Milford chronicle. [volume] (Milford, Del.) 1878-1974, 1909-06-04

a portion Of It. Another portion Of
that prophecy remains TO be fulfilled
after the Qualification Of the Church
with Christ. after the establishment Of
the heavenly Kingdom. for which we
pray. Thy Kingdom come: they viii
be done on earth as II is in heaven
st. Peter merely refers to the part Of
the prophecy fulfilled in his day and
in so doing followed the custom Of
his nlustrious Master. The Pentecostal
blessing came only upon the servants
and landmarks" Of the Lord-ouly
upon the consecrated. And so it has
been all down through this age. None
others have received the Spirit, the
JUNCTION from the Holy One 1t is the
spirit Of begetting, and only those who
receive it can ever hope to be born
again-"born from the dead" It is
written that our Lord was the first
born amongst many brethren" The
faithful ones Of the spirit-begotten
class viii 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, viii 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.
Joels prophecy is stated in hidden
manner. yet it is perfectly plain if the
eyes of our understanding are properly
focused upon it. One of these out
pourings Of the holy Spirit was to be
Sin 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 it out
upon all flesh and the rising genera
tion [your Young menl would see the
vision which the Ancients [your old
men1 had seen obscurely-dreamed
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 a peculiar people" a little
flock" out Of every nation. people. kin g
bred and tongue, 20 constitute the Body c
Of Christ and be his joint-heirs in the
Just as soon as this shall j
be finished the great time of trouble I
which the Lord has foretold will come. r
"A time of trouble such as was not J
since there was a nation. nor ever shall n
be afterward." shall break upon the
world not for its destruction. but that
as a plowshare, It may break up the G
fallow ground and prepare the hearts Il
II mankind Then viii come the great "
Divine blessing Of Truth and grace a
through the glOrifed Church and
through the earthly Ancient Worthless, u
he representatives Of the spiritual V
Kingdom. nj
1.-THE Keys of the Kingdom" n
When our Lord said unto Peter. Of
i've unto you the keys of the King -
lon Of Heaven. It was a dark saying
which St Peter could not understand
,ome dear Christian people think that
he Lord meant that st. Peter should
ave the right or authority to deter
nine who might go through the gate
nto the New Jerusalem; and some
hink that perhaps it meant that TO
i'm would be intrusted the keeping Of
'urgatory and the letting out of Purg-
tory into heaven such as would be
repaired for eternal life by its suf-
erings. With both Of these views we
lust disagree. In our judgment the
Ords words had a fulfllment that
nay be plainly discerned from the
of his Word While It is
ne that the Church is only now
allied to be a Kingdom and is not yet
Kingdom in the particular sense,
avertheless, for convenience, our
ord refers at times to the Church
the Kingdom in embryO-in some Of
lie parallels, for instance. 1t is com
)sed of the class which, after being
,oven and found faithful, will con.
itute the Kingdom.
When on the day Of Pentecost st.
ater, after receiving the holy Spirit,
God up and acted as the chief spokes-
an and explained the purport Of the
wer Of the holy Spirit as manifested,
threw open the door, as it were. to
e Jews, who came together and
rough that doorway several thou
nd came into that embyro Kingdom
lus did st. Peter use the first key in
ening the way to the Jews. But it
IS keys" in the plural that he was
use. And so we find that when
rec and a half years later Gods due
ne came for granting similar privi-
res to the Gentiles, st. Peter again Al
Is the Lords servant who used the
= and threw open the door to the "a
miles, in connection with the be- po
'wment Of the holy Spirit upon Cor no,
ius, the first Gentle convert. These