108 THE K I N G ’S B U S I N E S S most, p itifu l delusions th a t ever cursed th e earth , one is moved w ith an earn est desire to say something, if possible, th a t shall keep o ther m u ltitudes from follow ing in th e same baleful path. I refer to th e u tte rly unfounded notion th a t Christ is soon to m ake a spectacular appearance in th e clouds of heaven, begin a tem poral reign a t Jerusalem , and usher in th e end of th e world or of th e age. Dr. Mudge evidently realized how clearly the doctrine of the personal, bodily, premillennial return of our Lord is taught in the Scriptures, and therefore felt it was necessary to take a fling at the reliability of God’s book in his determination to fight premillennialism and drive it out of the church at any cost, for he says further on: “Most people have yet to realize th a t it (th e Bible) is a hum an as well as a Divine book, and, more th a n th a t, very largely a Hebrew book as well as a Christian one. The Old T estam ent is, of course, wholly Hebrew ; yet m ultitudes ignore th e fact and pu t it practically au tho ritativ ely on a p ar w ith th e New. And in th e New th e re is a large Hebrew elem ent which needs to be w atched very care fully for th e apostles were Jews, train ed in rabbinical learn ing (P au l specially), deepiy imbued w ith th e sp irit of th e ir age, full of Jew ish predilections and the inherited ideas of th e ir generation, which were strongly, unconsciously influential in th e ir thinking. I t could no t be otherw ise. I t was inevitable th a t th e ir con ceptions of C h rist’s kingdom and th e m anner of H is re tu rn should reta in the form to which th e ir early associations h ad accustomed them , th a t they should in te rp re t H is words in th e lig h t of th e cu rren t th o u g h t of th e ir day. The apostles were p rim arily m en of th e ir own age . . who grasped th e sp iritu a l ideals of Christ’s kingdom slowly and imperfectly.” In other words, we cannot trust the Old Testament because it is Hebrew, —we cannot even trust the apostles. Who then can we trusty Such utter ances as this are characteristic of much of the postmillennarian argumen tation of today. A large share of the postmillenarians are evidently, in their bitter hatred of premillenarians, willing to give up the authority of the Word of God rather than to give up their postmillennialism. Of course, this is divisive, and if this method is pursued it will necessarily lead to a separa tion between those who believe in the Word of God, its absolute inerrancy, and those who do not. Further on in the article Dr. Mudge flatly denies one of our Lord’s own statements and speaks of His utterance as Jewish in its origin, and Judaizing in its tendency. Dr. Mudge’s words are : “There would seem to be no call fo r H is visible re tu rn in th e clouds. That conception is Jew ish in its origin, an d Jud aizing in its tendency, p a r t of^an o u t grown dispensation.” Dr. Mudge says this in face of the plain statement of our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, a statement made, by the way, under oath, found in Matt. 26:63, 64: “ But Jesus held His peace. And the high priest said unto Him, I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou art the Christ, the Son of God. Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you, Henceforth ye shall see the Son of man sitting at the right hand of Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.” Is there any further extent than this to which men can go in their hatred of a doctrine? Along the same line, July 8,1918, Mrs. Clotilda L. McDowell, wif-e of one of the Bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church, sent the following letter to every mis sionary employed by the Wbmen’s Foreign Missionary Society of the Metho dist Episcopal Church: “R eports have come to us from tim e to tim e of th e P rem illennial propaganda in different p arts of our mission fields. In these times, when th e m inds of men and women are agitated, to an extent alarm ed, it is n a tu ra l th a t th e old question of Christ’s imm ediate re tu rn to ea rth in physical form should be raised. We
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