KIND WORDS OF COMMENDATION
--FROM SOME WHO HAVE READ THE BOOK--
MINISTERS, EVANGELISTS, LAYMEN, AND
THE RELIGIOUS AND SECULAR PRESS.
Below we quote some Comments already received.
More coming in daily, will be given again.
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Millennial Dawn. One's first thought on taking up this volume is that it is the work of some good-meaning but over-zealous Christian who, in order to add strength to and fortify the faith that is within himself, has been led to "rush in where angels fear to tread" and to fix the day and hour of the Savior's second coming, as so many have already done. However, the reader is agreeably surprised, before he has read half a dozen pages, to find that such is not the aim and object of the book; that, on the contrary, there is nothing of the prophetic about it, and that it is the product of a wise and thoroughly Christian pen. The work is a serious and philosophical review of "the plan of salvation" as laid down in the Book of Books. No other authority is quoted except the Bible, the writer stating that it is his endeavor to divorce his subject as completely as possible from all opinions of men, and to give his readers the truth undefiled from the fountain head. The work is admirable in many ways, being produced in a style sufficiently pleasant and attractive to at once fix the attention of the reader, while the subject matter, relating, as it does, to the "old, old story," can never grow prosy or dull. The book is calculated to do good to all, whether a young recruit, an old soldier of the cross, or one blindly groping in the dark. As a reference book for the Bible student it is invaluable, and no Christian household should be without it.--Galveston News, Sept. 5, '86.
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I am astonished at the depth of knowledge the book contains. In my judgment there never has been before the public a work to equal Millennial Dawn. It ought to be in the hands of every minister.
G. A. SLOTE.
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Millennial Dawn, the Plan of the Ages. A remarkable book! A book for the times! It is emphatically A Helping Hand for Bible Students. In these latter days, when Christians are so eagerly seeking the light of God's word, to interpret passing events and to forecast the dawning future, so pregnant with tremendous import to all mankind, this book comes as a soothing, satisfying draught from the fountain of all truth, knowledge and wisdom. Every earnest seeker after truth, every sincere student of the Bible, will do well to secure a copy of this remarkable book at once and enjoy the feast of fat things which it contains.--J. E. Jewett in Christian Herald, Oct. 7, '86.
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I have never been so interested in any work on the Bible. I am carried away and lifted up. I think it is the very pith of the word of God. It seems I would give all I had if I could only get all Christians to read it. It does seem that the writer has gotten right down to facts as they are in Scripture. I cannot but think how blind I and all the world have been on many things now so plain and Scriptural to me. May God bless the author and more and more reward his search for the "deep things" of His word. A. H. BLUNT.
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It is thoroughly refreshing, in this age of skepticism and vaunted indifference to the truths of religion, to find a writer coming nobly forward to maintain the principle of a revealed religion. This the author has done with strength and good reasoning in his Millennial Dawn. A concise idea of his position in regard to the Bible may be gleaned from the following extract: "When Columbus discovered the Orinoco river some one said he had found an island. He replied: 'No such river as that flows from an island. That mighty torrent must drain the waters of a continent.' So the depth, and power, and wisdom, and scope of the Bible's testimony convinces us that not men, but the Almighty God, is the author of its plans and revelations." --Evening Post, San Francisco, Cal.
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"I never read any work on the Bible that presented such a vast amount of truth in so small a compass in my life." W. HAYMAN.
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Millennial Dawn is the title of a series of books issued
by the Tower Publishing Company. The first
[R897 : page 8]
volume of the series, now on our table, is entitled The
Plan of the Ages. It is nothing less than an exposition
of the purposes and method of the Supreme Being
in the creation of mankind and in the economy of human
and angelical affairs. It may be described as a
philosophy of history, but a philosophy so far-reaching
[R898 : page 8]
in its grasp and so comprehensive in its range as to
make the expositions of Bossuet, and even of Augustine,
seem narrow and prosaical. What, with manifest
hyperbole, Dr. Johnson said of Shakespeare, seems
literal truth when applied to this Pittsburgh writer:--
'Existence sees him spurn her bounded reign,
Readers will cease to suspect any ironical meaning
or intent in these statements, when they reflect that
the writer of this Plan of the Ages professes to be
merely an interpreter of Scriptural prophecies and an
expositor of divinely attested facts, soaring upon the
wings of inspiration, and not of his own natural powers.
