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THE KING’S BUSINESS
shame and everlasting contempt. So all the great Hebrew doctors have understood it, as did the èarly Christian apologists, and multitudes of the best modern scholars. 6. Because all the apostles were such. See Peter in Acts iii :19-21, Paul in Ro mans viii:19-23, John in Rev. xx:l-6. The “times” of the “restoring” follow the “send ing back” of Jesus from heaven, in Tike manner as He went up into heaven, i. 'e. visibly, personally, in a cloud, Olivet, the locality of the ascension, being the locality of thé return. Acts i*rl2; Zech. xiv:4. 7. Because the early Christian Church was such for three centuries, until cor rupted by the union of the church and state under Constantine, when all the Old Testament prophecies concerning Israel were applied to the nominally Christianized empire of the fourth century. To dispute this is to trifle with history. 8. Because the only pre-advènt millen- nialists..found in the Bible, are (1) Satan, who would have Christ seated in His vis ible kingdom and glory on earth, not only - before the sécond advent, but even before the crucifixion, a subtle temptation the ob ject of which is clear, Matt. iv:8, 9; and (2) Antichrist, the last moek-messiah of the Jews, entering the field, first of all, by peace, policy, craft, and deceit, then going forth “conquering and to conquer,” seeking uni versal dominion, only however to be over thrown by the true Christ at His appearing from “heaven opened,” Rev. vi:2; xix:ll-21. 9. Because, from whatever point, or event, in the line of history, the thousand 'years are dated, in any case they come after, never before, the parousia of Christ, let that event be interpreted either literally, spiritually or providentially. Nothing is more clear. If it is a spiritual coming, still the spiritual millennium must follow that coming, not precede it. If it is a literal one, the case is the same. And that the parousia of Christ, under Which Antichrist falls, and
Israel is delivered, and the saints are raised, is a literal one, and still future, Tt is im possible for holy writ to make plainer. Nothing but an allegorizing exegesis can erase the conclusion. 10. Because post-millennialism is replete with manifest error. As has well been said, it “heathenizes by adopting a platon- izing and Alexandrine exegesis.” It con founds the accommodation and application of Scripture with the interpretation of Scripture. But “application,” as Delitzsch well says, is not “interpretation.”: The former is manifold, the latter unitous. In the former Israel is evaporated, in the lat ter Israel holds his place as a constant fac tor in the great epochs of the kingdom of God. Post-millennialism mixes the different ends and ages. It substitutes death, thev destruction of Jerusalem, revivals, Pente cost, providence, for the second advent of Christ in a multitude of passages. It does violence to interpretation by dogmatic pre suppositions, and personal inclination. It makes time and history end with the end of this present age. It creates an irreconcilable antagonism between Daniel and John, ‘and between Christ and both, as to the “first resurrection.” It makes the “world to come” mean the disembodied state of the soul, after death, in a super-earthly sphere. • It identifies the throne of David with the throne of God the Father in heaven. It obliterates the distinction between Israel and the Church. And not to multiply instances,' it does in general, for Eschatology what it did for Soteriology before the reformation ; perverts it, leaving as deep an error in the former, to be eradicated by. our own and succeeding times, from the field of evangeli cal truth, as it left in the latter, to be eradicated by the reformation. Protestant ism is not yet wholly purged from the errors it has inherited from popery. The “leaven” will remain in the “meal,” till the Lord comes.
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