The Athens post. [volume] (Athens, Tenn.) 1848-1917, 1869-03-05
Cl1LyISTIANITYa.-THE GREAT
s9iB g. FUTURE. "afoGi ut
Has M the Millennium Commenccd9
(rrom the New York IHcrsld.)

Have we yet entered upon the millen-
mum? Some there are who think we
have not. Others there are who think
we have. On this subject there are few
bold enough to speak authoritativeiy.
1t has often seemed to us that IL would
not be difficult presumptively TO make
out good case in favor of the exist
ence now of that thousand years period
to which the pious in oil ages Of Chris
tianity have enthusiastically looked
forward, and for the advent of which
they have perseveringly and fervently
prayed. The times are not without
certain peculiarities, which, to say the
least, are suggestive of great and rapid
change. Nor have we been without
the promised signs. We have had
signs in the heavens above, signs In the
earth beneath and signs In the waters
under the earth. There have been
blood and fire and vapor OF smoke
Against this view it would be no good
argument to say that the great mass of
mankind and even the great majority
of Christian believers have failed to
discover in the present times any suffi.
cient proof that the millennium had ar
rived. The fullness of the times had
long been foretold to the Jews. But
when the fulness of the times arrived,
rich cs it was with convincing evidence,
the Jews failed to recognize the period
or to see the Saviour which it brought
to them. Not only SO. The Jews to
this day, scattered as they are over all
lands and across every sea, living
among all peoples and in every possible
condition, refuse to admit that the full
ness of the times has yet come, and
they will not see in the great central
object of the Christians faith the long
looked-for and oft-promised Messiah
The Jews have failed to see Christ, but
that is not the proof that the Christ has
not made His appearance. So It is
with the millennium. It may or IL
may not be already entered upon. 1t is
certainly no proof that it is not entered
upon that mankind generally, and
Christians particularly, have failed to
recognize it. There are to he unbelievefs
in the last DAYS as there were unbelic.
vers in the first ..J po ,sou~, I'm
However it may be with this pro-
spective period which men have called
the millennium-an old and much vex-
ed subject Of discussiOn-a subject
warmly defended by such fathers as
Justin Martyr, Irenaeus aud Tertuillian,
but which was stoutly Knocked on the
head by that most vigorous and success.
ful of all the early apologists. Origen-
whether there shall be o millennium in
the old and popular sense or whether
there shall not-tllis. Mt least, must be
admitted, that Christianity has mag
niticent future before it, and that in that
r,,t, 81 III
tions shall be blessed. That this great
future in some sense is already ours is
not for II moment to be doubted
What it is to be in the tullness of its
glorious truitiOn we can as yet but i'm
perfectly imagine. The golden year,
the great hereafter, the reign of univer-
sal brotherhood, as poets, sacred and
profane, have described it; when the
crooked places shall be made straight
and the rough places plain; when many
shall run to and fro and knowledge
shall be increased, when science shall
force her way, torch in hand, into every
secret place and dislodge the mystery
and the power; when the curse that
followed sin shall be undOne by the an.
tidotes of nature when the curse that
fell upon impiety and pride at Babel
shall be rendered powerless by the
universal diffusion of one common
tongue when science, no longer divorc.
ed from religion and now the control
Ter of all mystery and all power, shall
be the willing handmade OF Christiani.
ty when the earth shall bear upon its
broad and generous bosom but one peo.
pie. one language. one faith, and when
liberty and sutficicncy shall be the por.
tion of all-that glorious golden time
which as vet we can see but dimly is
rapidly fastening OH. 1t may not be
ours to witness the tullncss of the splen.
dor of that happy day, but it is certain
ly ours to behold the gOrgeousness OF
its dawn. 1t may not be ours to take
part with the merry reapers and gather
in the golden harvest; but it is an Occu-
patton which is scarcely less delightful
and which is certainly more invigora.
ting, to share in the activities of the
hopeful springtime; and that occupa.
ton is ours. The present times are full
of activity. The great future with i'm.
patient strides draws nearer and nearer
AS we gaze the vision brightens. We
see the nations cOntented and at rest
The war drum thrObs no longer; the
battle flags are furled. We see Christi.
anity cnthroned and welding the scep-
ter of universal empire, but ruling
with gentle and benignant sway, while
by her side sits meek-eyed Science,
calm but conscious of power and ever
ready to obey.
This great future is but the natural
and necessary product of the present.
TO Christianity are we indebted for all
the most admired characteristics of the
age. With the poet we must admit that
"through the ages one increasing pur-
pose runs" and that "the thoughts OF
men are widened with the process of
the suns" We cannot doubt this, but
we know that this increasing purpose
has run with fleeter feet since the ad-
vent of Christianity, and that the en-
largement of human thought has gone
on at an increased and increasing ratio
during the Christian centuries. Chris
tianity was feeble in its infancy, but,
like the stone cut from the mountain, II
gathered strength as it rolled. 1t fos-
tered thought and gave an impulse to
human ingenuity as no system had ever
done before. In spite of all the faults
committed in its name, the religion OF
Jesus has proved itself from the COM
mencement the best friend of humanity,