1. Jews of the Satan’s Synagogue
But, though the Star-Angel of the ecclesia of the Smyrneans was richly faithful in the midst of poverty and tribulation, the Spirit informs p. 223 us, that there existed in that city an institution of a hostile and rival character. Its rivalry is indicated by the claim of its founders to be Jews—“who say they are Jews;” and its hostility, by the affirmation of the Spirit, that they constituted “a Synagogue of the Satan.” This was “the Church” in Smyrna, as opposed to “the Ecclesia of the Smyrneans.” The “church” claimed to be “Christian,” and its “clergy,” apostles, in the sense of being “successors of the apostles, and ambassadors of Jesus Christ,” who, in Ephesus, had been tried, and found to be “liars.” It was from this synagogue, that “the raging dogs biting in secret,” as Ignatius says, went forth to Ephesus, sowing their tares.
The claim of this synagogue to be a Christian institution is discerned in the assertion of its members, that they were Jews. All true believers immersed into Christ are Jews by adoption; so that for any natural born Jews and Gentiles to affirm that they were such Jews was to declare that they were “in Christ,” and therefore Christians.
The kingdom promised to them that love God, and are “the called according to his purpose,” is a Hebrew Kingdom. Its territory is the land of Israel turned into Paradise; the nation to inhabit it, the twelve tribes of Israel cleansed from their iniquities, as the result of an intelligent and affectionate recognition of the Anointed Jesus; and obedience to him as their King; its princes, priests, and nobles of all ranks and degrees, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the prophets and apostles; and those Jews under the law, “who walked in the steps of that faith of the father Abraham, which he had, being yet uncircumcised,” or a Gentile; and those Jews after the Day of Pentecost, who continued in Abraham’s faith, affectionately recognizing Jesus as the Seed promised to him and Israel, and were “immersed for his name”—Luke xiii. 28; Matt. xix. 27-29; Rom. iv. 12.
To this point, all pertaining to the kingdom is Hebrew from “Abraham, the Hebrew,” to the appearance of Peter at the house of Cornelius, the Gentile proselyte of the gate. From the typical confirmation of the land-covenant to Abraham, 430 years before the night of the Exodus from Egypt; to the antitypical confirmation of the same covenant in the crucifixion of Jesus (Gen. xv. 7, 8-18; Exod. xii. 41, 42; Matt. xxvi. 26-29; Rom. xv. 8; Gal. iii. 16, 17)—there was an interval of 2187 years. In all this time, there was a peculiar people that had the mark or “token” of the Land-Covenant in their flesh. This mark was placed there by circumcision. AIL-shaddai said to Abraham, “a father of many nations have I constituted thee. And I will give unto thee, and to thy Seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for a possession of the Olahm p. 224 and I will be to them for Elohim.” Then having commanded circumcision, he said, “It shall be the token of the Covenant between me and you:” and my covenant shall be in your flesh for the covenant of the Olahm,” of the thousand years—Gen. xvii. 5, 8, 11.
This institution in its Mosaic practice by dwellers in the land of Canaan was purely a matter of flesh—a mark indiscriminately borne by the faithful and profane; by Judas as well as Jesus. The mere fact, therefore, of having the token of the covenant in the flesh, or of being a natural descendant of Abraham, confers no right to a joint-inheritance of the land of Canaan when transformed into Paradise. Hence the truth of what Jesus taught, that “the flesh profiteth nothing”—Jno. vi. 63; for “the promise to Abraham that he should be the heir of the world, was not to him, or to his Seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith: for if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect”—Rom. iv. 13, 14. When, therefore, we read the promises to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and David, they are to be interpreted as made to them, and their Seed, not because they were circumcised in flesh, and were natural descendants of Abraham (for upon this principle Ishmael and Esau’s descendants would have an equal right to Canaan with the posterity of Jacob), but because they believed what God promised them; and evinced their faith in doing what he commanded them: thus becoming subjects of a righteousness which is by faith.
This being the case, some other definition of a Hebrew, Israelite, or Jew, and of circumcision became necessary. Hence in the New Testament we have the terms, “Hebrew of the Hebrews,” “Israelite Indeed,” “a Jew Inwardly,” and “Circumcision of the Heart”—Jno. i. 47; Rom. ii. 29; ix. 6; Phil. iii. 5. These are phrases which resolve the descendants of Abraham into two classes,—Israel after the flesh; and Israel after the spirit. Referring to this division, Paul says, “they are not all Israel who are of Israel; neither because they are the Seed of Abraham are they all children: but “In Isaac shall thy seed be called”—not in Ishmael or Esau. “That is, they which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted for the seed”—Rom. ix. 6-8. Thus, Moses, Joshua, Samuel, David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, and all the prophets, Jesus and the apostles, and so forth, were Hebrews of the Hebrews,” “children of the kingdom,” “Israelites indeed, in whom there was no guile,” “Jews inwardly,” who were circumcised in heart and ears: while Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, the sons of Eli, Saul, Absalom, Zedekiah, Judas, Caiaphas, the Pharisees, Sadducees, and such like, were “the children of the kingdom to be cast into outer darkness;” p. 225 “Jews outwardly;” and of a “circumcision, which is outward in the flesh,” according to the letter; “of Israel,” but “not Israel;” whose praise is of men, but not of God.
Now if these children of Abraham’s flesh are not the children of God, because of unbelief and disobedience; what shall we say of faithless and rebellious Gentiles, who are of no kin to “the Friend of God?” If such affirm that they are Jews are they not manifestly liars? If Judas or Caiaphas had affirmed that they were Jews inwardly, they would have lied; much more then Gentiles of like character, who are Jews neither by nature nor faith.
