G. H. Pember
Encyclopedia
George Hawkins Pember known as G. H. Pember, was an English theologian and author who was affiliated with a branch of Protestant Evangelical Christianity that is known as the Brethren Movement or is also sometimes identified as the Brethren Assemblies, Christian Brethren, or Plymouth Brethren
.
, the son of George Hawkins Pember (1805–1877) and Mary Pember (1804–1877). He was educated at Hereford Cathedral School
and matriculated from there in 1856. He then enrolled
at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge
. He earned the B.A. in his studies in the Classics in 1860, and proceeded to postgraduate studies earning an M.A. in 1863. During his postgraduate studies Pember held a teaching post as assistant master at Rossall
, Lancashire
, from 1861-63. On 14 January 1864 Pember married Mary Lemmon (nee Reynolds). She had been previously married to William Lemmon who died in 1861, and she had two daughters from that marriage. She died on 10 July 1891 and left her estate to her husband George Pember. In 1893 Pember married Elizabeth Ann Smith in Devon, and they resided at Westbourne Terrace, Budleigh Salterton
, Devon
for the remainder of their lives.
, George Muller
and John Nelson Darby
were persuaded that there were biblical teachings that were overlooked or not consistently taught by the Protestant churches such as practicing adult baptism
only (hence rejecting infant baptism
), restricting the observance of the Lord's Supper
(partaking of the emblems of bread and wine representing Jesus Christ's atoning sacrifice) to baptized members, and biblical prophecies about the imminent return of Christ to the world. As the Brethren placed great emphasis on understanding biblical prophecy they believed that current events could be signs or signals that Christ's second coming would occur very soon. As the Brethren upheld strong convictions about living in the end-times, participant members engaged in what they saw as the urgent task of preaching the gospel to persuade other people to become followers of Christ. The approach that the Brethren developed in understanding biblical prophecy is technically known as Dispensationalism
.
(the end-times biblical figure who persecutes true believers) is the Pope
, and so the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church
were repudiated. His book The Lord's Command is a classic example of Brethren arguments that uphold the need for only adults (believer's baptism
) to be baptized and the rejection of the practice of infant baptism.
His book Earth's Earliest Ages, which went through several editions, had two principal objectives. Pember wrote in the preface to the first edition:
"To remove some of the Geological and other difficulties usually associated with the commencing chapters of Genesis" and "to show the characteristic features of the Days of Noah were reappearing in Christendom, and therefore, that the Days of the Son of Man could not be far distant."
In this book Pember attempted to reconcile the Genesis account of the world's creation with the emerging fossil evidence in geological science about the age of the earth. Pember argued a position known as "The Gap Theory", and which had been previously proposed by the Scottish theologian Thomas Chalmers
(1780–1847). In this theory, God originally created the universe but due to the rebellion of some angels led by Lucifer
(or Satan
) the earth descended into chaos and life was destroyed. Pember's position was that the first chapter of Genesis was giving an account of God restoring or recreating the world after the collapse of the original creation. So proponents of the Gap Theory like Pember propose that a "gap" exists between the first two verses in Genesis chapter one which allows for all the extra time needed to include the ancient fossil and geological evidences. The geological fossils were creatures that lived in the original creation and were destroyed when Lucifer fell into sin
. The biblical story of Adam
and Eve
is about a later recreation of the world. Pember's argument for the "Gap Theory" is an example of how some evangelical Christians in the nineteenth century tried to reconcile geological evidence for an old earth with the book of Genesis and without embracing Charles Darwin
's theory about the evolution
of the species.
The other major feature of Pember's Earth's Earliest Ages was his argument that the emergence of rival non-Christian religious groups were evidence that end times biblical prophecies were being fulfilled. Three particular religious movements were pinpointed as being examples of the spiritual deception that are characteristic of the biblical signs of the end times: the Spiritualist churches, the Theosophical Society
, and Buddhism
. Pember criticized these three movements on the grounds that their teachings were contradicted by the Bible. These religious groups were classified by Pember as modern-day heresies. Pember's interpretation of the Spiritualist churches and of the Theosophical Society as prophetic signs of anti-Christian spiritual deception represents a nineteenth century style of argument that has been subsequently developed and refined in Christian Countercult literature. As Pember's book defends the creation account of Genesis and rejects Darwinian evolutionary theory it is a work of Christian apologetics
, and the latter part of the book is an early example of that genre of literature produced in evangelical Countercult apologetics.
