"^ F" (? Y' ,
J^ I^HEIIliOSOIPHIY
HEAYET^, EARTH,
MILLENNIUM.
Aia> God called the firmament Heaven.— (?en. i. 8.
BY
JAMES A. S_P IJ R L O C K ,.
A Member of the Missouri Ba/i'.
W. J. GILBERT, PUBLISHER,
KO. 209 NORTH FOURTH STREET, ST. LOUIS, MO.
Trade Supplied by
St. L0U13 Book a-xd XKvr> Co. Amskican News Co., of New York.
Central NEW=i C )., of Phila. New England News Co., of Boston.
— ;^i,i
THE NEW YORK
PUBLIC LIBRARY
163564
ASTOR, LENOX AND
TILDE.N FOUNDATIONS.
1899.
Entered accordicp to Act of Congress, on the 11th day of January, 1P60, by
James A. Rpurlock, in the Clerk's office of the District Court of tha United
States, at Jefierson City, for the WeEtern District of Missouri.
Stereotyped by Strassburger & Drac
St. Louis, Mo.
MO. EKPOBLICA.K PRINT.
PREFACE.
In presenting this small book to the public, I claim
that it contains a correct key to the motions of the
heavenly bodies which will in the future become the
basis of all true astronomy and philosophy of the
movements of the heavenly bodies. My theories of
heat, cold, and the seasons, will be established by
the practical tests of science.
Perhaps I owe the religious world an apology for
the plain manner in which I have assailed their creeds
and ceremonies. These have been the subjects of so
much strife, dissension, and cavil, and militate so
directly against Gospel truth, that I have con-
demned them as heresies and idolatries. In doing
so I do not question the sincerity of any church,
iv Preface.
minister or person^ nor have I written in the inter-
est of any. 1 belong to no church orL^anization and
have no partiality for any, and highly approbate the
efforts of all.
As to my views of the Millennium, I have ap-
pended them to interest the reader, and at the same
time silence the croakings of false prophets.
Respectfully,
JAMES A. SPURLOCK.
Versailles, ?do., January 8,
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTION.
REMARKS — GOD — THE CREATION — THE BIBIiE — AITTHOR'S POSI-
TIONS—NATURE OF EARTH— OF THE FLESH— RESURRECTION
— GR/.DES IN HEAVEN— WORKS STA^fPED ON US— GOLDEN
RULE THE TRUE RELIGION— GOD'S DIP ARTIALITY— MILLEN-
NIUM — SCIENCE 9
CHAPTER 11.
THE CREATION.
GRANDEUR AND IM:\rENSITY OF HEAVEN — EMBRACES THE UNI-
VERSE — NATURE OF GOD — WRITINGS OF MOSES — MAN AN OUT-
CAST FROM HEAVEN— SIN AND DISOBEDIENCE— STRIFE OP
EARTH — NATLTIE OP ANGELS — OP HEAVEN — GRADES IN
HEAVEN — ALL TO BE RESURRECTED — NATURE OF THE CE-
LESTIAL BODIES — UNIFORMITY OF GOD'S LAWS — GLORY OF
HEAVEN— DISCOVERY OF THE CENTRIFUGAL POWER THAT
SUSTAINS THE HEAVENLY BODIES IN THEIR ORBITS, ETC. —
THE SAME EXPLAINED— POWER OF LIGHT — REFLECTED LIGHT
— DIFFERENT QUALITIES OF — A PRODUCER OF MATTER — A
BEAUTIFIER — COMETS — SECOND AND THIRD HEAVENS —
CHRIST A POWERFUL PHILOSOPHER — FINE NATURE OF THE
PLANETS — OUR ATMOSPHERE THE CAUSE OF ALL OUR ILLS. .. 21
vi Contents.
CHAPTER HI.
THE EARTH.
