Readers will be glad to learn that, thanks to the brisk sale of the limited edition of 1,000 copies of the facsimile reprint of Dr. Thomas’s Herald of the Kingdom for 1858/59 (reviewed in The Testimony in March, p. 95), swift progress has been made with the publication of the reprint of the years 1860/61 ( the last two volumes of The Herald). By the time this review appears, copies of the new double volume should be available, God willing, and brethren and sisters will have a unique opportunity to obtain a high-quality facsimile of some of the rarest and yet most interesting Christadelphian literature.
1860 and 1861 were, of course, the years of the writing and publication of the early parts of Eureka; and it is a salutary exhortation in itself to be reminded in the reading of The Herald that Dr. Thomas was not only simultaneously editing a monthly magazine and writing his monumental study of Revelation, but also undertaking frequent and extensive journeys preaching the Truth across the American continent The Doctor first mentions Eureka in the April 1860 issue when, in explaining how he has taken three years to write over three hundred pages on a “correct historical explanation of this wonderful book (Revelation)”, he invites expressions of interest from his readers by way of subscriptions to cover printing costs. We have reason, therefore, to be grateful for the ready response of Herald subscribers, for without their financial support Eureka may never have been seen in print, and the Doctor might have “put the manuscript aside, and abandon( ed) all idea of preparing volume two”. For, as he observed pithily: “It is bootless to write without the ability to print”.
Apocalyptic matters and Signs of the times’ abound, of course, in these twenty-four monthly issues of The Herald. But there is plenty more besides, and all well worth reading. In a series called “What is Thomasism?”, the Doctor wrily reviews a Baptist explanation of his teachings; there are many helpful and revealing articles about the long-running doctrinal debate with the Campbellites; “Progress of the Truth in Canada” runs for several months, and gives a fascinating insight into the everyday lives of the early pioneer brethren and sisters in those far-flung parts; a two-part “Letter from Rome” provides an excellent source of information about the idolatry and falsehoods of the papacy; and among all this are sprinkled questions and answers, lively exchanges of correspondence, expositional cameos, extracts from writings of relevance to the Truth, and expressions of editorial opinion on almost every conceivable topic, from ‘ anti-porkism’ to the Mount Olivet Prophecy.
Almost 600 pages of material, superbly reproduced and well bound to match the previous double volume, makes for an opportunity not to be missed. The Institute Trust, producing a slightly increased number of copies this time to satisfy demand, are making it available at the cost price of £4.10 plus postage. As before, readers are urged to order copies quickly before stocks of this volume are exhausted also, in order to avoid disappointment.
Review of “The Early Earth” by John Whitcomb (1972)