The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1910-05-27
PULPIT.
PASTOR RUSSELL'S
DISCOURSE
The Overthrow Of
Satan S Empire

: OF the civilized. The cfeedS OF III,
Dark Ages evidenced the fact that h,
had much TO do with their formulation
His false doctrines. antagOniStic to the
Bible, have been palmed off upon u
as veritable Bible truths-just as Satal
endeavored to twist and misapply the
Bible to Jesus in his wilderness temp
taton Mark i. 49,. Thus Satan has
caused gross darkness to cover the
heather and considerable darkness tC
cover the civilized earth. But we are
in the morning of the New Dispensa
ton, which is to bring so much bless
ing to the world Of mankind in the
opening of the eyes of mans under
standing, and in physical blessings and
comforts. AS Il result we have the
wonderful cOnvenienceS and appliances
of steam and electricity. the printing
press and the electric light, as instead
of the tallOw candle and quill pen of
the past. Whatsoever doth make
manifest is light and special light Is
due also at this time TO Gods conse-
Grated people. The illumination now
granted TO the eyes of our understand
ing as Christians. through Bible study
helps, is intended to be for the Chris
tan what the arc-light is ia nature.
/ MANS subserviency to Satan is an
unwilling captivity. Even those who
realize their bondage do not generally
recognize by whom they have Deen
enslaved But gradually the bonds
Ii bn nf
Satan's overthrow. According to the
Bible our Lord at his Second Advent
will bind the Adversary for Il thou
sand years that he may deceive man
kind no more Meantime all the bless
ed influences of light and Truth and
grace will be let loose in the world
and as a result, the knowledge of the
glory of God shall fill the whole
earth Instead of the darkness of
the night of sin and death there will
be the morning of joy and gladness
and restitution and blessing. The sun
ing in his beams OF that glorious
day Saint Peter spoke, saying, Times
of refreshing shall come from the
presence of the Lord and he shall send
Jesus Christ, who before was preach
ed unto you, whom the heavens must
retain until the Times of Restitution
of. all things which God hath spoken
by the mouth of all the holy prophets
since the world began (Acts iii, 19-2D.
Satan's destruction, according TO the
Bible, will not be cOnsummated until
after the MILLENNIAL KINGDOM
OF CHRIST shall have accomplished
its glorious work of uplifting human
ity out of sin and death conditions to
full human perfection and the image
Of God All the unwilling and dis
Obedient will be counted as servants
Of Satan and WILL with him, be de-
stroyed in the Second Death-eXtinc-
tion-from which there will be no re-
demptiOn or recovery.
Great Missionary Work.
"The missionary work of blessing
and uplifting all the families of the
earth is appointed of God for the Mil
lennial KingdOm-and. thank God, the
evidences are that it is very near, yea,
in a sense. already beginning. Its
blessings are intimated by the wonder
full progress of our day. Everything
waits until the predetermined number
Of Missionaries shall have been called
and schoOled and tested and found
worthy Of the great and honorable
work. The qualification is that each
must be copy Of Gods dear Som
so far as heart intention is concerned
Then these Missionaries will be glori-
fed like their Lord, on the spirit plane
and with him they will constitute the
Kingdom of Gods dear Son. which
for thousand years will bless the
world and bring to pass all that the
Lord our God has spoken, and more
christian people have no need to
upbraid themselves on the score that
the missionary efforts of eighteen cen
turtles have accomplished comparative
ly little. They have no need to be dis
couraged with the fact that the census
of the greatest missionary endeavor
the prOpOrtionate numbers Of the hea-
then have doubled (siX hundred mil
lions century agO-twelve hundred
millions today. This is all as God
fOreknew and intended. God did not
purpose the conversion Of the heather
during this age. but commissioned his
people to preach his Gospel to every
nation for a ,citneSs, that the Elect Mis-
sionaries for the future work might
be gathered from every country, peo-
pie and tongue. Gods will has been
done. The Adversary temporarily mis-
led the Church into a misunderstood
ing of her mission. He sought to have
us lower our standard of Saintship, In
order to increase the Church far and
near He sought to oppose the Divine
will by lowering the standards of
saintship so as to include the masses
OF mankind. He thus worked against |
Divine arrangements. But he has not |
God has merely allowed |
him to prove, test. separate and mani |
fest the saints-the very elect
A Great Time of Trouble.
"The coming of the light. the loos-
ing Of the letters Of ignorance and !
superstition from the minds that are
not submitted to God, the Scriptures |
show us. will result in a great time Of |
trouble. in which the passions Of men
but partially enlightened will do great |
violence TO the entire social fab
hn ir,ip Of