ITS CREATIOX— ITS FORM XTH) REVOIiTTTIONS— THE BEGIXNTNG —
ITS CURSE — CREATION OF MAN — STRIFE OF EARTH CAUSED
BY OUR ATMOSPHERE— ALL THE ILLS OF EARTH ASCRIBABLE
TO IT — FTRS — HEAT — COLD — STRIFE OF NATURE — NEW THEO-
RY OF THE SEASONS — LIFE — DEATH — TRUE CONDITION OF
THE EARTH AND ITS INHABITANTS— THJ'IR FALLEN CONDI-
TION — THEIR EVIL NATURE— GOD'S IMPi\ RTLIlL ADaUNISTRA-
TION — NO SPECIAL PROVIDENCES — THE EARTH FORSAKEN OF
GOD AND THE ANGELS — THE LAW OF GOD — CHRIST, HIS NA-
TURE i>JS"D TEACHINGS — MISERIES OF EARTH AND THEIR
CAUSE— FORMER MILLENNIUMS SI
CHAPTEE IV.
MAN.
HIS ORIGIN— THE GARDEN OF EDEN— THE FORBIDDEN FRUIT —
HIS FALL — HIS EFFORTS TO PLEASE GOD — HIS PRAYERS —
HIS 'SELIGION — HIS IDOLATRY" — THE GOLDEN RULE THE TRUE
GOSPEL— THE FOLLY OF PUBLIC PRAYER— OF CBHEMONIES—
PERVERSION OF GOSPEL TRUTH — FALSE TEACHERS — BIGOTS
—OFFENCES AGAINST THE HOLY GHOST— HIS FAITH IN GOD—
HIS DEATH AND BURIAL 158
CHAPTER Y.
THE RESURRECTION.
REMARKS — ^NOT SPECIAL BUT GENERAL — EFFECTED BY NA-
TURAL LAWS — COMBINED POWERS OF HEAVEN AND EARTH
EFFECT IT — EVIDENCES OF IT — CERTAINTY OF IT — TRAN8MI-
Contents. vii
GSATIOK OF SOULS ON EARTH DENIED — EXAMPLES — VEOSTA-
TION— ANIMAL LIFE — CONSCIOUSNESS — DRE AMU^G — INNATE
KNOWLEDGE OF IT— ABUNDANT LIFE OF EABTH— ABUNDAI>rT
LIFE OF HEAVEN— THE JUDGJIENT— THE REWARDS— THE
GOOD— THE EVIL— god's BENEVOLENCE — HIS MEBCY— HIS
PROVISION FOR ALL *. 224
CHAPTER yi.
THE M I L L E N N I U .M.
ITS OCCURRENCE — ITS COURSE — STRIFE OF EARTH TO EE FIRST
SUBDUED — THE WAY PREPARED BY A CELESTIAL BODY —
BINDING OF SATAN — ^PEACE OF EARTH — SECOND ADVENT —
THE GOSPEL TRUTH AGAIN PREACHED— PASSAGE OF THE
CELESTIAL VI3ITANT AND DISAPPEARANCE OF CHRIST AND
HIS ANGELS — SATAN UNBOUND — THE WORLD AFTERWARDS —
FORMER MILLENNIUMS — BIBLE PROOFS — MYSTERIES OF
HEAVEN REVEALED — TiaiE OF IT UNKNOWN — ^ALL PROPHECY
FALSE AS TO THE TIME 269
HEAVEN, EARTH, AND THE MILLENNIUM.
CHAPTER I.
I N T R O D TJ C U^ I O N.
^vEMAKKS— GOD— THE CBEATI0:N-— THE BIBLE— AUTHOR'S POSITIONS
— NATURE OF EARTH — OF THE FLESH — RESURRECTION — GRADES
JN HEAVEN — WORKS STAJNIPED ON US— GOLDEN RULE THE TRUE
RELIGION- god's niPARTIALITY— ^HLLENNIUM:- SCIENCE.
Upon a careful survey of the heavens, all
rational beings are forced to acknowledge that
there is an omnipotent God v^ho has created
the heavens and the earth ; but Jioiv and wJien
are the most perplexing questions that ever
presented themselves to the human mind.
Where does the all-pov^^erful Architect reside,
what is the nature of His existence, and in
what portion of His immense structure does he
enjoy His labors and give laws to countless
millions of worlds? From whence issue the
2
10 A PMlosopliy of Heaven^
edicts governing the mighty hosts of heaven,
and the beings who inhabit the same ? What
causes the pain, desire, toil, misery, strife, and
death, inflicted on that part of His creation
known as earth— this world which we inhabit.
