Online Book - Jeremiah White 1779 Chaplain to Oliver Cromwel

[JeffA]

The Restoration of All Things or A Vindication of the Goodness and Grace of God - To be manifested at last in the recovery of His whole creation out of their fall.

You have to love the title - a very interesting read so far - the archaic English spellings where the letter s shaped more like an f is used is fun (and I am British so goodness knows what you lot across the water will make of it ).

[JRP note: pages 118 and 119, missing from the scanned pdf linked to by Jeff, can be found [url=http://www.evangelicaluniversalist.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=452&p=4955#p4954]here. All other pages are present in the scanned version, including all pages of both prefaces, although hyperlinks to particular chapters aren’t all included.]

[JasonPratt]

At the risk of sounding crude, anyone willing to preach that to Oliver Cromwell (of all people) must have had something made of collapsed star core…

(Or, as Tom Clancy once wrote in praise of hurricane hunters: a person for whom mere mortal danger was boring.)

Oh… it’s even better: he was the chaplain to Oliver Cromwell!! (I wish Crom had listened better. Oh, well. )

Shouldn’t the title be “The Reftoration of All Thingf or A Vindication of the Goodneff and Grace of God - To be manifefted at laft in the recovery of Hif whole creation out of their fall”? (Except without cross marks on those special 'f’s, of course.)

Seriously, though: that was a good link. Thanks!

[JeffA]

Nice one Jason! abfolutely senfafional!

[Michael]

…That may be said for ever, whose term of ending is not revealed when it shall be…Eternal judgment may be so said in three other respects. 1. Of God the inflicter. 2. On the soul on which it is inflicted, which is immortal. 3. Of the full accomplisment of it’s end, the full declaration of His Justice, and the final extermination and making an end of sin, Jer. 23:19…

Jerimiah White

VERY INTERESTING ( and in perfect harmony with what’s been said and written by Prof. Talbott, Gregory MacDonald, Jason Pratt, and others. )

THANK YOU Jeff.

As an agnostic ( who really doesn’t believe in anything Jerimiah White said here ), I doubt you fully realize how interesting it is to me ( as a 21rst century Christian universalist, and an Anglican ) that Jerimiah White wrote this in the 16th century.

I’ve linked to this on my web site, and I thank you.

[roofus]

I was disappointed to find that the chapter about the sin against the Holy Spirit was missing. Why on earth?
Huh?

[Michael]

I was disappointed to find that the chapter about the sin against the Holy Spirit was missing. Why on earth?
Huh?

Maybe they had trouble scanning that chapter, and I would have liked to have read it myself ( but I would have been much more disappointed if Jerimiah White had negglected to include a chapter on the subject. )

God Bless.

[JasonPratt]

Passing through this morning; got ahold of a North Carolina vendor who may or may not have the original text from which this was scanned. (The third edition was printed in 1779; obviously it goes back to the mid 1600s originally.) I’ve asked him to check if his copy has any missing pages, specifically that chapter.

Edited to add: be aware that some enterprising soul appears to be selling printed and even digital copies of the archived google.books version, on Amazon! (I’ve left a message for him, too, just in case he isn’t: can he prove that he has the chapter missing from the google archive?)

[Michael]

Passing through this morning; got ahold of a North Carolina vendor who may or may not have the original text from which this was scanned.

I’d be interested in bidding, if I thought there was any chance I could aford it.

But maybe we’ll read some excerpts from that missing chapter here?

The third edition was printed in 1779; obviously it goes back to the mid 1600s originally.

“Mid 1600’s,” yes.

I meant to say 17th century.

Pax.

[JasonPratt]

But maybe we’ll read some excerpts from that missing chapter here?

I will certainly transcribe all missing chapters (or other missing material) here. If I can find them.

