The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1911-08-25
he allow clouds and darkness to OBJ.

scure His Character, and Word. and
Plan? Why does He allow darkness
to cover the earth and gross darkness
the heathen? Why does He permit sin
to be so prevalent that whatsoever will
live cody shall suffer persecution,
shall find the way Of righteousness
narrow one a difficult one? Why does
God not restrain the powers of Satan,
and spread the light Of the knowledge
Of His glory throughout the whole
earth? Why does He seem to leave
the entire matter in our poor, bun
Cling. imperfect hands?
Why does He seem thus Indifferent
to the heather thousands Of millions
and to the masses of Christendom?
All! there is a reason, which sanity
ones are gradually coming to see, and
which. more and more, is causing
them to rejoice, through faith. We
now see plainly stated in Gods Word
that the class now being selected is
called for a purpOSe-a glorious pur-
pose-in which Adam and all of his
race shall eventually have blessing.
We see that Divine grace is now Sc
lecting the Church, and that while few
have been called as compared with
the masses Of mankind, many more
are called than will eventually be
chosen The elect class is to be
made associates with Jesus in His
Messianic Kingdom, heirs of God.
joint-heirs with Jesus Christ"
So. as soon as the full number Of
"elect" shall have been found and
shall have been tested and found
worthy, the present method of Divine
operation will change completely. No
longer will God call after the sinner.
s'Where art thOu:" No longer will
preaching be the Divine method OF
pursuing sinners On the contrary.
everything pertaining to human inter-
ests will, for a thousand years, be
turned over to Messiah's Kingdom.
HE shall reign from sea to sea, and
from the river to the ends or the
earth" His Kingdom will exercise
force 1.-The Law shall go forth from
Mt Zion, and the Word Of the Lord"
respecting that Law, from Jerusa-
lem;" land it shall come to pass that
the soul who will not obey that great
Prophet, Priest. King, Instructor, will
be destroyed from amongst the peO-
pie" (Acts iii, 1929.
All the Blind Eyes Shall BE Opened.
To what extent the various beliefs
Of the heather and the creeds of
Christendom are the work Of demons,
Satan and his hosts, no human being
can tell We may merely surmise, on
the strength Of the Apostles words.
that we wrestle not with flesh and
blood merely. but with invisible "prin-
cipalities and powers, wicked spirits
in high places" We may judge this
also from the intimation that Satan
has been deceiving the whole world.
We remember the Apostles declara-
ton respecting the doctrines of de-
mons" Ephesians vi. II, ~. r. VI;
/ Timothy iv, u.
When the True Light shall shine,
when the Prince Of Light, the King of
glory, shall take to Himself His great
power and reign, and the Prince of
darkness shall be bound, then the light
of the knowledge of the glory of God
shall fill the whole earth-then the
many Misrepresentation of the Divine
character and Divine Plan will vanish;
the blind eyes shall be opened, the
deaf ears shall be unstOpped, and the
L.. nf will nd Of Iic
gracious Plan of Salvation will be
fully made known to every creature.
AS we have already seen. these bless
ings will begin at the time when the
Elect Church shall be completed. The
blessings of the Messianic Kingdom.
according to the Bible. will come first
to the Jews. Abraham, Isaac and
Jacob and all the Prophets will be
the earthly Representatives Of the in
visible Messiah These will be the
Princes in all the earth (Psa. xiv, 16).
The Judgments of tho Lord Soon.
Soon the race will be started up the
Highway Of Holiness, encoura ged by
rewards Of health and strength and
uplifting blessings, and stimulated by
the stripes and punishments which
will be visited upon evil doors in that
time Thus 1.-The judgments Of the
Lord will be abroad in the EARTH re-
warding righteousness and promptly
Furnishing every evil deed and word
and thought. The result is clearly
stated in the Scriptures-"The inhabi
tants of the world will learn righteous
ness" isaiah XVI, 81.
Nevertheless, we are not to forget
the explicit teaching of Gods Word to
the effect that at the conclusion Of
Messiah's reign, when sin and death
shall have been fully subjected, and
when all shall have been lifted up to
perfectiOn-eXcept the wilful sinners
who will be destroyed in the Second
Death-even then God will not per-
nit the perfect ones Of that time
TO enter upon eternal conditions until
first they shall have been subjected to
severe trial and testing. Satan shall
be loosed from his prisOn-hOuse "fOr
q little season." for this very purpose
of testing the perfected world. All
then living, perfect in mind and body,
should be loyal to God to the very
cOre-should be able to stand any test
Of loyalty. Such as yield TO sin and
become disObedient to God will be
counted unworthy of eternal life, and