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The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 4

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    CHAPTER FOUR: Prophecy Ascendant at Turn of Century

    I. Turn of Century Marks Transition Hour

    There are transition hours in the course of world events when history seems to change its fundamental course, when it takes on an acceleration, a significance, and a direction previously unknown, as a new concept or revolutionary idea moves mankind forward to new attainments. However, the greatest advances connected with these transition times have not always been merely mechanical or material. Oft times they have been intellectual and spiritual, though at times all these factors have converged, as at the opening of the nineteenth century—or, more accurately, the closing decade of the eighteenth and the early decades of the nineteenth century.PFF4 82.1

    It was a time characterized by new and heretofore undiscovered forces, by a new understanding of the times* by the rechanneling of pent-up energies; by new concepts of the world, of power, of society, of freedom, of progress; also often by a new sense of spiritual responsibility, and by new convictions of divine destiny. And, strange as it may at first seem, these concepts were to a surprising degree derived from a profound conviction that the destined hour of fulfillment of a great prophetic time and truth, long foretold in Holy Writ, had now come.PFF4 82.2

    Tremendous changes took place during the first half of the nineteenth century, affecting every phase of human life—indeed, redirecting the very course of Christian thought, of emphasis, of expectation, of outreach for revealed truth. In many ways it constituted a break with the past, and implemented a new desire to know and carry out the prophetic plan and purpose of God. It is therefore a period fraught with deepest interest and greatest significance for us as we trace the inseparable part that the interpretation of the inspired prophecies of the Bible played in the tremendous advances and changes of these new and fascinating times. Ludlum puts it tersely:PFF4 82.3

    “The revivals of 1800-1837 had restored the Bible to a high place; to many it was the sole guide for the conduct of life. Accordingly, they felt it their imperative duty to realize the prophecies outlined in the Books of Daniel and Revelation. 1D. M. Ludlum, op. cit., p. 238.PFF4 83.1

    Certain characteristic movements of the time should be considered, which all had their bearing on contemporary religious developments. Professor Latourette, of Yale, lists some of the factors that materially influenced the first half of the century:PFF4 83.2

    1. Man’s increased knowledge of the physical universe, which both helped and hindered Christianity, for, with some, it tended to out mode the Bible and to push God away, out of touch with the individual.PFF4 83.3

    2. Man’s increased mastery of his physical environment through the invention of machines, beginning in the latter part of the eighteenth-century-bringing in progressively the factory, steamship, railroad, and telegraph-thus making possible the means of spreading Christianity to an extent before undreamed of, and at the same time causing an overconfidence in human achievement.PFF4 83.4

    3. Development of the scientific method—the experimental discovery of facts and natural laws—which had made the first two developments possible and necessitated freedom of thought and untrammeled search for truth.PFF4 83.5

    4. The resultant industrial revolution, which basically changed society through the factory system, followed by the increase of population, migration, cities, and mass education.PFF4 83.6

    5. Attempts to reorganize society on the basis of ideologies, particularly in relation to democracy and individualism.PFF4 83.7

    6. Various intellectual currents, such as Rationalism, Romanticism, the seeds of evolution, and the idea of assured human progress.PFF4 83.8

    7. Increasing nationalism as a heritage from the eighteenth century.PFF4 84.1

    8. Continued relative peace, with no general war of the great powers from 1815 to 1914.PFF4 84.2

    9. The dominant note of optimism, rising from expansion, prosperity, and new and great accomplishments, leading to unbounded enthusiasm in attacking further problems and to the hope and expectancy of abolishing man’s ills while marching on to perfection. From this stemmed the hope of world evangelism.PFF4 84.3

    10. Unprecedented, world-wide expansion of Western peoples-chiefly from predominantly Protestant territory-who carried Christianity, by migration and mission activity, to the far corners of the globe. 2K. S. Latourette, op. cit., vol. 4, chap. 2. The stage was thus set, Mead observes, for those important religious developments of the first half of the nineteenth century. With only 10 per cent of the populace as church members, but with a rapidly increasing population, and with marked expansion westward, he adds, “It is more than a figure of speech to say that this was the ‘testing time,’ and that the frontier was the ‘testing ground’ for the American Churches 3S. E. Mead, “Christianity in America,” lecture 6, p. 2..”s And with religious freedom and westward expansion, and the development of mechanical means of transportation and communication, and eastern cultural ties largely severed, the picture inevitably changed both rapidly and radically. Mead says significantly:PFF4 84.4

    “Following the War of 1812, America turned its back upon Europe to face the problems of its own west, and was granted a century of time to work out its problems with a minimum of outside interference.” 4Ibid., p. 3.PFF4 84.5

    In 1800 the population of the United States was but five and a third million, and with but a small percentage west of the eastern mountains. In 1820 it had grown to nine and one-half million, with 27 per cent of the population west of the mountains. In 1830 it was around thirteen million, with almost 34 per cent west of the mountains, and by 1840 it was over seventeen million, with a still increasing percentage west of the mountains.PFF4 84.6

    Mead also points out that during the first third of the century the great evangelical revival added millions of church members, and thus the “sect” bodies (Baptist, Methodist, Disciple, et cetera) far outweighed the “churchly” bodies (Congregational, Presbyterian, Episcopalian). Thus, as previously observed, there came into being that typical American phenomenon, the denomination, organized on a voluntary, active, and usually congregational basis-really a merging of sect and church 5Ibid., p. 5. On the distinctions between sect and church, see Reinhold Niebuhr, “The Ecumenical Issue in the United States,” Theology Today. January. 1946, pp. 525-536.PFF4 85.1

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