In chapter XVIII I cited from Wilson Thompson's articles in the "Signs of the Times" for January 1849 that showed that he believed in the doctrine of "eternal vital union" which involves the ideas that Christ as a Mediator, or as the "God-Man" possessing both human and divine natures, was created or begotten in eternity past, and that the church, or body of believers (or elect) was also created or begotten in Christ at that same time. I also cited from one of Thompson's sermons from his book "Simple Truth" that he published in 1821, wherein he further taught these Two Seed ideas. For the sake of others, especially for future historians of Two Seedism, I wish to include in my series additional citations from that book and to show that it was really Wilson Thompson who has more reason to be named as the originator of Two Seedism than Daniel Parker.
The following is from Wilson Thompson's book "Simple Truth" published in 1821. It can be downloaded and read (here). It is a composite of several of his sermons.
In "HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE MIAMI BAPTIST ASSOCIATION" by George E. Stevens (See here) it is said that ""Simple Truth" was the title of a book written by Wilson Thompson, and published in 1820."
So, we have two dates when "Simple Truth" was first published. Most give 1821 but Stevens gives it as 1820. In previous chapters I have stated that Parker and Thompson were close associates, and perhaps even collaborated on both the mission controversy and on Two Seed ideology. In 1820 Thompson lived in southwestern Ohio, the place of my birth and upbringing. In 1820 Parker, then living in Illinois, published a pamphlet, "A Public Address to the Baptist Society, and Friends of Religion in General, on the Principle and Practice of the Baptist Board of Foreign Missions, for the United States of America," attacking missionary practices. Parker even served as a state senator of Illinois in 1822. He no doubt read Thompson's book "Simple Truth." In fact, I think it is fairly certain that they often met in Indiana, for both of them were active in that state, in both the Wabash and the Whitewater Associations.
In October 1817 Isaac McCoy informed Maria Creek church that he had accepted an appointment from the Baptist Board of Foreign Missions for the United States, for the ensuing year. Thompson had been invited by McCoy to labor with him in an Indian mission and Thompson at first believed this was what God wanted him to do. In a chapter in his autobiography Thompson describes how the Lord warned him against joining Elder McCoy's mission among the Indians at Fort Wayne, Indiana. I have written about this in a post I wrote years ago. (See here) In that posting I wrote the following, citing from Thompson's autobiography:
"From Chapter twelve, a chapter titled - "Conflict and Deliverance," this Elder writes: "...for I had viewed the missionary scheme only as being a benevolent plan for promoting the spread of the gospel. Whether or not it was a scriptural plan, I had not examined, nor once questioned. My mind became greatly impressed with the vast importance of preaching the gospel to ALL nations. And as these poor heathen savages were among us (Indians - SG), and we had their land, and had greatly reduced their numbers, I felt that I would seize the opportunity now offered for carrying the gospel among them."
Thompson continues:
"I soon made my resolution known to the churches, but I met with strong opposition from all the members. My house soon became crowded, day and night, with my best friends, often pleading with tears in their eyes for me NOT to go. They presented their own destitute condition, if I should leave them; and then they would point out all the horrors and privations that I must endure in spending a life among these superstitious and cruel barbarians. Elder William Jones, whom I regarded as an able teacher in Israel, came, with several others, and stayed most of two days and one night. He labored hard to persuade me to abandon the undertaking, but all to no effect. No one said a word about the enterprise being wrong or anti-scriptural; all seemed to admit that the wonderful movements, the zeal and perseverance now so suddenly and so simultaneously springing up in the United States and Europe did surely give some strong indications that the time was at hand when the gospel was to be preached to every nation. All this was admitted, but I must not leave them to engage in this work."
I believe that the trouble that Daniel Parker stirred up in Illinois and Indiana over the mission question is what led Thompson to change his mind. Both Parker and Thompson were involved in the Wabash Association. Thompson wrote further:
"This, I thought, looked selfish in them; for if the time had come for the gospel to be preached to those heathen people, some one must go and preach it, and I believed then, as I do now, that God fixes the field of labor for each of His called ministers, and in that place alone will they be profitable. And when He is about to move one of His ministers from one place to another, circumstances and impressions will open up the way. My mind was not decided as yet, as to whether I should finally engage as a missionary or not; this should depend on my impressions and their evidence respecting my duty as presented to my mind. I must be satisfied what was the Lord’s will, and that should govern me without regarding ease or toil, privation or plenty; and for this knowledge I was seeking and praying, fully believing that God would direct me, for I was submissive to His will. This I told to all that talked to me."
