Classic Christadelphian books for your edification
Elpis Israel
By John Thomas
Elpis Israel is truly a Christadelphian Classic—a foundation book of great value in assisting many to understand the Scriptures.
John Carter apparently read Elpis Israel each year in order to reappraise himself with the first principles. He had the following to say about the writing of the book in Faith in the Last Days, 1949, pages 26–27.
“With the outbreak of revolution in Europe in 1848, Dr. Thomas decided to visit Britain. The visit had important results, which must be noted in this short survey of the revival of Bible Truth…. A much wider hearing was secured than the Campbell assemblies. This was particularly so in Glasgow where several thousands attended a series of lectures in the City Hall. At a soirée held at the close it was suggested that Dr. Thomas should write the substance of his lectures so that those who had heard them could continue their studies after his return to America. This proposal was approved; Dr. Thomas decided to prolong his stay in this country, went to London, and wrote Elpis Israel. His own account of how he wrote the book must here reproduced. He is speaking of 1849, and says, ‘By the beginning of the new year I was enabled to commence the composition of Elpis Israel. I did not allow the grass to grow; but worked while it was called today, and much of the night also. For six weeks the world without was a mere blank, except through a daily perusal of the London Times; for during that period I had no use for hat, boots, or shoes, oscillating, as it were, like a pendulum between two points—the couch above and the desk below. In about four months the manuscript was completed.’
“The publication of this volume might be regarded as the end of the journey begun 15 years before. The book is comprehensive, and its sufficiency to enlighten men and women concerning the great salvation is evident from the fact that it has been the means of very many being led to the Truth. For many years it was the one book which was available to introduce the Gospel. A few years later the same truths, in the form of chapters on items of the Faith, were made available in the book Twelve Lectures, later entitled Christendom Astray, by Robert Roberts, but Elpis Israel opens up a wide and comprehensive view of the whole Scriptures. The first two sections of the three into which the book is divided, will in the writer’s judgement never be surpassed…. The lectures by Dr. Thomas in Britain, and the book Elpis Israel, which was the outcome, led to the formation of ecclesias; and the work of preparing a people to be ready for the Lord has gone on for the last hundred years. The preaching of the coming of Jesus Christ to set up God’s Kingdom on the earth, the restoration of the Jews, the Millennial reign and its purpose, the offer of everlasting life in Christ by resurrection at his coming, the unity of God and the divine sonship of Jesus, are doctrines which others during the last hundred years have taken up, but it belongs to the work of Dr. Thomas that all parts of the Truth were brought together into a complete presentation of God’s purpose.”