“LOL - I guess these people were too.”
Answer:
All of these people cited in your Early Church reference were Historic Premillenialists, ... NOT Dispensational Premillenialists. You are trying to confuse the two and that is an error.
There is a HUGE difference here.
None of them ever heard, taught, preached, or believed in a pre-trib, pre-mil ‘rapture’. That doctrine is not to be found ANYWHERE in Historic Premillenialism. Dispensational Premillenialism was the sole invention of 19th century mavericks.
Even the great Baptist soul-winner of London, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, who was a contemporary of Irving and Darby never believed in the Dispenational ‘rapture’.
In fact, he openly fueded with Darby:
“Ye men of Plymouth (speaking about Darby’s Plymouth Brethren), why stand ye here gazing up into heaven… …Be not so taken up with speculations as to prefer a Bible reading over a dark passage in the Revelation to teaching in a ragged-school or discoursing to the poor concerning Jesus. We must have done with day-dreams, and get to work.”
Notice how Spurgeon viewed dispensational doctrine as mere speculation and day-dreaming. He also observed that this New-Found belief defeated the will of once-attentive and victorious believers.
In response, Darby was then derisive towards Spurgeon’s Baptists in a letter written by him from Canada in 1863,
“I can conceive nothing more false than a Baptist testimony – more poor than a Baptist Church: the whole thing is a mistake. We are, according to 2 Timothy ii, purging ourselves from great evil in a great baptized mass, begin to think and found, as with heathen, in a false position. …Nothing would induce me to go to a Baptist meeting; I would as soon go to popery… If the assembly takes the ground of being Baptists, of course I should not go…”
Ironically, the Baptists of today are those who most ardently accept and defend Darby’s Dispensational scheme.
I suspect that Darby would be very proud of them for turning their backs on Spurgeon’s 19th century Baptist teachings, and Spurgeon would be equally disappointed.
Boy, how times have changed.
What impressive
fancy footwork and quiet
slipping and sliding past the early church references to
PRETRIBULATIONAL Dispensationalist perspectives in the writings cited.
Or maybe you just didn’t read the whole post.
Or maybe you are not that interested in factual presentations from unrubberized history.