Manlvind in all ages have been prone to have
these questions solved ; but few, however wise
and learned, inspired or prophetic, have at-
tempted a solution of them. They have been
content to acknowledge the existence of the
vast creation surrounding them, and trace and
ferret out the never-changing laws which gov-
ern the universe; but in what manner or by
what means, and at what time or times, this
omnipotent task was performed or accomplish-
ed, or where the mighty Creator lives, or in
what portion of His domain He exerts his lim-
itless power, has been, and is, a mystery to the
mortals of the earth.
In this work I propose to give my views on
these matters as succinctly as possible, and
in language that will be understood by all,
learned and unlearned, young and old ; and in
doing so, let me inform the reader that it is no
Earthy and the Millennium. 11
part of my design to interfere with the teach-
ings of the Bible or the doctrines of Christi-
anity, and it is still further from my design to
interfere with the doctrines of any religious
denomination, but that I expect to treat the
subject freely and truthfully. I maintain that
religion and the Gospel are nothing more than
truth, and that the teachings of any book or
sect, if in accordance with truth, is Gospel and
religion ; and if contrary to truth, that it is of
earth, and has no divinity whatever, and is not
to have the sanction of our judgment.
I acknowledge the moral precepts of the
Bible, and the divinity of Jesus Christ; in
fact, I look to the teachings of David, Moses,
and the prophets, and of Christ and his apos-
tles, for much of the philosophy which I shall
advance ; and while there is no moral precept
in the Bible that I am not cheerfully willing
to sanction, and even be judged by, yet I must
confess that there are some mere historical
matters in it which are by no means intelligi-
ble to me, and which cannot be reconciled
with truth and other teachings of the Book.
12 A Philosophy of Heaven,
But these apparent inconsistencies have
nothing to do with either the present or future
of man. Our whole duty to God and our fel-
low-creatures of earth is so plainly set forth in
the Bible that none, however ignorant, need
err.
I shall endeavor to prove in this short work
that there is an all- wise, omnipotent, and infin-
ite creator, called God; that He is the Chief
Architect and Governor of the whole universe ;
that He governs the same by laws just, uni-
form, and forever unchangeable ; and, conse-
quently^, shall deny special providences or par-
tiality in His administration. I shall endeavor
to demonstrate that all His creation is good,
and the enjoyments thereof all-enduring, ex-
cept earth, mankind, and the creatures ot
earth ; that desire, pain, toil, misery, and death,
exi^t nowhere but on this earth; and that
man's transgression is the cause of his own
misery and death, and so of all the creatures
-of the earth. I deny that the creatures of earth
are suffering for Adam's transgression, and
shall contend that they are suffering for their
Earthy and the Millennium. 18
own sins, of like nature with Adam's, and that
the earth is the sphere in which they, must
repent and be regenerated through carnal
death, and thus I'estored to heaven.
I contend that the earth is accursed of God,
and not visited by Him or His angels, from the
fact that all its elements are in a state of strife
and war, and not suitable to be visited by holy
beings ; that the mortality or flesh of the earth
is synonymous with the term "satan" or
''devil," and the spirits of which have once
enjoyed a pure and holy estate in heaven, and
will again, by force of God's immutable laws,
in some state, however degraded and humble,
or however excellent and exalted, this to be
determined by their own conduct ; that we are
endowed with the spirit of God, and possess
most of the reasoning powers of angels, though
condemned in the flesh, and to the flesh ; that
this spirit and reason is the gift of God, and is
indestructible, and cannot, and will not, ever
die, that this spirit and reason continually
admonish us of our lost condition, and point
us the way to heaven, our proper abode ; that
14 A FMlosopJiy of Heaven^
they inlierently have and teach the command-
ments of Grod, and plainly and imploringly
urge us to the strict performance of our duty
to God and man and the creatures of earth;
that our corporeal bodies are of earth, and are
continually prompting us to deeds of evil and
sin ; that a separation between soul and body
occurs under certain defined laws of nature;
that these very laws have power to, and will,
resurrect and exalt to heaven all creatures of
earth having the spirit of God within them;
and that the spirit of man, when released
from its carnal abode, takes its flight to its
Creator, where it receives a reward suitable
to its merits or demerits on earth.
