Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 07.djvu/234

* ESCHATOLOGY. 202 ESCHEAT. hopes for the ultimate restoration of all souls after a period of unconscious -leep or limited punishment. In the great Lutheran, Anglican, and Reformed churches the rejection of the doc- trine of a purgatory and of the intercession of the Virgin and the saints fixed man's destiny ir- revocably at death, and therefore tended to ren- der the closing scenes of judgment and resurrec- tion of less practical importance, to eliminate the pre-millennial coming of Christ, and to make the millennium the result of a long-continued development of Christian life. By an allegorical method of interpretation the natural import of biblical language was lost and scriptural sup- port found for the new outlook upon the future. Since the days of the French Revolution and the career of Napoleon there have been repeated out- bursts of eschatological enthusiasm. Where the reaction against allegorical interpretation has not led to the adoption of a historico-critical method, the belief that all biblical prophecies will be fulfilled has engendered an ingenious sys- tem of exegesis by which the things expected by the Jews of the Maccabean period or the early Christians to occur in their own lifetime are transferred to the interpreter's own immediate future, some starting-point for the new cycle of fulfillments being arbitrarily chosen. Thus, an independent eschatological speculation not unlike that of old may flourish under cover of biblical authority, and keep alive the expectation of im- pending judgment upon sin and fundamental changes in man's life and the interpretation of history in the light of eternal purposes. [slam adopted from Judaism and Christianity the doctrines of a coming judgment, a resurrec- tion of the deadj and everlasting punishments and rewards. Later contact with Persian thought greatly enriched its esehatology. Especially im- portant was t he thought of a reincarnation of some great representative in the past of Allah or Hi- prophets. Again and again the world of Islam has been stirred by the expectation of some Imam or Mahdi to reveal more fully the truth or to lead the faithful into a better social condi- tion on earth. Iran and Africa have been most fertile in such movements. In modern Judaism tin- return of Israel to its land, the coming of the Messiah, the resurrec- tion of the dead, and everla ting retribution are -till expected by the orthodox, while liberals look upon Israel's missiim as connected with the regi aeration of Hie human race, and hope for an immortal life independent of the resuscitation of the body. The criterion of exact science is it- capacity to predict future thing-. In this lies to a large ex- tent the convincing force of astronomical il ries through which our modern estimate of the uni- ■ been chiefly formed. science t hat un- failingly foretell- future events furnishes a new esehatology by suggesting thai the earth's life is but ;!ii episode in the never-beginning and never- OUrse of nature, and that, bailing aCCl dent-, this planet inu-t one day end it- separate existence in Hie arms of it- celestial parent, the sun. History, in it- widest sense, teaches that the future of the human race must grow out of present life, and that the conditions of hu- i er new revolut i' m ma ; i ome, arc not ti cataclysm ii changes wrought from without, but b; forces already operating v. ithin. i ition oi present tendencies it seems to many thinkers possible to predict that warfare will cease; that arbitration will lake its place as a means of settling international dif- ferences; that competition and monopoly, with the extremes of wealth and poverty to » hieh they give rise, will yield to public administration of industry and commerce for the public good, or some form of cooperation involving a more equi- table distribution of the bounties of nature and the products of common toil ; that ignorance will be reduced by universal education fitting each individual lor the highest service he can render to society; that disease and criminality will be stamped out by preventive and remedial meas- ures; that the conflict between rival sects and religions will end in a fellowship no longer based upon creed or cultic performance, but upon a common interest in the pursuit of truth and righteousness; and that thus the chief blessings associated with the millennium will come, not through a radical change in man's nature wrought by supernatural power, but by a gradual amelioration of the race. Eschatological specu- lation of this character, already seen in Plato's Republic and Thomas Here's Vtopia, has taken a strong hold upon the present generation. In the effort to realize the eschatological dreams of human society as it ought to be by strengthen- ing the movements of thought and life that tend in the right direction, compensation is found by many for the silence of science concerning a sur- vival of the individual, while they are ready to welcome any light that may be shed upon the mystery of death. See Heaven ; Hell; Immor- tality; Intermediate State; Judgment, Final; Millennium. Bibliography. A complete bibliography of the older literature by Ezra Abbott may be found in Alger. I Critical History of the Doctrine of a Future Life (New York.' 1871). Consult the works on biblical theology, such as Ochler, Schultz. Dillmann, for the Old Testament; Baur, Schmidt, Oosterzee. Meyer. Weiss, Beyschlag, Wendt, limner, Holtzmann. for the New; Lu- thardt. Die Lehre von den letzten Dingen (Leip- zig, 1861 ) ; Stade, Die alttestamentlichen Yorstel- lungen ><>»> Zustande nach dem Tode (Leipzig, ls77i ; Newman Smyth t translator). Dorner mi the Future State (New York. 1883); Jeremias, Die babylonisch-assyrischen Vorstellungen vom /.■I. ti, nach ill in Tnilr (Leipzig. 1887) : Schwally, Ihix l.rhni mull dem luih (Giessen, 1S02) ; Toy, Judaism and Christianity (Boston. 1892); Ka- bisch, Eschatologie des Paulus (Gottingen, 1893) : Salmond, The Christian Doctrine of Immortality (Edinburgh. 1807): Smend. AlttestamentlicM onsgeschichte (Freiburg, 1893) ; Marti, Oe- schichte der israelitischen Religion (Strass- burg, 1807): Charles, Critical History <<; the Unci rim of ii I'uliiri Life ( London. 1800) : Beet, Last Things (London. 1807): Russell, The Parousia (London. 1887): S. David-on. Doctrine of I. ust Things (London, 1900); Soderblom, l.n vie future d'apres le masdeisme <) In lumiere des croyances pareilles dans les autres religions (Paris, 1891); BBklen, Die Veruxmdtschaft der jiidAsch-christlichen mil ,1, r parsischen Eschc- Gottingen, 1892). ESCHEAT (Fr. e"ehoir, from Lat. cadere, to fall out or happen). An incident of feudal (enure oi nil property, whereby the course of descent from Hie tenant i- obstructed, and the property