, and questions about brutal treatment were also debated. Some theologians began to examine passages of the Bible concerned with the afterlife
and the prophesied new heaven and new earth, and as those discussions developed Nathaniel Homes (1654) and Stephen Charnock
(1660) argued that animals would be included in the resurrection of the dead
. In the eighteenth century the debate was carried forward by both the Anglican Bishop Joseph Butler
in his Analogy of Religion and the Anglican priest and hymn writer Augustus Montague Toplady
, both believed in the resurrection
of animals, while Toplady regarded brutality towards animals as sin
. Other important contributors to the debate were Humphry Primatt (1776), Richard Dean (1767) and John Wesley
as they each addressed the problem of brutality to animals in connection with the problem of evil
and sin, while both Dean and Wesley held to the resurrection of animals.
Before Pember wrote about animal rights there had already been many Christians in England involved in protesting against the maltreatment of domestic animals, agitating for legislation against cruelty to animals, and in rejecting the practice of the scientific dissection of living animals called vivisection
. An early but failed attempt to pass a Bill against cruelty to animals was initiated by Thomas Erskine
(1750–1823). He was a Christian who served in the House of Lords
and was also Lord Chancellor
in England. In 1809 Erskine "introduced into the Lords a Bill for the prevention of malicious and wanton cruelty to animals". Although Erskine's bill was rejected in the House of Commons, a later legislative attempt to punish acts of cruelty to animals was successfully passed by England's parliament in 1822. The architect of that 1822 legislation was the Irish Christian politician Richard Martin. Two years after the passage of Martin's anti-cruelty legislation, a meeting was called on June 16, 1824 for the formation of an organisation to oppose animal cruelty. With the exception of Lewis Gompertz
who was a Jew, everyone else who attended the meeting were professing Christians and a new organisation was founded. The principal founding figures were Rev. Arthur Broome, William Wilberforce
, Richard Martin and Thomas Fowell Buxton
, and the organisation they created became the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
in England. Alongside the activities of organisations like the RSPCA, there was a steady stream of books where Christians argued for animal welfare
and animal rights
, and most writers linked animal rights to theological topics such as whether animals have a soul, that brutality is sin, and if they will be included in the general resurrection of the dead.
So, it is within that context of Christian thought about animals that Pember contributed a short book Animals: Their Past and Present. He examines the spiritual status of animals in the Bible and explores the duties that humans have towards animals. He argues that humans are made in God's image and likeness and have been given authority by God to rule over the animals (sometimes called dominion
). Due to Adam's sin all animals live under the curse. Pember argued that on the basis of several biblical passages in Isaiah 11:6-9, 2 Peter 3 and the book of Revelation that some species of animals will be restored or resurrected to live on the new earth foreshadowed in those biblical books. The nature of animals will be changed so they will no longer be predators, and they will have the capacity for speech. Pember argued that as animals will share in the prophesied new earth that in the present life humans must cease being apathetic about the plight of animals. Humans have responsibilities and duties of care towards animals. Pember's argument about a biblical approach to animal rights as seen from the standpoint of end times prophecy was by no means unique, as some of his Christian contemporaries such as Lutheran authors George N. H. Peters (The Theocratic Kingdom) and Joseph A. Seiss also argued similar points. Likewise, elements of Pember's arguments against brutality to animals had already been anticipated by Christian writers in the previous two hundred years
He died in 1910 aged 73 at Budleigh Salterton in Devon.
Plymouth Brethren
The Plymouth Brethren is a conservative, Evangelical Christian movement, whose history can be traced to Dublin, Ireland, in the late 1820s. Although the group is notable for not taking any official "church name" to itself, and not having an official clergy or liturgy, the title "The Brethren," is...
.
Early life, education and marriages
Pember was born in HerefordHereford
Hereford is a cathedral city, civil parish and county town of Herefordshire, England. It lies on the River Wye, approximately east of the border with Wales, southwest of Worcester, and northwest of Gloucester...
