The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1912-11-01
Pastor RuSSelps Sermon

moral and physical, to the grand i'm
age OF God originally represented in
Father Adam and lost through his
iisobedience and his sentence Of death.
True. the world has had its suffer
lngs all through the past; the whole
creation has groaned and Travelled to-
gether under the intliction of the
sentence Of death pronounced against
Father Adam and holding fast against
all Of his posterity. To some extent
these have been judgments or punish
ments for sins; but on the whole we
cannot call the worlds experiences
liluring the past six thousand years
purgatorial. Purgatorial experiences
would be those administered under the
EYE and care Of a great director. and
designed to purify. 5st@
Hot Purgatorial Fires Soon.
Numerous are the symbolical pictures
used IN the Scriptures to explain and
yet to hide the character of the pur-
Igatorial experiences of the world. as
They will begin In an awful time of
Trouble as soon as the Church shall
lpll have passed beyond the veil by
flhe First Resurrection change. These
terrible troubles coming upon the
world are designed of the Lord to
Ipurge the world, to bring mankind
ito due sense of responsibility. and
10 show the desirability of righteous
ness and the undesirability of sin.
| Wait We upon Me. saith the Lord.
| until the day that | rise up to the
prey: for My determination is to
gather the nations. that | may as
semhle the Kingdoms. to pour upon
them Mine Indignation. even all My
fierce anger; for all the earth shall
be devoured with the fire Of My
jealousy" tZephaniah iii. s., Here we
have the .purgatorial fire with which
The New Dispensation will be ushered
In. 1t will he on earth. and not in
some unknown place-neither in the
interior of the earth. nor beyond the
bounds Of time and space" 1t will
be purga torial In the sense that it will
be under the supervision Of the Lord,
with view to bringing blessing to
mankind out Of that trouble.
| That a blessing will come out of it
is indicated by the sentence follow
Ing. which tells that amid the severity
Of the trouble God will grant grace
and mercy and blessing. Then will
turn unto the people pure Message,
that they, may all call upon the name
Of the Lord. to serve Him with one
consent (Zephaniah' ill. g. Thus we
have another evidence that this is
purgatorial or symbolical fire or
trouble. and not literal FIRE. other
wise no people would be left to whom
the pure Message could be given. But
Gods intention Is that all mankind,
living and dead, shall come to "a
knowledge. OF the Truth. for Christ
Jesus by the grace of God tasted
death for every man."
| The trouble which will follow the
gathering of the Church to the heav-
enly plane. by the, First Resurrection.
Is symbolically represented as the
melting of the earth tsociety) with the
fervent heat (strife. contention. dis
cord) Of that. time. Already. we see
the Capitalistic element and the
Socialistic element and the Labor ele-
ment preparing for the contest which
is to constitute the great thine Of
trouble such as never was before
Not only so. but the heavens" also
will take fire and pass away with a
great noise. These are Scripturally
shown to be the symbolicai heavens.
the ecclesiastical heavens Thus the
intimation Of the prophecy is that the
social strife will extend to and in
clude, not only social, political and
financial conditions, but also include
Ecclesiasticism. The fiery trouble of
anarchy will consume everything of
the present, and make way for the
New Dispensation, of which ST Pc ter
tells us. In the same symbolical lam
guage he calls the New Dispensation a
new heavens and new earth" The
new heavens" will be the Church in
glory. The new earth will be the
new social order Of things established
by that Heavenly Kingdom-a reign Of
righteousness. justice. leading on to
reign OF lowell Peter iii. 1913.
This great purgatorial experience at
the Inauguration of the New Dispen-
sation is again Scripturally likened to
a. SIRE" AS we read: ''The proud.
yea. and all that do wickedly, shall be
stubble; and the Day that cometh shall
burn them up. saith the Lord Of Hosts,
that it shall leave them neither root
nor ranch."-Malachi iv, L,
All the fires Of that time will be
fires Of righteousness, consuming the
things Of pride, sin and iniquity. They
will burn as long as there is anything
sinful to consume. AS quickly as pride
Is abandoned, as quickly as evil-doing
Is abandoned, so quickly will the fires
cease. But the Prophet declares that
those purgatoriai fires will be thorough
going. They will leave neither root
nor branch Of pride and wickedness.
The intimation in this Is that the
fire soon to begin may In individual
rases burn on and on-perhaps in the
cases of some individuals for a CEN
fury, for the declaration is that all
VIII be smitten down in the Second
Death who shall fail to make some
progress towards righteousness during
the first hundred years of purgatorial
and disciplinary experiences. The
sinner a hundred years old shall: be
cut OF isaiah Ky, 2O).
l. We also note the great distinction