Evening journal., 1908-07-06

l OitFiota ocCOHd Oomin0
Editor THE EVENING JOURNAL.
There is a growing class Of people
who are getting tired and dissatisfied
with this view Of Christs coming. To
be sure. we ought not to ridicule so
precious a truth. but we must be ready
to give a reason for The hope" we
have within us. and be ready to reject
every false notion as dangerous and
misleading.
There are two main points about
Christs second coming, viz: The pres
ent and the post-millenial views.
The pres believe that His return is
near at hand and many events will
take place such as the fuilness of the
Gentiles." the return Of the Jews to
Palestine, their establishment as a
nation and the personal reign Of
Christ at Jerusalem for the period Of
thousand years, the world one vast
empire and Jerusalem its capital In
the meantime, as sign Of His COM
ing, the world will grow worse. the
church become apostate, great dissen-
slons occur; the man of sin will ap-
pear and Satan will be bound"
All this sounds well, but it is purely
theory, not Scripture To be sure.
all Christians believe that Christ will
return, and that it is near, and there
tore we must be watchful
TO watch means not only that He
VIII come, but to desire His coming and
10 look for it as sure and near.
This notion is false and unscriptural
for the following reasons:
First, the history of the doctrine
prove that it has led many people
astray. Either OF the views referred to
have never been able to obtain univer-
sal and prolonged acceptance in the
church. The bone Of contention is over
the "one thousand years" The history
or the doctrine begins with the apos-
ties Scarcely had the angelic messen-
gers voice died away on Mt Olivet be-
fore these men began to entertain the
hope of Christ's return. But Christ did
not come in their day. The next great
awakening took place in the middle
ages about the year 1000. This was
thought to be the dawn of the millen-
ial age. The time had arrived for the
end Of the world; again Christ did not
come.
age Of the reformation. The achieve
ments Of Luther were taken TO indicate
the Savior's return and then in 1S43
the Millerite excitement sprung up and
proved to be very disastrous to the
cause of Christ and discouraging to
believers
Secondly, in its pessimistic teaching
about the church and the world. It
paralyzes human effort to endeavor to
make the world respond to the call Of
progress 1t depreciates the work of
the chuch, declaring II to be apostate
and therefore unfaithful, which is not
true. The church has never done bet
ter work for the King than that which
1t is doing to-day. ct prays for the
Kingdom to Come" and works ac-
cordingly.)
The world is growing better and
truth is not a failure. In the third
place It is in error by proclaiming a
literal and personal reign of Christ
in the world as now constituted, which
is nowhere taught in Scripture. He
distinctly said that His kingdom was
not of this world. "And He would
come the second time without sin unto
salvation"
Again Christ's literal and personal
reign on earth is a Jewish notion and
not Christian teaching. The disciples
on the way to Mount Olivet asked the
Saviour If He would not at this time
restore the kingdom to Israel. And
Jesus answered: 1T is not for you TO
know the times or seasons which the
Father has placed in His own opwer"
Again this view misinterprets the
purpose Of the Saviour's return, viz, to
establish a temporal kingdom for
thousand years or any number Of years.
This is clearly stated in Scripture.
The purpose Of His coming is first to
raise the dead, or to accomplish a gen.
eral resurrection, to judge the world,
and the restoration of all things which
has a still wider application than the
return Of the Jews to Palestine. 1t will
be the reinstatement OF the whole
order of nature, the result of which will
be a new heaven and new earth.
Then this view underestimates the
power of the Gospel and makes OF IL
a temporary provision. Paul .sAid that
the Gospel was the power of God unto
and Jesus commanded His
followers to preach it, assuring them
Of His presence and Of success.
1t paralyzes missionary activity to
say that the Gospel is a temporary pro-
vision. and we are to expect Christ to
do in His latter reign on the earth
what Fe intended us to accomplish,
viz: "To teach all nations whatsoever
1 have commanded you"
Again, this view, as commonly
taught, undertakes the work of the
Holy Spirit, whose definite mission is
to convince the world of sin, of right
and Of judgment to come.
John. 16: s.
Again. many Of the events mentioned
by the premillenials as belonging to
this literal reign Of a thousand years
belong to the development OF the king
dom Of God among men. and moreover /
some Of these events are certainly
being accomplished now in the world
and others will follow in their order.
THE conversion Of the Jews can just
as well take out of Palestine as il
and the mere fact of their being In |
Palestine would have little effect on
their repentance and faith" Says DR.. |
Heagle: There Is nothing favoring |
their return and nothing forbidding it. 1
But when II comes to the restoration /
Of the old Jewish economy. the re-es-
tablishing of the temple and the reviv-
Ing Of a long since abandoned ceremon- !
al observances. then we must protest
against such notions as false and un-
Type and shadow images and idols
have long since passed away. To in /