The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1871-08-02
THE CoMINGs orc sIsr.

| apostles on this SuIjeSt.n Itse,f9 the hev. Prot
Henry Cowles of Ohio-the as' of recent abl
commentaries on Isaiah JeremNs, end Revelation
We give below the summing up Of taa whole discus
sion-CEN. Pres. sfJ
1. Some who assume that Lac apostles 0e
lieved Christ's final comingto be even ther
near in time, would logicallp infer, that be
cause they believed SO then, Se ought to be
lieve SO now. But if they held this positive
belief as to the actual time of the final com
ing, they held one positive error; and shall
it be insisted that because they held this
error we ought to hold the same? Are
Christian people asked to receive such logic
as divine authority in, reference to a point
of duty? Yet further, wAatef'er that coming
of Christ was which the ape ~ affirmed to
be actually near in time thei ,ong since
pssa, :, az. words cak.ct b. 81 e e
prove that the next coming must also be
near in time now. A point of time which
was near to come eighteen hundred years
ago cannot be, in the same chronological
sense, near at hand now, for the good reason
that it must have long since gone by. Those
apostolic words, in their precise relations to
time, cannot by any possibility apply to the
present hour as they applied to present time
when spoken eighteen centuries since. Let
us not be misled by fallacies.
2. The doctrine has been put forth in in
Auential quarters that because the apostles
lived in constant waiting expectation that
the Lord would come to judge the world
soon, therefore he must certainly come before
the millennium. / submit that this conclu-
sion is based on logical relations. For
if their expectation fastened on a definite
time near at hand, it was certainly without
divine authority, was mistake, and there
fore, can prove nothing whatever in regard
to the actual time of that second coming. If,
as we have assumed and sought to show, it
was sort of expectation which simply waated
and loved and longed fora thing Of the
heart and not of intellectual time computa-
on,-then it would certainly admit not only
of eighteen hundred years delay (as it has
already,) but equally well of thousand
more, for short millennium, or of indefinite
thousands, for long one. Our position is,
that an inference dram ever so logically
from mistake is worthless. The influence
now under consideration cannot be drawn
from the true view, from the real nature, of
the waiting expectation of the apostolic heart.
AS no time-relations entered into that wait
ing, so no influence in regard to time can be
drawn out of il
3. I trs wn that the
Christian }. TO say also
the general - Au, may fifty relieve
itself of all apprehensions that the apostles
labored under any such error of belief as
to the time of Christ's final coming as must
damage their claims to inspiration or their
credit for intelligent good sense as disciples
at the feet of their Master. 1t certainly ap-
pears that their Master spake of his then
future comings clearly, not confusedly;
guardedly, not recklessly; most impressive
ly, and never otherwise. That he should
have spoken of one coming then near, and
of another in the remote, underlined dis
tance; the nearer one immensely vital to the
men of his generation and to their children
inexpressiyely valuable, moreover, through
all future generations as development Of
the great principles of retribution, of the
sublime idea of judgment for the sins Of
men this should seem no strange thing to
US nor that he should put the remoter COM
ing upon the great prophetical canvass SC
that its shadings should seem to come out
from behind, or we might say, from under
the nearer one, to be seen through its light,
and to be illustrated from its example; this
too is so far from being mysterious and in
explicable, that We may well account it a
mastery policy, thing of consummate wis
dom. Now, to our present purpose let it be
said, the apostles seem to have made no mis-
take in apprehending these prophetic fore
showings given them by their Master. They
saw the nearer coming, and spake of it as
their Lord had done before; they saw also
the remoter coming, i. e. in its nature and
relations; they saw it especially in its mora
bearings of impressive, momentous interest
and for the sake of these bearings they
brought it near and held it in close and liv.
ing contact with their hearts. But it does
not appear that they ventured to form any
definite opinions as to the time,-the cen
tury, the age, when this final advent should
occur. They have given US no chronology
on this subject They have said nothing
therefore, which can compromise their credit
as inspired men, On this point our mind;
may be comfortably at rest.
4. Finally, the way in which the apostles
held their views of Christs then future com
ings-the nearer one really near in time
and full of illustrative power; the remotel
one, with the element of time eliminated
and therefore near only in the sense of be
ing held close to the very heart, loved, longeG
for, appreciated proximately at its full and
momentous value; this is truly grand mo-
del of wisdom for us and for all the ages
the very consummation of practical gooC