That the author of the book is in earnest, fully believing
in the sufficiency of his own insight and in the
soundness of his interpretations, no attentive reader
can doubt. So much is manifest from the direct,
straightforward style, as well as from the modest confidence
with which he ignores antagonism or the possibility
of contradiction.
Some of his interpretations and applications of Biblical
texts are striking at least, and some of the views
expressed are certainly novel and ingeniously presented.
The references to the industrial, social and
other troubles of the present time give a practical
character to many pages of the book, showing that the
author is by no means a mere dreamer. To persons,
therefore, who take pleasure in Scriptural interpretation,
or in the application of Scripture to contemporary
history and questions of the day, this Plan of the Ages
may be safely commended as likely to be interesting.
--Pittsburgh Times, Sept. 28, '86.
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"It is a strong writing, showing much research and
excellent arrangement and method in its treatment of
its subjects. None will doubt the honesty or earnestness,
or the intended devotion to truth of the author.
Christian readers may find teachings in the book to
combat, but they will find much more to commend.
From a scholarly stand-point the book will be marked
as one of merited literary excellence."--Inter-Ocean,
Chicago, Ill.
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Millennial Dawn, the Plan of the Ages, is a first
or introductory volume to a series of works intended
to arrest skepticism by reason and Scriptural truth.
To Bible students its pages will be found of most absorbing
interest. Its arrangement is clear, and every
page bears evidence of profound thought as well as
patient and intelligent study of the Holy Scriptures.
The Scriptural story has been fitted to the history of
the world in a manner that is singularly compatible
and highly suggestive to the minds of those who are
willing to read further than the dedicatory page, which
reads thus: "To the King of Kings and Lord of
Lords: In the interest of his Consecrated 'Saints,'
waiting for the adoption, and of 'All that in every
place call upon the Lord'--'The Household of Faith,'
and of the Groaning Creation Travailing and Waiting
for the Manifestation of the Sons of God, this work is
dedicated."
It may not be a palatable truth, nor a fact creditable
to the mental or moral status of the American people,
yet it is undeniable that when an author has studied
the Scriptures until he gets "a new light" on the subject,
and begins to teach the second coming of Christ,
the advent of the Millennium, etc., and publishes this
to the world, they are apt to scoff at him as "a crank,"
or to use the more scriptural language:--"Saul, Saul,
much learning hath made thee mad."
If the author be mad there is an excellent system
in his madness, and if "a crank," his mind never
takes the reverse motion. He presses steadily forward
from premises apparently well settled to his
conclusions, with an orderly and calm arrangement
of strictly logical truths seldom paralleled, and the
whole argument is presented in such a dispassionate
style as to preclude the slightest notion of rant, cant
or insincerity. The independence of thought and
originality of "The Plan of the Ages," are refreshing,
but it is a work which demands careful study to comprehend.
It is one that will require the average
reader to keep a Bible constantly at hand for verification
of the references and amplification of assertions,
and in this respect may become a helping hand to
Bible students.
The author draws many startling analogies, showing
the aptitude of likening human governments
to beasts, drawing the parallel from their selfish
and destructive character, based on "man's
idea of self-government, independent of God."
Still, he must not be understood as urging
therefore that the Church should assume control
of the affairs of State, and therein reads a wholesome
lecture in a few words to many ecclesiastical
politicians. He says:--"The Church of God should
give its entire attention and effort to preaching the
Kingdom of God, and to the advancement of the interests
of that Kingdom according to the plan laid down
in the Scriptures. If this is done faithfully, there
will be no time or disposition to dabble in the politics
of present governments. Jesus had no time for it; the
Apostles had no time for it; nor have any of the Saints
who are following their example."
Although the Apostle speaks of the Church as the
Kingdom over which Christ reigns, and the Church is
frequently called the Kingdom in the parables of our
Lord, yet the author maintains that this has reference
merely to the Church before the Second Coming and
is but the "incipient, embryotic condition" of the
Kingdom.
In short, he does not believe that the Kingdom of
God is figurative, but that it is an actual empire to be
established on earth and among men, that Christ in
person will assume the reins of government on earth
"for a limited time and for a particular purpose; and
that it will terminate with the accomplishment of that
purpose." This will be the Millennial age, and will
end when Christ delivers up the dominion of earth to
the Father. (1 Cor. 15:25; Matt. 25:34.)