"My contemplated winter tour to Raccoon Station and thence though the Indian tribes in the Wabash Valley, and so on to Fort Wayne, where Elder McCoy designed a location, would probably show, by the next spring, what the prospect of success was, and what the path of duty would probably be. I met their arguments on privations and hardships by saying: “I was born in the new settlements of Kentucky, which the Indians called the ‘‘bloody ground’’, in the year 1788, and I had been raised to the use of the rifle; the chase of the deer, the bear, the panther, and other wild animals, was the sport of my leisure hours; I had learned most of the habits of the Indians, and was used to camp life; I was a woodsman that could not lose my compass, and I did not know but the Omnipotent Disposer of events might have been superintending my education in the forest as a college far more suitable for an Indian missionary than any school of science could be. These matters time would doubtless develop.” I further told my friends that I hoped to be found submissively waiting and observing the openings of Providence, prayerfully seeking for wisdom to understand them, and for the leadings of the Holy Spirit to guide me in the right way that I might not go astray, for “it was not in man that walketh to direct his steps.”
So, what changed Thompson's mind? I believe it was because of Daniel Parker and because he saw how many were following Parker in his declarations against missions. This is not, however, the reason Thompson gives in his autobiography, but attributes it to a vision he receives from the Lord. Thompson wrote:
"I started home alone on foot, and as I was walking fast and in a thinking mood, suddenly these words came to my mind: “Who hath required this at your hand?” It thrilled through my whole frame and set me all of a shiver. I stood motionless, except a shaking from head to foot, with eyes bent toward the ground. I could not answer the interrogation, but this inquiry started calmly in my mind: “God ‘‘worketh all things after counsel of His own will"; if He intends to send the gospel to the Indians, or to any other heathen nation, He has not only fixed the time for it but has arranged the system. And have you the evidence that this is either the time or the system which He hath appointed?” I saw myself on the verge of a precipice, and, like a blind man, was about to leap I knew not whither. I stood without moving hand or foot, and trembling with solemn awe! In my mind I said: “Lord, shall I know what Thy system is and whether this is it or not? O, Lord, teach me, and let not my feet be taken in the snare of the crafty.” The reply to my mind was quick and satisfactory: "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.’’ Search it carefully and you will find the Lord’’s plan.”
He had previously stated that all the evidence from his previous life showed that he was prepared for the work of McCoy. He said God had superintended his education for that purpose "in a forest as a college." I don't believe his supposed vision was the reason for his doing an about-face. It was what Daniel Parker was doing that changed his mind. Thompson writes further:
"During all this time I stood like a statue in the road. It seemed to me that I must have stood there half an hour without raising my eyes from the ground or moving a limb. I often look back to that time as the most solemn period in all my life. When the last-mentioned text came so forcibly to my mind, I was fully satisfied that this new system of missions was of human origin. It was new, and I knew but very little about it; but the text relieved me, by fully convincing me that I would find the Lord’s plan plainly set out in the Scriptures. My trembling left me at once. I felt calm, but still I was anxious to discover the Divine system for the spread of the gospel among the heathen. I proceeded homeward with my mind at ease, and I have never felt that sort of mission fever since."
Not only am I convinced that Parker and Thompson were close associates, but that they collaborated on mission opposition and on Two Seedism. So, I think that Thompson deserves as much, or more, credit for promoting Two Seedism among the first anti-mission churches. Further, it is clear to me that Thompson, Beebe, Trott, etc., all got much of their ideas from Joseph Hussey, as I have previously shown. I have no doubt that Parker had read Thompson's book "Simple Truth" and helped to shape or hone his Two Seed views.
In the following I will give citations from Thompson's book "Simple Truth" that show that he taught several of the leading ideas in Two Seedism years before Parker wrote his books on the subject.
In DISCOURSE #3 "On the Human nature or manhood of Christ" Thompson wrote (emphasis mine):
"We cannot read the Bible, without being convinced that Christ did exist in a nature, inferior to the Father, both before the world and since; and as we have seen in the foregoing discourse, that his divine nature was no other than the Fathers; we shall in this discourse shew wherein his inferiority did consist, and in order to be plain on this subject, we shall first speak of the soul or spirit of Christ, and secondly of his body or flesh."
