Dispensationalist Only The Dispensationalism of Lewis Way

[Biblewriter]

Anti-dispensationalists often claim that the origins of dispensationalism have a double taint, and that therefore the doctrine cannot be truth. They claim that J. N. Darby, who is well known to have popularized the doctrine and is widely (but incorrectly) thought to be its originator, actually got his ideas from the highly discredited Edward Irving. And they claim that Irving in turn got these ideas from a Jesuit priest named Manuel Lacunza, who had written “The Coming of Messiah in Glory and Majesty.” Lacunza had published this book under the pen name of Juan Josafat Ben-Ezra, claiming to be a converted Jew. And Irving had translated it into English and published it, adding a very long “preliminary discourse.”

But we get an entirely different picture from the famous church historian Andrew Miller, who is well know to have been a member of Darby’s close-knit group, the Plymouth brethren. He traced the beginnings of nineteenth century dispensational thinking in the following words:

“The study of prophetic truth was greatly revived in the early part of this century. In the year 1821 a short treatise, entitled ‘The Latter Rain,’ by the Rev. Lewis Way, made its appearance. The main object of the writer is to prove from scripture the restoration of Israel, and the consequent glory in the land. His poem entitled, ‘Palingenesia,’ or ‘The World to Come,’ appeared in 1824. Thoughts on the ‘Scriptural Expectations of the Church,’ by Basilicus, followed it in 1826. The author takes a wider range in this book than in the former, though the kingdom of Israel occupies a prominent place. In 1827 the Rev. Edward Irving endeavoured to arouse the professing church, but especially his brethren in the ministry, to a sense of their responsibility as to the truth of prophecy. He translated the work of Ben Ezra, a converted Jew, on ‘The Coming of Messiah in Glory and Majesty,’ with a long preliminary discourse. This book was originally written in Spanish, and first published in Spain in the year 1812.” (Short Papers on Church History - Chapter 56)

So Andrew Miller did not trace the origins of the nineteenth century dispensationalism to Irving, but to Lewis Way. He only mentioned that Edward Irving helped to stir up interest in the subject.

These anti-dispensationalists claim that J. N. Darby first became interested in prophecy through a series of conferences at Albury. And as Edward Irving made presentations at those conferences, they take this as proof that Darby got his ideas from Irving. But in saying this, they ignore the fact that the conferences at Albury were not only attended by, but in part organized by, Lewis Way. Way also made presentations at the Albury conferences, which began in 1826, the same year that he published the last of the three works mentioned by Andrew Miller.

It is also critical, in tracing the origins of these concepts, to know that in his “Preliminary Discourse,” Irving said concerning Lacunza that “I do not find him so strong perhaps in the analogies of scripture and Providence, as the author of Basilicus and Palingenesia,...” (“Preliminary Discourse,” by Edward Irving, in “The Coming of Messiah in Glory and Majesty,” by Manuel Lacunza, 1827 ed., pg. 19.) So we see that Edward Irving valued the works of Lewis Way. And earlier, in this same work, he had said, “Now let this book be read as a voice from the Roman Catholic Church, and let the Palingenesia and Basilicus’ Letters of my friend be read as a voice from the Church of England, and let the substance of my discourses for the last year, as given above, be read as a voice from the Kirk of Scotland; and when the coincidence of sentiment and doctrine is perceived in the diversity of personal character and particular interpretations, let any one if he dare, reject the whole matter as the ravings and dreamings of fanciful men.” (“Preliminary Discourse,” by Edward Irving, in “The Coming of Messiah in Glory and Majesty,” by Manuel Lacunza, 1827 ed., pg. 15.) This statement is important as to dating the time when Edward Irving began to teach these things. For in this 1827 article, he called his teaching on this subject “my discourses for the last year.” This sets the beginning of Irving’s teaching on this subject as about the time when Lewis Way wrote the last of his three papers on the subject. But it also shows that about the time of the first Albury conference is when Irving first began to teach on this subject, while Lewis Way had already been writing about it for at least five years.