Seeing then, that “the flesh profiteth nothing,” it is manifestly not necessary to be born a Jew, and to be circumcised, to become “the Jew inwardly” and to be circumcised of heart. In this matter of becoming Jews, and of circumcision, upon the principle of subjection to the righteousness of faith, God has placed the descendants of Adam generally, and the posterity of Abraham in particular, upon common ground. “We have proved,” says Paul, “that Jews and Gentiles are all under sin;” and being all sinners, they have all become liable to punishment before God.
Now the Hebrew Kingdom in Paradise is covenanted, not to sinners of any race, but to the children of God by adoption. A man of any “kindred, tongue, people, or nation,” may become a son of God upon gospel principles; and “if a son, then an heir of God, and joint-heir with Christ”—Rom. viii. 17. But, in order to become a son, he must “put on Christ,” that he may be “complete in him.” Now Jesus is the Christ; therefore to put on Christ, he must put on Jesus; and this can only be done by “believing the things concerning the Kingdom of God, and the Name of Jesus Christ;” and being immersed into the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit—Acts viii. 12; Matt. xxviii. 19. If a man have believed these things and been baptized in consequence, he has “consented to the wholesome words of the Lord Jesus, and to the teaching which is according to godliness.” He believes the promises covenanted to Abraham and to David; he believes that Jesus was Son of God and Son of David, and therefore the Anointed of God; and that, though not the son of Joseph, he was a real man, and of the same nature as ourselves; that he really suffered death, was buried, and rose again; that he ascended into heaven, and now sits at the right hand of Power; that he was delivered for the offences of the believers in the covenants of promise, and raised again for their justification; and that he will return to Jerusalem in power; that he will raise the dead; and in coöperation with the righteous, acquire great glory in the conquest of the world, and the regeneration p. 226 of Israel and the nations. Having believed thus, and been baptized, he patiently continues in well-doing seeking for glory, and honor, and incorruptibility; that when Christ shall appear he also may appear with him in the glory of the thousand years.
Now to men of such faith and practice as this, the apostle says, “Ye are all the Sons of Deity in the Anointed Jesus through the faith; for as many as have been immersed into Christ, have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek; there is neither slave nor free; there is neither male nor female; for ye are all ONE in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s Seed, and heirs according to the promise”—Gal. iii. 26. Thus, “of twain ONE NEW MAN is made,” and he is called “the Jew inwardly”—Eph. ii. 15. This inward Jew is multitudinous; and consists of all in Christ, and because in Christ, in Abraham. Believing men and women, slaves and freemen, Jews and Greeks “are all one in Christ; and being in Jesus, share with him in all his national, official, and divine relations. He is a Jew; therefore all in him are Jews: He is Son of the Deity; therefore all in him are Sons of God: He was circumcised; therefore all in him are “circumcised by the circumcision of Christ:” He is king and high priest; therefore they are “kings and priests for God:” He is the Christ; therefore all in him are His Body, the Mystical Christ; He is the Seed of the Woman, and of Abraham, and of David; therefore all in him are their Seed also: the righteousness of the law was fulfilled by him; therefore the righteousness of that law is likewise fulfilled by all in him who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. In short, as no one can inherit the kingdom and glory of the Paradise of the Elohim unless he become of the Jew, who is the circumcised Son of Abraham, David, and the Deity; priest, king, and anointed one of Israel; and the subject of the righteousness of God; and, as men of all races are but sinners under the sentence of death, and therefore cannot acquire this position upon hereditary and natural principles—they can only become of “the Jew” and therefore Jews, elementary parts of a majestic whole, by putting on Christ, by entering into him, and so being “in him.” By this arrangement, though by nature destitute and naked, they become complete, as saith the apostle, “Ye are complete in him, who is the Head of all principality and power; in whom also ye are circumcised”—Col. ii. 10, 11.
We have shown what it is to get into Jesus Christ; and we proceed to remark, that no one can get into him without being the subject of “the faith;” for Paul says, “Ye are all the Sons of the Deity in the Anointed Jesus, through the faith”—δια της πιστεως; and he tells us, that there is “one faith,” and not two, or more; and that without this p. 227 faith “it is impossible to please God.” It is evident, then, that those Satanists in Smyrna, and in Philadelphia, “who say they are Jews,” but who had either not embraced the faith, or having embraced it, had, afterwards, made it void by their traditions, or had denied it in any way, “are not Jews, but do lie;” they were not in Christ Jesus, nor He in them by faith, and therefore, whatever their pretensions might be, they were not Christians.
“Through the faith,” then, Gentiles become “Jews;” and natural born Hebrews become “Israelites indeed.” “Through the faith,” expressed in “the Obedience of Faith,” men and women get into Christ; and in getting in become citizens of “the Polity of the Israel,” to be planted as “the Wood of the Life,” in the Paradise of the Elohim, where it will flourish unfadingly during the Olahm of a thousand years. “The Polity of the Israel”—ἡ πολιτεια του Ισραηλ—styled in the English Version, “the Commonwealth of Israel,” is at present in the formative state—Eph. ii. 12. It is being formed by the process of “taking out a people from the nations for the Name”—Acts xv. 14. This name is the polity; and when the gospel of the kingdom preached has separated all required for the purposes of God, the Name, or Polity, will be complete; and, as it is a Hebrew Polity, by which the Jewish nation, and all other nations, are to-be governed, all who share in its πολιτευμα, or Commonwealth, must become “Inward Jews,” or “Israelites indeed”—Phil. iii. 20; where Paul says, “Our politeuma subsists in heavens, out of which also we wait for the deliverer the Lord Jesus Anointed.” The citizenship begins there, by true believers on earth being immersed into Him now in heavens at the right hand of Power.
