The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1909-12-03
In E0ery Thing
GiUe Thanks!
'In Every Thing Give Thanks, For
This Is the Will of God Concerning
You In Christ Jesus" q Thessalonians
V, l8l.

1.-THE mystery" is, that God purposed
that the blessing of the world should
be accomplished by our Savior alone
but in association with a select class
of saints gathered out of the world
and specially taught and prepared in
the School of Christ during this age
Not only is this feature of the Divine
Plan Scripturally called 1.-The mystery
of God" which will be finished by the
close of this age, but additionally the
Church herself is Scripturally termed
1.-THE mystery of GOd"-the Mystic
Body Of Christ. For God gave Christ
to he the Head over the Church, which
is his Body" Eye are members in
particular Of the Body of Christ"
which is the Church Ephesians i, %,
%; Corinthians xii, %.
During these long centuries required
for the finding of this sanity class for
whom the Lord has been searching
with the magnet of Truth, variouy
false theories have sprung up and
found acceptance in the world. One of
these is that God does not love the
world and has never purposed it's sal
walton; but that, on the contrary, he
fOre-ordained and predestinated that
all except the 'elect saints should suf-
fer eternal torture, because he wished
10 have it so. Another wrong theory
which gained acceptance was that
whilst God wishes to save the world,
ne finds himself unable to do so, be-
cause handicapped by human self-will
and by the aggressiveness of Satan,
who has blinded and deceived the vast
majority and has them completely in
his power through ignorance and SUI
perstition. This theory tells us that
God loves the world, including the
heather millions. and that he longs to
have the Gospel taken to them, but
cannot do so, except through human
agency, and is disappointed and baf-
fed, because those who profess to be
his people fail to raise sufficient mis-
siOnary donations.
To rational minds these theories
which satisfied in the past are no
longer satisfactory; hence many are
turned to infidelity. AS the Scriptures
say, MY people perish for lack of
knowledge" Hosea iv, g..
The Hope of the Resurrection.
Leaving these unsatisfactory errors
Of the dark ages" and going back to
the Scriptures we find their teachings
consistent; namely, that as soon as
hn hn Sc
pleted, the blessing of God will pro-
coed through The Christ Head and
members) to the world. AS it is writ
ten, I'm thy Seed shall all the fami-
lies of the earth be blessed" The
mystery, be it known, is that the spir-
itual "Seed of Abraham is not the
Lord Jesus only, but includes also hiS
membership Church. AS we read,
eff We be Christ's, then are We Abra
hams Seed, and heirs according to the
promise" Galatians iii, 29.
According to the Scriptures the bless
ing of God will proceed through Spir-
itual Israel, q Royal Priesthood"
"after the order of Melchizedec," to
natural Israel under the terms of their
New Covenant Jeremiah XXI, 81.
During the Millennial Age under the
spiritual Kingdom of The Christ Top
Grating through the earthly Kingdom
of Israeli all nations will be instruct
ed, enlightened, blessed. Not only so,
but the merit of Christ will then be
applied also OH behalf Of the thousands
of millions who have gone down into
the prison-house of death-sheOl, hddes
tute the First Resurrection" His
resurrection" All sharing in it will
attain life on the spirit plane like unto
the angels, but superior, far above
angels" Later during the Millennium
the world will return from, the tomb.
'every man in his own order" q Corin-
thians XIV, 3d. And the resurrecting
process will continue with them, to the
intent that the willing and obedient
may continue to rise gradually to-
wards perfection and finally attain it;
while at the same time the earth will
be rejuvenated and become the prom
ised Paradise regained" = restored
(Acts iii, 1920.
"Give Thanks, For He Is Good"
Looking down into the future pro-
phetically the Psalmist eXclaims, in
view of the Kingdom blessings prom
Used to the world, 20 give thanks unto
the Lord, for he is good! for his mercy
endureth forever" 1t is the mercy Of
God toward us and toward all who
need his mercy and who desire it that
is the ground for thanksgiving. True,
praise must come from thankful hearts,
and in order to be properly thankful,
one must see more than is now visible
to those who have not the eye of faith
and the ear of faith and the Divine
revelation respecting things to come
But it is these very opportunities that
the Lords consecrated ones possess:
BLESSED are your eyes, for they see
and your ears, for they hear" Not
only so, but to the extent that ar :.
ones eyes see and his ears hear OF
the grace of God he has Responsibility.
To possess the knowledge Of God and
to disdain it is to receive the grace Of
God in vain, whether more or less Oh
Corinthians vi, u.
Gods people not only give thanks
for the blessings of the future which
they receive by faith, but additionally
they appreciate blessings granted to
them in advance in the present life
and give thanks for these. The first
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