The Kingdom of Promise and ProphecyWhiteside, Robertson L.
Religion
The Kingdom of Promise and Prophecy
Whiteside, Robertson L.
Bible -- Prophecies
Because some do not hold to the theories propagated by the
premillennialists, they are charged with not believing in the second
coming of the Lord at all. From one writer we have the following: “The
thought of his coming has faded out of the minds of men.” Again: “In the
eighteenth century, however, there came a man named ‘Daniel Whitby.’...
He taught that the gospel would spread and spread until the whole world
would be converted; then would follow a thousand years of blessedness
and peace, and after all this Jesus would come and wind things up. Then
the hope of his coming died again everywhere as this doctrine became the
general teaching.” That is such a manifest misrepresentation of the
great body of Christians that I shall make no attempt to disprove it. As
Mr. Campbell was accused of holding the same views as Whitby, it will be
seen that Mr. Peters misrepresents him in the quotation at the beginning
of this article.
We are told that “they were hoping for him, and they were looking for
his return in the days of the apostles.” We are asked to believe that
the Christians began to expect his return any moment after he went away,
and that they were taught by the apostles to do so. They think they find
such teaching in what the apostles said about looking for his coming and
hoping for his coming; but the theory discredits the inspiration of the
apostles. Jesus did not come again during that period. If the apostles
were mistaken on that point, how can we be sure they taught the truth on
anything? If the infidel were to point to this as evidence that the
apostles were not infallible in their teaching, how would these men meet
the argument? On this point the learned commentator, James McKnight,
says: “Grotius, Locke, and others, have affirmed that the apostles of
Christ believed the end of the world was to happen in their time, and
that they have declared this to be their belief, in various passages of
their epistles. But these learned men and all who join them in that
opinion have fallen into a most pernicious error. For thereby they
destroy the authority of the gospel revelation, at least so far as it is
contained in the discourses and writings of the apostles; because, if
they have erred in a matter of such importance, and which they affirm
was revealed to them by Christ, they may have been mistaken in other
matters also, where their inspiration is not more strongly asserted by
them than in this instance. In imputing this mistake to the apostles,
the deists have heartily joined the learned men above mentioned, because
a mistake of this sort effectually overthrows the apostle’s pretensions
to inspiration. It is therefore necessary to clear them from so
injurious an imputation.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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