But the Land-Covenant requires that all the members of this Divine Polity be circumcised. When the Millennial Sanctuary is set up in the Holy Oblation of Paradise, the law is, that “No stranger, uncircumcised in heart, nor uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into my sanctuary of any stranger that is among the children of Israel”—Ezek. xliv. 9. This is the principle—there must be circumcision. Israel and foreigners that come to sojourn there, must be circumcised in heart and flesh, “And the uncircumcised man child, whose flesh is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken my covenant”—Gen. xvii. 14. Circumcision is therefore indispensable.
Now females partook of the circumcision of their fathers, even as Levi before he was born paid tithes to Melchizedec, being, as it were, in the loins of Abraham: so after a like arrangement, “the Bride, the Lamb’s wife,” springing as Eve from the side of Adam, partakes of the circumcision of Jesus’ flesh; and does no more therefore need to be circumcised p. 228 individually in the flesh of their persons, than the female half of Abraham’s posterity.
This necessity being thus obviated, yet circumcision being indispensable, it is evident, that the members of the Divine Polity of Israel must be the subjects of “the circumcision of the heart.” There is no other alternative,—circumcised of flesh by imputation; and circumcised of heart through the faith.
“We,” says Paul to the saints, “are the circumcision, who worship God in spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh”—Phil. iii. 3. The Saints, then, are “the Circumcision” in the true spiritual import of the institution, and not the rejectors of Jesus, or those who are too ignorant from whatever cause, to get into him. But, in the primitive institution, there is a putting off of flesh—a bloody cutting off, which makes it a covenant, or ברית berith. When, therefore, true believers,—that is, believers of the truth, are circumcised, there must be in their case “a putting off of the flesh.” This is actually so, as expounded in the words of Paul, who says, “In Christ ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off THE BODY OF THE SINS of the flesh by the circumcision of the Christ.” That is, when Jesus was circumcised on the eighth day according to the law, the flesh cut off from his person was representative of the flesh and its lusts which were to be put off by all who should be constituted the righteousness of God in him—who should put off their sins; and afterwards, put off their flesh, as he had done in its transformation into Holy Spirit Nature. All the sins of a man, previous to his putting on Christ, in their totality, are styled “a body;” and as they result from the uncontrolled operation of the inherent lusts of the flesh, the embodiment is styled, “the body of the sins of the flesh”— “the old sins,” “the Old Man, which is corrupt, according to the deceitful lusts;” “the Old Man with his deeds”—Col. iii. 9; Eph. iv. 22.
Now this Body of Sin must be crucified, that it may be circumcised, or cut off, even unto its death; and there is nothing can do this but “the truth as it is in Jesus” heartily believed and obeyed. When this is intelligently and heartily received, it works a thorough and complete transformation of the man. His eyes are opened, he is turned from ignorance to knowledge, and from the power of Satan to God. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, are put to death; and he lives for a better, higher, and nobler state of being. Thus prepared in heart and understanding, he is ready for circumcision. Not as the “Concision” would prescribe, who first immersed, and then circumcised the flesh of their dupes; nor as the Anticision of after times, who teach that water-sprinkling came in the room of circumcision: but in p. 229 the way the apostle indicates, in the words, “Ye are circumcised in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh in the circumcision of the Christ, buried with him in the immersion; with whom also ye are risen through the faith of the energy of the Deity who raised him from among the dead: and ye being dead in your trespasses, and in the foreskin of your flesh, he hath made alive together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses”—Col. ii. 12. Hence, to be circumcised with the true circumcision is for a genuine believer of the truth, “as it is in Jesus,” to be “immersed for the Name of Jesus Anointed into a remission of sins”—Acts ii. 38. Such a circumcised believer is in Christ, and being “in him” is an Inward Jew; in other words, a Christian.
In Smyrna, then, and Philadelphia, there were Satanists, who said they were Jews,—that is, Christians; but, saith the Spirit, “they are not, but do lie.” The world is full of such liars to this day. Their “names and denominations” are Legion. “They say they are Christians, but are not, but do lie.” They are water-sprinkled Nikolaitans, and nothing more; uncircumcised Gentiles of the unmeasured outer court, which is theirs; in which also they tread under foot the Holy City during forty and two months—Rev. xi. 2. Our contemporaries, who say they are Christians, are ignorant of God, are destitute of the faith, and without even the form of baptism; for none but the wicked, or the insane, would affirm either that baptism came in the room of circumcision; or, that sprinkling a few drops of water into the face of a puling infant, or into the face of an ignorant adult, was baptism! Neither sprinkling, pouring, nor immersion, came in the room of circumcision: immersion, the only true action of the “one baptism,” is not a substitute; but the means by which the believer of the truth gets at, and partakes of the circumcision of Christ. If a man be ignorant of the truth, all the dipping and sprinkling in the world cannot circumcise him; and without “circumcision of heart in spirit,” he can have no part in the Paradise of the Elohim.
