The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1911-11-03

(RAsIOR RUSSELD) for yourselves
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 Il woman with child, and
they shall not escape. But We, breth-
rem, are not in darkness that that day
should Overtake you as thief; We are
children of the light hessalOnians
v. Is.
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 presence?
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
strnction so 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. and has controlled
the masses and is still controlling
them The Prince Of Light is repre-
scented in a feeble way by ambassa-
doris who are specially cautioned by
Him that they must not use carnal
weapons nor carnal methods, but must
in meeknesS correct those who oppose
them They must be subject to 1.-The
powers that be" to the extent that
their consciences will permit and so
far as possible live peaceably with all
men.
This experience of subsection to the
powers Of evil has been a hard lesson,
difficult to learn; 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 if they would please
the Captain of their salvation. For
centuries the prayer has gone up to
God from their hearts. How long, 0
Lordr' Reason assures them that 1t
cannot be the Divine purpose to for
ever permit the victory of sin and
death under the Prince of Darkness
Flowing, Sowing, Reaping.
God represents Himself as great
Husbandman. Each Age is a season
and bears its own crop. Each Age has
its own time for the blowing Of the
field, 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 food. the different work ac-
complished during the Patriarchal 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
half years was harvest time to the
Jewish people in the close of their Age
of favor or day Of visitation" He
said to His disciples. II send you forth
to reap that wherein We bestowed no
labor: other men labored and We are
entered into their labors." John iv.
49, The blowing and sowing connect
ed with the Jewish Dispensation was
in the far past. The Egyptian bon
dage served to do blowing work. as
also Israels escape from that bondage
and the forty years of wandering in
hoA
Caanan. The giving of the Law and
the establishment Of them as a people,
the lessons Of their sacrifices. and the
exhortation Of their Prophets. all con-
stituted a seed-sowing. narrowing and
cultivating experience. In the end Of
their Age Jesus gathered the ripe fruit
age of that Experimentation sancti-
fled thereby and developed in charac-
ter and obedience to God.
The crop gathered by our Lord and
the Apostles in the Jewish harvest
numbered thousands. These were gath
cred out Of Judaism and from under
the Law Covenant into Christianity
only to the Church which is the Body
of Christi This Covenant. under
which they became associated with
Messiah. reads. Gather together My
saints (holy ones) unto Me-" saith the
Lord. those who have made Cove
nant with Me by sacrifice" psalm l.
81 All coming thus into relationship
TO Jehovah as members of the Body
of Messiah came by way of the cross