The author's work evinces a keen observation of
and lively interest in the present situation of mankind;
his array of facts tending to show from the present
aspect of affairs in the world as they are "shaping
themselves for the rapidly approaching conflict" are
not alarming, but they force themselves on the attention
of the intelligent, even though we may not be
able to see as clearly as himself that the "trouble of
the day of the Lord is immediately at hand." And, it
may be added, that in a commercial community, enjoying
the comforts of wealth and the comparative security
of governments founded on the will of the people,
they will be saints indeed who can be expected "to
abandon the strife of greed and vain glory and its discontent;
striving for the higher riches and the peace
they do afford."--Commercial Gazette, Pittsburgh,
Oct. 9, '86.
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Millennial Dawn is even more than I could have
possibly hoped for: so loyal to God's Word, while so
true to moral logic, and competent to convince the
mind and heart of the truths of our holy religion and
its "future glory." J. COBB.
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Millennial Dawn. We have here what seems intended
to be the first of a series of volumes under this
general title, and which is designated as The Plan of
the Ages. Prefixed to the volume is a chart which is
designated as the Chart of the Ages, and which embraces
two dispensations and an unfulfilled part of another.
The first dispensation extends from the creation
of the world to the flood, covering a supposed
period of 1,656 years. The second dispensation--that
of this present evil world--embraces the Patriarchal
Age, the Jewish Age from Jacob's death to the end of
the seventy weeks, and the Gospel Age, extending
from Jesus' baptism to the completion of the church,
which is his body. The third age, not yet begun, is
the Millennial Age, or that of the personal reign of
Christ. Of course the volume is what is known as pre-millennial
--with additional views, which probably
many pre-millennialists will not endorse. The writer
enforces the idea of three "ways" in the Scriptures:
The Broad Way--to destruction; the Narrow Way--to
life; and the Highway of Holiness--for the ransomed
of the Lord. He also holds that the first great judgment
was in Eden, but that God will give the world a
second trial under Christ, in person and as judge.
With all this, and with other positions to which exceptions
may be taken, the work is thoroughly reverent,
and may be read with profit.--The Interior, Chicago,
Sept. 16, '86.
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The author of the well-known publications, Why
Evil Was Permitted and The Tabernacle and Its
Teachings, has sent forth another volume entitled
Millennial Dawn, the Plan of the Ages." It is the
first of a series designed to make plain the teachings
of the Bible and arrest skepticism and infidelity. It is
intended especially as a help for Christians, and this
purpose is well carried out in the work. It will be of
inestimable value to Bible students.--Buffalo News.
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"I prize it very highly, and nothing in the world
would please me better than to see it in the hands of
every professing Christian. I think it would make
real Christians of many of them." G. EICHORN.
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Millennial Dawn; The Plan of the Ages. This is the
first of a series of works for Bible students,--"a helping
hand." The author endeavors to show that a severe
conflict is approaching between Labor and Capital,
between Good and Evil--Justice and Injustice,
and that when the earth shall have been purified from
wrong and oppression the Millennium will have come.
The work is scholarly and of much interest.--Springfield
(Mass.) Homestead.
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"It will be found a valuable aid in studying the
plan of salvation."--National Tribune.
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Millennial Dawn will be undoubtedly very interesting
to a large class of Bible students.--American
Rural Home, Rochester, N.Y.
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I do not intend to "notice" the book, but believe
competent critics will agree that none of the many
books on Evidences of Christianity, gives in such compact
form and lucid phrase what Christians need to
know and remember in this direction as the opening
chapters on Divine Revelation in Millennial Dawn.
In the important chapters on "The Kingdom of God"
and "Kingdoms of This World" there is the same
masterly arrangement of the facts, and calm deductions,
so far above the common idle speculation on these
glorious themes.
I mention one more topic, Jehovah's Day. Surely
no other student of "last things" has seen as clearly
and written as boldly yet truthfully and reverently on
this theme as the author of Millennial Dawn. Yet in
the last chapter of his book the author has given clearer
pictures of the scenes and events of the Day of Wrath,
and applied the Scriptures more pertinently as God's
illustrations, than in any other writings from his pen.
Every man of means who prizes the truth ought to
buy a dozen or a hundred copies and sell or loan them.
If you cannot preach publicly, you could not find a
better substitute than copies of Millennial Dawn
loaned to good minds. Here is a book no one need be
ashamed to hand to the most polished or refined. If
composition, breadth of thought and importance of
subject are all considered, it is second to nothing on
earth except alone the Book of books.
J. B. ADAMSON.
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Millennial Dawn, the Plan of the Ages. This is
the first of a series of volumes, each complete in itself,
designed to make plain the teachings of the Bible in a
manner calculated to arrest skepticism by reason and
Scripture. Their special aim is to lend a helping
hand to Christians in putting on the whole armor of
God that in the present confusion and skepticism and
tendency toward infidelity, they may be able to stand.
