, 1879-01-12
P4EMIILENNIALISM.

The present and growing interest in til
theory Of Premi11ennialism will Justify
brief exposition of its leading. features
The question is often asked, What is this
doctrine Of which SO much is now said IN
Great Britain and our own country? Va
shall endeavor to answer this question Is
fairly and concisely as possible j:
Many Premillenarians Of this day ars MEM.
bers Of churches termed evangelical, IL
though not a few Of them are IrvineitesL
Plymouth Brethren, and believers in tht
| final annihilation Of the wicked. Among Tie
| evangelical" portion Of them are men ii
| distinguished learning and undoubted piety,
such as the late Dean Afford, Of England;
the BoNARs, of Scotland; and Drs. S1uHu
| H. TYSG, Jr., WILLIS LORD, E. R. Ca4yEs
and E. P. GOODWIN. of America They IN
found in almost all the leading denomins.
tions of Protestant6, and some of them II,
Roman Catholics But, of course, theY
constitute only small minorities in their SER
eral communions. In the recent prophetic
Conference held in New York City thes1,s:
we're representatives from the Baptist, tie:
Methodist, the Episcopal and Retorma
Episcopal, the Reformed DUTCH, the P.est :
byterian, the Congregational, the Lutho1z1L
and the Germany Reformed Churches. -.1::
The peculiar views Of the PremilIenarians
pertain to Eschato'ogy, or the doctrine Of
The Last Things" They agree, for tie:
most part, with the majority of Christians !.
IN regard to literal Second Coming OF
CHRIST, q literal resurrection Of the dead, :
a literal judgment of mankind, q literal ::
destruction Of the world by fire in the end, !:
aud the eternity Of future rewards and PEN ::
alties- Bnt they differ from the received
doctrine Us to the order Of '' the lest things"
and the nature and tins of the Redeemers !:
Kingdom. They hold that the Kingdom IS
not yet set up that CHRIST is to come, prob
ably very soon, to establish His throned
Jerusalem, where he will reign as risihh,
King thousand years, or during the 3f''len-.
mum; that the righteous dead Of al nations +
will be raised at the Second Coming, and
that they and the saints still alive among Z:
men will be caught up into the clouds to :.
meet their Lord, where they will remain un-:"
til the terrible judgments to be executed
upon the greater part Of the wicked among. {:
the nations shall be. past, and the SUI.
viving Jews shall hare been ga:.h-
cred to their own land l.; that, after :.
the great troubles on the earth shall have
subslded, the saints who hare been ;.
carried up to meet CHRIST Called 'the
Rapture will come visibly with Him tothe "
earth (called "the Reve!ation"), and vii
reign with Him q thousand years; that tha 7
restored 1sraeltes, however, will occupy q !!
superior position in the Kingdom, and will Ia
the chief instruments in the conversion ot
the remnants of the Gentle nations; .thst
the Jews and the converted Gentiles,-bota !
still in the hesh,-and the risen saints u
their glorlfed bodies, will remain together :
On the earth during the Millennium, and thu ::
people of Israel will continue to occupy T.
theif own land, multiplying from generation
to generation forever; that after the Nlllan-.
mum there will ba short season of warta1o
against the camp Of the saints on the part ot ::
enemies stirred up by Satan and gathered :
from the four corners Of the earth, who will % !:
speedily destroyed by fire from Heaven that =
hen sttho rest of the dead, being the wicked !:
lead, will be raised from their grayos, finally I:
Judged, and cast into the lake of fire; that : I:
1t or about the same time the materlal world !.
will be burned up, and then this globe, ha7-> +:
ng been purified by fire, viii be fitted up = !:
NEW, to be "a new heaven and new: IT.
:arth, in which the saints will have then = !:
eternal abode. T.:
In relation to some of these points there r.
re differences among the Prsmillenatians; It
nut the views that have been defined are +; {;
'eld by the majority of them, as We jadge'
t the present time. The advocates Of the :.
doctrine profess unbounded confidence III 80
he correctness of their views, end accuse ]:
hose who dissent from them with tenden- !: !: ! ::
les to Rationalism." * II: II:
The Prenlillenarians allege that thcn -
pin1ons we're almost universally received !n:-
hs Church Immediately after the Apostono =: :
sc and during the first three hundred yeats :: +
the Christian era. But their opponents I:
ontend that during the first fifty years o. i .
ne second century only PAp1As and JUSTIN !:
CAnTYE are known to have been Premlllen- = i:
rians in anything Like the modern sense, ! :.
kcept,ng only the Ebionite heretlcs, ana -:
lat during the last 1clf Of the SECOND T.
,ntury only IRESEus among the orthodox :,
IN be proved to have been Chiliast, Whlle -:
nong the fathers Of the third century only =.
t-:e Aon$an!st, HtPpolzccs I