Pleasantville weekly press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1890-1911, 1909-09-18
PEOPLES
Sermon by
CHARLES T.
RUSSELL,
Pastor Brooklyn
Tabernacle.

@>s~S~o~e~o~o~o~o"o~o1JOO
September 12.-InteIligent people ap-
pear to reason upon every other sub
ject except religion. Approach man
upon any matter of industry or social
progress or political economy or finance
and we find him reasonably alert to
the general law of Cause and Effect.
but when it comes to religion the same
man refuses to recognize or follow
such laws. To illustrate: If a thou
sand religious men and women were
asked to give some general outline Of
the Divine Plan under which l5umanits,
IS being dealt with by the Almighty.
Nine Hundred and Ninety Nine of
them would look at you in blank as
tonishment as though it were absurd
to suppose that God would conduct his
affairs along the lines of order. reason
and common sense-Cause and Effect.
On the contrary the Scriptures every
where hold that our Creator is system
atically ordering the affairs of earth
and working all things according to
the counsel of his own wilr' (Ephe-
slams /, III.
st. Peter divides the worlds history
into three great epochs, which our
common version Bible designates as
''tcorlds." The first of these. he says.
lasted from the creation of our first
parents to the food The food was
the harvest time. the reaping time. of
that epoch 1t was the conclusion to
the course of sin which. he tells us.
there prevailed. And only eight per
sons. Noah and his family. were car
ried over as nucleus for another great
epoch or world" which st. Peter
calls. THE world that now is" and
which ST. Paul calls. This present
evil world or epoch. and of which
Jesus states. my kingdom is not of
this world (epoch)," while again he in
forms us that Satan is 1.-The Prince of
this world"
Certain things have been in prog
ress-certain great instructions and
blessings from the Almighty during
this long period of over Forty-three
Hundred years. This present evil
world or epoch is to have a harvest
time and its affairs are to be as thor
oughly wound up. completed as were
the affairs of the world before the
f1ood' Then new epoch or world
to come" will dawn. the character of
which is clearly delineated in the
Scriptures as being very contrary ev-
eryway to that of this present evil
world" 1t will be ''The world to
come. whereof we speak," the new
epoch. figura lively said to have "a new
heavens and a new EARTH" in which
the Lord will dominate human affairs
His elect Church of the present time
associated with him as his Bride. will
constitute the new heavens" or new
spiritual domination under which hn-
man regeneration will bring the new
earth' Under that new dispensatioD
everything will be in accord with the
character of its King. the Prince of
Light and Righteousness. just as the
conditions of --the present evil world
are in harmony with the characters
tics Of the prince of this world. who
now worketh in the hearts of the chill
dren Of disobedience"-"th Prince of
Darkness"
"The World That Was"
The world" or epoch which ended
at the flood accomplished great work.
1t was during that period of Sixteen
Hundred and Fifty-six years that GOD
first tested Satan by permitting him to
have an opportunity TO show the trai-
torous attitude of his heart in connec
tion with our first parents. Desiring
to establish himself as an Emperor over
earth. separate and distinct from the
Empire Of Jehovah. Lucifer became
Satan. God. Adversary. and has since
continued in his opposition to the Di-
vine will. Our first parents, through
Satan's lie, were led into disobedience
to God, which resulted in the death
sentence on Adam and his race Sub
sequently for centuries the holy angels
were allowed to have intercourse with
fallen men. with yiew.-to helping
them back into harmony with God.
not that God expected any such re-
suits, for he already foreknew that
there could be no recovery of human
ity, except through the merit of the
Redeemer, whose sacrifice would pur-
chase the world and whose reign as
the King of kings and Lord of lords
would ultimately restore the willing
and obedieDt Of the race. But the an
gels to all eternity might have sup
posed that an easier way of saving
men was possible; that if permitted
they could educate, assist and uplift
mankind out of sin and death condi-
tions back to harmony with God. God
not only desired to show that all such
results were impossible. but also he
desired to use the opportunity to test.
to prove, the loyalty. the faithfulness
of the angelic hosts
Amongst the liberties granted to all
the angels at that time was the pow
er to materialize-to assume human
forms. We need not stop to discuss
the possibility of this, for we are ad-
dressing those who believe the Scrip
tural record. and to such it will be
quite sufficient for US to cite one Of the
many Scriptural instances: the case
Of the three men who appeared TO
Abraham and were subsequently found
to be angels-spirit beings. They
looked. talked. ate and were clothed
like men. Abraham knew not whom
THE PRESS. CONTROLS THE EXCLU