The work is by the author of the well known publications,
"Why Evil was Permitted," and "The Tabernacle
and Its Teachings," which have had such an
immense circulation, both in America and Great Britain.
--Ohio Farmer.
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TOWER PUBLISHING CO.: Deep thanks for the
"helping hand," Millennial Dawn. It is indeed
"still waters," and "green pastures," so filling sometimes
as to cause fear of a thorn in the flesh to prevent
being lifted up above measure. Marvelous are these
revelations of the jewels of God's love and plan! I
fear of missing them, but cannot think that any can
be permitted to develop capacity to taste to exhilaration
of this new wine, and yet miss the fruition.
There is a promise connected with spiritual hunger,
but this surely goes beyond that. It is delicious
feasting on the fat things themselves.
JOHN C. STEVENS.
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I have received the Dawn, and have not ceased until
I have gone through it. What a feast of fat things is
opened to those who will run patiently the race for the
crown. If I could not get another Dawn, money to any
amount would not buy the one I have. It is another
book I shall prize above rubies. JAMES PUTTICK.
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"I do not say that there is no other such book as
Millennial Dawn, the Plan of the Ages, but if there
is another such work I am sorry I did not come across
it sooner in life. No treatise on the Bible known to
me will hold a candle to this book. It starts just
where I have always thought a theological book ought
to start, by proving and establishing a groundwork for
faith before it addresses faith. It shows the reasonableness
of believing that there is a God, an intelligent
Creator, then aside from the Bible shows that the fact
of a Bible as a revelation of God's will and plan is reasonable.
Then it shows in few words the oneness and
harmony and reasonableness of the Bible itself. But
this last it proves beyond question as a whole, for from
first to last every argument is based upon reason and
Scripture, and by the comprehensiveness and grand
symmetry of the Plan of the Ages which this volume
presents, it proves beyond question, not only that the
Plan is a divine one, but at the same time, that the
Bible which contains that plan is a divine revelation.
It is valuable beyond price to all truth seekers--
skeptical and others--but who to-day, amid the clamoring
creeds, is not in doubt and to some extent skeptical?
He who has not longed for some more tangible,
more reasonable and more solid basis of faith and hope
than is generally possessed by Christians, either has
little brain capacity or will not allow himself to think.
Oh! I long to have fellow-Christians illumined by
the light of God's Word which this book so marvelously
reflects. And imbued with its spirit of consecration,
all would indeed be saints. I shall do what I
can to bring it to the attention of the household of
faith, believing that I can in no other way do them so
much good, or so honor God. It cannot fail to bring
forth rich fruit of grace, knowledge and love wherever
it is read, or rather where it is studied prayerfully by
earnest, truth-seeking children of God.
As for me, my feet had well nigh slipped--I was
almost an Infidel, disgusted with the unreasonableness
of much of the theology and the contradiction one of
another of the various religious denominations, all of
which I ignorantly supposed to be taught in the Bible.
But I thank God that the "glad tidings of great joy
which shall be unto all people," as presented in the
Plan of the Ages, reached my eyes and heart. It has
put a new song in my mouth, even the loving kindness
of our God. For this I shall ever praise the
giver of every good, and in my humble way shall delight
to spend and be spent, in letting the light of the
Plan of the Ages shine into other and still other
hearts, to refresh and bless and strengthen them as
my own has been." W. BELL.
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"I have read Millennial Dawn with great interest
and am reading it a second time. I think it the best
book I ever read, except God's book, the Bible. I purpose
sending for more and lending them to worthy
ones wherever I can find them; so that they also may
know the riches of the grace of our God."
J. T. WILSON.
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"I am delighted with the book, and think it likely to
induce the careful investigation of educated skeptics.
I have already had five copies and now want forty
more. I want to do what I can to put this book into
the hands of truth seekers. I long for the next
volume." E. HORNE.
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Both Church and State are shown to be involved in
the trouble of the Day of the Lord, social, political and
financial. In no other book are the Scriptures bearing
on these topics so pertinently applied. Mankind will
soon be asking the question, "Watchman, what of the
night?" and the answer is here given--The morning
cometh--the blessed reign or Day of Christ--and also
the night; for the word of warning it gives is needed
concerning "Jehovah's Day" which closes the world's
sad 6,000 years of night, and introduces the Millennial
age of glory, the world's Sabbath. I wish a million
readers were each in possession of a copy. Its composition,
thought and importance of subject, are all
that could be desired. B. ADAMSON.
