"Doubtless most readers will shrink from the demand
made upon their faith, when they are asked to believe that the predictions
of our Lord in Matthew 24, and the kindred prophecy of St. Paul in
1 Thess. 4, had a veritable accomplishment. . . . Credible or incredible,
reasonable or unreasonable, the authority of Scripture is committed
to the affirmation. And why should it be thought incredible? The reply
will be, 'Because there is no historical evidence of the fact.' This,
however, is an assumption. . . . What evidence, for example, may be
reasonably required that the most seemingly incredible event predicted
in Matt. 24:31, and in 1 ;Thess. 4:17, commonly denominated "the
rapture of the saints," actually took place? The principal, if
not the only, portion that seems to come within the cognizance of human
sense, is the removal of a great multitude of the disciples of Christ
from this earthly scene. We might expect, therefore, that there should
be some trace in history of this sudden disappearance of so vast a body
of believers. . . . Ask the ecclesiastical historian to put his finger
on the spot where the records of early Christianity are most obscure,
and he will unhesitatingly point to the period when the Acts of the
Apostles end. Of this period the learned Neander says, 'We have no information,
nor can the total want of sources for this part of Church history be
at all surprising.' And, again, he speaks of 'the age immediately succeeding
the Apostolic,' of which we have unfortunately so few authentic memorials."