Lastly, upon this point we remark, that for an unqualified man to affirm that he is an apocalyptic Jew, or, by interpretation, a Christian, is “blasphemy.” This is manifest from the words of the Spirit, who says, “I know the blasphemy of them who say they are Jews, and are not.” Blasphemy is Greek, and signifies “defamatory, calumnious, abusive language.” To blaspheme is to hurt one’s good name, to speak ill, or to the prejudice, of one. The blasphemy of saying we are Jews, when not, is defamatory and injurious to the name of Christ. For liars to affirm that they are Christ’s, is to injure the reputation of Christ with those who believe it, and to impede the progress of the truth. Thus, when men say they are Christians, but are really nothing p. 230 else than Judaizers of the Concision, Gnostics, and sprinklers of the Anticision, or Nikolaitans all, they are blasphemers; for in proportion as their criminal foolishness rises in public estimation, “the truth as it is in Jesus” falls, and becomes the subject of ridicule and contempt. This is the relative position of things at the present time. All ranks, orders, and degrees of the clergy of the Nikolaitan Names and Denominations can stand up before the world, and utter the most ridiculous and wicked blasphemies, which their flocks receive with all-satisfied and pietistic grimace. They can take a squalling brat, and sprinkling water into its face, tell their audiences, with a grave countenance, that they thus baptize it by Divine Authority for its regeneration and membership in the church of Christ, and that, this sorcery accomplished, it is a Christian. If shortly after it dies, they “preach its funeral,” and tell their deluded followers that its “precious immortal soul has gone to glory,” and is now one of the angels around the throne! This, and much more of the same sort of incoherent twaddle, they retail as religious consolation to a deluded world, which responds in tuneful and glorious instrumental and vocal harmony, “glory, hallelujah!” while the annunciation of the gospel of the kingdom would either be submerged in shouts of ribaldry, or met with the imprecations of infuriated pietism. Shall it stand on record, that it is blasphemy for one to say he is a Jew, when he is not; and that all these unscriptural and antichristian traditions are not blasphemy? Truth and candor forbid it; and therefore, with our loudest voice we say, “He that hath an ear let him hearken to what the Spirit saith” to the Smyrneans, who in effect proclaims, that the darling pietism of “the religious world” is mere bald, unmitigated blasphemy!
2. “The Synagogue of the Satan”
Synagogue is a Greek word, from the verb συναγω “to bring together, collect, gather; passive, to convene, come together, meet.” The noun συναγωγη, signifies “a collecting, gathering; hence a congregation,” and sometimes the building where the congregation meets. The blasphemers in Smyrna, who said they were apocalyptic Jews, or, by interpretation, Christians, but lied, are not styled “the Ecclesia of the Satan,” because that would imply that they were a calling out by a special invitation to something. The Satan has nothing to invite men to that they are not already entitled to by nature. Being sinners, they are “children of wrath,” and therefore adversaries to all contained in “the One Hope of the invitation,” which is to the kingdom and glory p. 231 of the Deity. They are not, therefore, an ecclesia, but simply a gathering together, a congregation of blasphemers.
Synagogue in Jas. ii. 2, is put for an “assembly” of Hebrew Christians. Addressing them, the apostle says, “My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus, anointed of the glory, with respect of persons. For if there come into your Synagogue a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel; and there come in also a poor man, in vile raiment; and ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here honorably; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here at my footstool; do ye not then confer superiority among yourselves, and are become judges (possessed) of evil imaginations?” This that James reproves, came to be characteristic of many in the Christian assemblies. It was the old pharisaic love of preëminence budding forth in the congregations of the faithful. “Do not ye,” said Jesus, “after the works of the Scribes and Pharisees; for all their works they do to be seen of men; they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments and love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the Synagogues, and greetings in the markets, and to be called of men Rabbi, Rabbi, But be not ye called Rabbi, (or My Great One,) for one is your Guide, the Anointed One, and all ye are brethren. And call no one your father upon the earth, for one is your Father, who is in the heavens. Neither be ye called guides, for one is your Guide, the Anointed. But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant”—Matt. xxiii. 6.
“When thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the Synagogues and in the streets. And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the Synagogues, and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. And when ye pray, use not vain repetitions as the Gentiles, for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking”—Matt. vi. 2, 5.
Such were the practices characteristic of the religious meetings of the Jews in their synagogues. The elders, who constituted the Presbytery of the Synagogue, called also “the rulers,” assumed to be the special favorites of heaven, and the “spiritual guides” of the “cursed people”—the am-ha-aretz, “who knew not the law.” They styled themselves “the Great Ones,” and were looked up to as the great lights, or stars, of the ecclesiastical aerial, who guided the blind to the curing and saving of their souls. They honored one another, delighted in the honor bestowed by the wondering multitude, and consorted mainly with the rich, influential, and powerful. To the honor that came from God they were indifferent, for all they did was for public applause, and the profits p. 232 accruing from the approbation of their dupes. They made long prayers, and many prayers, and vain prayers, loud, contradictory, and absurd; prayers, like the prayers of the “spiritual guides” and “soul-curers” of our day, full of blasphemy and noise, and which, if answered, would compel the Deity to falsify his promises, and thereby make himself a liar. As to their teaching, they taught for doctrine the commandments of men, and so made void the word of God by their traditions. Isaiah styles them, “Blind, ignorant, and all dumb dogs, that cannot bark; dreaming, lying down, loving to slumber. Yea, greedy dogs, who can never have enough; shepherds that cannot understand; they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his own quarter,” or sect—ch. lvi. 10. They prided themselves upon their “learning,” or as they term it now, their “scholarship.” They studied at the feet of “Masters in Israel,” and in due time became Rabbis themselves. But, though stuffed and crammed with learned lumber, Isaiah says, “they are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink: for Yahweh hath poured out upon them the spirit of a deep sleep, and hath closed their eyes: the prophets and the rulers, the seers hath he covered. And the vision of all is become unto Israel as the words of a book that is sealed, which they deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee; and he saith, I cannot, for it is sealed. And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee; and he saith, I am not learned. Wherefore Yahweh saith, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honor me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men: therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a wonderful work among this people”—ch. xxix. 9-13.
