THE

CHRISTIAN EXAMINER

AND

RELIGIOUS MISCELLANY.

JULY, 1854.

ART. I. THE APOCALYPTIC DOCTRINE OF THE LAST

THINGS.

BEFORE attempting to exhibit the Eschatology of the Apocalypse, its doctrine of Last Things, we propose to give a brief account of what is contained, relating to this subject, in the Epistle of James, the Epistle of Jude, and the (so-called) Second Epistle of Peter.

The references made by James to the group of points included under the general theme of the Future Life are so few and indirect, or vague, that it is impossible to construct anything like a complete doctrine from them, save by somewhat arbitrary and uncertain suppositions. His purpose in writing evidently was practical exhortation, and not dogmatic instruction. His Epistle contains no expository outline of a system; but it has allusions and hints which plainly imply some partial views belonging to a system, while the other parts of it are left entirely obscure. He says that "evil desire brings forth sin, and sin, when it is finished, brings forth death." But whether he intended this text as a moral metaphor to convey a spiritual meaning, or as a literal statement of a physical fact, or as a comprehensive enunciation including both these ideas, there is nothing in the context positively to determine. He offers not the faintest clew to his concepVOL. LVII.- 4TH S. VOL. XXII. NO. I.

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tion of the purpose of the death and resurrection of Christ. He uses the word for the Jewish hell but once, and then, undeniably, in a figurative sense, saying that a "curbless and defiling tongue is set on fire of Gehenna." He appears to adopt the common notion of his contemporary countrymen in regard to demoniacal existences, when he declares, that "the devils believe there is one God, and tremble"; and when he exclaims, "Resist the Devil, and he will flee from you." He insists on the necessity of a faith that evinces itself in good works, and in all the virtues, as the means of acceptance with God. He compares life to a vanishing vapor, denounces terribly the wicked and dissolute rich men who wanton in crimes, and oppress the poor. Then he calls on the suffering brethren to be patient under their afflictions "until the coming of the Lord"; to abstain from oaths, be fervent in prayer, and establish their hearts, "for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh." Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned; behold, the Judge standeth before the door." Here the return of

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Christ, to finish his work, sit in judgment, accept some, and reject others, is too clearly implied for any candid student to deny it. And if James held this element of the general scheme of eschatology held by Paul and deducible from his Epistles, it is altogether probable that he also entertained other parts, perhaps the whole, of it. There are no means of definitely ascertaining whether he did or did not; though, according to a very learned and acute theologian, another fundamental part of that general system of doctrine is to be found in the last verse of the Epistle, where James says, that "he who converts a sinner from the error of his ways shall save a soul from death and hide a multitude of sins." Bretschneider thinks that saving a soul from death here means rescuing it from a descent into the under-world; the word death being often used in the New Testament, as by the Rabbins, to denote the subterranean abode of the dead. This interpretation may seem forced to an unlearned reader, who examines the text for personal profit, but will not seem at all improbable to one who, to learn its historic meaning, reads the text in the lighted

*

* See Bretschneider's Religiöse Glaubenslehre, section 59.

foreground of a mind over whose background lies a fitly arranged knowledge of all the materials requisite for an adequate criticism. For such a man was Bretschneider himself.

The eschatological implications and references in the Epistle of Jude are of pretty much the same character and extent as those which we have just considered. A thorough study and analysis of this brief document will show that it may be fairly divided into three heads, and be regarded as having three objects. First, the writer exhorts his readers "to contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints," "to remember the words of Christ's Apostles," "to keep themselves in the love of God, looking for eternal life." He desires to stir them up to diligence in efforts to preserve their doctrinal purity and their personal virtue. Secondly, he warns them of the fearful danger of depravity, pride, and lasciviousness. This warning he enforces by several examples of the terrible judgments of God on the rebellious and wicked in other times. Among these instances is the case of the Cities of the Plain, eternally destroyed by a storm of fire for their uncleanness; also, the example of the fallen angels, "who kept not their first estate, but left their proper habitation, and are reserved in everlasting chains and darkness, unto the judgment of the great day." The writer here adopts the doctrine of fallen angels, and the connected views, as then commonly held among the Jews. This doctrine is not of Christian origin, but was drawn from Persian and other Oriental sources, as is abundantly shown, with details, in almost every history of Jewish opinions, in almost every Biblical commentary. In this connection Jude cites a legend from an apocryphal book, called the "Ascension of Moses," of which Origen gives an account. The substance of the tradition is, that, at the decease of Moses, Michael and Satan contended whether the body should be given over to death, or be taken up to heaven. The appositeness of this allusion is, that, while in this strife the Archangel dared not rail against Satan, yet the wicked men whom

# * E. g. see Moses Stuart's Dissertation on the Angelology of the Scriptures, published in Vol. I. of the Bibliotheca Sacra.