, the son of George Hawkins Pember (1805–1877) and Mary Pember (1804–1877). He was educated at Hereford Cathedral School
Hereford Cathedral School
Hereford Cathedral School is an independent, co-educational day school, with around 520 pupils aged between the ages of 11 and 18. It has four houses, named Langford , Stuart , Somerset and Cornwall Hereford Cathedral School is an independent, co-educational day school, with around 520 pupils aged...
and matriculated from there in 1856. He then enrolled
at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge
Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge
Gonville and Caius College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. The college is often referred to simply as "Caius" , after its second founder, John Keys, who fashionably latinised the spelling of his name after studying in Italy.- Outline :Gonville and...
. He earned the B.A. in his studies in the Classics in 1860, and proceeded to postgraduate studies earning an M.A. in 1863. During his postgraduate studies Pember held a teaching post as assistant master at Rossall
Rossall
Rossall is a settlement in Lancashire, England and a suburb of the market town of Fleetwood. It is situated on a coastal plain called The Fylde.-Early history:...
, Lancashire
Lancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
, from 1861-63. On 14 January 1864 Pember married Mary Lemmon (nee Reynolds). She had been previously married to William Lemmon who died in 1861, and she had two daughters from that marriage. She died on 10 July 1891 and left her estate to her husband George Pember. In 1893 Pember married Elizabeth Ann Smith in Devon, and they resided at Westbourne Terrace, Budleigh Salterton
Budleigh Salterton
Budleigh Salterton is a small town on the south coast of Devon, England 15 miles south of Exeter. It is situated within an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty designated East Devon AONB.- Features :...
, Devon
Devon
Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...
for the remainder of their lives.
Faith
Pember's conversion to Christianity led him to participate in the Brethren, and from within that movement he developed his career as an author and teacher of biblical and theological themes. The Brethren emerged in the 1820s as an independent movement that protested about the ecclesiastical divisions of Protestant churches. Prominent leaders within the Brethren such as Anthony Norris GrovesAnthony Norris Groves
Anthony Norris Groves has been described as the "father of faith missions". He launched the first Protestant mission to Arabic-speaking Muslims, and settled in Baghdad, now the capital of Iraq, and later in southern India. His ideas influenced a circle of friends who became leaders in the Plymouth...
, George Muller
George Müller
George Müller , a Christian evangelist and Director of the Ashley Down orphanage in Bristol, England, cared for 10,024 orphans in his life...
and John Nelson Darby
John Nelson Darby
John Nelson Darby was an Anglo-Irish evangelist, and an influential figure among the original Plymouth Brethren. He is considered to be the father of modern Dispensationalism. He produced a translation of the Bible based on the Hebrew and Greek texts called The Holy Scriptures: A New Translation...
were persuaded that there were biblical teachings that were overlooked or not consistently taught by the Protestant churches such as practicing adult baptism
Baptism
In Christianity, baptism is for the majority the rite of admission , almost invariably with the use of water, into the Christian Church generally and also membership of a particular church tradition...
only (hence rejecting infant baptism
Infant baptism
Infant baptism is the practice of baptising infants or young children. In theological discussions, the practice is sometimes referred to as paedobaptism or pedobaptism from the Greek pais meaning "child." The practice is sometimes contrasted with what is called "believer's baptism", or...
), restricting the observance of the Lord's Supper
Lord's Supper
The Lord's Supper may refer to:*Eucharist, Mass or Communion, a rite in Christianity*The Last Supper, the last meal Jesus of Nazareth shared with his disciples in the collection of Christian Scriptures called The Holy Bible....
(partaking of the emblems of bread and wine representing Jesus Christ's atoning sacrifice) to baptized members, and biblical prophecies about the imminent return of Christ to the world. As the Brethren placed great emphasis on understanding biblical prophecy they believed that current events could be signs or signals that Christ's second coming would occur very soon. As the Brethren upheld strong convictions about living in the end-times, participant members engaged in what they saw as the urgent task of preaching the gospel to persuade other people to become followers of Christ. The approach that the Brethren developed in understanding biblical prophecy is technically known as Dispensationalism
Dispensationalism
Dispensationalism is a nineteenth-century evangelical development based on a futurist biblical hermeneutic that sees a series of chronologically successive "dispensations" or periods in history in which God relates to human beings in different ways under different Biblical covenants.As a system,...
.