I will not teach that a small, limited space
is heaven, but will endeavor to show that it
embraces the whole boundless universe ; that
the whole starry firmament above and around
us is heaven, and that it possesses the power
to give life, to destroy temporal things, and to
resurrect the souls of every creature of earth
to a pure and better existence than earth af-
fords ; that this power will resurrect all crea-
Earthy and the Millennium. 15
tures of earth that have ever existed in the
past, that now exist, or that will exist in the
future ; that there is no necessity for any crea-
ture of earth, however small or insignilicant,
to be lose for want of ability to resurrect or
room to protect and accommodate it ; that God
in His beneficence and omnipotence has pro-
vided, and will eternally provide, for all His
creatures.
I shall contend that there are grades in
heaven, and that every creature of earrh will
in the resurrection be assigned to a place and
rank in heaven suited and appropriate to its
work and conduct in life ; that this reward is
given and place assigned immediately on the
death of the creature, and that this reward de-
pends on the performance of the duties which
God has plainly dictated to all, civilized and
enlightened, heathen and pagan.
I contend that our conduct on earth towards
our fellow-man, God, and His creatures, will
as effectually and thoroughly stamp our rank
and character in heaven, as the founder's pat-
terns stamp impressions on his wares; that
16 A Philosophy of Heaven,
this is so effectually clone that there can be no
deception in heaven; and that the least in
heaven might judge the soul in the resurrec-
tion as accurately as a mathematician can
solve a simple problem, and this without the
aid and despite of prayer and rituals.
I further maintain that there are only two
Gospel commands : first, supreme love to God ;
second, to love our neighbor as ourself. These
include the Golden Rule, and should include
all the spiritual teachings of the ministry,
/ They are the substance of the Gospel and reli-
gion, while all forms of worship and ceremo-
nies of the churches are mere shadows, and
are apt too often to lead away from the per-
formance of plain religious duties ; and when
they really do so, they become not only repre-
hensible, but degrading and damnable in their
nature. Hence I condemn the doctrines of
men, and teach a strict observance of the
Golden Rule, from the cradle to the grave, as
the only means of obtaining any excellent
estate in heaven.
Our reward in heaven will depend entirely
Earthy and the Millennium, 17
on the performance of the various duties im-
posed upon us by the exigencies of this rule^
and this without tlie aid of prayer or ceremo-
nies. In other words, we must perform this
great mandate of heaven, both to God and to
man, and to the creatures of earth, and not
trust to prayer and ceremonies for an acquit-
tance from its duties.
Our Creator's laws are positive and un-
changeable, and are also just and perfect, and
His administration of them the most impartial \
and they cannot, and will not, and should not,
be relaxed on the supplication of any. They
will not be suspended in their operation for
any, however pious and excellent ; and a per-
son might as well endeavor to gain an exalted
state in heaven by legerdemain or slight-of-
hand as to gain it by the performance of ritu-
als and ceremonies, or by prayer or confes-
sions, without the performance of the Golden
Rule and the religious duties it requires to be
performed.
By our works or fruits we must be known ;
and our works or fruits, or deeds done in the
18 A PMlosopJiy of Heaven^
body while on earth, will be so indelibly
stamped upon us, or placarded on our future
existence in heaven, that God, nor His angels,
nor the least of His creatures, can be deceived
by us.
The deeds or works themselves are the means
of judgment, and are only to be observed and
noticed by the powers of heaven. As well might
a goat pretend that he was an ox, or a dog
that he was a horse, as for an extortioner to
pretend 'that he was a benevolent man, in-
clined to love and charity ; or the hypocrite to
pretend that he was a sincere, well-meaning
Christian. All deceptions are impossible, for
our works will show for themselves, either to
our honor and glory, or to our degradation and
shame.
The world which we inhabit is one of strife,
sin, pain, and death, and was so designed by
the Creator. Heaven is pure^ sublime, glori-
ous, and the never-ending, all-abounding, and
eternal abode of God and all His creatures.
