Page 71 - Jesus is coming - Class version

68 JESUS IS COMING.
of the most salutary effects on the faith and practice of
Christians."*
Dr. Daniel Whitby, the father of the modern post-mil-
lennial theory, in his "Treatise on Traditions," candidly
acknowledges that, "the doctrine of the Millennium passed
among the best of Christians, for two hundred and fifty
years, for a tradition apostolical, and as such is delivered
by many Fathers of the second and third centuries, who
speak of it as a tradition of our Lord and His Apostles,
and of all the ancients who lived before them, who tell us
the very words in which it was delivered, the Scriptures
which were so interpreted, and say that it was held by all
Christians that were exactly orthodox."
Lest anyone should lose the full force of these quota-
tions, it may be -proper to state, that this "ancient and
popular doctrine of the Millennium/' as Gibbon styles it,
was the belief in the pre-millennial coming of Christ, and
His reign on the earth for a thousand years. It was com-
monly called chiliasm, which see in Webster's Dictionary.
Such, in brief, is the testimony of historians, both ecclesi-
astical and profane upon this subject. And some of the
early Fathers, of whom they speak, were very nearly, if
not quite, the cotemporaries with the Apostles.
Papias, Bishop of Hierapolis in Phrygia, who was a
disciple of St. John, or who at least received his doctrines
from the immediate followers of the Apostle, was an ex-
treme Millennialist, and has been called the father of
Millenarianism. (See McClintock and Strong's Enc.)
Irenasus, as a disciple of Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, was
directly connected with St. John. And also Justin Martyr
was one of the earliest of the Fathers.
Is it not solemnly incumbent upon us, to respect and
heed this doctrine, which these eminent Christian Fathers
so undisputedly taught, as being the "tradition of our Lord
and His Apostles"? Why is it, that, fapon every other
subject connected with our holy religion, such as Baptism,
Church government, Forms of worship, Articles of faith,
etc., we go back and search diligently to ascertain the doc-
*Milman's Gibbon's Rome, Vol. 1, p. 262.