The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1909-08-06
PEOPLES PULPIT.
IN THIS
MOUNTAIN.
Text, "And in this mountain
shall the Lord of hosts make
unto all people a feast Of fat
things" Isaiah XIV, o.

things ISAIAH XIV, o.. !:
habitation (Psalm xcl, -. But then,
even that plowshare of trouble the
Lord proposes shall be overruled so
that it will constitute a channel of
blessing to mankind, by preparing
| their hearts for the message Of divine
love and grace. centered in Christ and
his redeeming work at Calvary.
What Say the Scriptures?
Turning from the ignorance and
superstition and darkness and terrOrs
of the dark ages, let us look still fur
ther-to the inspired Word of God
through the Apostles and Prophets.
From these let us hear some descrip-
ton of the blessings which God in
tends His Kingdom shall bring to our
sin-cursed race. The Scriptures tell
us that God has prepared great feast
for humanity; they intimate figura-
lively that mankind has been starring
for the message Of divine grace-that
/ the millions of our race have gone
down in ignorance and superstition,
famished for lack of the Word Of
God. The Bread which came down
from heaven-the message Of truth
and grace which our dear Redeemer
brought and exempIified-has indeed
been supplied lavishly to some. Some
/ of us have Toasted upon the good
! things Of our Fathers Word and plan.
But the great mass of mankind have
been so deaf and so blind that they
see not, neither do they understand or
receive the grace of God under pres
ent conditions. How glad we are that
'all the blind eyes shall be opened.
and all the deaf ears shall be I'M
stopped isaiah xxxv, s., and that the
whole world will thus be prepared for
the true knowledge of God, whose
goodness and loving kindness and ten
der mercies will undoubtedly have a
softening and mellowing effect upon
hard hearts. At all events, the divine
program will be carried out; the King
dom of God will be established
amongst men; they will have the OPP
portunity of contrasting the reign of
Righteousness with the reign of sin and
death. So many as will be rightly in
fiuenced by this knowledge may lay
hold upon eternal life by accepting the
divine arrangement. Truly it is the
goodness Of God that leadeth to re-
pentance.
Blessed the Hungry.
There are many hungry hearts in the
world; many whose bodies are well
nourished have famished hearts which
cry out for love and sympathy. He
who reads the hearts, who knows
what is in them, has prepared this
feast which will surely satisfy every
legitimate, righteous desire. Those
| who already are the Lords people, and
who have already Toasted at the boun-
tiful table spread for the Church, can
approximate to some extent the bounty
that will be spread before the world in
this great feast foretold through the
| Prophet, in our text There will be
several differences, however, between
world.
% The present feast is merely a
| feast of promises which must be par
taken Of by the exercise of faith The
| feast described in our text will be a
| very actual one; the realities of the
blessing Of restitution. Of health, of
strength, mental, moral and physical,
will there be bountifully supplied, to
! be partaken of freely by all who APP
preciate them.
| (2) The present feast spread for the
Church is a spiritual one relating to
a heavenly Kingdom glory and honor
things not seen as yet, except by the
eye of faith. To the contrary, the feast
for the world, referred to in our text,
will consist Of earthly bounties and
blessings, most tangible in kind as
well as excellent in quality; all that
was lost in Adam will be rendered to
such of his children as will accept the
mercy. The Prophet in attempting to
describe the bounties of that feast
uses highly symbolical terms, and de-
scribes it as ga feast of fat things, full
of marrow and of wines on the lees,
well refined" Assuredly no language
that we could use could fully and prop
erly set forth the riches of Gods grace
| provided for the world Of mankind un-
der the ministration of his Kingdom.
The earth shall yield her increase,
streams shall break forth in the des-
erts, the wilderness shall blossom as
| the rose, the solitary place shall be
! glad isaiah yxyyl
The Destructive Work.
The Lord through the Prophet, after
describing the feast of blessings and
refreshments, portrays the destruction
of things injurious to mankind, say
ing, "And he will destroy in this
mountain the face of the coUering cast
over all people,-the Ueil that is spread
| over all nations" verse y. This
! veil is none other than the veil of
| ignorance and superstition which him
ders mankind from seeing that the
| Creator is their friend, that righteous
ness and truth are to their advantage,
| that the ways Of the Lord are right
eous altogether. The sunlight of the
new dispensatior, the reign of right
eousness, will scatter the clouds ana
the darkness, the veil Of ignorance,
and let into the hearts Of mankind
''the light of the knowledge OF the
| goodness of God as it shines in the