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A REVIEW

OF DR. I. P. WARREN'S "PAROUSIA OF CHRIST."

BY

REV. JOSIAH LITCH,

AUTHOR OF "MESSIAH'S THRONE AND MILLENNIAL GLORY," "DIS-
CUSSION ON THE MILLENNIUM," ETC.

WITH

AN INTRODUCTION

BY REV. A. J. GORDON, D. D.,

PASTOR OF THE CLARENDON ST. BAPTIST CHURCH, BOSTON, MASS.

"In plucking up the faith of Christ's coming, Satan aims directly at
the throat of the Church. For to what end did Christ die and rise
again, but that along with himself he might some day redeem us from
death, and gather us into life eternal? Piety, therefore, is destroyed
to its foundation, unless the faith of the resurrection abides unshaken;
and so it is on this side that Satan most fiercely assails us."-CALVIN.

BOSTON:

AMERICAN MILLENNIAL ASSOCIATION.

74 KNEELAND STREET.

Nov. 15, 1934
LIBRARY

Mrs. Odin Roberts

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1880, by the AMERICAN MILLENNIAL ASSOCIATION,

in the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.

INTRODUCTION.

The work of Rev. Dr. Litch, meeting and answering the arguments of "Parousia,” by Rev. Dr. Warren, we regard as timely and valuable. It is not a discussion relating to a single book, or to the views of a single man. The theory presented in "Parousia" is undoubtedly gaining a wide currency; and this work, with all respect to its author, may be said to be a result rather than a cause. To it belongs the honor of having condensed and crystallized views that are held in solution by a multitude of minds. Doubt is always restless till it has formulated itself into a creed. Incredulity must put its denials into a theological affirmation before it can be easy; negations must become assertions if one's orthodoxy is to be preserved. And we regard "Parousia" as a clever exposition of the latest current doubt upon the subject of Christ's Second Advent. The grip of modern faith is inadequate to hold this doctrine as it is taught by Christ and his apostles. The stupendous facts of a future, literal advent of the Lord from heaven; of a veritable resurrection of mortal bodies at the sound of the last trumpet, and of the rapture of the church into the air to meet the descending King, are such as require a very stalwart belief to hold them fast. Of course the Liberal and Broad Church theology has long since let go of such hard literalisms. And now the most orthodox theology is following in the same course. We find in the church a very widespread revolt against the doctrine of a literal second advent of Christ and a literal resurrection of the body. There is an awful definiteness, a vivid realness, an intense literalness about these truths that frightens a timid and sentimental faith.

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