River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1914-12-31

not all be lost. The greater mellow
ness Of heart and the broader views
Of the majority of those who have thus
battled selfshly for even fifty years
suggest that our race as whole might
do better work In a second century
thar in the first. Moreover, the Scrip
lures indicate that the great drama of
sin, selfishnesS and passion being en-
acted by humanity is furnishing a les
son to angelic hosts respecting the ex-
ceeding sinfulness of SHIFTS down.
ward tendency, its bitter fruit, and the
hopelessness Of any escape therefrom
except by Divine assistance.
Humanitys Next Lesson.
The forbidden fruit of Eden was
from the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil. Doubtless the Creator would
eventually have given our first parents
full knowledge of both good and
evil, and merely forbade them an i'm
mediate plunge into knowledge to their
own disadvantage Craving knowledge
before it's due time. Mother Eve DISC
beyed her Maker. and enticed her hus-
band also into disobedience. The re-
suit has been that instead Of learning
| the philosophy of good at first and OF
evil later, they and their race have
been precipitated into lessons respect
| ing evil first. with the knowledge OF
| good to come later.
The holy angels. who have never
transgressed the Divine Law. have con-
tinually the lesson Of good-an appre-
citation of the Divine character, the
principles of righteousness. etc. Their
lesson in respect to evil they are gain
ing by observation instead Of by expe-
rience-the way recommended to our
first parents by the Creator. but in
their ignorance rejected.
But God foreknew the course which
His human children would take under
the influence of temptations; He fore
knew that they would fall into sin and
would therefore experience its penalty
of sin, sorrow and death. While FOR
six thousand years His eye has pitied
His poor creatures. nevertheless He
has allowed His great original Plan Of
the Ages to move along slowly to
grand climax-the Plan which He had
purposed in Himself from before the
foundation Of the world.
That climax in human affairs, we be-
lieve, is at hand. 1t marks great
change Of dispensation. The six thou
sand years of the reign of Sin and
Death are ending with terrible Time
OF Trouble which not improperly might
be termed the natural result Of human
selfishness (sin) operating under the
influence Of the great principles of the
New Dispensation, now being ushered
in. Selfishness, as represented In the
accumulated financial power and en-
ergy called trusts and combines. is
about to come into conflict with self
shness (sin) represented in the COM
bining forces of humanity. labor IN
ions. etc.
The "head-on collision which think
ing people fOresee. and which the
Scriptures graphically portray, will
give society an earthquake shock.
More than this, the-graphic picture is
that of a world wide confagration
which will involve the heavens, or &c
clesiastical powers. as we'll as the
earth. or social system, and the noun
tains, or kingdoms, of the world. The
picture would be too terrible to paint.
and useless as well. were it not for the
silver lining of the cloud.
The awful shock, which Gods peo-
pie are warned to. avoid, so far as pos
sible. by following peace and benevo-
lcnce. will merely prepare the way for
the glorious blessings of the great Sew
enth Day, in which man will rest from
his own schemes and endeavors. and
will come fully under the control OF the
great Messiah, whose Rule of Right
eousness for human uplift has been
prophetically pictured for centuries.
The Picture In Retrospect.
Still looking from the Divine stand
point at the Six great thousand-year
Days in which Sin and Death have
reigned. we perceive that one effect
has been just as foretod to Mother
Eve-"I will greatly multiply thy sor-
rows and thy conceptions" We per-
ceive that our race has multiplied
much more rapidly than 1T would have
done had it remained perfect, as at
6rst for the first children, in the days
following the Fall, were frequently
born when the fathers were one hun
dred years old.
We have already referred to the les
son respecting the sinfulness Of sin
which comes to all mankind-most
fully. most consciously. to those ia
vored by contact with the people of
God. who have received the Divine
Revelation. The enlightened ones
have been but small proportion of
the whole. After two thousand years
of the reign of Sin and Death, God
foretold in an obscure manner the
blessing which He purposed to bring
subsequently to the race. To Abra
ham He said. In thy Seed shall all
the families of the earth be blessed"
That Message followed in Israel nv