Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1910-04-05
Sermon by
CHARLES T.
RUSSELL
Pastor Brooklyn
Tabernacle.

/ Brooklyn, N. Y, April 3.-Pastor c..
T. Russell of Brooklyn Tabernacle
| preached here twice today to splendid
audiences. One of his discourses was
entitled, 'The Overthrow of Satan's
Empire" The other, which we report.
was Oh the necessity for the Millen-
| mum from The text above quoted.
| Pastor Russell said
Respecting two matters there can
be no question:
a. That the early Church thorough
ly believed in Afillennial 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 ia
booed as "out of date"-out of har-
mony with the views of the Higher
| Critics and Evolutionists. who are
| filing practically all the chairs in our
colleges and the majority of the pull
| pits of Christendom.
! What has led to this radical change
on the part of the religious wise men
| of all denominations? Have they TAX
en- a step in advance or are they de-
| parting from the path-from the teach
| ings of the inspired Word of God?
| That they have left the Word of God,
that they make light of it. that they
| profess far more wisdom and ability
| than the writer's Of the Bible and a
higher intellectual inspiration than
they, is indisputable. The question
for as is, VIII Christians in consider
able numbers follow these leaders
| away from God, away from all Divine
revelation? VIII we put our trust in
literary princes who claim the right
to instruct the world, not by Divine
appointment or authority, but by yir-
tue of their large amount of self
esteem?
The present day concept of the
Church of Christ is that God planted
| 1t amongst men as leaven in a batch
of dough with the intent that it should
| propagate itself until the entire mass
would be leavened. But the Bible
apostolic concept of the Church's mes
sage is the very reverse of this--that
1t is planted in the world. not with a
view to converting the world, but on
the contrary to keep itself separate
from the world and to draw to itself
"As many as the Lord your God shall
call" Of the pure in heart-to sacrifice
earthly interests for Divine interests.
| Resurrection. to enter into the heaven
| ~ glory of the Redeemer as his
Bride" his Wife," his Joint cir"
IN the Kingdom glory and the Kingdom
cork. And the work of that Kingdom
is set forth to be the blessing of all
| the families of the earth"
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. In the above
| item DR.. Brown admits that the Scrip
| tural view entertained by the early
| Church contemplated the Church in
| suffering and in temporary or taber-
| nacle condition in the present life and
| promised a share with Christ in his
| feign in power and great glory, as
| Gods Kingdom during the Millennium.
The safe. the proper. the right course
| Is to go back and take up afresh the
doctrine of the Millennium-the doc
trine that the faithful of the Church
now being tried and tested will consti-
tute the glorious Kingdom of Gods
dear Son after their change from
earthly to spirit conditions In the
First Resurrection" q Corinthians
XIV, 42-44).
| The Laymen's Movement.
God bless the Christian Endeavor
and Epworth League and Students
Missionary League and the Laymen's
Movement, all intent on 'Storming the
world for Jesus" We bear them wit
ness that they have zeal for God
which we greatly admire and would
encourage But their zeal is mot ac-
cording to knowledge" and is there
fore considerably misdirected. To any
one of logical mind. who will reason
from statistics. the thought of convert
ing the world by singing few rous-
ing hymns or holding a few enthusi-
astic meetings for the collection Of
money! money!. money.!! would be
childish. We do not despise childish
ness. We have all had our share. But
we all should say with the Apostle,
| "Vnen 7 usS a child I snake as q
child and understood as child: but
when l became a man | put away
childish things" q Corinthians xiii, I'D.
"Christian people have been fooling
themselves long enough Yes, it is
as absolutely irrational TO think Of
converting the world. as it is unscrip-
...1-al to believe that God ever gave us
| that impossible commission. The Unit
ed States census reports show that
| there are twice as many heather to-
day as there were century ago. The
word heather carries to many a very
wrong impression Many noble-heart-
ed Christians have gone as mission
aries TO the heather wholly unpre-
pared for what they met-inteliigent
reasoning ability. etc. They found that
the heather were full of questions,
logical questions. too, which they as
| Christians had never thought Of and
| which they were wholly unprepared to
II M j KIiMEk