“But Mr. Shimeal sustained Mr. Miller in his belief that the advent will be personal and pre-millennial. And Bishop Hopkins, of Vermont (Two Discourses on the Advent), while he claimed that the time was not revealed, said, nevertheless, ‘we would admonish you, with still greater earnestness, to keep your souls in constant readiness for your Lord’s advent, and in a state of sacred desire to behold him in his glory.’—p. 29.
“9. The Return of the Jews.—Mr. Miller looked for no return of the Jews previous to the resurrection of the just; and the righteous of that nation, who have died in the faith of Abraham, with all Gentile believers of like precious faith, he regarded as the subjects of all unfulfilled promises to Israel—the fulfillment of which will be in the new earth, and in the resurrection out from among the dead.
“That the promise to Abraham has reference to the resurrection state, is no novel or unscriptural view.
“Rabbi Eliezer the Great, supposed to have lived just after the second temple was built, applied Hosea 14:8 to the pious Jews, who seemed likely to die without seeing the glory of Israel, saying: ‘As I live, saith Jehovah, I will raise you up in the resurrection of the dead; and I will gather you with all Israel.’
“The Sadducees are reported to have asked Rabbi Gamaliel, the preceptor of Paul, whence he would prove that God would raise the dead; who quoted Deut. 9:21: ‘Which land the Lord sware that he would give to your fathers.’ He argued, as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had it not, and as God cannot lie, that they must be raised from the dead to inherit it.
“Rabbi Simai, though of later date, argues the same from Ex. 6:4, insisting that the law asserts in this place the resurrection from the dead, when it said, ‘And also I have established my covenant with them, to give them the Canaan;’ for, he adds, ‘It is not said to you, but to them.’
“Mennasseh Ben Israel says: ‘It is plain that Abraham and the rest of the patriarchs did not possess that land: it follows, therefore, that they must be raised in order to enjoy the promised good, as, otherwise, the promises of God would be vain and false.”—De Resurrect. Mort., L, i., c. 1, sec. 4.
“Rabbi Saahias Gaion, commenting on Dan. 12:2, says: ‘This is the resuscitation of the dead Israel, whose lot is eternal life, and those who shall not awake are the forsakers of Jehovah.’
“‘In the world to come,’ says the Sahar, fol. 81, ‘the blessed God will vivify the dead and raise them from their dust, so that they shall be no more an earthly structure.’