THE K I N G ’S BUS I NES S do hold th a t the Christian calling is to evangelize all peoples, knowing th a t God is “taking out a people for His name.” (d) “They hold that there is no sufficient moral or spiritual power in the agencies of the Gospel as now employed, either to turn back or even arrest the present toboggan slide of the world toward perdition.” If this statement were true we should expect to find little evangelistic actiy- ity among premillennialists, but the strange thing is th a t the outstanding evangelists and missionaries of all the age have practically all been believers in the premillennial retu rn of Christ. They have all.tau g h t th a t but for the present power of the Gospel the world would be turned into a literal hell. (e) “Prem illennialists seem to be little inter ested concerning either the history or lessons growing out of the first coming of Christ. The philosophy of their attitude is obvious. The real kingdom of Christ has not y et arrived.” This is another glaring falsehood. A glance over the programs of the great Bible conferences of the world would be sufficient to show that the great major ity of the addresses have to do with lessons growing out of the first advent, and practically all speakers in these movements are outstanding premillen nialists. (f) “The pessim ism of premillennialism for our human world is like a cancerous virus, v iti ating its entire blood. The real logic of its philosophy is to unfit men for healthy view s of human life, to unnerve and to make them listless toward life's practical duties.” We have never met a pessimist among those who rightly understand “ the blessed hope.” We doubt if Dr. Mains could name one. The effect of the be lief that the glorious coming of the Saviour awaits the completion of His spiritual Body in the earth, so far as our observation has gone, has been to quicken men to the service of Christ and the winning of souls. (g) “Christ’s conception of the kingdom, w ith in whatever figure H e described it, was always spiritual, not material. H e said to Pilate, ‘My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight that I should not be delivered to the Jews, but now is my kingdom not from hence.' ” All premillennialists will probably agree perfectly with Dr. Mains on this point, but we wonder if the word “now” in the last phrase has any - ’^nificance
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to his mind. The kingdom Christ pre sented in His first advent was indeed a spiritual and heavenly kingdom. Old Testament prophecy had clearly set forth two advents of the Messiah. He must first come as a suffering Saviour to establish a spiritual kingdom. He must afterward come as a glorified Mes siah reigning in victory and majesty, re establishing the throne of His father David. The first line of prophecy was literally fulfilled. The second line will be likewise fulfilled a t the appointed time. The error of the Jews was in their failure to grasp the prophecies relative to the necessary atoning work of their Messiah. They inverted the di vine order in the prophecies. They de manded the earthly kingdom first and even attempted to force it upon the Sa viour. He refused it, saying, “Now is my kingdom not from hence.” He said th a t He must first be crucified and raised again and th a t He must go’into a far country for a time. After His resur rection His disciples asked Him when the prophecies of His earthly reign' would be fulfilled (Acts 1:6, 7). His answer was th a t it was not for them to know the time which the Father had put in His own power. Of its certainty, however, He gave them positive assur ance many times. . 0*1 Premillennialism is Jewish, not Christ ian. This thorough preoccupation with, this ob session of, a materialistic kingdom in the earth, fully possessed the Jewish mind when Christ “ adr en‘ m Bethlehem. Christ Him self, in ail the schooling of H is disciples, constantly encountered this positions’* Dr. Mains here condemns the Jews because they put a spiritual instead of a literal construction on the prophe cies regarding the suffering Mes siah. He would yow have us make a similar error by putting a spiritual in stead of a literal construction on the other half of the prophecies. If one- half of the prophecy has been literally fulfilled, by what law of interpretation can we say the other half will not be likewise fulfilled?
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