The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1897-07-31


Christian converts could in this brief
period have died. The question could
hardly be very urgent as to the future
of the few Christian believers who had
died; IL any, indeed, had died. But the
problem OF the future Of their pagan
fathers and mothers, brothers and sis-
tiers, wives and children was of momen-
tous import.
1t was a problem among the pagan
converts to Christianity for centuries
afterwards. That Paul should answer
this question harmonizes with the cir
cumstances; that he should tell his
readers to look toward the future with
an Astounding hope; that he should say
that as surely as they believe in the
death and rising again of Jesus they
should, after his example, believe in the
rising out of death of all who die,-this
is in accordance with the letter of Paul's
language; it is also in accordance with
his elsewhere plainly declared faith in
universal resurrection.
3. Promise of Christ's Appear
ing, 1852.
This l declare unto you, by the au-
thority of the Lord, that we who sur
vive to behold the appearing of the
Lord, shall not enter into his presence
sooner than the dead. For the Lord
himself shall descend from heaven with
the shout of war (the word denotes the
shout used in battle-C. & H.. the arch
angels voice. and the trumpet of God;
and first the dead in Christ shall rise to
life; then we the living, who remain I'M
to that day, shall be caught up with
them among the clouds to meet the
Lord Jesus in the air; and so both we
and they shall be forever with the Lord.
Wherefore comfort one another with
these words. But of the times and sea-
sons, brethren, when these things shall
be, you need no warning. For your
selves perfectly know that the day OF
the Lord will come as thief in the
night.
That this language is in the main fig
urative and enigmatical cannot be de.
MED. 1t was understood by some Thes-
salonians as signifying that the day of
Christ was close at hand,-a construc-
ton which Paul himself disclaims z
Thess. 2:2).
The one statement in the passage how.
ever, which ought not to be mistaken is:
We aUho survive to behold the appear
ing of our Lord, shall not enter into his
presence sooner than the dead. The
dead, all the dead, shall find Christ
more accessible than he is to those Of
us who are in the body.
To literalize certain of the highly
wrought figures is to destroy their rea-
sonable purport. That Christ is to de-
scend from HeaUen aoith the shout Of
aUar, ought surely to be interpreted in
harmony with the Gospel, which adiures
the methods of savage warfare, and
seeks to conquer by truth and love.
That Jesus is to speak with the arch
angels voice. can mean only that he is
to overpoweringly speak Ito men by the
Inner Voice. That he is to proclaim his
spiritual power with the trumpet of God
is plain allusion to the fashion, in
Paul's day prevailing, of the king or
general announcing his orders to his
army by the aid of the speaking -trum-
pet. To believe that Jesus could liter
ally employ such method of barbaric
warfare,-that is. that he is yet to ap
pear in the visible sky and bodily shout
his command through an archaic trum'
pet,-this is hundredfold more absurd
than it would be to suppose that the
President of the United States, in pub
fishing his next message to the nation,
will neglect the printing press and tele-
graph and personally appear before Con-
gress and shout his message to the as
tonished Congressman through metal
lie trumpet. Some Christians in our
day who could scarcely believe our hon.
ored President capable of such theatri.
cal buffoonery claim merit for believing
that Jesus is literally to take the trum-
pet of God and make such shouting in
the empyrean.
1t is somewhat fashion to inter-
pref this passage. together with the clos
ing words of the fifteenth chapter of
First Corinthians, as signifying that
Paul mistakenly expected Christ to
speedily and personally come as Wis
ible King. But. with respectful defer
ence to those who accept this exegesis
we confess we do not discern it to be
the necessary inference from Paul's
words. He appears to US to speak mys.
tically of an approaching crisis which
was to be favorable to the cause of
Christ. He uses highly-wrought imag-
cry, as Jesus did before him in foretell-
ing the same crisis. (See Matt. 25:29-31.)
He wrote previous to the destruction Of
Jerusalem. and also in expectation of an
overturn in the Roman empire. These
august future events cast shadows into
Paul's day. He was convinced that the
end of the old order, the contamination
of the ages, was approaching. 1t does
not seem to us at all logical necessity
to interpret Paul in certain intense poet