The evening herald. [volume] (Shenandoah, Pa.) 1891-1966, 1893-02-14
aTHE K1NapoM.oF GOD
The Subject of Rev. PowIck's Sermon {
sunday

The Subject OF Rev. PoWicks sermon on
sunday
Sunday was missionary day in the M. +,
church. The subject Of the morning sermon
was "The Kingdom Of God" Daniel 2'44 |
'1n the days of these kings shall the God OF
heaven set upa kingdom which shall never
be destroyed, etc" The text is from the ac-
count of Daniels vision of the succession OF
Kingdoms. The kings referred to are by
common consent those of the Babyloniin,
Medo Persian, Macedonian, and Roman em-
pires By the kingdom Of God is meant the
whole community of those who accept its
divine founder as the Messiah and bow to
His authority. 1t is the antithesis OF the
kingdom of satan spoken Of by the Saviour
when he was accused Of casting out devils by |
the prince of devils. THE world lieth in the
wicked one" and the God Of heaven has set
up kingdom in its midst and proposes by the
power of the gospel to deliver the wretched
slaves of satan from his cruel power and
translate them into the kingdom of His
son.
This kingdom is of divine origin, unlike
the kingdoms of the world it is not founded
upon force but upon love. It's ruling principle
is peace on earth and good will to men. No
flourish or trumpets, no formal proclamation,
no social upheaval announced the moment OF
its birth 1t came as the rising sun-it was
like the planting of the mustard seed. Its
humble beginnings and feeble methods attest
its divinity. Its founder, cTadled in amanger
graduated in a carpenter shop, calling
fishermen and x-gatherers for his disciples,
consorting with publicans and sinners,
finally died on cross. To overcome the
wicked bias of human hearts, subdue their
angry passions, transform their filthy habits,
revolutionize their social order, he uses the
story of his own DEATH With no legal status
and no social prestige his kingdom arrayed
itself against everything earthly, sensual,
| deviish 1t overcame the fury of its foes and
the mistaken zeal Of its friends as embodied
in the Roman prosecutions and the papal
inquisition. No earthly kingdom was ever
established by such means.
The explanation of its progress is found in
its spiritual nature. The kingdom of God,
which Jesus said should come with power
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of DEATH sis not If this world--not thing
of outward show-it cometh not with OBJ
servation-it is not meat and drink, but
righteousness peace and joy in the Holy
| Ghost-it is within you" 1t meets the
conscious need of the soul and satisfies our
longings as nothing else can do.
Like the stone of Daniels vision the
kingdom is ever extending its conquests and
is destined to suppant every opposing rule.
Men may talk of the world growing worse.
The scriptures teach that "evil men and
seducers shall wax worse and worse" but they
do not teach that they shall gain the as
tendency nor that the world shall grow
worse. They may talk about the gospel
demonstrating its failure to establish the
reign of Christ in the affairs of men in order
| to His coming to establish an earthly king
| dom and to accomplish what the gospel fails
to do-but the gospel IS doingits lDork. Look
at the world as it was and as it is. War was
the ule, now it is the exception. Even The
standing armies and ever increasing destruo-
tiveness of modern engines of war are hasten
ing the time when the nations shall learn
war no more. Human genius is making war
so destructive that no nation can afford to go
to war Contrast the degradation of woman
and her condition of slavery to the animalism
of man with her condition in christian lands
to-day Consider the incredible number and
poverty of slaves and the cruelty of their
bondage, and see how the principles of the
kingdom of God have broken their fetters
till slavery is unknown where the gospel of
the kingdom is preached Compare the
sa credness of human life to day with the
contempt in which it was then had--the
tudes of human sacrifices offered to the gods
| the killing of deformed and invalid children
to save the expense and trouble of raising
| them. We make mistake to estimate the
extent of Gods kingdom by its visible bounds
and its published statistics. Though the
gospel has reached less than one-third of
earth millions it has greatly ameliorated the
condition of multitudes of those it has yet
saved. Less than twenty years ago a price
was placed on the heads of christians in
Japan and to-day she has constitution and
congress modelled after our own, and
christians sitting as members and helping to
frame her laws. Never were the nations of
the earth 80 ready for the rule of Christ as
now The problem of their conquest IN the
near future is largely a question of conse-
Grated men and consecrated money.