The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1913-09-12

the Wilderness of the sea-" and also Of
the Vastness of Divine Power. and hui
man insignificance in comparison. HUI
manity may justly feel encouraged by
the progress made in the past century.
Mighty ships of steel. thousand feet
long. carrying thousands of passengers,
have replaced the wooden dories of
century ago. Propelled by steam. they
are indeed leviathans of the deep. The
oceans have been underlaid with ca
bes of steel, carrying intelligence to
the ends of the earth. And this majes-
tic steamer is QUILTED with wireless
system of telegraphy. by which she is
continually in touch with sister vessels
and with the world And these are
only a few of the many avenues of
progress being trodden in our day.
Lord are puffed with pride. and dis
posed to feel that our grandparents a
little way back were mere monkeys.
Gods people, guided by their Fa-
theirs Word. and by the spirit Of a
sound mind, are held back from such
deluSion They see that there are not
many great or mighty today. as COM
pared with the notables of the past.
They see that God is behind the won
derful developments of today: for we
are living in "the day of His prepara-
ton Nahum 2:3) for Messiah's King
dom. and the Reign of a thousand
years. These perceive that God Is
gradually lifting the veil of ignorance
and superstition; and that. according
TO His promise. men are now seeing
out of ObScurity.
Withal. our blessings are coming in
a most natural way. The printing
press. present-day mail service. tele-
graph systems and telephones. and
world wide education. are bringing
the thinkers of earth in close touch the
world over. Scarcely is a discovery
made Of any kind, anywhere. that is
not known worldwide within a week.
A million minds engage upon the same
project. with the result that there are
still further improvemen still more
wonderful inventions-and all these
procedures repeated Surely the only
explanation is that God is back of the
present intelligence now coming to the
world His time has come to bring
blessings to mankind, instead of the
curse which so long has prevailed.
Kings of Earth Set Themselves. \
The kings of the earth. in a broader
sense. include financial kings and cap
tains of industry. as well as political
chieftains. These wise men of the
world have grasped the situation only
in part. They perceive the blessings
and the riches rolling in upon the
world through human invention. and
are terrifying themselves in luxury
and power beside the golden streams
they have corralled.
Thus they have "set themselves"
according to our text Moreover. the
rulers of the people-the ecclesiastical
rulers and princes-are affiliated with
them. Together they take counsel.
Their next step will be to put their
counsels into practice
"Let Us Break Their Bands"
For centuries past kings and govern
ments have been more or less restrain
ed by the peoples they governed. And
the peoples have been more or less
guided by the Bible. and its spirit Of
liberty. The new conditions of our
day, however, have evaded many of
the regulations and restraints Of the
past. The restraints are necessarily
unequal to the new conditions. And
the people are intent upon making new
regulations to cope with the Trusts
and the wealth of the financial kings.
and with the great power of political
kings. as represented in modern mill
tary ornaments and organizations.
The Bible is the great stronghold of
liberty. Through it the masses of civ
ilization have learned that kings and
peasants. rich and poor. must all even
tually stand before the Judgment Seat
and be judged by one Law. This same
Bible portrays to the public the Divine
Plan of the coming Jubilee of Restitu-
tion-the rolling away of the curse and
the installation of Gods blessing.
through Messiah's Kingdom. 1t shows
that the Messianic Kingdom is near.
and that IL will be inaugurated In the
midst of great Time of Trouble
symbolically represented by st. Peter
as a con1agration. as respects eccle-