications of the rise of Jerusalem. (Quoting Ps. 102:13-16 and 18-21.)

      It is good to love Jerusalem and to seek her peace and prosperity, so sang and prayed the Jews in their songs of degrees. (See Ps. 122.)

      Jerusalem, indeed, has long been given up to desolation, and it is to continue, according to Daniel, "till the consummation determined," or until the purposes of God respecting it are accomplished. Our Lord, by Luke, speaks still more plainly: "Jerusalem shall be trodden down by the Gentiles, till the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled." This is our index to the prophecies concerning the Jewish reign. "The times of the Gentiles" yet continue. God permitted them to destroy Jerusalem, and thereby to crush its persecuting power. Its fall contributed much to the spread of the gospel throughout the world. Hence, Paul reasons: "If the casting off of the Jews" from their [18] relation to God "became the reconciling of the world [the Gentiles], what will the resumption of them be but life from the dead?"

      The fall of the Jews became the rise of the Gentiles. The Gentiles have yet their times. And "blindness," not total, but "in part," has happened to the Jews, and will continue "till the fullness of the Gentiles" be come in. Then will come the fullness of the Jews. "For the Redeemer shall come out of Zion," the city of David, "and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob."

      This mystery is now revealed. It was, in the Hebrew style, mystery, a thing bidden or concealed. It is no longer so. The Jews, as a people, are still beloved, because of their fathers, though long punished, as was threatened; for, said Jehovah, by his prophet, "Thee, O Jerusalem, have I acknowledged" more than the Gentiles; "therefore will I punish you for all your iniquities." But the time "to favor her" is not far distant.

For thy servants take pleasure in her ruins, And show a tender regard for her very dust."

      Hence, David sings:

      "Then shall the Gentiles fear thy name, Jehovah, and all the kings of the earth thy glory."

      With Paul, we rejoice in the prophetic drama, and, therefore, anticipate a glorious triumph of grace in the redemption of ancient Israel according to the flesh.

      Our duty on all the premises is plain. During these times of the Gentiles, we have a dispensation of the gospel committed to us. We have, therefore, established a mission in Palestine, in the literal city of David. It is not designed merely for the Jews residing in their own hallowed metropolis or visiting it, but also for the Gentiles now sojourning in this great center of mingled attractions." ("Popular Lectures and Addresses," pages 525-527.)

      We have seen from the testimony of the Scriptures:

      1. That the nation of Israel scattered by God's hand shall by his hand be recovered and regathered and restored to their own land.

      2. That they shall accept their Messiah, be converted and saved.

      3. That all the blessings and promises shall come unto [19] that people just as surely and as literally as their predicted punishments have come upon them.

      4. That once so restored, they shall never again fall away or be removed from their land.

      5. That their national conversion and restoration will be a blessing to all the world.

      The Scriptures do with abundant clearness and fullness teach "that Israel (fleshly descendants of Abraham through Jacob) shall be nationally restored."

      But here I must close, to resume the argument in the next article. [20]

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