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Dividing Line Between Destruction of Jerusalem and General
Judgment - Matthew 25:31
FAMOUS QUOTES
"He who foresees calamities, suffers them twice over."
"Kill a man, and you are an assassin. Kill millions of men, and you are a
conqueror. Kill everyone, and you are a god. "
"One murder made a villain, Millions a hero."
"War its thousands slays, Peace its ten thousands."
WHAT OTHERS HAVE SAID
Lucius Paige
Guyse, Poole's Continuators, Wynne, and others, apply the
whole of chap. xxiv. and xxv., both to the destruction of Jerusalem and the
day of general judgment, saying it is difficult to separate what is said in
relation to the one subject from what is said in relation to the other: Dr.
S. Clarke gives this double application as far as chap. xxv. 13, and applies
the remainder of chap. xxv. exclusively to the day of judgment: Trapp fixes
on chap. xxiv. 23, as the point where Jesus commenced speaking of the
general judgment: the authors of the Dutch Annotations, on xxiv. 29: Heylin.
on xxiv. 36: Macknight, on xxiv. 44 : Dr. Scott, on the latter part of chap.
xxiv., but he does not designate the particular point; ' towards the close,'
is his expression : Dr. A. Clarke, on xxv. 1; though, when he comes to verse
31, he admits that the preceding part may refer to the destruction of
Jerusalem ; the remainder, he imagines, must apply to the general judgment :
Bishop Porteus fixes on xxv. 31: Dr. Hammond gives a double application to
this verse, and applies all which follows, to the general judgment: while
Bishop Pearce admits that Jesus continued to speak of the destruction of
Jerusalem as far as ver. 41; but there, he imagines, he ' had the day of
general judgment in his thoughts." (Selections from Eminent Commentators)
Philip Schaff
Church of England bishop; b. at York May 8, 1731; d. at Fulham (6 m. s.w.
of St. Paul's, London) May 8, 1808. He received his preliminary education at
York and at Ripon, and then entered Christ's College, Cambridge (B.A. and
fellow, 1752; D.D., 1767); he was made deacon and priest, 1757, and in 1759
won the Seatonian prize for a poem on death; he became domestic chaplain to
the archbishop of Canterbury (Thomas Seeker, q.v.) in 1762, from whom in
1765 he received the livings of Rucking and Wittersham, Kent, soon after
exchanging them for Hunton, of which he became rector; he received a prebend
in Peterborough, 1767, in 1769 became chaplain to the king, and in 1776
bishop of Chester, being translated in 1787 to the see of London. As
preacher he was noted for marked ability and directness; as bishop his
excellencies were many. He encouraged the rising evangelicalism of the
times, took great interest in fostering the comfort of the poorer clergy of
his dioceses by securing funds for the increase of their emoluments and also
by procuring the abolishment of the evil practise of making them sign bonds
to resign when requested; he was deeply interested in the question of
slavery and the welfare of negroes; he promoted the cause of the British and
Foreign Bible Society, acting as its vice-president; and was efficient in
preventing the abuse of religious holidays. He opposed the spread of the
principles of the French Revolution and equally the doctrines of Paine's Age
of Reason. Hie was himself possessed of ample means, and these he used
generously in support of various of the interests noted above.
He was the author of many occasional sermons, as well as of volumes of
sermons, e.g., Sermons on Several Subjects (London, 1784; 14th ed., 1813);
also of Review of the Life and Character of Archbishop Seeker (1770; twelve
editions); The Beneficial Effects of Christianity on the Temporal Concerns
of Mankind Proved from History and Facts (1804; 9th ed., 1836); Summary of
the Principal Evidences for the Truth and Divine Origin of the Christian
Revelation (1800; 15th ed., 1835); and Lectures on the Gospel of St. Matthew
(2 vols., 1802; 17th ed., 1823). His Complete Works were often published
(best ed., 6 vols., 1816; really not "complete").
BIBILIOGRAPHY: His Life, by R. Hodgson, is prefixed to vol. i. of his Works.
Consult: C. J. Abbey, The English Church and its Bishops, 2 vols., London,
1887; J. H. Overton English Church in the 18th Century, ib. 1894; J. H.
Overton and F. Relton The English Church (1714-1800), ib. 1908; DNB, xlvi.
195-196.
Wikipedia
"Rt Rev Beilby Porteus, DD, Bishop of Chester and London (May 8, 1731 –
May 13, 1809) was an Anglican reformer and leading abolitionist. He was the
first Anglican in a position of authority to seriously challenge the
Church's position on slavery.
Early life
Beilby Porteus was the son of Robert Porteus, a native of Virginia in
British America, who had returned to England in 1720. Educated at York and
Ripon, he was a classics scholar at Christ's College, Cambridge, becoming a
fellow in 1752. In 1759 he won the Seatonian Prize for his poem Death: A
Poetical Essay, a work for which he is still remembered.
He was ordained as a priest in 1757, and by 1762 had been appointed domestic
chaplain to Thomas Secker, Archbishop of Canterbury and, from 1769, chaplain
to King George III.
The fight against slavery
In 1776, Dr Porteus was appointed Bishop of Chester, taking a keen interest
in the affairs of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign
Parts.
As Bishop of Chester, Porteus became known as a noted abolitionist – he took
a deep interest in the plight of West Indian slaves, preaching and
campaigning actively against the slave trade and taking part in many debates
in the House of Lords.
Renowned as a scholar and a popular preacher, it was in 1783 that the young
bishop was to first come to national attention by preaching his most famous
and influential sermon.