So, even assuming that Darby did get his first dispensational ideas at the Albury conferences, which has been alleged but never proven, who is the more likely source of those ideas, the speaker who had been writing about them for the past five years, or a different speaker who had not written on this subject before about that time? This is what makes a study of the Dispensationalism taught by Lewis Way so important. Aside from this question, a study of Way’s Dispensationalism would only be an interesting historical detail. For Way’s thoughts on this subject are not particularly elevated. And his writing style was awkward, to say the least. But he did indeed present a fully developed Dispensationalism. And he presented it before (or in the case of his last book, at about the same time as) the first Albury conference.

 

[Biblewriter]

The essence of dispensationalism is that God has changed the way in which He has dealt with mankind from time to time. But that these changes have not been random, as it were trials, that is, attempts to find something that works. Instead, Dispensationalism teaches that these changes have all been part of an overall program that God has had in place from the very beginning. So in view of this basic and essential definition of dispensationalism, we find that Lewis Way wrote:

“It will be readily admitted that a new aera commenced at the first appearance of Christ, and the promulgation of the Gospel, throughout the Roman Empire, the scriptural designation of which is ‘the fulness of time.’ This expression refers distinctly to the mission and personal office of our Lord himself: and the period which-thus commenced appears to be continued, without any marked interruption, to his second coming; the whole aera being spoken of in this way by himself, and characterized by his Apostles under the general title of ‘the last days,’ in distinction from sundry other times, as the Paradisaical, Patriarchal, or Mosaic dispensationa. But another aera seems to be expressly noticed, and it is specifically entitled ‘The dispensation (or Economy) of the fulness of times:’ under which, scattered parts will be gathered together; disjoined parts united in one great recapitulation of the whole mystery of God: when the detached and manifold gradations of the system hitherto in action will appear to have been working together towards one determinate issue, – the final scheme of man’s redemption in body and soul, as originally conceived and planned in the eternal counsels of Jehovah: when the whole creation, so long groaning and travailing in pain together under the corruption introduced by the Fall, shall be delivered by the power, and subjected to the dominion, of the Son of Man, the second Adam: when the earth, once cursed for the sake of man, shall be blessed again, renewed, and fitter for the habitation of the righteous: when the typical theocracy of the people shall be realized in the kingdom of Israel restored to the risen saints of the Most High: when ‘the Lord shall reign in Mount Zion, and before his ancients gloriously,’ during the time appointed of the Father.” (“Thoughts on the Scriptural Expectations of the Christian Church,” by Lewis Way, London, 1826, pp. 30-31 in the 1828 ed.)

This, without a doubt, is the very essence of dispensationalism. But many insist that a doctrine is not true Dispensationalism unless it differentiates between Israel and the church. And some insist that it also requires a teaching that some will come to Christ after the end of the church period. So what did Lewis Way have to say about these things? First, as he tended to be rather wordy, it is necessary to make rather long quotations, just to actually see what he was saying.

 

[Biblewriter]

Looking first at what Way said in 1824, that is, two years before the first Albury conference, he clearly taught that the dead in Christ would arise and “the saints on earth” would be “caught up together with them in the clouds to meet their Lord in air” when Christ would descend to judge the quick and dead. He taught this as followed by a thousand year reign on earth by these saints, during which time the wicked would remain dead.

“The day of Christ’s appearance, and his reign
When with archangel voice, and with the trump
Of God, he shall Himself again descend
To judge the quick and dead. The dead in Christ,
Once quickened in their souls by faith in him,
Will then receive their bodies rais’d again,
And glorified, like that which he assum’d
When he appeared to Cleophas, made known
In breaking of the bread, and vanishing!
That white apparel, worn by those two men
Who spake of his return on Olivet,
Commission’d for the purpose; or the two
Transfigur’d with their Lord on tabor’s mount,
Who then appear’d in glory; having on
Not this vile body, seat of sin and shame,
But garments like their Lord, of purest white,
Such as no Fuller on earth could make,
Transparent as the light, – The saints on earth
Rapt in a whirlwind, as Elijah was,
In pledge of their translation; will ascend
Caught up together with them in the clouds
To meet their Lord in air. – The dead in sin
Dead, shall not live; deceased, shall not rise,
Until the thousand years are finished.
Blessed and holy they that shall have part
In that Anastasis! The second death
Hath lost all power over those elect
Made like the angels who maintain'd
Their first estate, and shine as sone of God,
Then manifested heirs by sitting down
As Priests of God, with Christ, upon his throne,
According to his promise unto them
Who overcame by faith. A thousand years,
Thus shall they reign with him, and thus on earth,
For temporal reign in heaven there is none,
And this will have an end; for end will come
When even Christ himself shall render up
This kingdom to the Father, and become
Subject to Him, and God be ALL IN ALL.”
(“Palingensia – the World to Come,” by Lewis Way, London, 1824, pp. 91-93)

