Part 63 (1/2)

James,[233:4] in his epistle to the brethren, tells them not to be in too great a hurry for the coming of their Lord, but to ”be patient” and wait for the ”coming of the Lord,” as the ”husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth.” But still he a.s.sures them that ”the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.”[233:5]

Peter, in his first epistle, tells his brethren that ”the end of all things is at hand,”[233:6] and that when the ”chief shepherd” does appear, they ”shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.”[233:7]

John, in his first epistle, tells the Christian community to ”abide in him” (Christ), so that, ”when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him.”[234:1]

He further says:

”Behold, now are we the sons of G.o.d, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that, _when he shall appear_, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.”[234:2]

According to the writer of the book of ”The Acts,” when Jesus ascended into heaven, the Apostles stood looking _up_ towards heaven, where he had gone, and while thus engaged: ”behold, two men stood by them (dressed) in white apparel,” who said unto them:

”Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus which is _taken up_ from you into heaven, _shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go_ (up) _into heaven_.”[234:3]

The one great object which the writer of the book of Revelations wished to present to view, was ”_the second coming of Christ_.” This writer, who seems to have been anxious for that time, which was ”surely” to come ”quickly;” ends his book by saying: ”Even so, come Lord Jesus.”[234:4]

The two men, dressed in white apparel, who had told the Apostles that Jesus should ”come again,” were not the only persons whom they looked to for authority. He himself (according to the Gospel) had told them so:

”The Son of man shall come (again) in the glory of his Father with his angels.”

And, as if to impress upon their minds that his second coming should not be at a distant day, he further said:

”Verily I say unto you, there be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, _till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom_.”[234:5]

This, surely, is very explicit, but it is not the only time he speaks of his second advent. When foretelling the destruction of the temple, his disciples came unto him, saying:

”Tell us when shall these things be, _and what shall be the sign of thy coming_?”[234:6]

His answer to this is very plain:

”Verily I say unto you, _this generation shall not pa.s.s till all these things be fulfilled_ (_i. e_, the destruction of the temple and his second coming), but of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.”[234:7]

In the second Epistle _attributed_ to Peter, which was written after that generation had pa.s.sed away,[235:1] there had begun to be some impatience manifest among the _believers_, on account of the long delay of Christ Jesus' second coming. ”Where is the promise of his coming?”

say they, ”for since the fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.”[235:2] In attempting to smoothe over matters, this writer says: ”There shall come in the last days scoffers, saying: 'Where is the promise of his coming?'” to which he replies by telling them that they were ignorant of all the ways of the Lord, and that: ”One day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” He further says: ”The Lord is not slack concerning his promise;” and that ”the day of the Lord _will come_.”

This coming is to be ”as a thief in the night,” that is, when they least expect it.[235:3]

No wonder there should have been scoffers--as this writer calls them--the generation which was not to have pa.s.sed away before his coming, had pa.s.sed away; all those who stood there had been dead many years; the sun had not yet been darkened; the stars were still in the heavens, and the moon still continued to reflect light. None of the predictions had yet been fulfilled.

Some of the early Christian Fathers have tried to account for the words of Jesus, where he says: ”Verily I say unto you, there be some standing here which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom,” by saying that he referred to _John_ only, and that that Apostle was not dead, but sleeping. This fict.i.tious story is related by Saint Augustin, ”from the report,” as he says, ”of credible persons,” and is to the effect that:

”At Ephesus, where St. John the Apostle lay buried, he was not believed to be dead, _but to be sleeping only in the grave_, which he had provided for himself till our Saviour's second coming: in proof of which, they affirm, that the earth, under which he lay, was seen to heave up and down perpetually, in conformity to the motion of his body, in the act of breathing.”[235:4]

This story clearly ill.u.s.trates the stupid credulity and superst.i.tion of the primitive age of the church, and the faculty of imposing any fictions upon the people, which their leaders saw fit to inculcate.

The doctrine of the _millennium_ designates a certain period in the history of the world, lasting for a long, indefinite s.p.a.ce (vaguely a _thousand years_, as the word ”_millennium_” implies) during which the kingdom of _Christ Jesus_ will be visibly established on the earth. The idea undoubtedly originated proximately in the Messianic expectation of the Jews (as Jesus _did not_ sit on the throne of David and become an earthly ruler, it _must be_ that he is _coming again_ for this purpose), but more remotely in the Pagan doctrine of the final triumph of the several ”Christs” over their adversaries.

In the first century of the Church, _millenarianism_ was a _whispered_ belief, to which the book of Daniel, and more particularly the predictions of the _Apocalypse_[236:1] gave an apostolical authority, but, when the church imbibed _Paganism_, their belief on this subject lent it a more vivid coloring and imagery.

The unanimity which the early Christian teachers exhibit in regard to _millenarianism_, proves how strongly it had laid hold of the imagination of the Church, to which, in this early stage, immortality and future rewards were to a great extent things of this world as yet.

Not only did Cerinthus, but even the orthodox doctors--such as Papias (Bishop of Hierapolis), Irenaeus, Justin Martyr and others--delighted themselves with dreams of the glory and magnificence of the millennial kingdom. Papias, in his collection of traditional sayings of Christ Jesus, indulges in the most monstrous representations of the re-building of Jerusalem, and the colossal vines and grapes of the millennial reign.

According to the general opinion, the millennium was to be preceded by great calamities, after which the Messiah, _Christ Jesus_, would appear, and would bind Satan for a thousand years, annihilate the G.o.dless heathen, or make them slaves of the believers, overturn the Roman empire, from the ruins of which a new order of things would spring forth, in which ”the dead in Christ” would rise, and along with the surviving saints enjoy an incomparable felicity in the city of the ”New Jerusalem.” Finally, all nations would bend their knee to _him_, and acknowledge _him only_ to be _the Christ_--his religion would reign supreme. This is the ”Golden Age” of the future, which all nations of antiquity believed in and looked forward to.