The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-06-11

7 not stepped INTO the place which had 80 long
been waiting to he filled. and become the
centre Of the accumulated hopes and expccta-
lions ofcentures. The Gospel OF the Father
hood OF God which He preached ia eminently
fitted to reform and beautify and save the
lives OF men. but the preaching OF that Gospel
would not itself have resulted in the Christian
Church Onlyth bolicfin Jesus's Messiahship
could effect the great historic movement which
bears. not His personal. hut His official name.
In his second CHAPTER. Prof McGiirert con-
siders the effect upon Jesus's disciples OF His
death and OF the events that followed. II could
not be otherwise than that a change in their
thinking and living should be wrought by such
occurrences. That change was momentous in
its consequences. There are many Indications
In our Gospels TINT. during His lifetime. the
followers OF Jesus were looking forward to His
speedy establishment OF an earthly kingdom.
Even His announcement OF His death does not
seem to have changed their expectations In
this regard II they believed lie could die.
they evidently believed also. that His death
would only usher In the contamination. and
that he would Immediately appear upon
the clouds as the conuuering Messiah.
to set up His kingdom upon earth and
TO assert His dominion over all peoples.
Even after His resurrection. the disciples
seem still to have held for n time substan-
italy the same idea. His death. unaccom-
panied as it was by convincing evidence OF his
Messiahship had bewildcred and distressed
them. but His temperance Ind revived all
their old homes in an unchanged form. and
they e,pected now the Immediate ACCOMPLISH
ment of that for which they had been so long
looking The resurrection they thought. must
be for this and no other purpose. 1t was not
for this purpose. however. and they speedily
discovered the TACT. Jesus reappcared. indeed.
but it was ONLY TO leave them again and ascend
to heaven. His departure. then, must mean
one OF twothings; either their homes were vain
and the kingdom upon earth for which they
had been looking was never to have AN exist
ence, or else the time for its establishment
was not vet come. II was Of the greatest his
toric moment TINT tho disciples ndopted not
the former. but the latter alternative. The
sources OF our information show that they and
almost the entire early Church afterthem. con-
tinued to believe that an earthly kingdom was
yet TO be founded by the Christ But, II the
time for its establishment was POSTPONED by
Jcsus's departure from the earth. Il was evil
dent that the work of preparation must go on
and thus there was thrust upon the dsciples A
new and unexpected duty I-pon them rested
the responsibility OF carrying on, until tho
contamination, the work which Jesus had be-
gun. They felt themselves now called to take
enterupon now mission. which was not to
cease until lie returned in glory upon the
clouds OF heaven. Up to tho time OF Jesus's
death they mad been simply followers; now
thcy were to be leaders. While lie was with
them they fad simply to learn OF Him. TO at
t"nd Him. TO be HIS faithful adherents. that
they might be ready TO share with Him In the
glory oil the coming Kingdom Now there Tell
10 theh announcer task they must seek 10 pre-
pare others tor the contamination. as Ito had
prepared mem they must gather disciples into
the Kingdom as lie had don"; they must II
they rou!u. secure lot him TN" adhe-
renee OF the jewish natlon. whlch hau re-
]"ctcd him. In order that the ma
ton MS whole might become the King
dom OF God II was this sense o! new duty
ana responsibility that led the disciples who
hn II betaken themselves to dalilee back to
Jerusalem The resolve to discharge this duty
marks the real starting point in tho history OF
the Church. mat Christianity has had his
tory Is du"to thc iact That the disciples dld not
return olSheartened TO their OLD pursuits and
live on "a II they had mover known Jesus OF
Nazareth. but that on the contrary. filled
with the he!'n' that their master stu lived
ana conscious OF holding Il commission from
ilm.th"y banded themselves together with tn"
determination to complete His work and TO
i''''''' '''''i ''"''i 'h''' wa ii'' i''"ih'
II Is in the chapter on primitive Jewish Chris
tianity that Prof NrGitTrrt dscusse, the So
called git Of tongues" which was hestowcd
upon the disciples upon tho day OF peutccost
and which is commonly supposed to mean that
they ACQUIRED the power Of speaking foreign
languages which thcy had never learned
Thi.. indeed is asserted by the author Of
the book OF Acts whether Luke or another.
who says that the persona present heard the
disciples speaking in the languages scvcrally
native to the auditors 1t has been sug-
gcstcd that the authors representations We 70
due to a misunderstanding on his part Of the
then common phenomenon OF the clossolalio
arising from tho fact that he had. himself
never Witnessed It, As, in two other pos-
sages OF tho Acts. however, the glossolalia ia
mentioned in the correct Pauline way. some
other reason must be given for the misintor-
probation OF the Pentccostal phenomenon
Prof McGirert opines that the reason may be
found in the glamour which surrounded the
infant Church in the eyes Of it's historian. who
was. himself. far removed from the events
which he records. Under the circumstances