Introduction by Dr. Vic Reasoner
In [our] climate of doomsday eschatology, it is appropriate that we
reprint a piece by Steele that has not been reprinted by the holiness movement. This was the last
published work of Daniel Steele and appeared in The Methodist Review, Vol. 93 (May, 1911):
405-415.
There are two theories of Christian eschatology. The first is that the present dispensation of the
Holy Spirit will continue till all nations shall be evangelized, "the fullness of the Gentiles be
come in," drowning out the unbelief of the Jews till "all Israel shall be saved." After this period
of gospel triumph Christ will wind up the probationary history of the human race by the
simultaneous resurrection of the good and the bad and the general judgment, assigning them to
their eternal destinies. The second theory is that the purpose of Christ's second coming is to set
up for the first time his kingdom on the earth, reigning in person on the throne of David in
Jerusalem for a thousand years, attended by a bodyguard of angels and by the risen and glorified
saints, the most eminent of whom Christ, the Imperator, will appoint as governors of the various
countries of the globe, ruling over mortals who are eating and drinking, sowing and reaping,
marrying and bearing children; meanwhile thousand are converted in a day, the Jews first, as
suddenly as Saul of Tarsus, and all rushing to the Holy City, and thence into all the world,
preaching the true Messiah. This theory is called premillennialism, which, for the sake of brevity,
we may call chiliasm, a Greek term preferred by the Reformers. We propose to show that this
scheme, having elements at once fascinating the carnal mind and attracting a certain class of truly
spiritual people who "love his appearing" is at variance with the Holy Scriptures, proceeding
upon crude, arbitrary, and false principles of interpretation, and dodging their absurd, yet
legitimate, results; a system lacking coherence, making no provision for some of the most
important future events in the history of our race, and painfully imperiling some of the most
precious Christian doctrine.
