The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1909-06-04

spirit Of begetting, and only those who
receive it can ever hope to be born
again-"born from the dead" 1t is
written that our Lord was the first
born amongst many brethren" The
faithful ones of the spirit-begotten
class will be those members who will
be born from the dead in the First
Resurrection
Subsequently, however, the other
part of Joel's prophecy will be fulfilled
God will pour out his holy Spirit
upon all flesh, upon everybody. The
power, the energy Of God, will operate
during the Millennium upon all man.
kind to the opening Of blind eyes and
the unstOpping of deaf ears, to the
awakening from the sleep Of death of
all those who are in the great prison
house. And in proportion as each shall
respond to the influences Of the holy
Spirit upon his WILL so will be the
rapidity of his progress upward to har-
mony with God. though not the path
which leads to the heavenly glory. 1t
will be altogether different from the
one now open.
Joers prophecy is stated in hidden
manner, yet it is perfectly plain II the
eyes of our understanding are properly
focused upon 1t. One of these out
pourings of the holy Spirit was to be
lin those days. and the other was to
be "after those days" In those days
the Lord would pour out his Spirit
upon his servants and landmarks. Aft
er those days he would pour 1t out
upon all flesh and the rising genera
ton [your young menl would see the
vision which the Ancients [your old
men] had seen obscurely-dream
about We are living, dear friends, at
the eliminating point between these
two outpourings The Pentecostal
blessing has almost accomplished its
designed purpose. the sanctifying to
God Of peculiar people," a little
flock" out of every nation, people, kin
dred and tongue, to constitute the Body
of Christ and be his joint-heirs i'll the
Kingdom. Just as soon as this shall
be finished the great time of trouble
which the Lord has fOretOld will come.
"a time of trouble such as was not
since there was nation nor ever shall
be afterward" shall break upon the
world, not for its destruction, but that,
as a plowshare, it may break up the
fallow ground and prepare the hearts
of mankind Then will come the great
Divine blessing of Truth and grace
through the glorified Church and
through the earthly Ancient Worthless,
the representatives Of the spiritual
Kingdom.
"The Keys of the Kingdom"
When our Lord said unto Peter,
give unto you the keys Of the King
dom of Heaven, it was dark saying
which ST. Peter could not understand.
Some dear Christian people think that
the Lord meant that st. Peter should
have the right or authority to deter
mine who might go through the gate
into the New Jerusalem; and some
think that perhaps it meant that to
him would be intruSted the keeping Of
Purgatory and the letting out Of Purg-
atory into heaven such as would be
prepared for eternal life by its suf-
ferings. With both of these views we
must disagree. In our Judgment the
Lords words had fulfillment that
may be plainly discerned from the
standpoint of his Word. While it is
true that the Church is only now
called to be Kingdom and is not yet
Kingdom in the particular sense,
nevertheless, for convenience, our
Lord refers at times to the Church
as the Kingdom in embryo-in some Of
the parallels, for instance. 1t is COM
posed of the class which, after being
proven and found faithful, will con-
stitute the Kingdom.
When on the day Of Pentecost St.
Peter, after receiving the holy Spirit,
stood up and acted as the chief spokes-
man and explained the purport of the
power of the holy Spirit as manifested,
he threw open the door, as it were, to
the Jews, who came together and
through that doorway several thou
sand came into that embyro Kingdom.
Thus did st. Peter use the first key in
opening the way to the Jews. But it
was keys" in the plural that he was
to use. And so we find that when
three and half years later Gods due
time came for granting similar privi-
leges to the Gentiles, st. Peter again
was the Lords servant who used the
key and threw open the door to the
GentileS, in connection with the be-
stowment of the holy Spirit upon Cor
nelius, the first Gentle convert. These
doors still stand ajar, because the full
number of the select" have not yet been
accepted of the Lord and fully tested
and found worthy. We have numer-
Gus reasons, however, for believing
that the selecting work is nearly at an
end; that soon the last member of the
Body of Christ will have finished his
course with joy and will have passed
beyond the veil to join the Church tri-
umphant, the Christ, the great King.
the great Prophet, the great Priest, the
great Judge, the great Mediator,
through whose ministrations Divine
blessings and glorious opportunities
are to come to all mankind.
Question, dear friends, what is 1t
worth to attain such glory, honor and
Immortality, and to share with the Re-
deemer in his great Work of dispens-
ing Divine favor to all families Of the
earth? What would you give for such
a DOSition3 That IS inst the ouestion