Excerpt from Essays on the Advent and Kingdom of Christ, and the Events Connected Therewith I enter on the present discussion with somewhat mingled feelings. Looking at my subject, I have a pleasing confi dence, that my heart is inditing a good matter; since I am about to write of the things that are made touching the king but when I consider, on the other hand, (what it were disingenuous to conceal, ) that there are excellent and learned men, followers of the Lord Jesus, who are decidedly opposed to the views which I have adopted, I cannot but be diffident in myself; and am led, with increased conviction of its need, to seek the teaching of the Holy Spirit. Not however that I would for a moment give place to the notion, entertained by some, that because there are eminent ministers of the Gospel, who have not cordially embraced these views, therefore they cannot be important, nor even true: the case of Peter and Barnabas in respect to the circumcision of the gentiles,8l in which was involved the vital doctrine of justification by faith, plainly shews, that men of the highest attainments in piety, who have been pillars in the Church, and ordinarily under the in uence of inspiration, have nevertheless been slow of heart in regard to truths of infinite moment. These circumstances however move me to commence this series of essays, with the notice of two or three serious objec tions, directed against the subject in general. Other objec tions, which affect particular points only, I shall endeavour to meet as those points come to be considered; but these, I repeat, affect the whole subject, and are of that character, that, if the mind be under their in uence, it will be predisposed against the clearest and most scriptural statements, and thus prevented from properly weighing any thing which may be advanced. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."