The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1909-09-17
PEOPLES PULPIT.
Thrust In Thy
Sickle.
Text. Thrust in thy sickle. and
reap; for the time is come for thee
to reap" (Revelaton xiv, Isl.

to reap" (Revelahon xiv. Isl. |:
/ ooO.-.-.-...-.-.-.-.-.
! For long centuries this relationship
between the angels aud mankind con-
tinued. We have no record of any
human being receiving an uplift from
, their miniStrationS. On the contrary.
/! as God had foreseen. the influence of
sin was contagious and ere long some
Of the angelic hosts became so enam-
ored of the daughters of men that
''they took to themselves wives Of
such as they chose" and preferred to
leave their own habitation or spirit
condition and to remain in material
lied form and to raise earthly families,
although their course was contrary to
the Divine arrangement and must have
been so understood by them. Divine
power was not interposed to hinder
them The error of this sedition. the
leaving of their own habitation or
plane of spirit being. from small be-
ginning. spread. and Gods non-inter-
ference justified the supposition that
he was either not able to cope with
the situation. or unable to enforce his
own Law. Thus centuries rolled by.
while the earthly children of those
angels which kept not their first es-
tate" became giants and men Of re-
nown" at Il time when maturity was
not reached until at least One Hun
dred years Genesis vii.
During all those centuries we may
be sure that every one of the holy
angels had fullest opportunity to par
ticipate in the seductive pleasures Of
sin. And we may be quite sure during
that epoch or age God demonstrated
fully. completely, which of the angels
were in heart and indeed in spirit and
in truth loyal to him and to all the
principles of his righteousness. This
work having been accomplished. that
world before the food was brought
to an end. was overwhelmed by a
flood of waters. the Lord declaring that
the whole earth had become corrupt
through this evil. The influence of the
angels along licentiOuS lines seemingly
tended more and more to degrade hui
mainly, so that we read that God be-
held that every imagination of mans
heart was evil. and only evil and that
continually" With this closing of that
epoch or world" those angels which
had not sought to abandon the angelic
plane of being were restrained in Tar
tarus, our earth's atmosphere. until the
ind Of hn Iou Of 10
in the close Of this world" when evil
IDENTIFY they will recover their power Of
naturalization.
"This Present Evil World"
from 1.-The world before the flood" in
that it is not under the ministration
of the angels-but man, in general
sense, is left to himself. Since the
flood the world in general has been
going on just as if there were no God.
the exceptions, aside from the Jewish
nation and the Church of Christ. being
the destruction of the Sodomites and
the preaching of Jonah TO the Nine
vites. warning them that they were
about to perish. In other words. so far
as outward appearance goes. God has
allowed the world to take it's own
course. interfering only when the COR
ruptiOn became so great as to make life
injurious rather than a favor. We
may also understand the Scriptures to
teach that God has had silent super
vision of the nations 10 hinder them
from overturning or disturbing any
feature of the Divine program. He is
wise enough TO know how to make the
wrath of man to praise him and the re-
mainder more than this he will restrain.
St. Paul, reviewing the question of
human degradation as exhibited in
heathendom. etc, explains that the
great deterioration in the human fam
lily is the result of mans being left to
himself as respects the Divine super
vision. He says. looking back along
the line of Noah's descendants. when
they knew God they g!c-itied him not
as God, neither were thankful.
And even as they did not like to re-
tain God in their knowledge. God gave
them over to a reprobate mind''-they
giving themselves over to things that
were not profitable. defiling themselves.
etc. Romans i. 2l-2S).
This condition of things continued
from Noah's day until 3k years after
our Lords crucifixion. when the spe-
cial favor Of God toward the nation
of Israel terminated and the middle
wall Of partition was broken down
Cornelius being the first Gentle adj
Initted to the privileges of the Gospel.
From that time onward the procama-
ton of the Gospel was not restricted to
the Jewish nation. but is for whosoever
may have IAN ear to hear" of every
nation. people. kindred and tongue. .
During the long period from Noah 70
Christ-Twenty-F Hundred years
God. as we have seen. had no dealing
with the world. but he did have very
special dealings with Abra ham, Isaac
and Jacob. and then subsequently with
the nation of Israel. To those patri-
archs he gave an Oath-Bound Cove
nant. that through their posterity he
would ultimately bless all the families
Of the earth. Moreover. the character
Of the promise was such that it i'm