to the Scripture, all these hopes are doomed to disappointment, and that already, in the counsels of God, ‘Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin' is written concerning modern democracies no less than concerning Babylon of old." Premillennialism is committed to a fatalistic scheme which it finds marked out in the Bible, and in that scheme democracy has no place. This has all been settled, as Professor Kellogg says, "in the counsels of God." Dr. Gray finds indications in the Bible that democracy is to fail in Russia and monarchy to be the future lot of that people.2 If this be true, of course it is foolish for the men of Russia to hunger and toil and fight for freedom.

2. But democracy is not only vain as a hope; it is false as an ideal. A few years ago the Christian Workers Magazine, published by the Moody Bible School, printed a communication containing the following:

"The American system of government is based on the principle, 'Governments receive their just powers from the consent of the governed'-which principle is false. Governments derive their just powers from God. Democracy (self-government) is the antithesis of autocracy— God's ideal of government. When He comes whose right it is to be the absolute monarch of men, and not till then, God's will will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Self-government whether in an individual or in a nation is abhorrent to God's order for the creature."3

Upon this the editor commented as follows:

"We publish the whole of the above because we like

1S. H. Kellogg, Bibliotheca Sacra, XLV, pp. 273, 274. 2 A Text Book on Prophecy, p. 192.

Christian Workers Magazine, XVI, 97, 98,

its spirit and because it contains much truth, well expressed, which we are pleased to place before our readers. .. We agree that, scripturally viewed, the basis on which our government rests is false, that the ideal government is an absolute monarchy where Christ is the monarch, and that it is inconsistent for a Christian 'to make himself part of a system whose principle is the apotheosis of man.'" The Christian is to be subject to the powers that be, it is added, voting and bearing arms, "and yet in spirit not be a part of that system to which they belong."

Such expressions do not stand alone. Thus a speaker at the "prophetic conference" of 1886 refers to "the modern blasphemous doctrine of popular sovereignty."4 A leading speaker at the Philadelphia "prophetic conference" in 1918 opposed Christianity to democracy and declared: "The old gospel is a gospel of divine redemption versus human democracy." In similar vein J. H. Brookes refers to "idle talk affirming the inalienable rights of man to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, to trial by jury, to vote, and to other fancied privileges.. Man has no inalienable right except the right to be damned.”6

...

3. The premillennial ideal for the future of humanity is not democracy but autocracy. The rule of Christ in the coming kingdom is conceived in terms of an Oriental autocracy, the dominance of sheer power. "He comes back, no longer inviting voluntary allegiance, but to compel obedience." "We may say we need a great democ'Prophetic Studies, p. 53.

"Light on Prophecy, p. 335. "The Lord Cometh, p. 388.

'Pink, The Redeemer's Return, p. 346.

racy," says Dr. R. A. Torrey. "They had a great democracy in France at the time of the great revolution, and the streets ran with blood. What we need is an emperor, but there is only one emperor that will bring peace and that is not Kaiser Wilhelm, it is Kaiser Jesus." This was published in the Christian Workers Magazine just before our entrance into the war for democracy. It is suggestive of Dr. Torrey's conception alike of democracy and of Christianity that the French Revolution represents to him a "great democracy" and that he can refer to our Lord as "Kaiser Jesus."

This attitude toward democracy is not surprising because it is quite in keeping with the premillennial conception of the nature of religion and of authority. The great advance that Christianity made upon the legalism of the Jews was when Jesus "substituted the idea of an inward, self-determined obedience for that of statutory law." Paul saw that faith was a principle of freedom, and that the rule of God was not outer compulsion but the control through an indwelling spirit that was at once the power of God and the true life of man. Failing to grasp this idea in religion, it is no wonder that Adventism rejects democracy, whose ideal is the self-government of peoples in similar manner by a free subjection to the right and the common good. No one desires to impugn the loyalty of premillennialists-they may be far better than their creed, though that is no commendation of the doctrine. But it is fair to ask what the consequences would be if men adopted generally this system, which says to all democratic hopes of this longing age, "There is no chance;" which says to democratic faith, "Your 8 Christian Workers Magazine, XVII, 554.

principles are false;" which says to its followers that they should yield outward obedience, but not belong in spirit to the state of which they are a part.

PREMILLENNIALISM AND SOCIAL REFORMS

In speaking of social reforms we are simply specifying in detail what we mean by the new democracy. It is important to do so, however, because under this head we bring together a great many movements expressive of the highest aims and noblest devotion of increasing multitudes. There are movements of moral reform, like the fight against liquor and vice. There are those aimed at special industrial evils, like child labor, seven-day work, excessive hours of toil, and inadequate wages. There are broader programs, like that of the British Labor party, which aim to bring in democracy in industrial organization. And there is the movement which seeks by an international fellowship not merely to banish war, but to establish justice and secure a fair chance, economically and politically, for all peoples, small and great. These are great dreams, and not merely dreams, for at every point in the foregoing program there has been definite advance. Most important, however, is the fact that these ideals of humanity and justice have been uttered in the ears of all men and their authority recognized. And all the selfish strife of individual and class and nation must not blind us to the fact that there were never so many men joined together to work for these ideals, and never so many who have risen above the thought of mere individual interest to that of a better order for all men. No one can read such declarations as that of the British Labor party in 1918 and that of the

Quaker Employers in England of the same year without realizing the fine idealism contained in both.

And to this movement the churches stand committed to-day. A generation ago one heard only the voices of individuals here and there; to-day we hear the utterances of great Christian communions. In the last year or two they have come from all sides: the Federal Council of Churches in America, the Northern Baptist Convention, the Committee of Bishops of the Roman Catholic Church in this country, the Bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church, the Archbishops' Committee of the Anglican Church, the Young Women's Christian Association, the International Sunday-School Association-these are some that have spoken of late. Back of these utterances lie certain fundamental convictions. God's purpose is to redeem man's whole life in all its relations and institutions. Religion is always a gift of God, but it is always man's task at the same time, and a chief part of that task is to inquire how men are to live together in industry, in the state, and as nations. The will of God must be wrought out in social institutions and relations, and there is no kingdom of God except as God rules in the individual heart and in the social life. And such a new order is God's will for men, not for some other world or some distant time, but for here and now, a world of truth and justice and peace.

Anyone familiar with the principles of Adventism in any measure need not be told what its attitude is here. To the eager hosts giving themselves increasingly to such hopes and such service it can only say, "Your goal is a mistake, your hope a delusion; no matter what you do nothing will come of it, since God has not planned any