But concerning the restoration of Israel, in that same work he spoke of those who “confin’d salvation to their own exclusive pale! Exemplifying thus their ignorance of other unaccomplished mystery.” He then went on to speak of the fact “That blindness, partial only, shall befall benighted Israel! – Till Gentile times draw to their end, and Gentile fullness come.” And then he added that “Then out of Zion will come forth again the Great Deliverer, and will turn again ungodliness from Jacob – written thus and sure as everlasting covenant concerning them, and sealed with that blood which cleanseth from all sin!” Thus, he was clearly teaching that the time when “the Great deliverer” would “turn again ungodliness from Jacob,” was after, not before, “out of Zion will come forth again the Great Deliverer.” That is after, not before the Lord comes in power and glory to punish the wicked. This makes the eventual conversion of “Jacob,” that is, Israel, after, not before, the time when the church will be gathered to Christ. For no interpretation of the timing of the rapture places it after the Lord has come in power and glory to punish the wicked.

“Great is that mystery, at sundry times
And divers manners manifest. The Word
Made flesh, and in the spirit justified,
Of angels seen, and unto Gentiles preach’d
And by the world believed on, receiv’d
Up into glory! Other part remains
Mysterious to the Gentile world at large
As once their first admission to the faith
And commonwealth of ancient Israel,
Was to the seed of Abrah’m; insomuch
That till the figurative sheet fell down
Full of all creatures – Peter scarce conceiv’d
A Gentile could receive the Holy Ghost!
How many that have stood in Peter’s place
And sat as they presume in Peter’s chair
Have held same partial doctrine! And confin’d
Salvation to their own exclusive pale!
Exemplifying thus their ignorance
Of other unaccomplished mystery
Which yet their true Apostle bids them know,
Lest self conceited wisdom puff them up,
That blindness, partial only, shall befall
Benighted Israel! – Till Gentile times
Draw to their end, and Gentile fullness come.
Then shall their fullness, as their fall before,
As their diminishing became, the riches
Of the Gentiles and the world.
Then out of Zion will come forth again
The Great Deliverer, and will turn again
Ungodliness from Jacob – written thus
And sure as everlasting covenant
Concerning them, and sealed with that blood
Which cleanseth from all sin! mysterious depth
Of wisdom! And of ways unsearchable
Past finding out! For who hath known the mind
Of God, or been his counsellor; save he,
The WONDERFUL, so call’d – the Prince of Peace?
Who saith ‘I will return unro my place
Till they acknowledge their iniquity
And seek me in affliction!’ They abide
As is written of them ‘Many days
Without a king, a prince, a sacrifice,
Without an image, ephod, terraphim.’
Is it not written also ‘Afterward
They shall return and seek the Lord their God
And their king David in their latter days?’”
(“Palingensia – the World to Come,” by Lewis Way, London, 1824, pp. 106-108)

So, although he was rather wordy, in 1824, that is, two years before the first Albury conference, Way clearly taught that “the saints on earth” would be caught up and Israel “shall return and seek the Lord their God” at the time the Lord returned.

 

[Biblewriter]

Turning now to his work of 1826, the same year as the first Albury conference, Way expanded and clarified these concepts. He said:

“The first resurrection is thus immediately connected with the appearance, and kingdom, and coming of Christ ‘with all his saints;’ when ‘he shall change their vile body (or the body of humiliation, σωμα της ταπεινωσως), that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body’ (Phil. iii. 21—comp. ver. 10, 11): ‘when he will present them faultless before his presence with exceeding joy’ (Jude 24); ‘holy, and unblameable, and unreproveable in his sight’ (Col. i. 22): when they who are already risen in spirit with Christ, and are seeking those things that are above, shall also ‘appear with him in glory:’ ‘when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.’ (Acts iii. 19.) The expression in our translation of this passage falls far short of the original word, and seems only its secondary sense: if there be meaning in language, it signifies the times, or seasons, of RE-ANIMATION, restoration of the soul to the body; according to all analogy of diction.” (“Thoughts on the Scriptural Expectations of the Christian Church,” by Lewis Way, London, 1826, pp. 23-24 in the 1828 ed.)