Such was the Synagogue-System, at the epoch of the institution of the Ecclesia of the Deity, based upon Jesus as the Christ. The description is applicable to the rulers and the ruled of Israel to this day; only that, if they were then besotted with tradition, and vainly worshipping with their lips, they are now, as Ezekiel saith, “Dry bones, very dry.” There was then some sap in the topmost twig of the cedar; but now, alas, none!
Such a synagogue, then, came to be a fit and proper emblem of those “Christians,” falsely so-called, who in Smyrna “said they were Jews, but were not.” John, referring to these spurious Christians in divers places, says, in 1 Ep. ii. 19, “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us they would doubtless have continued with us; but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.” This emigration from the apostolic fellowship p. 233 became “the synagogue of the Satan,” and was afterwards distinguished by the assumed title of “the Holy Apostolic Catholic Church.” The leaders of this schism transferred all the customs of the old Jewish Synagogue-System into their pseudo-Christian “church;” and as they were not slow in getting the majority—for “they were of the world, and therefore they spoke of the world, and the world heard them;” for it hears and loves its own—they turned upon those who continued faithful to the apostolic teaching, and denounced and oppressed them as “heretics.” The leaders of this schism erected themselves into a distinct order from the laioi, or people, now styled “the laity” and “laymen”—men of the people. They usurped to themselves the title of ὁ κληρος, “the clergy,” or the lot, portion, or heritage; on the assumption that, while the people belonged to their spiritual guides, said guides are the special lot, or inheritance, of God! Thus, “clergy” is defined “the body of men set apart by due ordination for the service of God;” and a “clergyman,” as “one in holy orders; not a laick.” But, though this distinction of clergy and laity is universal in “the synagogue of the Satan,” there is no such distinction in the Ecclesia, or Body of Christ. The elders, overseers, and deacons, were no holier than the saints at large. There were no “holy orders” as distinct from orders not holy; for elders and people were “all one in Christ Jesus;” and, as a whole, constituted the κληρος, or clergy of the Deity. Each particular congregation, with its overseers and deacons, was a kleros, or clergy; that is, a heritage: and all the heritages, or congregations, in the aggregate, made up “the flock of the Deity.” Hence, in writing to the saints in general, Peter says, in 1 Epist. v. 1, “the presbyters (or elders) among you I exhort, who am a co-elder and witness of the sufferings of the Anointed One, and a partaker of the glory which shall be revealed, feed the flock of the Deity with you, not overseeing it unwillingly, but spontaneously (1 Tim. iii. 1); not for the sake of sordid gain, but with alacrity: not as domineering over THE HERITAGES (οἱ κληροι, the clergies), but becoming patterns of the flock. And when the Chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive the unfading wreath of glory.” But “the Synagogue of the Satan” reversed all this; instead of “feeding the flock,” they turned upon it as “grievous wolves” and “raging dogs;” and sought to episcopize for filthy lucre’s sake, as spiritual lords ignoring all “heritages” but their own ranks, orders, and degrees; and accounting the people only as a beast of burden to be worked for the honor and profit of “Reverend Divines,” as at this day. “The Synagogue of the Satan,” of whose flock they are the patterns, has grown to enormous dimensions while the Ecclesia of Christ has been prevailed against almost to extinction, as p. 234 foretold by Daniel and John—Dan. vii. 12; Rev. xi. 2; xiii. 7. Satan’s Church is co-extensive with what they call “Christendom”—a huge and mighty synagogue, comprehending all the names and denominations of “the Great City” from Rome to Bethany and Utah. “The world rulers of the darkness of this Aion,” or Course of things; “the spirituals of the wickedness in high places”—are all members or supporters, in some form or shape, of this Synagogue. Like the blasphemers in Smyrna, “they all say they are Christians, and are not, but do lie;” and they are all either ignorant of the gospel of the Kingdom, or, if they have any knowledge of it, know it only to oppose it, or to neutralize the obedience it implicitly and explicitly requires. Having identified “the Synagogue,” we shall now proceed to scrutinize
3. “The Satan;” and Demons
Satan is a Hebrew word from the root שטן, sahtan, which signifies, 1. To lie in wait, to be an adversary, to persecute; as in Ps. cix. 29, where the Spirit says, “Those persecuting me (sotnai, satanizing me) shall be clothed with shame. “It signifies, 2. to oppose, to resist in the forum; as in Zech. iii. 1, “he showed me the Satan, השטן, has-Sahtahn, standing at Joshua’s right hand, לשטנו, le-sitno, for to oppose (or satanize) him.”
The noun שטן, Sahtahn, signifies an adversary, e. g. in war, an enemy, as in 1 Sam. xxix. 4, where the lords of the Philistines say, “lest in the battle David shall become, le-sahtahn, for a Satan, or enemy, against us.” It is also used for one who in any way opposes another, as in Numb. xxii. 22, “the angel of Yahweh stood in the way, le-sahtahn FOR A SATAN, or opponent, to Balaam.”
In 2 Sam. xix. 22, David inquires of certain retainers who counselled him to put Shimei the traitor to death, “What have I to do with you, ye sons of Zeruiah, that ye should this day be to me, le-sahtahn, for (a Satan, or) adversary?”
