Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-11-30

realize that God Is giving us now a knowl-
edge Of His future blessings for the world
of mankind, SO that our hearts may rest
the more confidently upon Him. that we
may appreciate His character the better.
and love Him and serve Him the more fer
vently.''
The Great Consumation.
The subject of Mr.. Russelrs talk at the
evening meeting was 1.-THE Great Consum-
nation" He said in part:
by this time my audience is fully aware
that, contrary to Second Adventist views
and the views of Christians in general, I
am not expecting that the emil of consum-
nation OF the present dispensation will be
in literal fire that will reduce our earth
to cinder. On the contrary, my hearers
have noted our expectations and the Scrip
lures on which we base them that the
end or harvest of the present gospel age
will be time for the reaping of the fruit
age Of this age-the gathering of the ripe
wheat the saints, into the garner into
burning of the symbolic 'tares' and stumble
preparatory to the blowing and reaping Of
another age which will follow this one-tl %
millennial age. When, therefore, we an
nounce that, according to our understand
ing of the teachings of the Scriptures, We
are now living In the harvest time of the
gospel age-in the great consummation
mentioned In our text-the statement is not
an absurd scarecrow to alarm the Ignorant
and the wicked; for we are fully persuaded
of the truthfulness of the scriptural decla-
ration, None of the wicked shall under
stand Dan. 1910 The announcement
that we are now living in the end or
harvest time of the gospel age Is. how
ever, a message full of Importance to the
Lords people-to all who profess to be
members OF spiritual Zion. To these 1t
means that a crucial test Is upon the
church, which will fully separate the mere
to- r. ~
the genuine Christians. the. wheat class
of our Lords parable (Mattal13:24-30).
The Chief Reason.
'Tn that harvest time our Lord represent
ed himself as the chief Reaper and the
winnowing OF the threshed wheat to sep
arate 1t from the chair Of that nation was
a part of the ministry of the truth at that
time. The result was the gathering of the
Jewish wheat to higher piane-from the
house of servants into the house Of sons.
John i:12, 13.) subsequently, the chair of
that nation was burned-that is, fiery trou-
BILE came upon them which the apostle de-
clares was wrath to the uttermost upon
this people. Il Thessalonians, u:16.) The
fire of trouble destroyed the national ex-
istence of the Jews. though 1t did not de-
stroy them as a people. The last of the
prophets. John the Baptist referring to
Christ's work as a reaper of that age, said:
His fan Is in his hand, and He will thor
oughly purge MS lthreshingo floor; He Will
gather His wheat Into the garner gospel
favor, but burn up the chaff with un-
quenchable fire. (the time of trouble which
consumed the Jews nationality. Matthew.
iii:12.) He referred to the same thing when
he said at another time respecting the work
and results OF our Lords ministry: He
shall baptize You with the holy spirit and
with fire. Matthew. iii:11.) The holy
spirit baptism came upon the Israelites In
deed. the baptism of fire. OF trouble. came
upon the Others-'wrath to the uttermost.'
OF that trouble the Apostle Paul speaks.
saying: What II God. willing to show His
mercy. endured (for time) the vessels Of
wrath fitted for destruction. Romans.
ix:22.) Our Lord speaks of the same, say
Ing Of the coming trouble: These be the
days of vengeance. that all things which
are written may be fulfilled : for there
shall be great distress In the land and