Article May 9, 1914 Issue

From Our Exchanges

with contributions from R. J. Campbell

[The Christian Register]

We are too far away, too cold and passionless, to conceive what that hope meant to the early Christians, and how the heart grew faint with waiting and yearning for the appearance of the loved and adored one who was to give them, the elect, all that their hearts craved or imaginations conceived. Nor can we conjure up the sick sense of disappointment and hope deferred that must at times have chilled their faith as years rolled round and he came not. Did it ever occur to them that they had mistaken the true tenor of his words when he spoke of mysteries above their understanding, he who ever strove to impress on them spiritual truths by means of parable and vivid image? They were literalists as we know, and the mistakes they made as to his purpose and meaning were in line with the level of their intelligence and insight. He loved and trusted them for the simplicity and honesty of their natures, but it is apparent that he was often grieved by their inability to enter into the secrets of his thoughts.

The hope of the great Easter, when Jesus would be known and recognized by the whole world, has not departed altogether from the minds of men. There are those who still yearn to see their Lord returning in the clouds of heaven. They are in the thrall of the early disciples, who had not conceived the spiritual Christ, but longed for a spectacular display of his power and majesty. The great Easter of his supremacy in the hearts of men has been deferred for ages. But we may still hope for its coming in the only way it ever could have come,—a rebirth, a new pentocostal baptism of pure and undefiled religion.

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