In the New Testament the use of the word is the same as in the Old. We have seen that Moses styles an angel of Yahweh a Satan; we need not therefore be surprized at Jesus styling Peter one. “And he said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men”—Mat. xvi. 23. Peter was a Satan in this instance in offering evil counsel to Jesus, who would have been as effectually ruined if he had followed it, as Judas; and the purpose of the Deity in the redemption of the race through him completely frustrated.
p. 235 Any counsel that would have persuaded Jesus to stop short of obedience unto death, although it might have emanated from the kindest personal feelings, was satanic; and constituted the counsellor a Satan to him, and to all interested in his welfare. The reply of Jesus to Peter gives us a hint of what constitutes a Satan in a moral, or spiritual sense. It is this—that, whatsoever savours of the things of men in opposition to the things of the Deity, is Satan. Thus, if the Gospel of the Kingdom be stated and proved, to a man, or to a company of men and women, and they oppose it as contrary to their views and feelings, by so doing they evince that they savour not of the things of God, and are therefore Satans. On this principle, those who emigrated from the fellowship of the apostles, and made a new settlement upon the Nikolaitan basis, for themselves; seeing that their teaching was opposed to and subversive of “the truth as it in Jesus,” became Satan. This was the case with the faction in Smyrna. They pretended to be Christians, but were opposed to the doctrine of Christ, and opposed those who were faithful to it; thereby constituting themselves “the Satan” in Smyrna.
The Lydian, or Proconsular, Asia in which the Seven Ecclesia were situated was the arena upon which is apocalyptically represented “the Satan” in antagonism to the One Body. Pergamos, in verse 12, is given as the capital and throne of the rising power, where it flourished in the midst of Balaamism and Nikolaitanism; while in “Thyatira the Satan’s Woman Jezebel, the False Prophetess in embryo, works diligently “according to the working of the Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all the deceivableness of the unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved.” The Satan and Jezebel are the apocalyptic types of what afterwards was manifested in the Church and State developments of the Constantinian Era, and the subsequent era of Charlemagne, when the Ecclesiastical Prophetess of Rome acquired dominion “according to the working of the Satan.”
“The Satan” of these writings to the Ecclesias, is a noun of multitude. It does not stand for one person, man or devil; but for many deep, and crafty teachers, all pretending to be ministers of righteousness and preachers of the gospel. This is evident from verse 24, where it is written, “as many as have not known the depths of the Satan as THEY speak; I will put upon you none other burden.” Here “Satan” stands for many; and is comprehensive of the Nikolaitanes, Balaamites, false apostles, spurious Jews, and Jezebel-seducers. They are all aggregately “the Satan;” and when ecclesiastically considered, the same adversaries are symbolised by Jezebel, the idolatrous and cruel p. 236 wife of Ahab, the widowed queen of the ten tribes, a king’s daughter, and accursed. Paul speaks of this Satan in 2 Cor. xi. 13, saying, “Such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for the same Satan is transformed into an angel of light. It is no great thing then if also the ministers of the same be transformed as ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.” The apocalyptic Satan accordingly in all outward appearance is very sanctimonious. Their tone is peculiar. They do not speak like “the laity;” but have a drawling, nasal, twang, with which all men are familiar who attend their ministrations. It is known as “the holy tone,” a phrase which when pronounced through the nose, will give the reader some idea of the sound of Satan’s utterances. Besides the tone, the grimace of Satan’s countenance is very peculiar. It is long-faced, and smooth-faced, suffused, not with blushes, but with downcast and pale-faced humility, his utterances are stereotyped formulas current with all “miserable sinners” of highly mesmerized piety. They talk much about “grace,” “experience,” “regeneration,” “immortal souls,” “the devil,” “hell,” “fire and brimstone,” “eternal torment,” “burning up of the world,” “kingdoms in the skies,” “infant salvation,” “baby-damnation,” “sprinkling in the room of circumcision,” “baptismal regeneration,” “purgatory,” sabbath,” and so forth: but for Moses and the prophets they have particular disrelish. They praise the Scriptures, however, and circulate them widely; having previously with great diligence made them unintelligible by indoctrinating the laity with their vain and gospel nullifying traditions. So popular is Satan’s piety and religion that the Devil himself has at length become a member of his synagogues. Thus Church and World are hand in glove; and Naboth’s vineyard is their holding, until the avenger comes; and then “great will be the day of Jezreel,” when “I will make them,” saith the Spirit, “of the synagogue of the Satan, who say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie, to come and do homage at the feet of them who have kept my word, and have not denied my name”—Rev. iii. 9, 8.
In Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, and Philadelphia, “the Satan” was in the formative state. He occupied a position between the One Body of Christ and the unbelieving Jews and Pagans. He was opposed to both, as at this day. He is neither a Jesus-rejecting Jew, nor a Mohammedan or Pagan; and while he repudiates and persecutes these, he more cordially hates the truth than either of them. He is Greek in Turkey and Russia; Papist in Rome and its dependencies; Protestant in Canterbury and Edinburgh; Dissenter and Sectarian, where the Devil declines to divide the spoils. In the days of John, “the Devil p. 237 and Satan” had not united their fortunes. On the contrary, the Devil persecuted “the Satan,” and slew him by thousands. This antagonism lasted until the Devil was cast out of the heaven—Rev. xii. 12. But, as “the Devil,” whose capital was Rome, was equally opposed to “the Satan” enthroned and dwelling in the capital of the old kingdom of Pergamos, as to the Saints, he is also styled “Satan” in chap. xii. 9. While the Devil was a pagan he was “a great red dragon-Satan;” but when he became a saint of “the Holy Catholic Church,” his Satanism was that of the blasphemers, who say they are christians, but do lie—Rev. xx. 2. Hence, the Pagan Satan and the Catholic Satan are both apocalyptic Satans, and equally enemies to the truth. The pagan Roman emperors and their priests were of the former; while the pseudo-christian Origen, Athanasius, Arius, Eusebius, Chrysostom, and such like, were of the latter; “men of corrupt minds, and of no judgment concerning the faith; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof;” mere sacramentarians: “from such turn away”—2 Tim. iii. 8, 5.
