Who Said That?

Who Said That?

"However improbable it may seem that the whole world should be Christianized, we know that God is able to perform what he has promised. . . . A future generation will witness the rapidity of its progress; and long before the end of time. . . Christianity will gain a complete triumph over all false religions; and the visible kingdom of Satan will be destroyed, or reduced without narrow limits, during the happy period when, in the figurative language of the Apocalypse, `he shall be bound.'"

No google searches!  Leave your guess in the comments section below.

Update on Monday, January 29, 2007 at 11:43AM by Kim Riddlebarger

These words come from Scottish theologian John Dick (1764-1833), in his Lectures on Theology (156), which was widely used at Princeton Theological Seminary.

These words illustrate both the best and worst of postmillennialism.  On the one hand, Dick correctly believes the kingdom of God will spread to the ends of the earth.  While, on the other, Dick incorrectly argues that the kingdom of God will triumph over all forms of unbelief before the eschaton.  I'm with Vos (and not Warfield) on this one.  Christ comes to save the earth (Vos), he does not return to a saved earth (Warfield).

Comments

["lee n. field"]

Sounds like Lorraine Boettner.

[Rick B.]

oooh...some golden age dreamer like:

Keith Mathison, Kenneth Gentry, Iain Murray, Greg Bahnsen or even R.C. Sproul.

[zrim]

yeach, another breach! what was the answer to the last one?

as far as this one (sproul? really, rick? sure doesn't sound like him necessarily), sounds like the collective, sunny transformationism of grand rapids.

zrim

[Adam B]

Sort of sounds like Gentry to me.

[Rick B.]

Zrim,
For one, talk about breaches, who made you the Riddleblog policeman? (just messing with you)
As far as Sproul is concerned, read his, "Last Days According to Jesus." He seems to be postmill with a partial preterist bend...he never really says where he actually stands, but it's kind of implied.

[Jeff A.]

Wasn't Jonathan Edwards post-mill?

[keith conley]

definetely some transformational type. Whether it is one of the people listed above I'm not sure. I'll take a stab and say Bahnsen...

[BrianR]

Bahnsen?

[Rick B.]

Most of the Puritans were post-mill. Not only did they believe in a Golden Age (as described above), they thought the new world (America) was going to be the center of it all.

Even though we are standing on their shoulders in many ways...they weren't right about that.

I don't think it's a Puritan writer because of the phrase "However improbable." Certianly the Puritans thought it was quite probable.

[zrim]

get back in line, rick, before i clobber you with another light-hearted joke.

zrim

[Phil Larson]

Edwards thought that America might be the center of it all, but only by God's grace because American didn't deserve it in the least.

[walt]

Could be Vos.

[walt]

Woops, I meant Warfield.

[Wayne Rohde]

I really don't know (and I'm pretty miserable at guessing these things), but I'm betting --based on the language used, and an almost liberal tone-- that it's neither an old-time postmil (such as Warfield, etc.) nor a theonomist.

How's that for really going out on a limb???

[Scott]

Sproul?

[Brian Davilla]

Definitely not Sproul! Has to be Lorraine Boettner.

[Nathan]

Charles Wesley

[Robin]

All I know is Pastor Kim has been on an Old Princeton kick, lately.

[R.K. Brumbelow]

Definately a Postie likely of the old priceton type, oh and Rick B most Puritains were premies not posties that was one of the (many) things that made Edwards stand out, in fact I have heard some argue it was his legacy that made Princeton Postie.

[Rick B.]

Hmmm, I dunno, R.K. I'm not really sure we can slap "pre" and "post" labels on the Puritans (even though I did). Our labels are 21st century so who knows what applies exactly. Perhaps they were "premill-ish" but back then it was just "millennialism" - in that they thought a golden age of Christian dominace and prosperity would be ushered in before the coming of Christ... today we associate that more with postmillennialism than premillennialism and that is why I would call the Puritans (mostly) Postmill - but the term is loose.