It is now well over a hundred years since John Thomas, a medical doctor, while crossing the Atlantic Ocean, had an experience which changed not only the whole of his life, but the lives of some thousands of others also. His seafaring experience, in many respects, was not unlike that of the Apostle Paul, of whom, in those early days he knew little. In a tremendous storm the vessel struck bottom five times, and life seemed so precious that the Doctor determined that if ever they reached land safely, a definite investigation as to whether there was a life after death or not should be his first consideration.
After being tossed up and down, finally the passengers did reach land safely, and circumstances almost immediately favoured—nay almost projected—the Doctor into his investigation. The Doctor soon became both an enthusiastic and a very thorough Bible student. His medical training with its analytical tendencies stood him in good stead. When he had commenced his investigations, religion, as he found it, could aptly be compared to a garden overgrown with weeds ; and to his surprise he found that obviously prominent and important Bible doctrines were not only not taught, but their absolute reverse was the subject of regular instruction.
Belief in the immortality of the soul was general, belief in heaven-going, the “baptism of infants,” wrong teaching about hell and the devil, among others were all firmly taught. Very few indeed were looking for Christ to return to the earth, and belief in the Kingdom of God was relegated to the skies. Such items as the promises made to Abraham and David were thought to be quite unimportant and any reference to the Hope of Israel was received with a look of blank ignorance. What a task he had for the greater part of twenty years was spent in clearing “the Truth” from all the false accretions which had grown up around it.
At the end of this time, however, John Thomas had a clear conception of Bible truth and he devoted his life to teaching these most important things and also writing about them in successive journals he published. The amount of time he devoted to earning his living must have been small indeed, not overlooking the fact that he was a brilliant medical man and more than one of his articles appeared in the Lancet.
He had an exceptional grasp of the prophecies, and this has since never been equaled. Some have tried to persuade themselves and others that the Doctor’s mantle has fallen on them, but any examination of such suggestions shows how futile is such an imagination. In many directions his grasp is intuitive, seeing the truth where others would grope hopelessly and helplessly. Additional to the tremendous volume of material which his pen produced regularly month by month he wrote two major works.
The first is Elpis Israel (The Hope of Israel) which gives a detailed and logical exposition of the fundamentals of the truth. One of the most capable Bible students the writer ever met made a special point of reading this work every year, and the benefits were obvious to all who knew him.
His second, and greatest work is Eureka, which is a very detailed exposition of the Book of Revelation; and here again, interspersed in the exposition are very many and valuable statements and explanations of the basic truths which were so dear to his heart. The first portion of the first volume of Eureka is “The Apocalypse in the Prophets.” Reading this section constituted one of the greatest thrills the present writer ever experienced.
As young men and women we gathered around a table for the first period (one hour) of our Sunday School, and we painstakingly and profitably read through these volumes, having the expert guidance of one who since has done, and is still doing valiant work in the truth. With practically every one of that original group, the memory of those early days is still a living reality and also a driving force; and after the thorough grounding we received, we hear and read with amazement the criticisms of men of much less stature than the Doctor—their acquaintance with the works they venture to criticize often being very poor indeed.
It was once said with regard to a great man who was dead, but who, as all great men had his critics, “The field mouse ventures to gnaw the tongue of the dead lion,” and so it is.
The Doctor made his mistakes —the man who never made a mistake never made anything—but they are few indeed, and are as nothing compared with the mistakes his critics make. He rightly realised that 1870 was a year of destiny, but he did not appreciate that the kingdoms of men would continue a long time after that, for he thought it would witness the Lord’s return. Consequently, with that view point, he thought certain events could not happen until after Christ’s return, which actually have happened beforehand.
In view, however of the rapidity with which political events can change, he is a bold, and probably foolish man, who will state that the Doctor’s interpretation of any particular prophecy is wrong, until the Lord’s return has proved it so.
What is wanted today is not to criticize the Doctor’s writings, but to read and study them. Our experience has been that the harshest critics of the Doctor know least about what he has written. Some say his style is Victorian. Suppose it is, is it any the worse for that ? The Authorised Version is of the Shakespearean age, but it is the finest piece of literature in the English language. Some say he is a first class copyist.
Any writer has to get his facts from somewhere, and Dr. Thomas could not invent history. What matters is whether he obtained his details from Gibbon or Mil-man, so long as the facts are correct and he gives them the correct scriptural application.
In both these the Doctor excelled. Some say his style is too belligerent and is not suited for present day conditions. If we had more of it today the truth would be in a healthier state. He fought for the truth. Today the reverse is the case, and instead of defending the faith as we ought to do, the line of demarcation has been broadened and broadened until it is possible to believe wayward doctrines and yet be in fellowship.
Recently, we heard of an ecclesia, after long patience, withdrawing from two of their members for false doctrines. We heard of a comment by a member of another ecclesia ; “If they had been in our ecclesial, no action would have been taken!” When we come in contact with things of this nature, instead of feeling the Doctor’s style is wrong, the reverse is the case. We feel we are in the company of one who valued the truth as the Truth, and not as a dilution with error — one who could not only state his convictions but could also fight for them in conformity with the apostolic injunctions, one who recognised the offspring of Romish error, from whom the command is, “Come out of her, my people,” and not as either individuals or institutions with whom we could fraternize, sharing their views and then doing our best to inoculate faithful believers w it h their pernicious heresies.
The majority of the young members of the body of Christ of today have had practically no contact with the Doctor’s writings, in many cases through no fault of their own—the responsibility for their lack of knowledge resting on their teachers, who have fed their pupils on modern productions which cannot be compared with the vigorous, sound, robust writings of the Doctor.
Let us recognise this fact. Humanly speaking, had it not been for the Doctor, not one of us would know the truth today, but rather we should still delude ourselves with the belief that our immortal soul would go to heaven when we die. And with this would be all other pagan and Papal importations.
What is the remedy? Disregard any discouragement to the contrary and get back to reading Eureka and Elpis Israel. Never mind those who say the Doctor is old fashioned. Read for yourself the writings of the one to whom you spiritually owe so much. Is his style antagonistic ? Begin to fight for the truth yourself, stand up for the sound things which used to be so surely believed amongst us. Examine carefully and refuse emphatically any doctrines which savoir of watering down the truth, and which are obviously a drift back to Rome.
To use the words of Paul to Timothy, let us jealously guard the “deposit” which has been committed to us so that when the Lord asks for the account of our stewardship, we can give it, satisfied that with Paul we have both fought a good fight and have also kept the faith — because, let us remember we are answerable to him for them both.
The Doctor died before he witnessed the things which we see, today. Events suggest that he will soon be again in the land of the living. He was a valiant fighter for the Faith. Let us be the same, so that in the Lord’s abundant mercy, he and all who have kept the faith as he did, may receive the Lord’s reward for so doing.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One