T HE K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S 109 believe our m issionaries will be glad to have, by way of inform ation, th e enclosed leaflet stating as it does w ith sub stan tial accuracy th e position of th e Methodist Episcopal Church on th is im p o rtan t question.” The enclosed tract to which she refers is Shailer Mathews’, “Will Christ Come .Again?” This tract, as many of onr readers know, is a very bitter and unfair attack, not only upon the premillennial doctrine that Christ will come before the millennium, but an attack upon the doctrine that He will come personally, visibly and bodily at all. Furthermore, this tract, still more than being an attack upon the doctrine of our Lord’s personal return, is an attack upon the reliability of the teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ, and of the inspired apostles, and. the wife of a Bishop sends this out to every missionary employed by the society with which she is connected, with the statement that it states ‘‘with substantial accuracy the position of the Meth odist Episcopal Church.” Many of the postmillennarians seem ready, in their bitter hatred, not merely of the doctrine that Christ will come before the millennium, but the doctrine that He will ever come personally, bodily, and visibly at all, not only to divide the church but to undermine faith in the credibility and reliability of our Lord Jesus Christ.
“PATRIOTIC” PROFANITY One of th e most pernicious evils we have to p u t up w ith today is wide spread and growing profanity. Since th e w ar th is h ab it seems to be on the increase. Men forget God’s name stands for His Holy N ature, and they use it in connection w ith the most un holy things. It is not my n a tu re to find fault. But I cannot find it in me to sanction the public use of pro fan ity which some of our retu rn ed soldiers use on th e p lat form. I say some, because I am glad th e re are fine men, of high moral char acter, clean in though ts and ideals, who have been in th e trenches, and who can speak of th e ir experiences w ithout sinking to th e low plane of using lan guage no t decent to be used in a poli tical convention, much less before mixed audiences of cultured Christian people. A man on a public p latform has no rig h t to swear in th e name of patriotism . When you ta lk th is “ broad stuff” as an excuse for your soldier swearing, you are using mere camouflage. We cannot get around th e commandment, “Thou sh alt not tak e the name of th e Lord th y God in vain,” on such a flimsy excuse.
A soldier who swears from a public platform , while civil and church au th o r ities applaud, is se ttin g an example before th e boys of a community th a t cannot be counteracted by perhaps years of church and Sunday School influence. The soldier is looked on by th e aver age boy as a g rea ter hero th a n the President. Are we going to throw mor ality and common decency to th e winds, and p erm it a community to be contam inated by men of th is type?— H. M. Wyrick. M BLESSED EPILEPSY Dr. Joseph P a rk e r was once preach ing on Saul’s conversion. “And they say in Germany,” said th e Doctor, “ th is is th e resu lt of an epileptic fit. L et us look a t Saul before he w ent into the fit, sno rting blasphemy and persecu tion. Together we will look a t him ir. th e fit. ‘And behold, he p rayeth .’ And now look a t him when he has come out of th e fit: saint, hero, missionary, m a rty r.” Throw ing up his hands, he shouted, “F ly on, Thou m ighty Epi lepsy!”
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