† De Principiis, Lib. III. cap. 2. See, too, in Michaelis's Introduction to the New Testament, section 4th of the chapter on Jude.

Jude is denouncing do not hesitate to blaspheme the angels, and to speak evil of things which they know not. "Woe unto such ungodly men: gluttonous spots, dewless clouds, fruitless trees plucked up and twice dead, they are ordained to condemnation." Thirdly, the Epistle announces the second coming of Christ, in the last time, to establish his tribunal. The Prophecy of Enoch, an apocryphal book, recovered during the present century, is quoted as saying, "Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convict the ungodly of their ungodly deeds."* Jude, then, anticipated the return of the Lord, at "the judg ment of the great day," to judge the world; considered the under-world, or abode of the dead, not as a region of fire, but a place of imprisoning gloom, wherein, "to defiled and blaspheming dreamers, is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever"; thought it imminently necessary for men to be diligent in 'striving to secure their salvation, because "all sensual mockers, not having the spirit, but walking after their own ungodly lusts," would be Post. He probably expected that, when all free contingencies were past, and Christ had pronounced sentence, the condemned would be doomed eternally into the black abyss, and the accepted would rise into the immortal glory of heaven. He closes his letter with these significant words, which plainly imply much of what we have just been setting forth: "Everlasting honor and power, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be unto God, who is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the face of his glory with exceeding joy." +

The first chapter of the so-called Second Epistle of Peter is not occupied with theological propositions, but with historical, ethical, and practical statements and exhortations. These are, indeed, of such a character, and so expressed, that they clearly presuppose certain opinions in the mind of the writer. First, he evidently believed that a merciful and holy message had been sent from God to men by Jesus Christ, "whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises." The substance of these promises was a "call to escape the

* See Book of Enoch, translated by Dr. R. Laurence, cap. ii. † See Griesbach's reading of the 25th verse of Jude.

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corruption of the world, and enter into glory and be partakers of the Divine nature." By partaking of the Divine nature, we understand the writer to mean, entering the Divine abode and condition, ascending into the safe and eternal joy of the celestial prerogatives. That the author here denotes heaven by the term glory, as the other New Testament writers frequently do, appears distinctly from the seventeenth and eighteenth verses of the chapter, where, referring to the incident at the baptism of Jesus, he declares, "There came a voice from the excellent glory, saying, 'This is my beloved Son'; and this voice, which came from heaven, we heard." Secondly, our author regarded this glorious promise as contingent on the fulfilment of certain conditions. It was to be realized by means of "faith, courage, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, kindness, and love." "He that hath these things shall never fall," "but an entrance shall be ministered unto him abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ." The writer furnishes us with no clew to get at his idea of the particular part performed by Christ in our salvation. He says not a word concerning the sufferings or death of the Saviour, and the extremely scanty and altogether indefinite allusions made to the relation in which Christ was supposed to stand between God and men, and the redemption and reconciliation of men with God, do not enable us to draw any dogmatic conclusions. He speaks of "false teachers, who shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them." But whether by this last phrase he means to imply a ransom of imprisoned souls from the under-world by Christ's descent thither and victory over its powers, or a purchased exemption of sinners from their merited doom by the vicarious sufferings of Christ's death, or a practical regenerative redemption of disciples from their sins by the moral influences of his mission, his teachings, example, and character, there is nothing in the Epistle clearly to decide; though, forming our judgment by the aid of other sources of information, we should conclude in favor of the first of these three conceptions as most probably expressing the writer's thought.

The second chapter of the Epistle is almost an exact parallel with the Epistle of Jude; in many verses it is