Theological writing
Pember's career as a writer appears to have been very financially successful because in successive UK census records his occupation is described as a man of "independent means". The books that he wrote all reflect the distinctive doctrinal themes of the Brethren outlined above. His books The Antichrist,Babylon and the Coming Kingdom, The Great Prophecies of the centuries concerning Israel and the Gentiles, and Mystery Babylon the Great are examples of Brethren interpretations of biblical prophecies in light of current events, and about the rejection of divisions in the Protestant churches. In his writings he argued that the AntichristAntichrist
The term or title antichrist, in Christian theology, refers to a leader who fulfills Biblical prophecies concerning an adversary of Christ, while resembling him in a deceptive manner...
(the end-times biblical figure who persecutes true believers) is the Pope
Pope
The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...
, and so the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
were repudiated. His book The Lord's Command is a classic example of Brethren arguments that uphold the need for only adults (believer's baptism
Believer's baptism
Believer's baptism is the Christian practice of baptism as this is understood by many Protestant churches, particularly those that descend from the Anabaptist tradition...
) to be baptized and the rejection of the practice of infant baptism.
His book Earth's Earliest Ages, which went through several editions, had two principal objectives. Pember wrote in the preface to the first edition:
"To remove some of the Geological and other difficulties usually associated with the commencing chapters of Genesis" and "to show the characteristic features of the Days of Noah were reappearing in Christendom, and therefore, that the Days of the Son of Man could not be far distant."
In this book Pember attempted to reconcile the Genesis account of the world's creation with the emerging fossil evidence in geological science about the age of the earth. Pember argued a position known as "The Gap Theory", and which had been previously proposed by the Scottish theologian Thomas Chalmers
Thomas Chalmers
Thomas Chalmers , Scottish mathematician, political economist, divine and a leader of the Free Church of Scotland, was born at Anstruther in Fife.-Overview:...
(1780–1847). In this theory, God originally created the universe but due to the rebellion of some angels led by Lucifer
Lucifer
Traditionally, Lucifer is a name that in English generally refers to the devil or Satan before being cast from Heaven, although this is not the original meaning of the term. In Latin, from which the English word is derived, Lucifer means "light-bearer"...
(or Satan
Satan
Satan , "the opposer", is the title of various entities, both human and divine, who challenge the faith of humans in the Hebrew Bible...
) the earth descended into chaos and life was destroyed. Pember's position was that the first chapter of Genesis was giving an account of God restoring or recreating the world after the collapse of the original creation. So proponents of the Gap Theory like Pember propose that a "gap" exists between the first two verses in Genesis chapter one which allows for all the extra time needed to include the ancient fossil and geological evidences. The geological fossils were creatures that lived in the original creation and were destroyed when Lucifer fell into sin
Sin
In religion, sin is the violation or deviation of an eternal divine law or standard. The term sin may also refer to the state of having committed such a violation. Christians believe the moral code of conduct is decreed by God In religion, sin (also called peccancy) is the violation or deviation...
. The biblical story of Adam
Adam
Adam is a figure in the Book of Genesis. According to the creation myth of Abrahamic religions, he is the first human. In the Genesis creation narratives, he was created by Yahweh-Elohim , and the first woman, Eve was formed from his rib...
and Eve
Eve
Eve is the first woman created by God in the Book of Genesis.Eve may also refer to:-People:*Eve , a common given name and surname*Eve , American recording artist and actress-Places:...
is about a later recreation of the world. Pember's argument for the "Gap Theory" is an example of how some evangelical Christians in the nineteenth century tried to reconcile geological evidence for an old earth with the book of Genesis and without embracing Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
's theory about the evolution
Evolution
Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
of the species.
The other major feature of Pember's Earth's Earliest Ages was his argument that the emergence of rival non-Christian religious groups were evidence that end times biblical prophecies were being fulfilled. Three particular religious movements were pinpointed as being examples of the spiritual deception that are characteristic of the biblical signs of the end times: the Spiritualist churches, the Theosophical Society
Theosophical Society
The Theosophical Society is an organization formed in 1875 to advance the spiritual principles and search for Truth known as Theosophy. The original organization, after splits and realignments has several successors...
, and Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
. Pember criticized these three movements on the grounds that their teachings were contradicted by the Bible. These religious groups were classified by Pember as modern-day heresies. Pember's interpretation of the Spiritualist churches and of the Theosophical Society as prophetic signs of anti-Christian spiritual deception represents a nineteenth century style of argument that has been subsequently developed and refined in Christian Countercult literature. As Pember's book defends the creation account of Genesis and rejects Darwinian evolutionary theory it is a work of Christian apologetics
Christian apologetics
Christian apologetics is a field of Christian theology that aims to present a rational basis for the Christian faith, defend the faith against objections, and expose the perceived flaws of other world views...
