Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-11-23

of course includes in a general way the
restraining of every evil influence, moral
and physical. for which satan's name and
government are the synonyms
why has God permitted satan to be the
prince or ruler or god of this world-of
this dispensation? We answer that God
gave satan no commission, no authority
in respect to the rule of mankind, Satan
usurped this authority. He as well as
mankind came under divine condemna-
ton in Connection with the fall of our race
from holiness and divine favor into sin
and death. although he did not come
under the death sentence. Taking advan-
tage of mans natural pronenesS to sin in
his fallen state, satan has begulled and
deceived him, putting light for darkness
and darkness for light, that as a mat
ter of fact even those of mankind who
prefer the light to the darkness the good
to the evil. the right to the wrong, have
continually been misled and deceived. 1t
is because only a small proportion of
humanity has been blessed of the Lord
with the opening of their eyes to the
Truth that the adversary exercises the
power of error and deception upon the
vast majority in civilized we'll in
heather lands. This fact gives special
force to the gracious promise that when
satan is bound he can deceive the ma
lions no more. Meantime the period in
which he can deceive and mislead and
pervef't is graciously limited to this
present evil world and while its dura-
ton of over 1000 Years seems long to
huma nifty, 1T cannot seem long to the
great Crea tor. with whom we are told
thousand years are but as a day; and the
Lords people are to esteem that this to
US long period for the permission of evil
is none too long for the purposes for
which 1t is permitted.
The Four Ages.
The epoohs are divided in four ages
the first the patrarchal age, the second
the Jewish age the third the Gospel age.
ba first in world q will
be the millennial age. The apostle speaks
of ages to come but we have scrip
tlral knowledge of any except one great
age to follow the millennium. The millen-
NAL age not having yet come, is merely
a faith based upon divine promises, but
the ages of this present evil world are
facts. There is no question from the
scriptural standpoint that there was a
patriarchal age-an epoch in which God
dealt exclusively with the patriarchs and
with them as individuals 1t is a fact,
also. that at Jacobs death the Jewish
nation was born, and that it continued to
be Gods favored and only nation for
more than sixteen centuries, down to the
death of Christ. While the Jews occu-
pied this place of favor all other peoples
Of the world were without manifesto
tons of divine favor.
These ages represent steps in the d.
vine plan for the worlds salvation-steps
that are related to each other and pro-
gressive. The patriarchal age merely
enuncldteu the great pIoIIlSe VI d pleSS-
ing to the world and declared that 1t
would be accomplished through the pos
terity of faithful Abraham, Isaac and ia
cob. With the opening of the Jewish age
the time had not come for the develop
ment of the promised seed of Abraham.
The promised seed was Christ and the
spiritual Israel his body. but the Jewish
law served various good purposes of pre-
pairing for the spiritual seed First. 1t
showed the need of a redemptive work
by proving to the Jews, and thus to all