Here, Way could hardly have been more clear in stating that the resurrection of the saints would take place at the time when Christ appears.

Again, he also said:

“A review and comparison of the different passages of sacred Scripture which have a direct application to these subjects may suggest a somewhat different expectation; which is termed Scriptural, as being exclusively derived from the positive declarations of holy writ, taken from the original, in their most obvious and literal sense: the scope of which will be nearly as follows:—
“That the present system, secular and ecclesiastical (as far, at least, as Christendom and the Roman and Mohammedan empires are concerned), will pass away at the close of a certain period or aera of the world, fixed in the determinate counsel of God, and so far revealed in his written word that its near approach may be anticipated, from specific and infallible tokens contained therein, whenever their real application shall be manifested by existing circumstances, and the palpable fulfilment of the sure word of prophecy concerning the last times of the Gospel;—That a new order of things, and a distinct period or aera of the world, will then commence, to which all preceding times and dispensations have only been preparatory and subordinate, and which is the perfection and consummation of them all;—That the change thus effected in the physical and moral, secular and spiritual state of the world, will be so complete, so general, so extraordinary, as to correspond with the nature and significancy of the expressions by which it is exhibited in Scripture; such as, ‘a new creation’ ‘a new earth,’ making ‘all things new,’ ‘restoring all things,’ &c.” ("Thoughts on the Scriptural Expectations of the Christian Church," by Lewis Way, London, 1826. pp. 29-30 in the 1828 ed.)

Here, Way distinctly states “that the present system, secular and ecclesiastical... will pass away at the close of a certain period or aera of the world, fixed in the determinate counsel of God,” and refers to this end as “the last times of the Gospel.” And in the following passage he clearly taught that this would take place at “the coming of the Lord.”

“When Antichrist is destroyed, and Satan bound; when Babylon falls, and the Beast and false Prophet are cast into the lake of fire; when the man of sin is destroyed, by the brightness of the coming of the Lord; then, his enemies being made his footstool, all things will indeed be made subject: and then the new earth and heaven, spoken of by Isaiah; then the new heaven and earth, wherein righteousness shall dwell, expected by the church, according to St. Peter; then the new earth, γη καινι, of St. John, will appear: and this will not be εν τω νυν αιωνι, in this age, but in that which is to Come, εν τω μελλοντι — εν τω επερχομενω. Into this οικουμενυ, God will bring his Son; and during this αιων, age, his saints will live again, and ‘reign on the earth:’ and when this age of the world shall end, heaven and earth may pass away, but the word of God will not; for unto THE KING ETERNAL (of the ages) there remaineth ‘honour and glory for ever and ever’ (ages of ages), or throughout ETERNITY, properly so called. 1 Tim.i. 17.” ("Thoughts on the Scriptural Expectations of the Christian Church," by Lewis Way, London, 1826. pg. 37 in the 1828 ed.)

 

[Biblewriter]

But then, Way went on to very clearly state that Christ’s “mission” “to the Jews” would come at “the second advent... of Christ.” This is therefore a very clear statement that the Jews would be converted after the church had already been gathered to Christ.

