The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-12-26

EfOOflyH EdSle
On Sunday evening the Rev. DR.. Lyman
Abbott delivered in Plymouth Church, the
fifth lecture in his course on the Life and
Writings of st. Paul" This is what he said:
ITO understand the significance of the two
letters to the ThesSalonians, which we are
TO study this evening, we must recall some
of the facts which / have already put before
you. Paul entertained, before his conversion,
the Jewish, and, / may say the Pharisaic
conception of Messianic kingdom yet to
come He believed that Messiah was to
come to Israel; that when this Messiah
came Israel, scattered to the four quarters
OF the globe, would be gathered together;
that there would be set in battle array the
forces OF good and the forces of evil; that
Israel would be the army of the Lord lead
ing the forces of righteousness; that after
hot battles the forces of righteousness Chat
Is, Israeli, would conquer; that then the
Bainted dead would rise and come them
selves back to joy in the kingdom which had
been prepared for them; that wars would
cease and peace would be ushered in; but
they did not expect that any would share in
that glory except Israel or those who had
accepted the faith of Israel and were, as it
IS called, proselytes.
when, therefore, he heard that it was
claimed that he was the Messiah who had
been put to death, Paul brushed this notion
as idle, as absurd fanaticisrn, and when
st was pressed upon him. it aroused indig-
nation, wrath and shame for his race. But
when on the journey to Damascus he re-
ceived demonstration that Jesus. who had
been put to death, had risen from the dead,
instantly his conception was changed. If it
were true that the Jesus who had been put
to shameful death had risen from the
dead then still this Messianic kingdom
might be established by this man as the
Messiah. He who had risen had by that very
fact demonstrated His power and authority.
lie could still come in power and glory; He
could still ransom Israel; He could still
lead the forces of earth, and, enforced by
the powers of heaven in battle array against
all the forces of Satan and OF evil, He
could still, and the more effectually, win
victory which He was anticipating.
PAUL AS A STUDENT IN ARABIA.
paul went to Arabia and began his study
of the Old Testament prophets, to see how
they must be reread in order to reconcile
his new view with the old scriptures; and
as he reread these scriptures he certainly
did get-his life shows abundant evidence of
that-a new conception of the extent of the
kingdom, and in some measure of the IA
ture of the kingdom. He no longer believed
that the kingdom would be one of Israel
OAl4y. he lOuIu III inc OlO 4eSldIIeIll ITOpn-
ecies-they are abundant there-which the
Jews had passed. ignoring them. That was
not strange We now are apt to take from
the Bible the things which we like and to
close our eyes to those things in the Bible
which we do not like 1t is a very old in
tellectual habit. 1t was the habit of the
Jews. He found in these old prophets abun-
dant evidence for the belief that Jesus was
to be Savior for other nations; that the
GentileS should come to His light. the heath
en- should come to the brightness of His
rising: Will read but one brief prophecy
from the book of Isaiah, the forty-ninth
chapter, which would, studied with an open
mind, give him this conception:
And he said at is too light a thing that thou
Jacob and to restore the preserved of Israel; 1
that thou mayest be my salvation unto the men
Of the earth. Thus saith the Lord. the redeemer
-despiseth, to him whom the nation abhorreth.
princes and they shall worship: because of the
Eae who hath chosen thee"
Getting this new conception Of the
breadth and largenesS of the kingdom, he
started upon his missionary tour to the
could hardly comprehend, for the apostles
were more or less still under the dominion
OF the old idea that the Messianic kingdom
was for the Jews and proselytes TO Judia-
ism only. But although, before he began
his missionary tour, Paul did get new
conception of the breadth and largeness of
the kingdom which the Messiah to ini-
tate, he did not, or at least there is
reason to think that he did, get new
or a new conception of the secret Of it's
power and the method of its initiation. On
-he contrary, there is abundant reason to
think that he still entertained the old Jew
3sh conception, so far as it's nature and
method of operation We're concerned while
ne had a new and an enlarged conception of
that kingdom, so far as its width and in
clusIveneSS were concerned.
EARLIER CONCEPTION.
''What ne believed. as we gather from his
earlier writings and his sermons, was that
the Jesus who had died and risen again
would presently descend to the earth; that
He would bring with Him the government
of heaven that He would gather together
Israel; that He would put himself at once
at the head g this army celestial and ter
restrial; that He would conquer-conquer
utterly, absolutely entirely and forever:
that he would eXtirpate the enemies of God,
of righteousness, of goodness and of truth,
and that He would reign King over kings
and Lord over lords. 1t is not unreasonable
to think that he was confirmed in this opin-
ion by the reports which came to him of
the trial of Jesus. In the passage which
1 am presently going to read he says that
he speaks by the word of the Lord That is
very generally understood to mean by a
revelation which had come to him from
heaven. l do not think that is Il correct
Interpretation. The Lord in Paups use of
It, certainly generally, if not always, means
the Messiah. The word of the Lord means
the teaching of this Messiah as it had been
reported to him. How much he knew of
the teaching of Jesus we cannot indeed
tell; but we do know that he had reported
20 him not only the fact of the crucifixion,
but the details of the crucifiXion. He re-
ferS to the details with some Specificalness.
We do know that he knew of the facts of
the resurrection and some details respect
ing the resurrection, and it is certainly
reasonable to suppose that he knew the
facts of the trial; that he knew that Jesus
was arrested and put on trial for bias
phemy; that the nature of this blasphemy
with which He WAS charged was His claim
TO be the son of the living God; that when
this trial proceeded no witnesses were
found who could agree and whose testimony
even by packed jury; that then the high
priest following the Jewish law. called
Jesus Himself to the stand and admins
tered the oath II adjure Thee" he said,
by the living God that Thou tell whether
Thou be the Messiah the son of the living
God" And this. as reported in the very
earlist tradition, the gospel of Mark, was
Jesus reply: Art Thou the Messiah the
son of the blessed?" And Jesus said, -; ana
and you shall see the Son of Man sitting on
the right hand of power and coming in the
clouds Of heaven"
1T is not strange then that Paul, holding
to his early belief of a kingdom that was
TO be inaugurated by force, brought in by
dazzling glory ii is not at all strange that
he felt that this belief WAS confirmed by he