River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1910-06-23
| NECESSITY FOR
MILLENNIUM
By REV. T. G.. RUSSELL
Pastor Brooklyn Tabernacle
Brooklyn N. 7.
Respecting two matters there can be

no question:
1. That the early church thoroughly
believed in a millennial kingdom.
hoped for it, prayed for it-"Thy
Kingdom come; thy will be done on
earth as it is done in Heaven"
2. 1t is equally certain that today the
doctrine of the millennium is tabooed
as "out of date"-out of harmony with
the views of the higher critics and ev'
olutionists, who are filling practically
all the chairs in our colleges and the
majority of the pulpits of ChristendoDl.
The present day concept of tbs
Church of Christ is that God planted
1t amongst men as leaven in batch OF
dough with the intent that 1t should
propagate itself until the entire mass
would be leavened.
The two views are so radically oppo-
site that none should confuse them in
their minds. If one is right, the other
is wrong. If one is Scriptural the
other is unscriptural. The safe, the
proper, the right course is to so back
and take up afresh the doctrine of the
millennium-the doctrine that the
faithful of the church now being tried
and tested will constitute the glorious
Kingdom of Gods dear Son. after their
change from earthly to spirit condf
lions in the "First Resurrection" q
Corinthians, 15:42-44).
Christian people have been fooling
themselves long enough!" Yes, it is as
absolutely irrational to think of con-
verting the world, as it IS unscrip-
tural to believe that God ever gave us
that impossible commission. The Uni.
| ted States census reports show that
there are twice as many heather to-
day as there were century ago. The
word heather carries to many very
wrong impression. Many noble-heart-
ed Christians have gone as mission
aries to the heather wholly unpre-
pared for what they met-intelligen
reasoning ability, etc. They found
that the heather were full of ques-
lions, logical questions, too, which
they as Christians had never thought
Of, and which they were wholly I'M
prepared to answer. Comparatively
| few of the missionaries are able to
hold their own in argument with in
telligent people in India, China and
Japan. There is no danger of their
converting those people. There is
more danger of their losing their own
| faith in the Bible, because of their
misrepresentation of some of it's teach
ings-respecting the mission of the
church, the hope of the church and
the hope of the world!
Missionaries are thus handicapped!
Full of commendable zeal they leave
our shores to tell the heather that
their forefathers have gone to eternal
torment and that they are going there,
too, unless they accept Christ. 1t is
q rude awakening to be asked where
| hell is? and why God should have
condemned them and their forefathers
to such a horrible eternity? and how
this could be true and yet he be
God of pity, compassion, love? The
heather ask, Why the different de-
nominations-the different theories of
| the terms of salvation-by water, by
election, by free grace, by joining the
church, etc. The missionary, wholly
unable to answer the adult native,
| gathers children about him, starts
school and does all he is able, per-
haps, to justify his presence in for
eign land-helping the sick and doing
many other acts of kindness which are
very commendable, whether from re.
| ligious or humanitarian standpoint.
| Next let us note that the millennium
itself is an absolute necessity for the
world, according to the statistics of
the world-wise. Many college profess
sors and d. DIS are inclined to speak
glibly of the second coming of Christ
being far in the future-"5O,00 years
yet" say some. But evidently these
learned gentlemen have not used their
educational advantages in connection
with such statements. Any school boy
can figure up what the population of
the earth would be 1000 years from
! now, taking the present population as
per the census at sixteen hundred mil
lion and the ratio of increase as
shown by the census reports at per
| cent. in ten years. The total would
show 1876, 1926, 100000 population for
| the year 1900 A. D.-more than 1000
for each person now living.
What would humanity do if the
earth were crowded to that extent?
Where would the necessary food, fuel
and clothing be found? Computing all
the tillable portion of the earth at
twenty-five million square miles or six
| teen billion acres would give but one
acre for the support of 210 people, or
less than five square yards each. At
the close of a second such period,
5000 A. D., at the same rate, there
would be ten persons for each square
| foot Of standing room. In other
words they would stand Is deep on
each others heads. What shall we
think of the wisdom that tells us that
the millennium is $4,000 years off?
The answer is found in Isaiah's proph-
ecy (29:14).
Are we asked how the millennium if
at once introduced would avert the diff
| ficulties of the first statement, 210
people for each acre of the habitable
earth? We reply that the Scriptures
clearly intimate that the rapid IN
| crease of our race Is associated with
mans fallen condition; as our Gre
ator declared to Mother Eve after her
4 xroofTu