The whole heavens are free to the righteous
and elect of God, but the higher estates are
Earthy and tJie Millennium, 19
accessible only to few, and these few will be
those who have obeyed His commandments in
humility, and have not been found wanting in
deeds of love and charity while sojourning on
earth. Many expecting these higher estates will
fall short of their enjoyment, and doubtless
many an humble soul will find itself unexpect-
edly rewarded with them.
I propose, further, to show that the way of
the Millennium, or the second advent of Christ
and the angels of heaven on earth, is to be
prepared by dispelling strife, pain, hunger,
thirst, sin, desire, and death, from the earth,
and that this will be accomplished by the ap-
pearance and passage of a heavenly body in
its regular orbit, more magnificent and lumin-
ous (from its proximity to our earth) than the
sun, and which will for the time so overcome
the efi*ects of the sun and the elements of
earth, as to produce peace and serenity on the
whole earth, during which Christ and the an-
gels of heaven can visit the earth, and promul-
gate the Gospel of Truth ; and that from these
millennial events the Ancients derived their
20 A Pliilosopliy of Heaven^
knowledge of the creation of the heavens and
the earth, and of the fall of man.
In the meantime, I expect to advance an en-
entirely new doctrine of the philosophy of
heat, cold, and the seasons, and also of the
motions of the heavenly bodies. In this I will
show that light (or the sunbeams of heaven) is
one of the most powerful elements of the heav-
ens ; that by its power ponderous worlds are
supported and driven in their orbits. The pri-
mary planets are driven by the light of the
sun around which they revolve, and the secon-
dary planets, such as the moon, &c., are driven
around the earth and other primary planets
by means of reflected \i^\\t and the light of
the sun. I expect to show conclusively that
the light of the sun causes the earth and other
planets to revolve on their own axis, producing
day and night ; also, that heat and cold exist
only on the earth, and are but properties of
our own atmosphere.
As to the nature of God, it would be pre-
sumptuous for benighted man to speak of it. I
shall, therefore, confine myself to results or
Earthy and the Millennium. 21
effects, and leave the reader to form his own
idea of God's existence and abode ; for if we
should see Him every day, our senses are too
imperfect to recognize Him or the nature of
His existence.
CHAPTER n.
THE CREATION.
GllANDEUB AliD IMMENSITY OF HEAVEN — EMBRACES THE UNIA'^ERSE
— NATURE OF GOD— WRITINGS OF MOSES— MAN AN OUTCAST FROM
HEAVEN— SIN AND DISOBEDIENCE- STRIFE OF EARTH— NATURE
OF ANGELS — OF HEAVEN — GRADES EN HEAVEN — ALL TO BE RES-
URRECTED — NATURE OF THE CELESTIAL BODIES — UNIFORMITY
OF god's laws— glory of HEAVEN— DISCOVERY OF THE CEN-
TRIFUGAL POWER THAT SUSTAINS THE HEAVENLY BODIES IN
THEIR ORBITS, ETC. — THE SAME EXPLAINED — POWER OF LIGHT
— REFLECTED LIGHT— DIFFERENT QUALITIES OF— A PRODUCER
OF MATTER— A BEAUTIFIER — COMETS- SECOND AND THIRD HEAV-
ENS — CHRIST A POWERFUL PHILOSOPHER— FINE NATURE OF THE
PLANETS — OUR ATMOSPHERE THE CAUSE OF ALL OUR ILLS.
The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firinanient
sheweth His handiwork.
Day unto day iittereth speech, and night unto night shew-
elh kuow4edge.— Da^jioJ.
The grandeur and sublimity of the starry
heavens have in all ages attracted the atten-
22 A FJiilosophy of Heaven,
tion of mankind. Even the untutored savage
beholds this sublimity and grandeur, and will-
ingly admits the existence of a Supreme Be-
ing who created them.
That heaven exists is a truth that needs no
inspiration to prove, nor any prophet to teach.
