The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1912-09-25

ishment. but the
righteous into life eternal."-Matthew
XIV, 4G.
Pastor Russell proved on this occa-
sion. as he usually does, that he has a
long lead on many of the theologians
of the past and present. His position
with respect to this Parable is that the
application of it is not to this Age. but
to the future one This is distinctly
shown in the opening verse Of the Par
able itself. he said: when the Son of
Man shall come in His glory. and all
the holy angels with Him. then shall
He sit upon the Throne of His Glory"
". 3D.
And besides. the Pastor said. When
the Son Of Man shall sit in His Throne
and have before Him all nations. it is
evident from Scripture that the true
Church will sit with Him: that the
nations will be the remainder Of hu-
mainly. AS proof of this he quoted
Scripture: ITO him that Overcometb
will grant to sit with Me in My
Throne" Revelation iii. 21) Anotll-
er. ITO him that overcometh will give
power over the nations" Revelation
ii, 2G., And again. Know We not that
the saints shall Judge the word?'-"all
nations"-I Corinthians vi, ..
That this work of judging and reign
ing over the nations of earth is not to
be during day of twenty-four hours.
he said. is evident from Scripture also.
For instance. They shall be priests OF
God and of Christ and shall reign with
Him a thousand years" I'll Peter iii.
7, 8: Revelation Xx. g.
There is no doubt that the correct
view of the doctrine Of Election has
much to do with clarifying the theo-
logical atmosphere of the miasma OF
the past If everybody could get the
Bible focus upon this important doc
trine. every other theological question
would become as clear as monday. lf
everybody could see clearly that the
true Church is being elected. or select
ed. in this Age. according to faithful
ness and acknowledgment. by
way of preparation for the great serv-
ice to be rendered the world in the
next Age there would be few prob
lens remaining to be cleared up.
Tho Sheep-the Goats-the Fire.
The Parable proceeds to show the
separating work that will progress
throughout the thousand-year exercise
of Divine power and authority Oh
earth At its conclusion all the peo-
pies of the nations will have taken
their places, either as sheep or goats.
To the sheep class will be said, Come,
We blessed Of My Father, inherit the
Kingdom prepared for you from the
foundation Of the world"
This carries the mind back to the
time when the world was esta blished.
Adam being its first representative
was. by Divine command. given do
minion. or rulership. over it all-was
given the Kingdom Of earth But he
proved bis untitness for further eXer-
else of his God-given responsibilities
by placing himself in opposition to his
Creator and on the side Of the Adver-
sary. At once Adam lost his dominion.
and lost also his right to eternal life.
The sheep class of the Parable rep
resent all Of Adams race brought back
to perfection by the process Of Restitu-
ton during Messiah's reign Of thou
sand years (Acts iii. 1929 TO them
will come the dominion which Adam
lost and which Jesus redeemed ut Cal
vary. Next the fate of the goat class
| CT, tor in III af.ll h hllt
in SYMBOL 1t should be borne in mind
that without a parable spake He not
to the people" In other words, every
thing which Jesus said to the people
was figurative, to the end that only
those of the right condition Of heart
might be able to understand, as this
was the character of the class that God
designed should be accorded the honor
of reigning with Messiah over the
earth TO these ''it is given to know
the Mysteries of the Kingdom"
The message Of the great King to
the goat class the Parable proceeds to
chow. will be, depart from Me, We
cursed, into everlasting fire prepared
for the Devil and his angels" There is
large class of short-sighted people
who while thinking that the goats rep
resent an incorrigible class, insist that
the fire is real. and not symbolic. But
there is an Increasingly large class Of
Bible students who recognize, said Pas
tor Russell, that fire" throughout the
Bible is used figuratively to represent
destruction He pointed to st. Peters
| summing up of the fate of the incorri
| gibly wicked as follows: "These, as nat
ural brute beasts, made to be taken and
destroyed, speak evil of the things that
they understand not; and shall utterly
| perish in their own cOrruptiOn."-u
Peter ii, II.