Lastly under this head we remark, that though “the Satan” whose synagogue was in Smyrna and elsewhere, has gained the ascendancy; and now possesses the glory, honor, and riches of this world, or Order of things, in Church and State; and by his representatives the bishops, priests, ministers and deacons of the Apostasy, administers in human affairs; yet the same Satan is doomed to a disruption and scattering after the type of Jezebel, whose carcase was so dispersed and devoured that “none could say this is Jezebel.” Hence, when the Seventy returned to Jesus, and informed him that the Demoniacs were subject to them through his name; he said to them, “I saw the Satan as lightning fall out of the heaven.” This was a prevision of that event literally and typically accomplished in the expulsion of the Pagan Satan by the typical Michael and his Angels; and hereafter to be as literally, but anti-typically, fulfilled in the expulsion of the Pseudo-Christian Satan from the heaven of the Four Beasts of Daniel, styled “the whole heaven,” by the real Michael, which is Jesus and his Brethren, “the Saints.” Then will be as effectually abolished all ranks, orders, and degrees of “the Clergy,” as were the pagan priests by Constantine and his successors. The “Reverend Divines” of all the schools, colleges, pulpits, and platforms of Satan’s Christendom, whom Paul styles prophetically δαιμονια, DAIMONIA; men, whose vocation is to seduce from the faith, and to draw disciples after themselves; “speaking lies in hypocrisy, having had their own conscience cauterized; forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats”—1 Tim. iv. 1-3:— all these “reverends” and “D. D’s,” and “divines,” will be taken and p. 238 abolished. A daimōn in Paul’s day, was a god, deity, or divine, that occupied a middle station between the “Dii Superiores,” the gods of the first rank, θεοι, theoi, and the people who worshipped them. In the mythology of the idol-worshippers δαιμονες, daimones, were “the souls of men of the golden age hovering between heaven and earth, and acting as tutelary deities: they formed the connecting link between gods and men, and so Aesch. Pers. 620, calls the deified Darius δαιμων a dœmon: hence when daimones and theoi are joined, the daimones are gods of lower rank.”
Now, according to the theology of the Satan, the theoi, or Supreme Gods, are what they call “the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost;” that is, really their father the Devil, his Son Antichrist, and the Ghost of the Flesh. These are their “Holy Trinity” in whom they delight, and after whom they go wondering—Rev. xiii. 3. Next in rank below these are “the angels” whom they also worship in praying to them and dedicating to their honor the temples in which they perform their rites—Col. ii. 18. With these also may be ranked what Satan styles, the immortal disembodied souls of dead men, women, and babes, which, being furnished with wings on their arrival “beyond the skies,” become angels. These “Saints and Angels” are “the ministers of grace” between the “Holy Trinity” of the Devil, Antichrist, and their Spirit, and their Heritage on earth, “the Clergy,” who are the hierophants of their mysteries in the world. These imaginary saints and angels of Skyana are the dœmones of the Satan’s theology; the internuncios, or mediators, between his Trinity and men; the Guardians and Protectors of nations, tribes, and peoples; and the Patrons of their bazaars of spiritual merchandize, their benefit societies, holy days, and benevolent institutions. These mythological orders of Theoi and Daimones constitute “the providence” of the Satan’s theology. As a whole, it is nothing but “the Old Serpent” heathenism in a new skin—Bible names applied to devilish things.
The “First Person” in the Satan’s Trinity, is a ferocious, inaccessible, and implacable divinity. He is represented by his priests as having created myriads of human beings with the certainty of no other destiny than eternal torture in fire and burning brimstone. That he has made “faith alone” the condition of escape from this; but that none of his creatures can have this faith unless he works it in them by the operation of his spirit, bestowed in answer to the prayers of his priests, clergy, or ministers; and even then he only grants it reluctantly in special cases, at the instigation of the combined supplications of “ministers,” the Virgin and her Son, and the Saints and angels of the system. Read the liturgies of Rome and Canterbury; and listen p. 239 to the random outpourings of the pulpit; and witness the tumults, uproars, and bawlings of the religion-gettings of the Satan; and the character of the Gods and Demons of their theology may be accurately inferred from their words, and works, in conventicle.