I know of some libraries which have copies of this book; and it isn’t likely that they’re all missing chapters. (Unfortunately, neither am I in any position to requisition them through interlibrary loan. I dearly wish someone I know was still teaching at a university not far from one of these copies… sigh. Or attending university at the site of another of the copies, come to think of it.)

[roofus]

Let’s dream up some conspiracy theories (top 10):
10: White never wrote Chapter 12 because he couldn’t fit said verses into a theology of UR
09: An exponent of eternal punishment destroyed it because it was such a refutation of his/her theology
08:…

[JasonPratt]

08: They were torn out of the copy by someone who didn’t want to take the time to transcribe them down for sending to someone else. (My own guess.)

07: They were so pitiably weak that the owner was embarrassed to have them in there and so just removed them.

06: The ghost of Oliver Cromwell returned from the grave to hunt down and kill everyone who owned a copy of the book; the owner found out about this, and figured that if the most crucial chapter was missing then it wouldn’t count as being a copy of the book.

05: It was owned by someone working on an artillery battery during the American Revolution, and OMG they ran out of paper wadding so he sacrificed his favorite chapter thinking it was ironic to use it that way. This shot won the battle, so no more paper had to be used!–YAAAYYY!!! Go America! USA! USA! USA!

(oh, crap, I forgot, it was a British publication…)

04: They were buried somewhere in Washington DC by a vet of the Revolution, during a Masonic ceremony at the time the Masons were laying out the design of the city on the ground; because the numbers of the pages and scripture references added up to something important in freemason typology.

I’ll leave the top three to more creative people.

Meanwhile, the guy in NC says his unbound copy has the missing chapter. I’m checking now whether he can recommend someone to safely bind it.

[Qohelet]

Jason, give me three months.

Jeff - short book titles are fairly recent inventions, Tudors and Stuarts tended to just go with whatever fitted on the front cover. Here are a couple of my favourite titles from the 16th century:

• “The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women” by John Knox. This must surely compete with Luther’s attack on the peasants for the most mistimed publication of the century - within months Elizabeth (not heathan Mary) was on the throne and Knox looked ridiculous.

• “The discovery of a gaping gulf whereinto England is likely to be swallowed by another French marriage, if the Lord does not forbid, by letting her majesty see the fine and punishment thereof” by John Stubbs. Catchy, don’t you think? Elizabeth didn’t think so, he lost his hand

[JeffA]

As someone once said…

“Well… I’m back”

I’m glad you’ve all found something of interest with this one (especially Michael). Having been away I’ve yet to read it

[JasonPratt]

Just a quick note to announce that my newly bound copy of this text has arrived this morning–and the contents are complete. I’ll get around to transcribing the chapter missing from the online photocopy eventually (probably later this week, as things are very busy here at ‘work’ work, especially after the long weekend.)

I have to say, it’s sort-of awe-inspiring to consider that these pages were printed in 1779. (The third edition itself goes back much farther, of course, into the 1600s or maybe the very early 1700s.) They have certainly seen travel and use.

The pages aren’t crumbly; rather soft instead, a bit like vellum (though I don’t think it’s vellum.) I’m a little afraid of opening the covers, but that’s only because the thick leather of the cover is new and not very supple from use yet.

I think I can easily recommend the binders for anyone wanting to repair or rebind pages of this sort!

mcspaddenbookbindery.com/

[roofus]

How expensive was the book itself (without binding work)?

[JasonPratt]

Seventy-five dollars, if I recall correctly. (That included shipping to the binder, though.) Binding was somewhat more again.

It’s a fine heirloom to have found and restored; but reading it on books.google is definitely more cost effective.

(Someone is also providing fresh print-on-demand paperbacks of the book, too, maybe from pdf scans. I haven’t been able to confirm that these contain the missing chapter, though.)

My rough plan at the moment is to finish contributing chapters from vol 1 of MacD’s Unspoken Sermons (I’m in the middle of the next-to-last one), and then spend some time transcribing the missing chapter here (probably in daily installments). After which I’ll go back to MacD and start on contributing chapters from vol 2.

