The Daily Missoulian. [volume] (Missoula, Mont.) 1904-1961, 1913-01-26

Pastor Russell having accepted tht
call of the Washington Temple Con-
~gregaJion {unsectarian), preached his
first pastoral sermon in the temple.
He announced that his first three ser
mons here viii be based upon texts
cut in the stone front of our handsome
Tnion station. The first of these
served him for the initial discourse:
Thou hast put all things under Him.
psalm viii: 90 The speaker said:
our text is a prophecy respecting the
divine intention that eventually Mes
siah's Kingdom shah be established in
majesty and power. VIGOROUSLY it
shall overthrow the prince of darkness
and his reign of sin and death. Grad
ually it will emancipate humanity,
healing their sin-sickness. opening their
blinded eyes of understanding, and I'M
stopping their deaf ears to the message
of divine grace ana peace. Eventually
every knee shall bow and every tongue
confess to the glory of God. In the Ian
gttage Of our text, divine power will be
exercised through Messiah and His
kingdom to the full subsection of every
earthly thing to Him.
From day to day we repeat the Lords
prayer, Thy kingdom ONE Thy will
he done on earth, as it is lone in
heaven" Its fulfilment would be i'm
possible aside from the associated
promise of the Bible that the present
dispensation of preaching the gospel is
a,.1, Nv H., Itt,, t,sI, D., tl. NIlr-iat ia
kingdom and it's reign Of force. Many
Christian people entirely overlook this
feature of the divine ~program-that
the new dispensation is to be ushered
in by a time of trouble which will
wreck everything not fully in accord
with the divine standards.
l remind you of the divine decree re-
specting Messiah's kingdom recorded
in the Second Psalm: 4 will give Thee
the heather for Thine inheritance, and
the uttermost parts of the earth for
Thy possession. Thou shalt break them
with a rod of iron: Thou shalt dash
them in pieces like a potter's vessel"
This prophecy is referred to by our
Lord, who declared that its. fulfillment
would be after the completion of His
church, to participate with Him in the
work of bringing the world into proper
subsection to the rules of righteous
ness, justice and love. He says, ITO
him that overcomcth will l grant to
sit with me in My throne" ITO him
that o~vercometh + 1t = will l give
power over the nations; and he shall
rule them with a rod of iron; as the
vessels of a potter shall they be broken
into shiVers: even as | received of My
Father" (Revelation iii:21, ii ;26-27.)
a failure to apply the scripture por-
traying the transfer of the government
of earth from the prince of darkness
to the prince Of light has confused the
minds of many and led them to expect
things contrary to the Irvine word.
The very scripture so frequently
quoted in support of a gradual CONVEX
sion of the world declares hat this
transfer win not be by conversion of
the world-that it will be by Messiah's
taking possession OF mans inheritance
purchased by Him for humanity at
Calvary. The nations will become
Christs by the Conquering power of
the terrible trouble in which the ma
tions will be angry and Gods wrath
will come. (Revelation xi:15-1S)
The PenduIum's SWING.
In the long ago past our fOrefathers
studied these scriptures, but misun-
derstood and ]misapplied them. They
assumed that God had given to the
church authority to establish His
Kingdom. The ]eSpouscd virgin church
became united or married to the world
-to civil poWer-and ceased to wish
for and to pray for the heavenly
bridegroom to whom she was es-
poused through the gospel. Under the
decisions that she had been author
lied to establish Messiah's kingdom
and that her share in earthly dominion
brought about by union with civil
power constituted it the kingdom of
Messiah, the church endeavored to ap-
ply and to fulfill these prophecies.
An attempt was made to rule the
civil governments, and to put under
the church's feet everything antagonis-
tic to her supposed rights and inter-
ests. As a result of this mistaken in
depreciation of the Lords word, the
world was drenched with blood, and
atrocities We're committed by professed
followers of Christ, who, however sin
cere they were in many respects
served the cause of satan and mis-,
represented the cause of God.
Imperfect human reasoning is apt t.
so from Il extreme to the opposite
Hence, revolving from the thought o
the church's c]onquering the world by
sword and flame, by thumb-screw ant
rack and stake, the general miscon