This implacability and ferocity of the “First Person” of the Satan’s Trinity necessitated the institution of a mediation, whose function should be to make “the First Person” willing to save a soul,—in other words, to make him placable. This mediation introduces “the Second Person” as a mild, inoffensive, amiable, and benevolent Eternal God—the milk of all kindness compared with “the First Person,” whose disposition is illustrated by the fabled Saturn, who is said to have devoured his own offspring. These two incompatible personages the Satan teaches are One God—the one in a rage; and the other, expostulating, and soothing him, and affectionately interceding with him to spare certain miserable and guilty wretches whose thefts, adulteries, murders, covetousness, and other abominations, “have found them out:” but pleading for them in vain, until he promises to go and die on a cross in their stead. With this he is hardly restrained till the sacrifice is accomplished; but being performed, he accepts it only in behalf of the few he may send “the Third Person” to mesmerize into “feeling good,” and “experiencing a hope.” But it would occupy too much of our space to unveil all “the DEPTHS of the Satan, as THEY speak.” I have adduced the foregoing as the extreme necessity created dogmatically by the Satan, to impress upon mankind the indispensability of their ministrations. Whose prayers are so effectual as the Satan’s, in bringing down “the Third Person,” “God the Holy Ghost,” into the unclean, and infidel, evil hearts of the wicked, to convert them, and to give them a feeling?—A feeling of hope that they are forgiven? Whose “consolations of religion” are more comforting than the Satan’s, to the wretch about to be swung off by the neck for rape, arson, and murder?—or to the exhausted debauchee fast sinking into a drunkard’s grave? Whose prayers so availing as the Satan’s for the bringing down of the Holy Ghost into the hearts of tyrannic kings and governors, inflated senators, and muddle-headed legislative assemblies, that they may be anointed with a wise and knowing unction? This being the general conviction inwrought by the working of the Satan for centuries past, we find them in the order of things visible occupying the position of the Demons of their theology. They are the internuncios between their three eternal persons in one eternal person, on the one part; and “their people,” on the other. Because, therefore, of this, they share in the official character of their imaginary Demons. Hence Paul selected the adjective, daimonion, “of, or belonging to, a daimon,” p. 240 to designate them. According to him, “those who in later times apostatize from the faith, give heed to seducing spirits, even to the teachings of Daimonia.” We look into the scriptures and learn what “the faith” is; we read the history of the past, and there we see the people calling themselves Christians, wholly given to idolatry and all sorts of abomination; in this we see the apostasy from “the faith;” we look around us, and see the same sort continuing in the practices of their predecessors; and in view of all this we inquire, To whom do these people give heed, and whom do they delight to honor? To this there is but one answer—to the clergy as they happen to be led. The conclusion, then, is inevitable, that the Clergy are the Seducing Spirits and the Daimonia of Paul, whose dogmatic depths are destructive and subversive of the faith he labored so ardently and valiantly to establish, and transmit to posterity uncorrupted by the traditions and foolishness of men.
These Daimonia of the Satan are like the frogs of Egypt, which infested the palace, the mansions of the great, the houses of the people, their ovens, kneading-troughs, and so forth. They fill the heavens of the nations; and there is no place where Mammon requires service, but they are in hungry expectation of employ. The Seventy rejoiced that the demoniacs were subject to them through the name of Jesus. This is typical of what awaits them in regard to the Demoniacs of Satan’s synagogue. “They shall come,” saith the Spirit, to the Philadelphians, “and do homage at thy feet”—they shall be subjected to the Saints through the Name of Yahweh. Seeing this great and glorious consummation, Jesus said “I saw the Satan as lightning fall out of the heaven.” This fall will be the ruin of the Clerical Demoniacs, who, like Othello, will then find “their occupation gone.” Then “they will weep and mourn; for no man buyeth their merchandize any more”—Rev. xviii. 11. Place, power, position, and wealth will all be dissipated; and the Saints who will have subdued them, will take possession of all their good things, and “send them empty away.” Then, woe betide the clergyman or rabbi, who shall attempt to dole out his old foolishness to the people; for “it shall be, when any shall yet prophesy, then his father and his mother that begat him shall say unto him, Thou shalt not live; for thou speakest lies in the name of Yahweh: and his father and his mother that begat him shall thrust him through when he prophesieth. And it shall be in that day, that the prophets shall be ashamed every one of his vision, when he hath prophesied; neither shall they wear a rough garment to deceive”—Zech. xiii. 3.
When, then, the clergy are abolished, the nations will be emancipated, and not till then; for these are they who aided by the civil power, p. 241 “destroy the earth”—Rev. xi. 18. They fill the minds of the people with their soul-destroying traditions; and, even in “free America,” and “liberal England,” the civil power will not permit their falsehoods to be disputed on the spot before the people they deceive. But the time approaches rapidly when this defence will fail them; and they will become the hated of the people, one and all. When these come to discover how they have been bamboozled and bewitched by their sorceries, they will cause them to “weep and mourn,” for the loss of their trade. We can easily conceive what a clerical howl would resound through the world, if in the current year all their salaries were to be cut off, all supplies and sympathy withdrawn, and never to be renewed, on the ground that the people had discovered that they were mere soul-quacks, impostors, and perverters of the people; which they really are! Yet this is only a question of time. It will not come to pass this year; but it will not be long after 1866, that their craft will be repudiated by the world; which shall confess to Yahweh, and give thanks to his name for their deliverance; as it is written, in Jer. xvi. 19, “the Gentiles shall come to thee, O Yahweh, from the ends of the earth and shall say, Of a truth, our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no profit. And at that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of Yahweh; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it (as the seat of government)—to the Name of Yahweh, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk any more after the imagination of their evil heart”—Jer. iii. 17: “and the nations shall bless themselves in him, and in Yahweh shall they glory”—ch. iv. 2. “Then will I turn to them a pure language, that they may all of them call upon the Name of Yahweh, to serve him with one consent”—Zeph. iii. 9. “And many peoples shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of Yahweh, to the house of the Elohim of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of Yahweh from Jerusalem”—Isai. ii. 3. This will be a glorious revolution consequent upon the ejection of the Satan from the high places of the earth. The power of the Devil being broken the Satan falls. The clergy being suppressed, tha nations become intelligent, justified, and blessed in Abraham and his Seed.