I don't recall that Parker wrote much about the preexistent manhood of Christ. Parker did say that Christ and his people were one from eternity. Further, I don't know what Parker's views were on the Trinity, or on the eternal generation of the Son of God.
Wrote Thompson further:
"Of the spirit or soul of Christ I understand that part of him which was brought forth before all worlds, and which was the medium of operation in creation, and the treasury in which grace was given us, before the world began; in which God chose his people, and gave them great and precious promises before the world was."
It was this view, later defended by Beebe and Trott, that led many Hardshells to accuse those who taught it to be Arians. What Thompson writes in the above is what was in the original articles of faith of the Bear Creek Association (which we have previously shown), which was organized in 1832. One of its articles stated the following:
"Art. 2. We believe in the man Jesus being the first of all God's creation and the pattern of all Gods perfection in nature, providence, grace and glory, and in relative union with the Divine Word, and thus united with the whole Trinity."
Wrote Thompson further:
"Here the apostle speaks of God as creating all things and of Jesus Christ as that by which he did create all things; here we read of the mystery hid in God and of the unsearchable riches of Christ, now surely the riches of Christ are the mystery hid in God, then if the mystery hid in God is the unsearchable riches of Christ, by whom God created all things; then Christ must have been in existence, when God created all things by him, and as this cannot be said in truth of the flesh of Christ, and to assert it of his divine nature, would argue two Gods, and the one creating all things by the other, which we do not believe; therefore we must believe that it was spoken of the soul or spirit of Christ in which the unsearchable riches of Gods wisdom and grace did concentrate before all worlds..."
That was the view of Joseph Hussey and his followers, as we have previously noticed. When it is asserted that all things were created by Christ, it means Christ as God the Son, and not as Christ the man.
Thompson wrote further:
"But to apply it to the soul or spirit of Christ is easy; for this soul or spirit, was in the bosom of the Father before all worlds; and thus was appointed heir of all things; thus he heired the world, and as a consequence it cannot be destroyed until he is done with it, he heired a kingdom and will glorify it, etc. No one that takes the scripture for his guide, can deny but what Christ did pre-exist creation in a nature as much distinct from the Father, as much inferior to him, as he was when he was here in the world; but some conclude he only existed in God's decree, and not actually; but Abraham and all others pre-existed creation in God's decree; but Christ says before Abraham was, I am, which does not mean decreatively but actually; Abraham and all Gods elect were in his decree before the world was; but were not brought forth until long since the world was, but Christ was brought forth before all worlds; the body of Christ existed in God's decree before the creation, but was not brought forth until about 1821 years ago; but others would apply all those scriptures which speak of Christ as existing before the world to him as God, or to his divine nature..."
One can see why Thompson and the Two Seeders were accused of being Arians. We will show this in upcoming chapters. This view says that a created being (the humanity of Christ) is a creator. Further, all the texts that affirm the preexistence of Christ refers to himself as God the Son, what he was before his incarnation, and not to his human nature.
Thompson wrote further:
"3. We have seen that God, in order to secure the eternal happiness of his church, did bring forth, set up and ordain the soul of Jesus Christ; as the great deposit of all his people, and his purposes, promises and grace; and thus all fullness of grace and spiritual blessings dwelt in him, and they (his church) were secured in him, so that after Adam fell; Christ the heir, could enter his plea for his people, and claim his legal inheritance; or the right of a legatee..."
That was the view of Hyper Calvinist father Joseph Hussey. Thompson wrote:
"But if you will read Boston's view of the covenant you will see much of this sort of language, and I never have seen any author on the covenant, that holds the divine nature of the Son to be one of the contracting parties; but what have unavoidably fallen into those inconsistencies; some of them, seeing that this was untenable ground, have endeavoured to remedy it, by telling us that it was not the divine nature of Christ that made this bargain; but the pre-existing soul of Christ was the second contracting party, this indeed looks more reasonable, for this could be done without dividing the Godhead, or punishing the divine nature of Christ."
The covenant that was made between the Father, Son, and Spirit, before the world began, was made by them as God. That is the Orthodox position. Christ in his humanity did not exist before the world began.