The fact is patent, and heaven is visible to
every mortal eye, though the sight be carnal
and the creature doomed to death. Heaven is
spread out before and around us in one vast
and eternal ocean of light, truth, architecture,
and grandeur. Go and survey the same any
starry night when it is not obscured by the
misty clouds of the earth, or veiled by the
glory of the sun, and behold a portion of its
extent and sublimity ! There is no mistake iu
the scene. The carnal eyesight is liable to be
deceived, we must admit, but there is no more
deception in this view than there is of our
earthly existence; the one is just as patent as
the other.
There are hundreds of globes and spheres,
in some measure resembling this earth, that
present themselves to our naked eyesight ; and
Earthy and the Millennium. 23
when the eye is armed with the aid of power-
ful telescopic instruments, thousands of others
appear still farther in the distant heavens.
Many of these, without doubt, are hundreds
of times larger than our earth, and some are
smaller. They exist of every conceivable size,
and are suited to every want, are adapted
to every enjoyment, and exist indefinitely
throughout the boundlessness of space.
Look through the vista of nature to the
ranges of enormous suns, planets and spheres,
wheeling and revolving through an immensity
of space under laws the most perfect, uniform,
and unchangeable, and ask : Who made these ?
who spake them into existence ? where is that
Being all-powerful enough to control the mo-
tions of that wonderful machinery ? where are
the boundaries of this heavenly scene ? where
are the foundations ? when was this vast pan-
orama made and spread out, and when was it
put in motion? when was the time they did
not exist ? how did things appear before their
existence ?
These are questions that find no solution in
24 A PMlosopJiy of Heaven,
the powers of earth or the mind of man ; yet
we must admit they have a solution, for there
is certainly no effect without a cause, and
these great results or effects as certainly have
a cause as any other matter in existence, and
that cause is God and the powers of heaven.
The omnipotent God who created the heav-
«.is and earth has, for just reasons, no doubt,
concealed many of its mysteries from our view
and comprehension ; and as to many of the
laws of nature, we are in a world of darkness.
That is, man on earth is shorn of many of his
faculties, among which is spiritual sight, and
therefore cannot see God and the hosts of
heaven ; but that is no more evidence that He
-and His angels do not exist than that the race
of men on earth does not exist — because an
infant in its mother's womb cannot see and
understand the nature of man and his actions
on earth. The time is rapidly drawing near,
and is just at hand, we may say, when we will
become the children of light, through death
and the resurrection, and will see and know
the Author of all this vast work. We are now
Earthy and the MUlennUim. 25
in the llesli and in spiritual darkness ; we will
then be regenerated, and the vail which now
enshrouds us in spiritual darkness will be
lifted, and then we can behold God and His
angels in their majesty and omnipotency, to-
gether with our redeemed and regenerated
friends who have preceded us on earth.
As to the nature of the God of Heaven, we
know from observation that He is omnipotent,
all- wise, just, impartial, all-enduring, benevo-
lent, immutable, eternal, without beginning or
end. As to His shape or form, the Bible in-
forms us that man was created in the image of
God ; consequently. He must be in the human
shape. The Spirit of God is omnipotent — His
being or body is not. The devil exists in the
flesh of earth, but God does not exist in the
same manner in the spirits of heaven. The
devil or satan is a creature, but God is a
Creator, having visible form, functions and
powers. We do not see what we term the
^'devil" here on earth, yet he is here. If God,
however, were here, the whole mortality of
earth would be cognizant of the fact and see
26 A Fldlosopliy of Heamn^
His body and form. Tliougli that body and
form is of a nature unknown to us, yet it is in
power, excellence, and grandeur. His power
is exerted by His spirit and by the light of
heaven. His biddings must be performed by
the whole universal powers of heaven. His
spirit animates us all, and to that extent He is
omnipresent. Moses tells us that God created
man in His own image. Some, however, per-
sist that the writings of Moses need corrobora-
tion, and in some respects they may, as his
narrative of the creation and events of early
history are necessarily brief and figurative.
But in this respect it may be safely affirmed
that he needs none, for the assertion is posi-
tive ; and Moses and the ancients certainly
had revelations from God and His angels,
which I shall hereafter endeavor to show were
given to them through former millennial events,
when the gospel of truth was taughfc and ex-