[JeffA]

Thanks Jason I look forward to reading the missing chapter (perhaps it fell through a wormhole).

[JasonPratt]

{sigh}

So, what chapter was missing? Because chapter 12, “The Objection Drawing from the Unpardonableness of the Sin against the Holy Ghost”, is there in the text Jeff linked to. Or most of it; two pages 18 and 19 are missing. But White’s argument, such as it is, isn’t materially hindered (or helped) by those two pages.

For those who haven’t read it, White’s reply to the objection amounts to an appeal to “the age to come” being the millennial reign of Christ before the lake of fire judgment (briefly mentioned in RevJohn 20:1-20). At least, I think that’s his appeal–he doesn’t specifically ref those verses, but his appeal only makes sense within the context of that way of reading those particular verses. (And he does ref some material around them, so it would be highly peculiar if he didn’t have 20:1-20 in mind; also he makes a point of connecting to the “Thousand years” motif, though from an unexpected direction.)

It’s an ingenious appeal, if so: obviously those being punished in hades remain in hades (along with everyone else who isn’t being punished) during that “age” (assuming Rev 20:1-20 is talking about a discreet period of time occurring between the return of Christ and the general resurrection–which of course some interpretations of that portion of RevJohn deny, mostly on an interpretative scheme of overlapping visions showing basically the same situation over and over again; for which there is admittedly some reasonable argument.) They’re still being punished afterward, during the lake of fire judgment, but there’s hope for their forgiveness and restitution to be completed at that point (maybe because they’ve been resurrected finally).

White thus answers the objection a little more literally than I’m used to answering it (maybe a little more literally than I’m comfortable answering it. ) But he’s still within the basic principles of MacDonald’s answer to the objection, which is the one I prefer to emphasize: the forgiveness cannot be completed until the sinner repents of his sin. God can still forgive the sinner in principle before then, and continue to do so, including continuing to lead and empower the sinner to repent (thus practicing forgiveness toward the sinner as well); but the sinner does have, by God’s grace (and only by God’s grace) his own responsibility in the completion and fulfillment of the forgiveness, too. The sinner is free to refuse, but he isn’t free to avoid the consequences of his refusal.

Most of this chapter, though, focuses on White appealing in various ways to the importance of the Jubilee tradition again; which, aside from possibly having problems of its own (I’m not familiar enough with the idea yet to feel comfortable critiquing it pro or con, though the scope of his references is impressive), an opponent might very understandably be annoyed at–insofar as it doesn’t really address the prime objection of the objector per se. Still, in an indirect but very real way it addresses (or rather continues to address) the scriptural testimony (OT and NT both) of the hope of restoration and completion of reconciliation to come.

Anyway, I’ll type up the missing two pages (which is actually one and a fraction of chapter 12, plus the first most-of-a-page for chapter 13); and then poke around to see if the Google scan has any other missing pages. I expect the person doing the scanning just accidentally missed those two pages. It could be a few days before I get the pages posted, though.

[roofus]

Did you have the missing two pages in another copy or something? Sorry if I missed a step here…

[JasonPratt]

Did you have the missing two pages in another copy or something? Sorry if I missed a step here…

Yeah, they’re in the original 1779 3rd edition printing I bought this summer and had rebound. All pages are accounted for there, so I’ll be able to provide any missing material. I just need to ascertain which material is actually missing from the online scan.

Once I start transcribing pages to entries on this thread, I’ll add hyperlinks to those entries up in Jeff’s original announcement. I’ll probably do one entry per page. I won’t transcribe them with the weird pseudo-s’es common to English printing at that time , but I’ll retain italics and similar formatting. Any Greek (there aren’t any on those two pages) will be written using normal English letters, plus underscoring the two long vowels (omega and eta) and parenthesizing the sub-iotas (which are important for distinguishing between grammatic suffix forms).