In DISCOURSE #5 "On the Atonement, and Man's Justification by it" Thompson wrote the following:
"2. Those and only those are interested in the atonement that were united to Christ, before all worlds, for the atonement could effect none else; for justice would not allow of Christ’s suffering for sin, without union to the sinner; nor could we be justified by the blood of Christ without union with him, but as this union is disputed by many good men, and we think mostly on account of not understanding it. I shall endeavour to treat on this subject as plain as possible, and shew the indispensable necessity of such union in order to our being interested in the atonement by Jesus Christ; or being saved by him, upon the principles of equity."
"3. We shall now hasten to show what this bond of union is, hint its antiquity and strength; and show how it clothed Christ with the right to make the atonement. – The bond of union between Christ and his church is love; and this cementing bond unites the church to both the human and divine nature of Christ, or the pre-existing soul of Christ and God in it..."
"And thus we see all the elect of God were chosen and blest, with all spiritual blessings in Christ, and thus the human soul of Christ was pregnant with all the subject, blessings, graces, of Gods kingdom; and as the only active representative, it acts for them all, having them all in it."
"And as the display of Gods glory, was to be made by Christ, who contained all his people in him; it was proper that all the posterity of the figure should be contained in him..."
All this is clear. Thompson believed in the preexistence of both the human Christ and his people, or what came to be called "eternal vital union."
Thompson wrote further:
"...ever since Christ was brought fourth the head and representative of his church, he has been accountable as such to God for all the acts of those he did represent, and though their sins could not stain him with impurity, yet as he is their head and they in him, their sins must be charged to him, and the punishment due to their sins must be inflicted on him."
Here we see again how Two Seedism says that Christ the Son of God was obligated to save his people because they were in him from eternity, were his wife from eternity. This denies that their election and salvation was an act of grace and mercy. Thompson wrote:
"But when Christ came into this world to make the atonement, he came with his people in him, as they always had been, and in this sense they may be said to suffer in him, to die in him, to rise in him and to be glorified in him, and to have their seats in heavenly places in him..."
There is more Two Seedism and it was published several years before Parker published his views on it.
In DISCOURSE #7 "Being an address in which is collected together the sum of the whole matter" Thompson said:
"In the third discourse we have shewed, that the human soul of Christ pre-existed creation, as the medium of operation by which God created the worlds, and was the deposit, in which was treasured up all Gods children; with all their graces and all the purposes, promises and spiritual blessings the church should ever stand in need of."
Notice how Thompson follows Hussey in believing that "the human soul of Christ preexisted creation," as many Hardshells did in his Hyper Calvinism. If the human soul of Christ was created, then how could it preexist creation? Hussey, however, did not teach the preexistence of the souls of the elect, as far as I know. So, the Two Seed Primitive Baptists added that to his scheme.
Thompson said:
"...they are born again of an incorruptible seed by the word of God: and being born of the spirit they are spirit; they being his people, are made willing in the day of his power; the bond of union is revealed to them, which is love; not that we loved God, but the he loved us and sent his son to die for our sins; they love him because he first loved them, and can say to each other with pleasing wonder, behold what manner of love the father hath bestowed on us, that we should be called the sons of God. Thus the heirs of promise or the subjects of God's kingdom are prepared to return to heaven again, where they were first organized a kingdom; and having part in Christ's resurrection being risen with him, they shall all be raised in bodies like our Saviour's glorious body, when the last display that God designs to make of himself on earth shall be made."
In the first several chapters of this series I have one of the maxims of Two Seeders, which said "nothing goes to heaven but what first came down from heaven," and this is what Thompson is affirming when he speaks of the elect returning to heaven.
Thompson said:
"First we have seen that there is but one God and that he is love in his nature and a king in his office; this his nature and official character, set up the human soul of Christ and the church in it, as the object of Gods love, and organized them a kingdom before the world, and that the soul of Christ was that in which the whole Godhead dwelt, and in which his kingdom was organized with all its spiritual blessings; that in this way Christ and God and the church are united together."
Here are more Two Seed affirmations. Surely Parker read this in Thompson's book, or perhaps heard him preach it. So, I see more reason to believe that Thompson and not Parker could well be the first promoter of Two Seedism. It needs further historical investigation to find out who taught this prior to the time of Thompson and Parker.
I have never read where Wilson Thompson ever gave his views on the origin of Satan and on whether his seed or children preexisted in him. I think that is because he was always careful not to say anything that might hurt his following or influence. Parker's idea of an uncreated Devil is what gave him the most trouble, and not his idea of the preexistence of the human soul of Christ or his people, and so I think Thompson remained silent on Satan's origin.
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