The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1911-12-18

.|2ttN1.3 34lHI huSSell. OO1lflDUD
of the Committee
zlzlsl szk R delivered public
ilRASICJR RUSSElL)I address. He had
large audience
and attentive hearing. His text was
from Isaiah Xvi. s. respecting the
birth Of q nation in a day. He said
In my childhood days every penny
could save was devoted to Foreign
Missions. The Hawaiian Islands and
the Fiji Islands were prominent be-
fore the Christian world as missionary
fields. / remember well that the cs-
tablishment of civilized government
in these Islands was hailed as the full.
fiiment Of the text have chosen-"a
nation born in n day" The thought
then was that thus speedily the world
would be converted and the glorious
promises OF the Hebrew prophets full
filed. How earnestly we labored and
prayed. "Thy Kingdom come" think
ing all the while that we were bring
Ing the Kingdom of God TO earth and
fulfilling the Lords Prayer.
Alas! we are having rude awaken
ing from such dreams. We are finding
that IL the Kingdom of God must be
established by human power it will
never be established. We are finding
that the worlds population Is doubling
every century. If we double our mis-.
sionary enterprises every century we
would only be keeping pace with the
natural Increase OF the human family.
Statistics show us that there are
twelve hundred millions of heather
today and that a century ago there
were only half as many. Alas. those
missionary hopes of ours have gone
glimmerlng.
But the awakening has done US good
1t has taught us to think little. We
are now sensibly inIuiring. Suppose
we should convert all the heather and
make the whole world a Christendom
of the same sort that we have in Eu-
rope and Americal What then? Would
Gods will be done on earth as 1t is
done in heaven-perfectly Could we
thus hope TO bring in the glorious CON
ditions prophesied. in which not only
the knowledge of God would I'LL the
whole earth, but additionally every
knee should bow and every tongue con-
fess in such manner as 90 be 10 the
glory of God? We see that such hopes
would be worse than foolish; they
would be luaicrous. Thus our awaken
ing has done us good, and sent us again
TO Gods Book TO see wherein we erred
in our expectations.
What Say the seripturcs7
The disillusion respecting great works
of our own humbled us before God and
made us realize our dependence upon
Him for the ful6lment of the glorious
prophecies. We have read our Bibles
afresh. We have taken from our minds
the spectacles of our forefathers with
the color and gloss which they handed
down TO us. We are now reading Gods
Book in its own light, allowing God TO
be His own Interpreter. and Himself
TO make 1t plain. And what do we
flndf All! wonder Of wonders! We
find the Divine Plan wider and deeper
and higher than we had ever dreamed
We find that the present Age, from
Calvary and Pentecost 20 the second
coming OF Jesus. Is not Gods time for
dealing with the world opening their
blind eyes. unstopping their deaf ears
and making every knee to bow and ev.
cry tongue TO confess. IL is merely
His time for the gathering out from
every nation. people, kindred and
tongue a ''little flock" OF such as have
the hearing ear and the appreciatlve
heart. to become the Bride Of Christ
and HIS joint-heirs in His glorious
Kingdom. the establishment Of which
will mean the blessing Of all the faml-
Hes OF the earth. as was promised to
Father Abraham.
We'll may we reason that IL our God
waited FOR four thousand years before
He sent His Son to redeem the world,
and has since waited two thousand
more for the selecting Of the Bride OF
Christ. He must intend that the great
Kingdom Of His Son. the Messianic
reign OF thousand years, is TO do II
great work for mankind in general.
Such broad foundations. such deep laid
plans and arrangements foretell n
grai' r-h ,lcr'e'is outcome, Evident
ly AK 81 y 'c 'n'allcd which
He foos '.' q,
eth 'ori; - mo-lr .r sn
ret'rn ito er t.' sh' -
co lk n tlf fp.rN. 3al J.
pF d pei n q, wtsfv 70 ~.
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