In a large pamphlet, published last year, its author, Mr. Philip Mauro, undertakes to contradict what has been taught by men whom the Spirit of God raised up to recover most important truths, disentangling them from traditions which for centuries had hidden them from God's people, and giving them once more to enjoy what was originally given to the Church in all plainness and simplicity. We are now asked to believe that much of the truth thus recovered, and especially that relating to the kingdom of heaven, is not truth at all, but mere fancy, with no support from Scripture whatever.

The main points taken up in this pamphlet, and insisted upon, may be summed up as follows:

1. That " the kingdom of heaven belongs wholly to this present age;" that it is "purely spiritual in character," and "only what is real can have place in that kingdom."

2. That neither John the Baptist nor the Lord ever made a conditional offer of "an earthly kingdom to the Jews; " that God did not, on account of the Jews' refusal of this earthly kingdom, " turn to the building of the Church," leaving the kingdom "in the meantime in abeyance."

3. That the kingdom of heaven " was not foretold in the Old Testament at all, for God had seen fit to keep it hidden in His own secret counsels from the foundation of the world."

4. That "nothing could be farther from the truth of Scripture than the statement that the kingdom of heaven is the sphere of Christian profession; " that " none can enter that kingdom without conversion and the new birth."

5. That Matthew's Gospel is no more Jewish in character than the others; if, indeed, it is as much so. Those who speak of its Jewish character are chargeable with putting a slight upon this portion of the word of God (!)

6. That the "correspondence between Paul's preaching and John the Baptist's is very close, "and " it is very clear therefore, that Paul preached the same kingdom of God as John."

Let us see then what God's word has to say in regard to the above statements.

1. In the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord says :"Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many shall say unto Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name ? and in thy name cast out devils ? and in thy name done many wonderful works ?And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you; depart from Me, ye that work iniquity" (Matt. 7 :21-25).And in the next chapter, when commending the "great faith" of the centurion, the Lord says:" Many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven; but the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness :there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth" (8 :11, 12). We leave it to the reader to judge whether these and similar passages teach that" only what is real can have place in the kingdom of heaven," and whether it '' belongs wholly to this present age," or whether the title equally applies to the age to come. So also in the parable of the vineyard and husbandmen, "Therefore I say unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof" (Matt. 21 :43). See also the parable of the virgins in Matt. 25 :1-13.

In announcing to the Jews that the kingdom of heaven was "at hand," John speaks of the Lord as coming to " throughly purge his threshing floor, and gather his wheat into the garner, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." Since this was not while our Lord was here upon earth, does it not clearly point to the time when "The Son of Man shall send forth His angels, and they shall gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity, and shall cast them into a furnace of fire ?" They have got in His kingdom, then, during His absence, but are purged out when He comes and takes the administration of the kingdom in His own hands.

2. In Matt. 4 :23, we read :"And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness, and all manner of disease among the people ;" and in sending forth the twelve (Matt. 10 :1-23) Jesus said unto them :" Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not:but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand." The evidence they were to give of this follows:"Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils :freely ye have received, freely give." It requires but a careful reading of such scriptures to see that the kingdom in power was thus presented to Israel? As the King's messengers, they were even to inquire who was worthy to receive them; and the kingdom of heaven, instead of being " purely spiritual," was to be accompanied (and will yet be accompanied) by earthly blessing, in deliverance from the power of the enemy, and from the curse which now rests upon the world. Of such blessings Israel was to have the first testimony.

It is almost needless to say that the Jews were anticipating a kingdom set up on earth in power and glory, of which they were to be the administrators; nor was this idea erroneous, for Israel will yet be the head and not the tail among the nations of the earth. Their mistake and sin lay in not repenting and turning to God, as the Lord and His forerunner urged upon them, and in refusing Him who alone can give them this place in His kingdom.

In the parable of the vineyard the Lord asked the Jews, "Did ye never read in the Scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner ? " and He adds :"Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken, but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder." Their effort to seize the vineyard, and cast out the Heir, was the result of the unbroken pride and self-righteousness, which marked the leaders especially, and the assertion of their national privileges, apart from repentance and humiliation, which led to the actual murder of the "Son." This, and their subsequent refusal to repent, when "times of refreshing" might yet come from the "presence of the Lord," resulted in their complete overthrow as a nation; in other words, "the kingdom of God was taken from them." It will yet be given to a deeply repentant remnant who, when Christ comes again to them, will exclaim:"Blessed is the King that cometh in the name of the Lord."

This parable of the vineyard sufficiently answers, the question whether the Jews had an earthly kingdom offered them which was conditional upon true repentance and submission to the King. It was certainly offered to them, according to the parable, not as a "purely spiritual reign" in the hearts of men, but according to the predictions of the prophets concerning the coming reign of Christ over the earth.

Closely allied with the setting aside of the nation and its hopes of earthly glory, is the bringing out into prominence God's counsel in respect to the Gentiles and the Church. It is when His own people "knew Him not," that, on Peter's confession, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God," the Lord begins to speak of the Church. This confession of Christ's glory was to be the foundation of the new structure ("my assembly"), into which all who are called, by divine grace, whether Jew or Gentile, were to be built, and Christ's interests were to be entrusted into the hands of those represented by Peter, as his new name teaches. But this very fact indicates that the kingdom was about to take on a new form, and its administrators to be no longer the venerable council, as was the case in Israel, but those called by grace.

