Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1910-11-12

the earth and the heaven fed away.
and there was found no place for
them" He said.
Sin made moral towards of our race.
From early infancy fear and apprehen
sion. especially in respect TO things FL
ture, have been impressed upon us
We realize our imperfection. and that
our God is perfect, and that perfection
is the only standard which he could
approve, and that some kind of pun
ishment for sin must be expected. The
Adversary, taking advantage of our
forefathers, misrepresented the Al
mighty and has used our fears TO
ALLEVIATE us from him and to wrest and
distort his message TO us in the Bible
st. Paul assures us chat this Is Satan's
general procedure; that he puts light
for darkness and darkness for light
Thus 1t comes that our text, which is
really one of the most beautiful and
comforting in the whole Bible when
rightly understood. has TO many be
come a lash in the hands of their fears
II is needless to say that our text is
one Of the symbolisms of a Book filed
with symbols. Gods people, guided b,
his holy Spirit, in due time will ap-
preciate these symbols. For many OF
them the due time is already here
The Throne is Messiah's. 1t represents
his Mediatorial Dominion of earth for
a thousand years. Its wilderness sym
bolizes the purity, the justice, of his
Kingdom of righteousness under the
whole heavens. The heavens and
earth which will fee away from the
presence of the great Emmanuel will
not be the heavens of Gods Throne
nor the earth which he has given to
the children of men. The heavens and
earth which will fee away, and for
which no place will be found, are. or
course. the symbolcal ones. In Bible
symbology the earth represents estab
lished civilization: the sea represents
the restless. dissatisfied masses of hu
mainly. The mountains symbolic hu.
man governments, kingdoms. which
constitute the backbone of present
spiritual influences Ecclesiasticism,
Churchianity. Thus interpreted our
text declares that when Messiah shall
shall sit upon his Throne; when he
shall exercise rulership amongst men,
the result will be that the social sys.
tenn of today. as well as the present
day ecclesiasticism. will fee away. will
pass out of existence-no place viii be
found for them.
Satan Now the Prince.
Some man may be inclined TO ask,
Has not Christ been the great Ruler
of the world for these past nineteen
centuries? And whatever may be said
of the four thousand years before the
coming OF Christ may 1t not be claim
ed that he has been reigning ever since
his ascension to the right hand of the
Father? We answer that if this be
true: If the Redeemer of men has been
reigning as the King of earth for
these nineteen centuries. there should
be something in the Bible to so teach
But we find nothing. On the contrary.
we hearken to the Masters own words
telling us that Satan is the Prince of
this age John xiv. 30I. We hearken
to him again telling us. My Kingdom
is not of this world (agel" John xviii.
36l. Again he says, Il will come again
and receive you unto myself ,Iohn
xiv, 81. Again he tells US that he went
H. 70 ~ g.,
TO his Kingdom, then TO return TO take
possession of it Matthew xxi. So; XIV.
Ia, and that at his second coming he
will be the great King of glory He
tells us the same thing in Matthew
XIV. 81. when the Son of Man shall
come in his glory. and all the holy an
gels with him. then shall he sit upon
the throne OF his glory"
On the other hand, as we scau the
pages of history during the past eight
cen centuries, we are convinced that
Messiah has not been the King of the
world. To think of him as such, with
the omnlpotent power which we ac-
credit 10 him. would be to charge him
with responsibility for bloody and
atrocious prosecutions and wars and
famines and pestilences. Surely nc
right-minded person, after mature con
sideration, can nationally accept the
theory that the glorious Messlah's
reign OF righteousness for the blessing
of the whole earth. the uplifting OF
the whole race, the enlightenment OF
every creature. and the bringing Of all
possible into accord with God-none oil
us could think that that reign of the
great Mediator between God and men
is in the past We must agree with
our text that it is in the future. and
that, when established. it's effect upon
the institutions of the present-politi
cal. social. financial, religious-will be
such that they will fee away; az
place ever more will be found foI
them. An! from this standpoint there
is hope; but from no other standpoint
We are living today at the very eli
max of civilization. Yet today we be
hold more clearly than ever before
that the ply-ingrained selhshnes'