“The restitution of all things is connected with the second advent, or rather mission, of Christ to the Jews: ‘He shall send Jesus, which before was preached unto you (of the house of Israel); whom the heavens must receive until the times of restitution.’ And thus saith the Saviour by Hosea (chap. v. 15), ‘I will go and return to my place till they acknowledge their offence.’
“‘And so all Israel shall be saved; as it is written, There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob.’ (Rom. xi. 26.)
“‘The heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them: and on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made, and he RESTED on the seventh day’ (Genesis ii. 2). And as in the third chapter of the Hebrews the Apostle is discoursing of the several rests of God and his people, he draws a due analogy between the rest of creation and that of redemption, and shews that they conterminate in the rest (Sabbatism) of the people of God: when they will not harden their hearts, as in the wilderness; and when they will enter into that rest which Joshua of old could not give them. The rejected state of Israel is spoken of in the language applied to the state of chaos, Jer. iv. 23: ‘I beheld the earth, it was without form and void; and the heavens, and they had no light.’ But when ‘the captive exile hasteneth that he may be loosed,’ the Lord declares his purpose in the language of creation, saying, ‘That I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, Thou art my people’ (Isaiah li. 14—16). And thus again the restoration of Israel is spoken of in connection with, or under the figure of, the new creation, Isaiah lxv. 17: ‘Behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former shall not be remembered nor come into mind: but be ye glad and rejoice in that which I create; for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a. joy.’ It might appear by this passage, that the new heavens and earth are only a figurative expression for the restoration of Israel. But the same expressions in St. Peter are clearly to be taken in a literal sense: he says, ‘We look for new heavens and a new earth, according to his promise.’ The promise referred to may be found in a corresponding passage, where the new heavens are spoken of in comparison with, and apparently distinguished from, the New-Jerusalem church: ‘As the new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall remain before me, so shall your seed and your name remain’ (Isaiah Ixvi. 22). And this will be when ‘the Lord will come with fire, and with his chariots, like a whirlwind’ (Isaiah Ixvi. 15); when ‘he cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the world for their iniquity.’ ‘He hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake, not the earth only, but also heaven: and this, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.’ (Heb. xii. 26; Haggai ii. 6, 7, 15; Isaiah xxvi. 21.)” ("Thoughts on the Scriptural Expectations of the Christian Church," by Lewis Way, London, 1826. pp. 43-44 in the 1828 ed.)

Again, he said:

“The fact is, that by opposing passages of Scripture to one another, instead of comparing them, and thus observing their consistency and respective applications, we mutilate the character of both ; cast them out of our hands, as it were, and break them to pieces, as Moses did the first tables of the Law: whereas, by holding them up together, we may find them to be as consistent as the two parts of the Decalogue itself. For instance, compare Luke xvii. 20—30 with Luke xxi. 25—36, oppose or confound the kingdoms of God mentioned in each, and the whole is inconsistent: compare their relative application by the line of distinction between the two given in xvii. 25, and both are put in their places, and all difficulty removed.” ("Thoughts on the Scriptural Expectations of the Christian Church," by Lewis Way, London, 1826. pg. 51 in the 1828 ed.)

And:

“The kingdom of patience and the kingdom of power are here distinguished, as to the Messiah himself; and in chap. xxi. the distinction is extended to the disciples, and to the whole people of the Jews; ‘They shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you;’ ‘Ye shall be hated of all;’ ‘In patience possess ye your souls ;’ and, ‘There shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people, and they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations; and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles shall be fulfilled:’ and ‘then,’ after certain prognostics of his approach, ‘then shall they see THE SON OF MAN coming in the clouds with power and great glory:’ and after other indications, as clear as those of summer, which none can mistake, ‘WHEN ye see these things come to pass, KNOW YE THAT THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS NIGH AT HAND.’
“Here, then, we find a kingdom of God which is not to commence, or to be nigh at hand, till the second coming of the Son of Man; and, therefore, as clearly to be distinguished from ‘the kingdom of God within,’ as a secret operation on the soul of an individual differs from an atmospheric phenomenon, co-extensive with the limits of the natural horizon, and discernible by every dweller on the earth. Consequently, these two kingdoms are not to be confounded, whatever may be their connection; and that is truly very close and intimate, for none but the subjects of the one have any part or lot in the other.” ("Thoughts on the Scriptural Expectations of the Christian Church," by Lewis Way, London, 1826. pp. 52-53 in the 1828 ed.)