3. From what has just been considered, it will be seen that there are indeed certain truths connected with the kingdom of heaven which are not found in the Old Testament, but which the Lord speaks of as "mysteries." The kingdom of heaven was not hidden from the prophets of old, for John announced it as "at hand"-an expression which would have no force if it did not refer to something already in expectation. Later, the Lord preached, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is near " (Mark i:15). No man could foresee that a long time would elapse between the coming of the King into the world and the setting up of His kingdom, both of which the Old Testament spoke of as if they would take place together. This is why John speaks of the Lord's coming as he does. We cannot read Matthew's Gospel intelligently unless we connect in our minds the first coming of the King with His second coming. It is necessary to pass over the present interval and link together the Jewish age, which was passing away with Messiah's advent, with the age which shall be ushered in when He re-appears, and which would have been ushered in, speaking in the terms of the prophets, had Israel received Him. It is not a question here of despising any portion of God's word. The moral lessons are surely needed, and woe to any who refuse them. Nevertheless, we must not confound what Scripture keeps separate.

It is of the present form of the kingdom of heaven, with the King Himself absent, and His affairs entrusted into the hands of His professed followers, that the Old Testament knows nothing. In speaking of these things in the seven parables of Matt. 13, the Lord was uttering "things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world."

4. Since the Lord Himself has shown that His kingdom was to go on in its administration, not in His immediate hands, but in the hands of those claiming allegiance to Him during His absence, it follows (what the seven parables of Matt. 13 make very plain) that failure would mark those responsible to direct His affairs among men, and not only that some not truly His disciples might creep in, but even some who are His bitter enemies. Nevertheless, since all such have outwardly signified their submission to Him (whatever they might be at heart), it remains for Him, when He takes the government into His own hands, to sift out those who are not truly His, and deal with them accordingly. This explains, what to many has been a difficulty in Matthew's Gospel (which always has this governmental character), why some who had received forgiveness from the Lord are afterward judged, as illustrated by the parable of the unmerciful servant (chap. 18 :21-35). The forgiveness on the Lord's part was genuine, and would have remained efficacious had that grace really touched the servant's heart. His subsequent dealings with his fellow-servant revealed this, that grace had been exercised toward him in vain, that there was no reality in his profession, and he is dealt with afterward according to his responsibility as a sinner before God. But such illustrations as this set aside the idea that the kingdom of heaven, in its broad, external sense, cannot have in it those who are not truly Christ's. In the coming age, however, it will be true, that none but those who have Jehovah's law written in their heart will enter it. It is this coming age of the kingdom which the Lord has in view when speaking of the unrighteous being excluded from it.

5. The fact that Matthew's Gospel opens as it does, announcing the genealogy of the Lord as the Son of David, the Son of Abraham, identifying Him to Israel as the promised One, according to various prophecies-to say nothing of the numerous other marks, such as the visit of the Magi in search of the "King of the Jews," sending His messengers to the "lost sheep of the house of Israel," etc.-is evidence enough to most people that it is decidedly Jewish in character. The Olivet discourse, too, has in view the last days of that unbelieving, yet beloved people, before their King appears for their deliverance. Is this speaking disparagingly of it ? Is it denying that there are Jewish features in the other Gospels, and Gentile features in Matthew ? It merely speaks of what is characteristic.

6. No one denies that there is a certain correspondence between one part of Scripture and another. Genesis and Revelation have some correspondence; but the primary features of the two books are very different. One gives us the origins and the other the endings of God's works, His ways and His purposes. So, doubtless, Paul's ministry and that of John the Baptist have some similarities. Who would deny that both " preach the same kingdom of God?" In the larger scope of the word God has but one kingdom, but that kingdom includes a variety of kingdoms. The kingdom preached by John was the one predicted by the prophets, a kingdom of righteous rule over the earth, which this earth is yet to see, with the wicked cut off, and the meek inheriting the earth. Doubtless this kingdom, in its inner meaning, will be received in the heart of the remnant before it spreads out in power to rule the earth, seeing that this remnant are to be the exponents of it (see Isa. 2:3), and seeing that Jerusalem is to be the metropolis of the kingdom (Matt. 7 :3).

The kingdom of God of which Paul speaks, as consisting in "righteousness, joy and peace in the Holy Spirit," is not essentially, or morally, different to that government of the earth of which the Baptist spoke, but it is of very different application. The one is spiritual only, the other is a tangible, physical rule over the sons of men by Him who loved to speak of Himself as the Son of Man, and to whom it has been said, "Ask of Me, and I will give Thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession."

In conclusion, let it be said, that those views of Scripture which exclude other aspects of truth are dangerous; and any teaching which claims for itself some "new thing," as does the above pamphlet, is to be carefully scrutinized or guarded against (i Thess. 5 :21).

If any wish to pursue the subject further, let them consult the publishers, who will be glad to put them on the track of much helpful matter relating to it. Wm. Huss.