The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1905-10-27


thought of the early church.
1t was then very natural that, when
Jesus spoke of the destruction of the
Temple, his disciples should think of
''the parusia" his second coming-and
the 'consummation of the age-the "end
of the world" and ask him when these
things should be and what should the
signs thereof.
In reply Jesus uttered that great dis
course on ''last things"-what Briggs
calls ''the apocalyps of Jesus" He does
not stop to assert that there will be
an end of the age, coming of the Son
of Man and a judgment. He allows the
common thought on these things to
stand. He then goes on to consider the
time and the signs of these things and
to warn them to watch and be faithful
He warned them not to be deceived as
to the time of his coming and of the
end, telling them that many things must
| transpire before that solemn event and
specifying them in detail. And he con-
Guided by saying that all these things
would occur within the life time of his
hearers, but the exact time was I'M
known even to himself.
Were these prophecies fulfilled? What
happened before the close of that gen
Grafton that can be regarded as fulfill
ing this prediction? On the positive side,
it was fulfilled in the coming of Christ,
in the Spirit, on the day of Pentecost;
and in the victories of the gospel that
followed; and on the negative side, by
the fall of Jerusalem, A. ID. 20.
The coming of the Lord is thus
shown to he a process rather than an
event. He came to abide with his peo
pie and is always present.; and he
makes himself manifest in the growth
of his kingdom and in the destruction of
the powers of evil. Hence he is en-
phatically, as he is called, ''the coming
one" On oath before the judgment seat
of Chaiphas he declared that he was
the Messiah of the Jews, and he went
on to say that henceforth he would be
doing two things at the same time. He
would be sitting at the right hand of
the Father and be coming in glory. Mt.
2G:64. He is now Lord and is coming
in glorious victories over evil
Paul also looked for coming of the
Lord" at which time there would be
resurrection of the dead saints and
changing of the living, followed by the
Judgment and destruction of the wick
ed. But he also foresaw that there
would be a development and an awful
manifestation of wickedness. While this
would take time and would delay ''the
coming" he still believes these ''last
things" would come in his day, at least,
in the life time of many of his disciples.
Indeed it was the belief of all the Apos-
tolic writer's that the ''day of the Lord"
was at hand and they expected the con-
summation in their day This is GER
tainly the hope of the Book of Revela-
ton, and this hope was the consolation
that John offered the prosecuted Chris
tians of his day.
Why is the coming of Christ not
more manifest? Why is His presence so
unobstrusive? Why not so clear that
none may be mistaken?
Because if He was always obtrusive-
| ly present character would be impossi-
BILE. Man must depend upon his own
rational powers if he is to grow into
manhood; and he must be free from all
restraint. He must feel his own re-
sponsibility, if he is to develop charac-
ter. Children are not made into manly
men by being always kept under the eye
of their parents.
Besides Christ is only spiritually APP
pretended after ALL Those who have
not His Spirit and are not becoming
like Him could not see Him, if He APP
peared to them. "He came to His own
and His own received Him not" And
why not? Simply because His purpose
and His character were so different from
their own that they could not under
stand Him. They could not know Him.
If He were to come on the clouds and
light upon this earth now, He would not
be known by the multitude, and some
excuse would be found for getting rid OF
Him again. Those who have His spirit
see Him in the growing character of
His people, and they see Him coming in
the betterment of society. And just to
the extent that we are like Him do we
apprehend Him. "But we know that,
when He shall appear, we shall be like
Him; for we shall see Him as He is"
John 3:2. When we are just like
Him we shall see Him face to face. And
when the Kingdoms of this world have
become the kingdom of our Lord" and
all are like Him, He will be made man
| fest to all and not tell then