And:

“The kingdom in question is not to commence, as has been shewn, till the second advent, or mission, of Christ, at the restitution of all things (Acts iii. 18—26). Those things which God before had shewed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled; and of those times (when he shall come to reign) when he will restore all things, and, above all, the kingdom of Israel, " God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets." God promised to Abraham, that in his Seed ‘which is Christ’ (Gal. iii. 16), all the families of the earth should be blessed. He promised to David, ‘I will set up thy Seed after thee, which shall be of thy sons; and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build me an house; and I will establish his throne for ever. I will be his Father, and he shall be my Son; and I will not take my mercy away from him, as I took it away from Saul,’ —in whose person the Theocracy of Israel was first interrupted. (2 Sam. vii. 12, and 1 Chron. xvii.) These passages compared with Psalm Ixxxix, Heb. I, Rom. i, and especially Acts ii. 30, shew that Christ and his kingdom, and not that of a literal David, was the great and ultimate scope of the promise.
“Accordingly Isaiah testifies the same in his most distinct prophecy of the Prince of Peace. ‘Of the increase of his government there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever: the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.’ (Isaiah ix. 7.) So chap. xxiv. 23; ‘The Lord of hosts shall reign in Mount Zion, and Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.’ So chap, xxxii. 1; ‘A King shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment:’ and chap. i. 26; ‘I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counsellors as at the beginning: afterwards thou shalt be called, The city of righteousness.’ So Jeremiah xxiii. 5, 6; ‘I will raise unto David a righteous Branch; and a King shall reign and prosper, and execute judgment and justice in the earth.’ And this must needs be at the second coming of Christ, for it cannot apply to the first: ‘In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely.’ And the context proves, beyond dispute, that it is not on the return from Babylon, but on the last restoration of the Jews from ‘all the countries’ where they are scattered. See also Jer. xxxiii. 14—16, proving the same position beyond all controversy.
“The xxxviith of Ezekiel, from verse 11, deserves the fullest consideration, as it contains the most comprehensive and conclusive arguments on the point. This having been already noticed, one more most remarkable passage shall be cited; namely, chap, xliii. 7: ‘Son of Man, the place of my throne, and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel for ever; and my holy name shall the house of Israel no more defile.’
“So in Hosea (xiii. 9): ‘O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself, but in me is thy help: I will be THY KING.’ So Micah (iv. 7,8): ‘I will make her that halted a remnant, and her that was cast off A STRONG NATION; and the Lord shall reign over them in Mount Zion, from henceforth, even for ever. And thou, O tower of the flock, the strong hold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion; THE KINGDOM SHALL COME TO THE DAUGHTER OF JERUSALEM;’ and (v. 2), ‘Thou, Bethlehem-Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, out of thee shall He come forth unto me who is to be RULER IN ISRAEL.’ Thus in Zech. vi.12,13,of ‘the Man whose name is THE BRANCH,’ ‘He shall sit and rule upon his throne, and he shall be A PRIEST UPON HIS THRONE.’ And, finally, Zech. xiv, concerning the day of the Lord: Verse 4, ‘His feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, which is upon Jerusalem on the east.’ Verse 5, ‘The Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.’ Verse 9, ‘AND THE LORD SHALL BE KING OVER ALL THE EARTH.’ Such is the testimony of Moses and the Prophets. That of the Psalms is general and clear, taking Psalm ii. as the key.
“Other passages might be adduced, but those have been selected which refer distinctly to the regal dispensation of the Son of Man, under circumstances not realized at his first advent:—1st, The salvation of Judah and Israel. 2d, The restoration of the Ten Tribes. 3d, The gathering of the Jews out of all countries. 4th, The settlement of them in their own country, to be " pulled up no more." 5th, The universal establishment of Christianity. 6th, The entire destruction of the monarchies of the metal image, and the enemies of the church. 7th, The unity of doctrine and uniformity of Christian worship.” ("Thoughts on the Scriptural Expectations of the Christian Church," by Lewis Way, London, 1826. pp. 56-59 in the 1828 ed.)

 

[Biblewriter]

Way went on to say:

“This is a terrestrial state, for it is in ‘a new earth;’ and yet it is heavenly, for where God dwelleth there is heaven. It is a temporal state, for ‘every one that is left of the nations shall go up from year to year;’ and it is spiritual, because its object is ‘to worship the KING, the Lord of hosts.’ It is legal, because it is to keep the Feast of Tabernacles, which was a typical as well as commemorative institution of the Law; and and it will be evangelical, because the Gospel, which now only commemorates the time when the Word was made flesh and dwelt in a tabernacle of clay (εσκηνωσεν), will then be perfected in the redemption of the body, the manifestation of the sons of God,—when the Saviour will no longer veil the majesty of his Divine Person, but be manifested in the glory of God his Father.
“The dispensation will be local, because ‘in Jewry will God be known, and at Salem will be his tabernacle;’ it will be universal, for ‘all the ends of the earth shall remember and turn unto the Lord, and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before him.’ (Psalm xxii. 27.) ‘It shall be, that whoso will not come up, of all the families of the earth, unto Jerusalem, to worship the KING the Lord of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain’ (Zech. xiv. 17); but ‘the Lord will smite the HEATHEN that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles; and ‘all the nations shall be punished that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles.’
“To what period, it may be asked, of the legal economy, are we to look for the fulfilment of this remarkable prophecy? in what stage of the Christian dispensation have these circumstances been hitherto exemplified? Under the Law, no uncircumcised person had any lot in the commonwealth of Israel, nor communion with the ceremonial service of the temple at Jerusalem. The great object of those institutions was, to separate the descendants of Abraham from the heathen round about them, and from all the nations of the earth. Since the substitution of the Gentiles as the spiritual Israel and church of God, no pains have been spared by Christian interpreters to make out an almost exclusive claim to the blessings of prophecy yet unaccomplished; no dexterity has been wanting to shew, if it were possible, that the figures of the legal economy have already received their full and ultimate application in the spiritual ordinances and worship of the Christian church, as already established. Christ, it is true, is ‘our Passover;’ and the Feast of Weeks, is, or rather ought to be, spiritually transferred to the Christian Pentecost; but what authority is there for supposing that the festival in which we commemorate the first advent of the Messiah will correspond with the solemnities of the third great feast of the Jewish year, which, according to its final constitution in the word of prophecy, cannot be kept at all till the literal restoration of the Jews, and the local establishment of the kingdom of their Messiah?” ("Thoughts on the Scriptural Expectations of the Christian Church," by Lewis Way, London, 1826. pp. 70-72 in the 1828 ed.)

And finally, as to our responsibility to evangelize the Jews, he said:

“There are two, and only two primary scriptural expectations prior to the great consummation. One is, the destruction of Babylon; and the other, the restoration of Israel. The practical consideration of these two would suffice, if duly enforced, to regulate not only the current of public opinion, but the course of Christian duty. It would give a specific and peculiar efficacy to those missionary labours, by which the remnant according to the election of grace is to be gathered in; it would accelerate the last universal publication of the Gospel, to be mad«, as ‘A WITNESS,’ to all nations. This, it appears, is intended rather for the conviction than the conversion of the world at large; for He who saith to his disciples, ‘OCCUPY TILL I COME,’ hath put also this practical question concerning mankind in general, ‘When the Son of Man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?’” ("Thoughts on the Scriptural Expectations of the Christian Church," by Lewis Way, London, 1826. pg. 106 in the 1828 ed.)

This has been a rather long examination of a very wordy presentation. But it has been done to prove that Lewis Way taught, and clearly taught, although in a somewhat wordy fashion, not only the great outlines of dispensationalism, but that the end time expectations of the church and of Israel were entirely different, that the general conversion of Israel would take place after the end of “the Christian dispensation,” and, in actual fact, after the Lord returns to this earth. Thus we see that Lewis Way was already teaching a fully developed Dispensationalism before the first Albury conference, before Edward Irving began to teach on the subject, and before the writings of Manuel Lacuna were first published in English. And since Lewis Way was one of the organizers and speakers at that first Albury conference where Darby supposedly got the ideas of dispensationalism, the claim that Darby got his dispensational ideas from Edward Irving (whom he openly despised) is proven to have no merit whatsoever.

 

[SeventyOne]

Too long to finish reading tonight, I'll have to get back to it tomorrow. Very interesting so far. Thanks.

 

[Biblewriter]

Too long to finish reading tonight, I'll have to get back to it tomorrow. Very interesting so far. Thanks.

I am sorry this had to be so long. But Way was so wordy that it was necessary to include very long quotations, in order to show what he was actually saying.

 

[Biblewriter]

If anyone bothers to actually analyze what Lewis Way taught, and when he published it, they will see that Way was already teaching a fully developed Dispensationalism significantly before Edward Irving published anything on the subject.

 

[Biblewriter]

I have also included a discussion of Way's writings in an appendix in my newly published book titled "Ancient Dispensational Truth," which has just been published by Dispensational Publishing House.