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"I am surprised at the truth it reveals. Truly "the
half was never told." I am greatly blessed in the
study of God's Word, which is made more plain."
C. E. COOK.
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A volume that will surely be appreciated by Bible
students, is Millennial Dawn, The Plan of the Ages.
It is the first of a series of volumes designed to make
plain the teachings of the Bible, in a manner calculated
to arrest skepticism, by Reason and Scripture, the
special aim being to lend a helping hand to Christians
in putting on the whole armor of God, that in the present
confusion, the skepticism and tendency toward
Infidelity, they may be able to stand. It is certainly
a book that will be welcomed even by those of skeptical
minds, for a kindly feeling of forbearance and
respect for opposing opinions pervades its pages, and
the objectionable dogmatism and evidences of bigotry,
so common in the majority of such arguments, are
evidently unfamiliar to the mind of the truly Christian
and scholarly editor. Millennial Dawn will, we
predict, have a very large sale. We heartily commend
it to our readers.--Detroit Commercial Advertiser,
Sep. 24, 1886.
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"Words fail me to express my appreciation of the
book. The reading of it was the grandest feast I ever
enjoyed. How much I wish that every earnest seeker
after the truth could have a copy of it. If it were
possible to spare the money I would order several
copies to lend, but for the present I am doing what I
can with my one copy." N. RANEY.
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Millennial Dawn. This is the first volume of a
series under this title, and treats, as the author terms
it, of the "Plan of the Ages." The second volume will
be upon the "Times and Seasons" of Scripture.
This volume takes up the subject at a point where the
skeptically inclined will be most interested and proceeds
with the important theme in logical order, step
by step presenting the truths which the author finds
in the Bible bearing upon the subject. The author,
while a close reasoner, is eminently scriptural, bringing
forth a "Thus saith the Lord," to substantiate all
his arguments. The subject and its treatment are
deeply interesting, and all seekers after the so-called
hidden truths of Revelation will be delighted to find a
treatise that explains so clearly things but half understood
or mysterious before.--Indiana Farmer.
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The Pacific Congregationalist says: "In Millennial
Dawn, Vol. I., we have a much more pronounced
and perfected scheme than they have yet given us at
Andover. The author has given to his well-printed
book of 351 pages the sub-title, The Plan of the Ages."
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New York, August 23, 1886.
DEAR BROTHER: Truly the entrance of his Word
giveth light! Your book, Millennial Dawn, has
been used by God to so illuminate his divine revelation
that the glorious view seems to have left me like
one in a trance. Trained, as I have been, in the most
rigidly Calvinistic school of thought, my whole self
naturally and quickly assumed the defensive as I
caught the spirit of the book in its opening pages.
But God had beyond all doubt, been preparing my
mind and heart for the childlike reception of his
truth. And laying aside all prejudice, preconceived
notions, and "traditions of the elders," I closeted myself
for the greater part of three days with my Bible
and Dawn, and earnestly seeking, in prayer, the
guidance of God's Holy Spirit to lead me into all
truth, I feasted upon the fat things and drank in the
precious truth until I could almost say with Paul,
"Whether in the body I cannot tell; or whether out of
the body I cannot tell: God knoweth."
I have long since become dissatisfied and disheartened
concerning the clash and din of jarring discord
among opposing creeds and rival sects composing the
heterogeneous "mass of baptized profession"--each
division, large or small, wresting the Scriptures to
conform to its own particular phase of belief, causing
the Word to appear so distorted that its divine Author
would fail to recognize his own production.
But, blessed be God, the Scriptures, in reality, cannot
be broken, and however men may seem to pervert
them to support their peculiar views, they remain unchanged
and unchangeable--the Rock of Eternal
truth! I praise God that he has made you instrumental
in opening my eyes to behold the beautiful symmetry
which the Word exhibits in the marvelous combination
of its manifold and multiform parts, and in unstopping
my ears to hear the delightful harmony
which its many and varied notes produce when taken
in their entirety.
S. I. HICKEY, Presbyterian Minister.
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Millennial Dawn has highly delighted and consoled
me. Indeed aside from the Bible, no book is so highly
prized by me. I have books which cost many times
more than the Millennial Dawn, but, if I could not
get another, I would not part with it for all of my
books and many more besides. G. W. DICKSON.
==========
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