The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1912-03-18

gradually slipped away from this Into
greater and greater depths Of degrada
tlon. mental. moral and physical. Let
me read Saint Pauls words: when
they Knew God. they glori0ed Him not
as God. neither were thankful. but be.
came vain in their imaglnations and
their foolish heart was darkened. Pro
Tossing themselves to be wise. they be-
came fools. and changed the glory of
the incorruptible God into an image
made like TO corruptible man. and to
birds and four.foOted beasts and creep
ing things. CONTRARY TO Divine In.
structions they imagined that the reg
ognltlon of God In all these various
creatures would increase their rever-
ence and make them better and more
thoughtful Of the lower creatures. But
herein they were foolish Wherefore.
God also gave them up to uncleanness,
through the lusts of their own hearts.
TO dishonor their own bodies between
themselves. And even as they
did not like to retain God in their
knowledge, God gave them over TO n
reprobate mind. to do those things
which are not proper."-Rom. /. 21-2S.
"Feel After God and Find Him."
But the feature OF our text which
most particularly impresses me is
Saint Pauls declaration that God de-
termined and appointed in advance the
times Of these nations when they
should be brought in contact with the
light of Divine Truth, to the intent
that the reverentlal quality, inherent
in the race, might exercise itself and
feel after the true God and haply end
Him.
We see that in Divine providence the
torch of the Gospel, first lighted I'm Pal.
estine. spread westward aud north.
ward. through Europe. and still west.
ward TO America. 1t. indeed, has been
the torch OF civilization. No other pow
er in the world possesses the dynamic
force Of the Gospel Message. In pro-
portion as It Is received in It's purity IL
breaks the fetters OF ignorance and su.
perstition. 10 sets men free. Ii de-
clares. MS does our text. the oneness Of
the human family-that the entire hu-
man family are by nature brothers. II
tells that God Is no respecter OF per-
sons and that the same laws OF right
and wrong apply to kings and princes.
bishops and clergy. that npply to the
humblest members of the race. and
that all must give an account to the
great Creator sooner or later.
This feature Of the Gospel Message
has been the igniting spark for all our
civilization. But. alas! the combina.
tion Of this civilization with the innate
seltislness of the unregenerate pro.
duces II human type which is danger.
GUS. because Of its higher intelligence
and unrestrained sweep OF ambition
and Imagination combined with Il
fallen nature, born IN sin and shapen
in iniquity and continually tending to.
ward selfshness. In other words, n
man wholly ruled by selllshness IL dan.
gerous to his fellows In proportion to
his education and enlightenment. lie
knowso better than his heathen neigh
Dor, how to take advantage OF the cir
cumstances and conditions OF life, for
he is lifted mentally TO Il higher plane.
Conditions Now Changing.
Saint Paul IN our test declares that
God has predetermined times" nsso.
clated with Ills dealings with the ma
tions and in bringing to them the Cos
pei We have already considered the
Divine order and time IN association
with the call Of the ELECT" Church "A
''little 1ock"-called out Of every ma
ton. people, kindred and tongue, to
be the ReGeemer's associates in the
Messianic Kingdom which is to bless
Israel and all the nations. We be-
lieve that this election of the Church
class is about complete and that soon
Gods Kingdom. the reign
Of righteousness. the worlds Judgment
Day, will begin.
1t should not surprise us. therefore,
10 find great changes imminent
amongst the peoples OF the whole
world. The bounds of human hubita-
llohS tuNi Aut DdllltIN VI lluSuuEt NIe
rapidly yielding because OF the other
lines of Divine appointment which
have been reached. viz. the period
In Daniels prophecy as "the
Time of the End" daniel xii. ~
And here we must remind you afresh
hat the Time of the End does not
mean the end of time. 1t merely sig
lifies the time for the ending of the
present order of things, that n new or
Ter of things. the MesSmnlc Kingdom,
nay be substituted. Twenty-Five cen
urles ago God determined this time
md appointed 1t and gave us four very
important proofs by which to identify
I. Let us examine these.
Q) The first sign of the Time Of the
End was TO be. MANY shall run TO and
'ro." How wonderfully this prophecy
$ fulfilled before our eyes today! Its
'ulfllment has been In progress. espe.
,ially for llfty years And 1t Is less
han eighty years since the first loco
motive was built The nations. first
separated by diverse languages. kept
we'll within the bounds of their hablta-
Ions for MANY centuries until now:
nd now suddenly we hnve running
o and fro In fulhlment of this prophe-
Il. 4