, and the latter part of the book is an early example of that genre of literature produced in evangelical Countercult apologetics.
Animal welfare and animal rights
Pember also wrote very briefly about a Christian approach to animal welfare and animal rights, which was becoming a topic of great social concern in Victorian society. What Pember had to say on the subject can be understood on a wide historical canvas. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries human attitudes about the status of animals began to change as theologians and philosophers discussed whether animals were capable of rational thought, had emotions, had a soulSoul
A soul in certain spiritual, philosophical, and psychological traditions is the incorporeal essence of a person or living thing or object. Many philosophical and spiritual systems teach that humans have souls, and others teach that all living things and even inanimate objects have souls. The...
, and questions about brutal treatment were also debated. Some theologians began to examine passages of the Bible concerned with the afterlife
Afterlife
The afterlife is the belief that a part of, or essence of, or soul of an individual, which carries with it and confers personal identity, survives the death of the body of this world and this lifetime, by natural or supernatural means, in contrast to the belief in eternal...
and the prophesied new heaven and new earth, and as those discussions developed Nathaniel Homes (1654) and Stephen Charnock
Stephen Charnock
Stephen Charnock , Puritan divine, was an English Puritan Presbyterian clergyman born at the St Katherine Cree parish of London.-Life:...
(1660) argued that animals would be included in the resurrection of the dead
Resurrection of the dead
Resurrection of the Dead is a belief found in a number of eschatologies, most commonly in Christian, Islamic, Jewish and Zoroastrian. In general, the phrase refers to a specific event in the future; multiple prophesies in the histories of these religions assert that the dead will be brought back to...
. In the eighteenth century the debate was carried forward by both the Anglican Bishop Joseph Butler
Joseph Butler
Joseph Butler was an English bishop, theologian, apologist, and philosopher. He was born in Wantage in the English county of Berkshire . He is known, among other things, for his critique of Thomas Hobbes's egoism and John Locke's theory of personal identity...
in his Analogy of Religion and the Anglican priest and hymn writer Augustus Montague Toplady
Augustus Montague Toplady
Augustus Montague Toplady was an Anglican cleric and hymn writer. He was a major Calvinist opponent of John Wesley. He is best remembered as the author of the hymn "Rock of Ages"...
, both believed in the resurrection
Resurrection
Resurrection refers to the literal coming back to life of the biologically dead. It is used both with respect to particular individuals or the belief in a General Resurrection of the dead at the end of the world. The General Resurrection is featured prominently in Jewish, Christian, and Muslim...
of animals, while Toplady regarded brutality towards animals as sin
Sin
In religion, sin is the violation or deviation of an eternal divine law or standard. The term sin may also refer to the state of having committed such a violation. Christians believe the moral code of conduct is decreed by God In religion, sin (also called peccancy) is the violation or deviation...
. Other important contributors to the debate were Humphry Primatt (1776), Richard Dean (1767) and John Wesley
John Wesley
John Wesley was a Church of England cleric and Christian theologian. Wesley is largely credited, along with his brother Charles Wesley, as founding the Methodist movement which began when he took to open-air preaching in a similar manner to George Whitefield...
as they each addressed the problem of brutality to animals in connection with the problem of evil
Problem of evil
In the philosophy of religion, the problem of evil is the question of how to explain evil if there exists a deity that is omnibenevolent, omnipotent, and omniscient . Some philosophers have claimed that the existences of such a god and of evil are logically incompatible or unlikely...
and sin, while both Dean and Wesley held to the resurrection of animals.
Before Pember wrote about animal rights there had already been many Christians in England involved in protesting against the maltreatment of domestic animals, agitating for legislation against cruelty to animals, and in rejecting the practice of the scientific dissection of living animals called vivisection
Vivisection
Vivisection is defined as surgery conducted for experimental purposes on a living organism, typically animals with a central nervous system, to view living internal structure...
. An early but failed attempt to pass a Bill against cruelty to animals was initiated by Thomas Erskine
Thomas Erskine, 1st Baron Erskine
Thomas Erskine, 1st Baron Erskine KT PC KC was a British lawyer and politician. He served as Lord Chancellor of the United Kingdom between 1806 and 1807 in the Ministry of All the Talents.-Background and childhood:...
