Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1911-11-04

know perfectly
that the day OF the Lord so cometh as
thief In the night; for when they
shall say, Peace and safety, then sud
den destruction cometh upon them, as
travail upon a woman with child, and
they shall not escape. But ye, breth-
rem, are not In darkness that that day
should Overtake you as thief; ye are
children OF the light."-I Thessalonlans
v, 10.
The common tendency OF the human
mind is expressed by st. Peter, who
prophesies of the present time that the
worldly will be saying. Where is
the promise Of His presence2
All things continue as they were from
the foundation Of the world" Ignor-
ance of Gods Plan Is to be expected of
the world but the true people of God
have the promise Of His special In
struction 80 that they need not be in
darkness respecting the Divine Pro
gram.
Our world for six thousand years
has been the battle field between the
forces Of light and darkness, truth and
error, righteousness and sin; the
Prince Of Darkness, otherwise styled
the prince of this world" has led his
forces In person, aud has controlled
the masses and Is still controlling
them. The Prince of Light is repre-
sented in a feeble way by ambassa-
dors who are specially cautioned by
Him that they must not use carnal
weapons nor carnal methods, but must
In meckness correct those who oppose
them. They must be subject to "the
powers that be" to the extent that
their consclences will permit, and so
far as possible live pcaceably with all
men
This experience of subjection to the
powers Of evil has been hard lesson,
difficult to learn a trial Of faith as well
as Of endurance, the value Of which
has been difficult sometimes to appre-
ciate But these must walk by faith
and not by sight II they would please
the Captain OF their salvation. For
centuries the prayer has gone up to
God from their hearts. "How long, o
Lord" Reason assures them that II
cannot be the Divine purpose to for
ever permit the victory Of sin and
death under the Prince Of Darkness.
Flowing, Sowing, Reapina.
God represents Himself as a great
Husbundman, Each Age is n season"
and bears Its own crop. Each Age has
its own time for the plowing Of the
held, the sowing of the good seed, and
the harvest work AS Bible students
we have already noted the work ac-
complished in the Age which ended
with the 0Ood. the different work ac-
compllshed during the Patrarchal Age.
and the still different work accom-
plished during the Jewish Age, which
lasted from the death Of Jacob, and
particularly from the giving of the
Law, down to the death of Jesus
Our Lords ministry of three and a
half years was harvest time to the
Jewish people i'm the close of their Age
Of favor or day OF visitation" He
said to His disciples 81 send you forth
to reap that whereon ye bestowed no
labor; other men Iabored and ye are
entered into their labors," (John w.,
3S.l The pIowing and sowing connect
cd with the Jewish pispensatlOn was
in the far pnst The Egyptian bon
dage served to do powing work, as
also lsraers escape from that bondage
and the forty years OF wandering in
the wilderness before they reached
Cannan The giving Of the Law and
the establishment OF them as a people,
the lessons Of their sacrifices, and the
eXhorHtion OF their Prophets, all CON
sututed II Seed-Sowing. narrowing and
cultivating experience In the end Of
their Age Jesus gathered the ripe fruit
age OF that eXperlence--thos sancti.
Ged thereby aud developed In charac-
ter and obedience to God.
The crop gathered 10y our Lord and
the Apostles in the Jewish harvest
numbered thousands These were gath.
cred out of Judaism aud from under
the Law Covenant into Christianity
gathered under q Covenant applying
only 10 the Church which Is the Body
Of Christ" This Covenant, under
which they became associated with
Messiah, reads, Gather together My
saints holy onesl unto Me" saith the
Lord. those who have made a Cove
nant with Me by sacrifice" psalm l.
o. All coming thus into relationship
70 Jehovah as members OF the Body
" Messiah came by way of the cross