The Anniversary Sermon
Porteus used the opportunity afforded by the invitation to preach the 1783
Anniversary Sermon of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in
Foreign Parts (SPG) to criticise the Church’s role in ignoring the plight of
the 350 slaves on its Codrington Estates in Barbados, and to recommend means
by which the lot of slaves there could be improved.
It was a well-reasoned and much-reprinted plea for The Civilisation,
Improvement and Conversion of the Negroe Slaves in the British West-India
Islands Recommended, and was preached before forty members of the society,
including eleven bishops of the Church of England. When this largely fell
upon deaf ears, Porteus next began work on his Plan for the Effectual
Conversion of the Slaves of the Codrington Estate, which he presented to the
SPG committee in 1784 and, when it was turned down, again in 1789.
These were the first challenges to the establishment in an eventual 26 year
campaign to eradicate slavery in the British West Indian colonies. Porteus
made a huge contribution and eventually turned to other means of achieving
his aims, including writing, encouraging and aiding the political
initiatives of Thomas Clarkson, William Wilberforce and others, and
supporting the sending of mission workers to Barbados and Bermuda.
He was active in the establishment of Sunday Schools in every parish, an
early patron of the Church Missionary Society and one of the founder members
of the British and Foreign Bible Society, of which he became vice-president.
Bishop of London
In 1787, Porteus was translated to the bishopric of London on the advice of
William Pitt (the Younger), a position he held until his death in 1809.
In 1788, Porteus supported Sir William Dolben’s Slave Trade Bill from the
bench of bishops, and over the next quarter century he became the leading
advocate within the Church of England for the abolition of slavery, lending
support to such men as Wilberforce, Granville Sharp, Henry Thornton and
Zachary Macaulay to secure the eventual passage of the Slave Trade Bill in
1807.
In view of his passionate involvement in the anti-slavery movement and his
friendship with other leading abolitionists, it was especially appropriate
that, as Bishop of London, he should now find himself with official
responsibility for the spiritual welfare of the British colonies overseas.
He was responsible for missions to the West Indies and published volumes of
sermons and tracts.
During much of the following 20 years - a time of huge national and
international political upheaval, Porteus was in a position to influence
opinion in the influential circles of the Court, the government, the City of
London and the highest echelons of Georgian society.
[edit] Other reforms
Porteus did this, partly by encouraging debate on subjects as diverse as the
slave trade, Catholic emancipation, the pay and conditions of low-paid
clergy, the perceived excesses of entertainment taking place on Sundays -
and by becoming a vocal supporter of William Wilberforce, Hannah More and
the Clapham Sect of evangelical social reformers. He vigorously opposed the
spread of the principles of the French Revolution as well as the doctrines
of Thomas Paine's Age of Reason.
In 1788, George III had again lapsed into one of his periods of mental
derangement (now diagnosed as Porphyria), after which there was a Service of
Thanksgiving for his recovery in 1789 in St. Paul's Cathedral, at which
Porteus himself preached.
The war against Napoleon began in 1794 and was to drag on for another twenty
years. Porteus' tenure as Bishop of London saw not only services of
thanksgiving for British victories at the Battles of Cape St. Vincent, the
Nile and Copenhagen, but the great national outpouring of sorrow at the
death of Nelson in 1805, and his state funeral service in St. Paul's
Cathedral in 1806. As Bishop of London, Porteus may have officiated at some
of these services, although it is unlikely that he did so at Nelson's
funeral, because of the Admiral's reputation as an adulterer.
Bishop Porteus died at Fulham Palace in 1809 and, according to his wishes,
was buried at Sundridge in Kent - a place to which he had frequently loved
to retire every autumn.
Bibliography
Porteus's Works on Slavery
- The Works of the Right Reverend Beilby Porteus, D.D. Late Bishop
of London: with His Life, by the Rev. Robert Hodgson, A.M. F.R.S. Rector
of St. George's Hanover-Square, and one of the chaplains in ordinary to
His Majesty. A New Edition, in Six Volumes (London: T. Cadell, 1823)
See within:
- 'Sermon XVII. The civilization, improvement, and conversion of
the Negro slaves in the British West-India islands recommended.
Preached before the incorporated Society for the Propagation of the
Gospel in Foreign Parts, February 23. 1783', II, pp. 391-428.
- 'An Essay towards a plan for the more effectual Civilization and
Conversion of the Negro Slaves, on the Trust Estate in Barbadoes,
belonging to The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in
Foreign Parts. First written in the year 1784, and addressed to the
society; and now considerably altered, corrected, and abridged', VI,
pp. 165-217.
- A Letter to the Clergy of the West-India Islands (London
1788)
- A Letter to the Governors, Legislatures and Proprietors of
Plantations, in the British West-India Islands (London, 1808).
Secondary Works
- Carey, Brycchan, British Abolitionism and the Rhetoric of
Sensibility: Writing, Sentiment,and Slavery, 1760-1807 (Basingstoke:
Palgrave Macmillan, 2005). I discuss Porteus at pages 151-3.
- Robert Hodgson, The Life of Beilby Porteus, as above.
- John Henry Overton, 'Beilby Porteus' in The Dictionary of
National Biography, vol XVI, pp. 195-197.
- Tennant, Bob, ‘Sentiment, Politics, and Empire: A Study of Beilby
Porteus’s Antislavery Sermon’, in Discourses of Slavery and
Abolition: Britain and its Colonies, 1760-1838, ed Brycchan Carey,
Markman Ellis, and Sara Salih (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004),
pp. 158-74.
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