(1750–1823). He was a Christian who served in the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
and was also Lord Chancellor
Lord Chancellor
The Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, or Lord Chancellor, is a senior and important functionary in the government of the United Kingdom. He is the second highest ranking of the Great Officers of State, ranking only after the Lord High Steward. The Lord Chancellor is appointed by the Sovereign...
in England. In 1809 Erskine "introduced into the Lords a Bill for the prevention of malicious and wanton cruelty to animals". Although Erskine's bill was rejected in the House of Commons, a later legislative attempt to punish acts of cruelty to animals was successfully passed by England's parliament in 1822. The architect of that 1822 legislation was the Irish Christian politician Richard Martin. Two years after the passage of Martin's anti-cruelty legislation, a meeting was called on June 16, 1824 for the formation of an organisation to oppose animal cruelty. With the exception of Lewis Gompertz
Lewis Gompertz
Lewis Gompertz was an inventor and a founding member of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.-His Life:In 1824, Gompertz became a founding member of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals which later became the RSPCA...
who was a Jew, everyone else who attended the meeting were professing Christians and a new organisation was founded. The principal founding figures were Rev. Arthur Broome, William Wilberforce
William Wilberforce
William Wilberforce was a British politician, a philanthropist and a leader of the movement to abolish the slave trade. A native of Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, he began his political career in 1780, eventually becoming the independent Member of Parliament for Yorkshire...
, Richard Martin and Thomas Fowell Buxton
Thomas Fowell Buxton
Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, 1st Baronet was an English Member of Parliament, brewer, abolitionist and social reformer....
, and the organisation they created became the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is a charity in England and Wales that promotes animal welfare. In 2009 the RSPCA investigated 141,280 cruelty complaints and collected and rescued 135,293 animals...
in England. Alongside the activities of organisations like the RSPCA, there was a steady stream of books where Christians argued for animal welfare
Animal welfare
Animal welfare is the physical and psychological well-being of animals.The term animal welfare can also mean human concern for animal welfare or a position in a debate on animal ethics and animal rights...
and animal rights
Animal rights
Animal rights, also known as animal liberation, is the idea that the most basic interests of non-human animals should be afforded the same consideration as the similar interests of human beings...
, and most writers linked animal rights to theological topics such as whether animals have a soul, that brutality is sin, and if they will be included in the general resurrection of the dead.
So, it is within that context of Christian thought about animals that Pember contributed a short book Animals: Their Past and Present. He examines the spiritual status of animals in the Bible and explores the duties that humans have towards animals. He argues that humans are made in God's image and likeness and have been given authority by God to rule over the animals (sometimes called dominion
Dominion
A dominion, often Dominion, refers to one of a group of autonomous polities that were nominally under British sovereignty, constituting the British Empire and British Commonwealth, beginning in the latter part of the 19th century. They have included Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Newfoundland,...
). Due to Adam's sin all animals live under the curse. Pember argued that on the basis of several biblical passages in Isaiah 11:6-9, 2 Peter 3 and the book of Revelation that some species of animals will be restored or resurrected to live on the new earth foreshadowed in those biblical books. The nature of animals will be changed so they will no longer be predators, and they will have the capacity for speech. Pember argued that as animals will share in the prophesied new earth that in the present life humans must cease being apathetic about the plight of animals. Humans have responsibilities and duties of care towards animals. Pember's argument about a biblical approach to animal rights as seen from the standpoint of end times prophecy was by no means unique, as some of his Christian contemporaries such as Lutheran authors George N. H. Peters (The Theocratic Kingdom) and Joseph A. Seiss also argued similar points. Likewise, elements of Pember's arguments against brutality to animals had already been anticipated by Christian writers in the previous two hundred years
He died in 1910 aged 73 at Budleigh Salterton in Devon.
External links
- Books by G. H. Pember, reprints published by Schoettle Publishing Company.
- http://www.library.manchester.ac.uk/searchresources/guidetospecialcollections/brethren/printed/catalogue/p/ Christian Brethren Archive, John Rylands Library University of Manchester (listing Pember's works).
- http://brethrenhistory.org/ Brethren Archivists and Historians Network (useful for work done by historians on the Brethren)
- http://www.brethrenpedia.com/Main_Page BrethrenPedia (website setting out Brethren beliefs, practices, biographical articles etc)