The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1911-10-20

upon neutrality-suspicious. Of Scriptures.
We report him on Revelation x, q.
as follows:
Our text, with other Scriptural state
ments respecting the end Of the world
(for instance, st. Peters statement.
1.-The heavens being on fire shall be
DISCOVERY. have led Christians in
general to accept the theory that
God has decreed that shortly, or at
some time. our earth Is to be burned.
The early Church expected and prayed
for the second coming OF Messiah, to
establish the Kingdom Of righteous
ness, to overthrow sin and to release
mankind from its bondage and weak
ness and from the power Of death. and
thus to bless the whole earth, restoring
all things to the glorious condition
represented in miniature in Eden: man
in perfection, with a Paradise home
Acts iii, 1921.
But as centuries passed without the
manifestation Of Messiah's Kingdom,
those expectations yielded to another
suggestion. namely, that Jesus had not
meant what had been understood. but
meant that the Church should convert
the world, under His supervision. dur
ing a period of thousand years, and
that then He would come and give
their work His stamp Of approval and
wind things up by taking all the
sanity to heaven. setting fire to the
earth to entirely consume it,
Catholics and Protestants Much Con-
fused.
Both Catholics and Professionals have
been operating in harmony with this
erroneous thought. Catholics claim
that the Kingdom of Messiah was set
up long ago and that the popes and
cardinals are representatives of Jesus
and the Church. They claim that the
Pope is Christ's Vice-gerent-that is to
say, He reigns instead of Christ, as
His representative. They claim that
"the thousand years" is already in the
past, since 1899. and that we are now
in the little season" mentioned in
Revelation Xxx, 3. in which Satan was
to be loosed, at the close Of the
thousand years.
Many of them understand that Prot
estanism in general, and, particularly.
Socialism and Free Masonry. are
organizations Of Satan, which will
soon be destroyed in the burning up
of the world.
Protestants are also much confused
on the subject They claim that we
are in the reign of Messiah, but they
are not sure when it began or when it
will end. Before Luther's day the
Catholic view prevailed, but accord
ing to Luther's preaching the Papal
claims were false. and later the Papal
system was branded as Antichrist.
Since then Protestants are In con-
fusion. Some recognize the Church of
England and its kingly head as Gods
Kingdom in the earth. but they admit
that it has not yet conquered the
earth, nor is Gods will done as in
heaven. even in the British Isles The
Church of Russia makes similar
claim to being the Kingdom Of God.
and honors the Pope as the reigning
representative of Messiah. Emperor
William of Germany also has on his
coins the legend that he is reigning
"by the grace of God"-that his king
dom is part of Messiah's Kingdom.
But all these theories Catholics and
Protestants are now ignoring. In the
light Of our day none dare preach such
theories With present-day enlighten-
ment it seems foolish to declare that
the various kingdoms of Europe are
Messiah's Kingdom. and that they are
establishing a reign of righteousness
The costly preparations for war made
by these very nations discredit entire
ly the claim that they are parts of
Messiah's great Kingdom Of righteous.
ness and peace.
All denominations engaged in mis-
sionary work are processing the
thought that soon the world will be
converted; that the second coming Of
Christ will then take place. and then
will come the contamination. and the
burning Of the world. How strange.
how illogical! The heather, according
to reliable government statistics, are
twice as numerous today as they were
a century ago. Six hundred millions
there were then: there are twelve hup-
dred millions now. How long would
it REQUIRE. at this rate, to convert the
world? And if the heather were con-
verified to the same condition Of CIV