thodox Christians. The Universalists denied that there is to be,
any future judgment and punishment. Of course they referred the
twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew altogether to the destruction of
Jerusalem–to the past. Evangelical Christians then denied that it
referred solely to the destruction of Jerusalem; they affirmed that it
taught a personal coming of Christ, to reward his saints and to
justly punish his foes. Those commentators who referred it in
general to the destruction of Jerusalem in their expositions, still
admitted that it had a further reference to the second advent
8
and the end of the world. They uniformly applied a part of the
Saviour's discourse in chapters 24 and 25 to the latter event.
The Universalists now take a different position; they have mostly
become restorationists, admitting that there will be some
punishment, even in the future. But they contend that it will be
disciplinary or reformatory. They still maintain their former
position that Matthew 24 has no relation to that future
punishment, but refers to the destruction of Jerusalem.
The opponents of Universalism, in the churches, have also
changed their base, in part. While they yet contend that there will
be a future judgment and eternal punishment, they now deny that
Matthew 24 proves anything in regard to that day; or event, and
affirm that it was all fulfilled at the destruction of Jerusalem. They
are also extensively changing their position in regard to the nature
of the second advent, many of them agreeing with the
Universalists, saying that the advent is figurative or spiritual and
has already taken place. From present indications we think that this
will very soon be the prevailing opinion in all the popular churches.
Many of their ablest and most influential men now advocate this
view. A little more change in the same direction will unite them
fully with the Universalists in a denial of the future coming of
Christ, of a personal, literal advent, and of any real tangible
punishment of the wicked. They find it no more difficult to
spiritualize the judgment and punishment, than the c