# Lehre und Wehre_St. Louis Missouri_Juli 1860_S215
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

The So-Called Millennial Kingdom. 215

-calls it, under the pretext that an entirely new edifice must be erected."
This is one questionable side which Chiliasm presents again even in its
most recent manifestations. To what degree it slackens the hands that
ought to remain strong until the dawning of the true kingdom of glory,
and throughout the whole duration of the Church militant, is shown, for
instance, by the statement of Prof. Auberlen: "Whoever does not believe
that the Lord himself will yet help his kingdom on earth to victory and
dominion thinks he must attain this lofty goal through his own activity,
and forgets the word, 'without a human hand.'" Such quietism leads to
this, that one abandons the field to the enemies of the Church.

Little by little, however, the more refined Chiliasm, grown up with
Pietism from its very origin, came with it to an almost unqualified
dominance. What Petersen, notwithstanding his stormy zeal — or indeed
perhaps just because of it — had failed to accomplish, namely to win
minds over to the stricter Chiliasm and put an end to Spener's wavering,
was achieved by the excellent Prelate Bengel, who sought to establish
this Chiliasm with all the means of scholarship at his disposal.

When Rationalism took the place of Pietism, which had in so many
respects prepared the way for it, and which can be regarded as its phlegm
and sediment, then, along with all other doctrines resting on revelation,
Chiliasm too naturally fell to the ground. How Rationalism made its
mockery of it, and how well it knew how to exploit this vulnerable spot
which the Church had exposed, is shown, for instance, by the history of
Chiliasm, much read in its day, by the Zurich professor Corodi.

Pietism had not yet quite died out when the new revival of the Church
began. In particular, the beginning of the latter touched upon the end
of the former beside the Wupper Valley, in Württemberg, where through
Bengel's authority the doctrine of Chiliasm had sunk especially deep into
men's minds. One may, with some justice, regard it as a Württemberg
dogma. Just as the Rhinelander is enthusiastic for the glory of the
Presbyterian church constitution, because he sees in it the particular
honor of his own house, so the Württemberger all too readily supposes
that in touching the doctrine of Chiliasm, naturalized by his countryman
Bengel, one is touching the apple of his eye. Under these circumstances
it was very natural that the millennial kingdom should be received into
the body of Christian views held by the new generation, which first of
all took up again the thread where it had been torn off at the onset of
Rationalism. For a considerable time Chiliasm enjoyed an almost undisputed
dominance, yet in such a way that, while it was emphasized more
sharply almost only in Württemberg and neighboring Baden, and then in
the Wupper Valley, no particular weight was placed on it on the whole
and in general. It had been almost entirely forgotten that this doctrine
had originally been held in disrepute in the Church and had belonged
only to the circles of sects and enthusiasts. It was quite a long time
before a serious attack came, and this attack