The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1909-05-14
PEOPLES PULPIT.
T astor Russell on the
Atlantic.
Text, "T'he earth shall be full
Of the knowledge Of the Lord,
as the waters cover the sea"
Isaiah il. 9. ].

as the WdteIS CoVSa VIC sea
Isaiah il, q. !
ooO.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-s-s -s-s-s-s.s-s"s-s-s-s-s-s.O
pr:.cI: TTny was he ever given lib
erty or power at all over humanity?
| In the light of the Scriptures we may
see that as God at times has used the
wrath of man to praise him, so during
this period Of Satan's liberty he has
rot been permitted to Illustrate the
Divine Plan or intention but uneon-
sciously, has co-operated with It and
served it. Without his binding infu
ence the Jewish rulers would not have
crucified our Lord. as st. Peter dis
tinctly shows, II wot that through
ignorance We did It, as did also your
rulers" (Acts Ill, 10.
| Likewise had 1t not been for the de-
lusions of Satan the Church would not
have been prosecuted; the way to glo-
! ry and honor and immortality and
| joint heirship with Christ would not
have been made the Marrow way"
the saints, the 'Jewels" whom the
| Lord is now selecting, would not have
been polished and fitted and prepared
for the glorious places to which the
Lord has called them. Surely, then,
the Lord has used the great Adver-
sary to assist in the accomplishing OF
the Divine purposes. Satan may have
supposed that he was frustrating
Gods plans, but just as surely he was
mistaken. The Divine Word is sure
which declares. my Word that goeth
forth out of my mouth shall not return
unto me void, but it shall accomplish
that which / please, and 1t shall pros
per in that whereunto l sent II"
| "The Sun of Righteousness"
| Attempting to give us glimpses Of
the glory that is to come the Scrip
! lures use various figures Of speech,
telling us, for instance, that the pres
ent is dark night as compared to the
future, which will be a morning Of
joy. They declare, Weeping may en-
dure for the night, but joy cometh in
the morning'-the Millennial morning.
Following the same figure we read,
'The Sun of Righteousness shall arise
with healing in his beams" From this
standpoint the entire six thousand
years of the reign of sin from the time
Of Adams disobedience in the Garden
of Eden to the time of the establish
ment of the reign of Christ has been
night time in which darkness has COW
cred the earth and gross darkness the
people" isaiah TX, p The night will
give place to the glorious day Of his
presence, the bright shining Of the Sun
Of Righteousness.
over the Church during the dark ages.
The Lord permitted 1t to be so. We
lost sight of the glorious things Of the
Restitution morning and the blessings
then to come to the Church and to the
world In general. These things were
little preached and little believed, al
though most conspicuous in the Word
Of God. Instead we gave heed to the
heather theories and more or less
mixed, and combined them with the
Scriptural teaching, much to our con-
, fusion. AS a consequence now the
Truth of Gods Word when we come
-; to 1t and read with better understand
ing Is new to US, strange-verily,
i Truth is stranger than felton," be-
cause the fiction has been drilled into
US from infancy and sung to us from
j nearly every hymn-book in the world.
Thus we have had a hymn-boo the
| ology rather than a Bible theology,
and this accounts for the fact that the
Word of God and his character are SO
I; little understood, and that today lead
| ing minds are repudiating the Scrip
lures and taking to Higher Criticism.
We need to turn back, to retrace our
steps, to inquire for the old paths (Jere-
miah vi, 16). for the doctrines older than
Wesley and Calvin, older than Roman
/ Catholicism-the doctrines Of Jesus
and the apostles and prophets. From
this standpoint, thank God, we can see
light in his light and glorify his name
and appreciate his Word as containing
the very essence Of wisdom, justice,
love and power.
The Quick and the Dead.
The proposition Of the Scriptures, of
Millennial Age Of blessing, coming
i through the establishing OF Gods
(, Kingdom, for which we pray, '"Thy
will be done in earth as it is done in
! heaven" strikes people In three differ
| ent ways:
! First.-Some ungenerously will be
disposed to resent the thought under
! the superstition that it would imply
! more favorable opportunity for the
world In general in the next Age to
come into harmony with God than the
Church of the present age enjoys. To
these we answer that their argument
is at fault because they fail to recog-
niZe the fact that the reward to be
! given to the oyercomers Of this Gospel
Age. the Church class, will be much
! higher one than will go to the ODE
, dent Of the world in the next age.
, The reward of the Church will be a