The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1910-12-27

saying. "Bent your plow-shares into
swords and your pruning-hooks into
spears. Let the weak boast that they
are strong" and cndeavOr to keep pace
with the strong. "Comc. get ye down
to the Valley of Jchoshophat"-thc val
ley of dcath-the place Of the great
struggle with which the reign Of the
Prince Of Darkness shall terminate and
which will prepare the way for Mes
siah's Kingdom Gocl III. 0-13l.
Thank God for the assurances Of his
Word that the great "time of trouble,
such as never was since there was n
nation" which Is about to burst upon
the world. whose masses are better
educated than ever before and trained
to the use of all military equipments.
will be but n short struggle! The inti-
nation of the Scriptures IS that il
those days should not be shortened,
no flesh would survive. But for the
elects sake-by virtue of the Kingdom
of Gods elect being estublishcd-those
days shall be shortened. Then will
come the reign o. me Prince Of Peace
and, as the prophets declare. he shall
be like unto Solomon who had no
wars, but 20 whom every knee bowed
and every tongue confessed. His King.
dom OF righteousness will be a King
dom of peace. notwithstanding the
fact tina; It Will be ushered in by such
n time of trouble.
~ Came Not to Send Peace"
But do the Scriptures contradict
themselves? What did the Great
Teacher mean when he declared. 81
came not to send peace on the earth,
but a sword?' Matthew Y, 34) Ah!'
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
would oppose all Of his followers. as
well as himself. lie foretold that who
soever would live godly would suffer
persecution-and so it has been. Eight
cen centuries have proven Il. He sent
forth his followers, like himself, nm
armed, TO be peacemakers, to be help
ers, to follow peace with all men and
holiness. without which no man shall
see the Lord" lie counsellod his fol.
lowers, He that taketh the sword
shall perish by the sword" But their
message Of peace ana love and the
coming Kingdom which shall bless the
1,I gffIEII Ip unUnlfg
prophecy of our tcXt-these thiuG9
seem to anger the world--not merely
the vicious, the ungodly. but the world
ly professors OF godliness 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
selhshness. hateth the light the Truth
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
world and that only those who would
compromise his Message could possibly
live at peace-that all who would be
loyal and faithful to him would be tra-
duced, slandered, persecuted-"behead'
cd" either literally or 6guratively. Ills
words, therefore. were a prophecy re-
specting the trbulations which all his
footstep followers would surely have.
But more than this, his words were
a prophecy respecting the nations.
What Is 1t that hns brought us to our
present degree of civilized savageryy
What is It that makes of every bust
ness corporation buccaneer seeking
the destruction OF every competing
financial craft? What is it that has
thus sharpenod the wits Of humanity
TO such an extent that the majority
find It difficult 10 be honest. because
they see so many onn0rtuntes for die