AT HAND:—John the Baptist preached, “Repent ye; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matt. 3:2). Jesus preached, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand.” (Mark 1:14, 15) This plain language gives the future kingdom advocates a lot of trouble. According to John R. Rice, they soon quit preaching “the kingdom at hand.” He presents this question: “Is there a single time after tenth chapter of Matthew ... that they preached that the kingdom of heaven is at hand? I say it isn’t there.” Again, “After Jesus was rejected definitely by the nation, the kingdom was no longer at hand.” He argues that the kingdom was postponed till the second coming of Christ. But he overlooked what Jesus told the seventy to preach. (Luke 10:1-11). Verse 9: “The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.” Verse 11: “nevertheless know this, that the kingdom of God is come nigh.” This preaching was done during the last year of Christ’s personal ministry. So what Rice says “isn’t there,” is there; and he would have seen it if he had been looking for truth instead of proof to sustain a theory. The following sentence from Brother R. H. Boll shows that he realized the difficulty and tried to hedge against it: “If it be felt a difficulty that the kingdom, though announced as ‘at hand’, has never yet appeared, we shall find an explanation unforced and natural, and one which will cast no reflection on the truth and goodness of God.” (K. p. 34). That statement shows clearly that he realized some explanation was needed to keep his theory from casting reflection on the truth and goodness of God; but it seems to me that his attempt at an “unforced and natural” explanation helps not at all. Hear him: “Since the kingdom promise was national, the preparatory repentance must of course also be national: the rulers and the rank and file of the people to all of whom the kingdom was dear, must now sincerely turn and return to God.” Passing by his assertion that “the kingdom promise was national,” I call attention to the “national repentance” idea. Nowhere is there even a hint that John and Jesus told the people that the establishment of the kingdom depended on “national repentance.” Neither said, “The time is fulfilled and the kingdom is at hand, provided the nation repents; otherwise it will be postponed to some future time.” But not a word about national repentance, not a word about national rejection and its results, not a word about postponing the kingdom; and yet in the absence of any such warning, we are told that the kingdom was postponed. Now, what about that sense of justice? Quoting again: “The announcement of the kingdom thus became the basis of the call to repentance.” One motive to cause them to repent was the promised kingdom. Vast multitudes were moved by that promise to repent and be baptized. (Mark 1:5; John 4:1, 2). Multitudes did as commanded; and yet according to the future kingdom advocates none of them received what was promised of them. It seems to