Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1910-12-27

" "
and every tongue confessed His King
dom of righteousness viii be a King
dom of peace, notwithstanding the
fact that it will be ushered in by such
a time of trouble
81 Came Not to Send Peace"
But do the Scriptures contradict
themselves? What did the Great
Teacher mean when he declared. Il
came not to send peace on the earth,
but sword?" Matthew x, 34) All,
he referred prophetically to the eff
feet which his gracious message of
love and favor would produce in the
world during the reign of sin. He
well knew that the Prince of Darkness
well as himself. He foretold that who
soever would live godly would suffer
persecution-and so it has been. Eight
cen centuries have proven it, He sent
forth his followers, like himself, I'M
armed, to be peacemakers, to be help
ers, to follow peace with all men and
holiness, without which no man shall
see the Lord" He counselled his fol-
lowers, HE that taketh the sword
shall perish by the sword But their
message of peace and love and the
coming Kingdom which shall bless the
whole world and fulfill the angelic
prophecy of our text-these things
seem to anger the world-not merely
the vicious, the ungodly, but the world
ly professors of goodness who have
schemes and plans and theories of
their own to work out which are con-
trary to the Gospel Message. The
darkness, more or less mixed with
the love of God, neither cometh TO the
light, lest its deeds of darkness, selfish
ness, selfish ambition and hypocrisy
should be made manifest.
The Master knew what the effects of
his Gospel Message would be in the
compromise his Message could possibly
live at peace-that all who would be
loyal and faithful to him would be ira
duced, slandered, persecuted-"b ehead-
3D." either literally or figuratively. His
words, therefore, were a prophecy re-
specting the tribulations which all his
footstep followers would surely have.
But more than this, his words were
a prophecy respecting the nations.
What is it that has brought us to our
present degree of civilized savagery?
What is it that makes of every bust
ness corporation a buccaneer seeking
the destruction of every competing
financial craft? What is it that has
thus sharpened the wits of humanity
to such an extent that the majority
find it difficult to be honest because
they see so many opportunities for dis
honesty, while it is impossible for law
makers to make new laws with suffi-
cient rapidity to keep pace with the in
telligent methods of circumvention.
The laws, doctrines, of Christ are, in
a certain sense, responsible for all this
The liberty wherewith Christ makes
free his followers and the light which
he and they let shine upon a darkened
world, received in part into unsancti-
fed hearts and minds, have given wis
dom that, misapplied, we call cunning
and craft. The proof of what we say
is found in the fact that other nations
than those which have received this re-
Elected light of Christianity are still
quite in the background. Only now,
as Christian civilization in a perverted
form is reaching these peoples are they
awakening and becoming competitors
with 50 called Christendom.
In our advanced conceptions of
finance, warfare, etc, pertinent ques-
ton worthy of deep thought, is, VIII
it be possible to live in the world at all
after the greatest financial minds shall
have "trust-ified" al of the worlds bust
ness, and after the labor organizations
shall have had their say as to who
shall and who shall not earn a living,
and after the teeming millions of China
and Japan shall have become thorough
ly civilized and Christianized after the
nominal sort? Would not the hordes
of the Far East overwhelm the COM
paratively little handful of Europe and
America? What is tie prospect of the
fulillment of the prophecy of our text
peace on earth, good will toward
men" There is no prospect from the
earthly sources toward which we have
been looking. If that prophecy is ever
to be fulfilled it must be by some
Divine Intervention in human affairs.
The Desire of All Nations Coming.
Notwithstanding the eighteen centu-
ries of delay our text as a prophecy
will surely be fulfilled, and be fulfilled,
too, by and through the One whom the
angels announced and whose birth is
very generally celebrated today. The
Great Teacher, questioned by PLATE, an
swered that he was born to be King
the King Of the Jews; but he also add
ed, my Kingdom is not of this Age"
How true! Many Of us have gotten the
wrong impression-that our Redeemer
has been waging, as the Great King of
Glory, an unsuccessful warfare for
eighteen centuries against Satan, sin
and death. But here we learn from
the Great Teachers own lips that his
Kingdom is not of this Age. 1t belongs
to the world to come"-the Age to
come.
Do we inquire, then, who has been
the ruler of this world, this Age? The
answer of the Master is that Satan is
the Prince Of this world. He is a usurp-
er. The dominion of earth was given
to man. But Satan, deceiving our race,
putting darkness for light has become
thereby the real ruler. using humanity
merely as his tools. He is styled 'the
god of this world" and the Prince of
this world" or age. And we are told
again that HE now worketh in the
hearts of the children of disobedience.'
When we reflect how many of human
ity are disobedient, We see the vast
ness of the empire controlled by the
Prince of Darkness. And when we see
the few, comparatively. who. are sol
diers of the cross and followers of the