King's Business - 1918-01

t h e KING’S BUSINESS 3 seems to me that you might have saving Jiumor enough to see that the question is not as to what you think God ought to do but as to what Jesus said He was going to do. The v i c t o r y H i s coming as I understand it will be the consummation o f His purpose ^ " “ f o u iliX p a m p V e t c X v m c e s X m o r e than ever, before that Dr. Orchard is alto­ gether right when he says, “W e have arrayed against us not so much the philosophers and the Scientists but the second hand opinion of .the very popular and imperfectly understock?1science of a generation ago. I f I understand anything at all about the temner o f the great mass o f Christian people in this country, as well as in Canada and the lands across the sea, tfiere is a very decided revolt against this thing that had its origin in Germany and has gone to seed in the collapse o f Europe. I f you men in th if countrS who stand for that rank German rationalistic interpretation o f the Bible are disposed to invite a controversy by such pamphlets as your little leaflet I am afraid that you are going to see a result that you have not counted on. I want to protest M t M M i l l l christ | the m u u R H MjgBBm with all my heart and the great question is not how He is going to come but that He is coming and that He is to reign in thd lives of men m all their social relations and through His reign going to realize the highest and best life for them. Let us give our­ selves to the presentation o f Jesus Christ in His immediate challenge to •men to obey Him and let us show that we have at least enough of the Spirit of Christ to enable us to allow that men may differ from us in our conclusions and yet be sane and scholarly. Really Dr Mathews, I feel that you owe an apology to your brethren in the min istrv who Accept the premillenarian view, who are among some o f the finest and most Godlv men that I know of in this country and across the Atlantic, for the grotesque mis- representation o f the°r position given in your leaflet, and let me say in all Rankness and kindness that it is my conviction that the great danger that threatens the church m this country today is not so much, even the extremes o f premillenarianism, as the blatant rationalism o f Germany which is being retailed by a coterie o f men who m an aTfogant spirit1are™constantly3 arrogating to themselves the exclusive right to be re,cognized as modern scholars. . . . . Dr. Shailer Mathews would be annoying if he were not so amusing. We suppose that there are people who will accept things simply because be says so but he wm have no weight with really thoughtful and fair-minded men. When, a man" writes: “ No man can hold the. premillenarian view' whose mind has been really affected bv the modern scientific methods and discoveries, one or the other has to be abandoned.” he simply makes a fool of himself. The truth is that the destructive criticism is thoroughly unscientific in its methods, and among the premillenarians are many men who are thoroughly conversant with the best modern scientific methods, and apply them to biblical interpretation as well as to other things. A very large proportion of the brightest scholars today are premillenarians. T h e po pe a n d t h e k a is e r . We have had occasion before to call attention to the seeming under­ standing between the Pope and the Kaiser. A very interesting article along this line was written in October, 1914, at the outset of the war by one who knows the papal court as very few know it, Alexander Robertson, D. D „ Venice, Italy. He writes as follows: > I HM , . . . ‘‘Soon after' the fall of the Temporal Power, in 1870, a league was founded o f all Catholics throughout Christendom for the restoration o f that Power. And the fact was fullv and ciearfy announced by the Church four years later. Cardinal Manning then saidY- ‘There is only one solution of the difficulty, a solution, I fear, impending, and that is the terrible scourge o f Continental war, a war which will exceed the horrors o that is, Empire. And it is my firm conviction that, in spite of all obstacles, the Vicar of Jesus Christ will be put again in his own rightful place. But that

Made with FlippingBook - Online catalogs