Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1914-08-22

VI.
dread Him as their Almighty Foe. In.
stead OF realizing Him to be the Goduf
all grace and the Father of all mrrries.
from whom cometh every good and
perfect gift"
The eyes OF the world have been
blinded TO the goodness OF God. Ter
rible dread In the hearts Of humanity
will lead to the wall Of fear as they
perceive christ's righteous judgments
encircling all the earth-
The signs and groanings promised
To preceds second BIRTH"
Not knowing Of second birth" and
al the glorious blessings which Mes
siah's Kingdom Is designed to bring to
mankind, human hearts will he filed
with dread and apprehension. Only
those who are truly the Lords and are
lightly informed respecting the Divine
Plan Of the Ages will be able to lift up
heir heads and rejoice. knowing that
heir "deliverance draweth nigh"
"rhs Heavens Being on Fire.
St Peter apparently described this
sign OF the Son Of AInn in th, heavens.
revealed In flaming fire. His words are.
'The heavens being on fire shall be dis
solved" and 'the earth also [shall take
irel and the works that are therein
shall be burned up" - Peter S.10-12J
let us not make the mistake of our
torefathers in supposing that these de-
scriptions mean literal burning of the
literal Garth. Let us. on the contrary,
:eallze that the symbollcal earth and
the symbolical heavens are to catch
ire and pass away with a great com.
motion. while the physical earth will
remain practically as It is, and will be-
gin to undergo the transforming inau.
ences Of Restitution under the new
King. the Restorer of all thlngs-Jesus
md His glorifed Church.
1t will be noticed that st. Peter men.
lions the fire us coming to the heavens
before 1t reaches the earth, in just the
same order that Jesus stated the mat
Ter. The sign. manifestation. of the
flaming fire Of Judgments will appear
n the heavens; and subsequently the
sign of the Son OF Man in Judgment
Twill be seen coming nearer and nearer
70 earth's affairs. with view to purg
ng them absolutely from everything
sinful. selfish. unjust.
We are told that the elements will
melt with fervent heat. We see the
Capitalistic element and the Labor ele.
ment separating, the one from the
i )ther. We see the preparations for the
great confingrntion. the great Time Of
Trouble. We sometimes speak Of 1t in
this language saying, Things are get
ting very hot" They will presently be
so hot that spontaneous combustion
will set In. And the fire Of that Day
will be SO extreme and its results so
drastic as to fulfil the Masters words
that unless those days Of tribulatlon
should be shortened no flesh would
survive.
But because OF the Election, because
Of the Kingdom which will then be SCI
Iup, those days will be shortened
brought to an end. Nothing will b.
destroyed except that which is in
furious. The world wide results of tha
flaming fire OF Divine Judgments vii
be corrective, preparing mems heart
for the blessings which the Lord i
prepared then to give. Thus it is writ
ten, "When the judgments of the Lort
are abroad in the earth, the inhabitant
Of the world will learn righteousness.
. 1t will be noted that st. Peter, II
, speaking of that Time of Trouble, men
: tons that the heavens-ecelesiasticisn
will be on fire first; and that Inter
Z; the earth-society and Its political
0 financial and social organizations vii
!. be involved also. In harmony will
! this our text tells that this sign, o
e indication, for the revealing Of Messiah
lin flaming fire. will first be in TIL
|. Church. Furthermore, according to 81
$ Peters statement. we are to expec
4 that the ecclesiastical heavens will pas
away with great noise-a great com
lulotion-before the social order Is full,
reached by the consuming fire.
The same thought is brought to OH
attention in Revelation. where wild
distinction is made between tli
!, nominal church systems, called Baby
J lon, and the true Church, which
!. admonished in advance to come out Q
:. Babylon and to stand In personal relf
tionship to God through Christ Thi
= general call, which belongs to the cn
Of the Age, before the judgments com
: upon Babylon, reads, "Come out
her, Ny people, that We be not pa
; takers OF her sins. and that ye receir
e not Of her plaques" The intimation
: that as soon as the Loyalty obedler
$ have been gathered out of Babylo
Z some drastic trouble will come upo
her.
Z We should not apply this term bal
2 ylon" to individuals, but to great sy
e TENS, outwardly having a form
e godliness, but really misrepresentiI
e the Divine character, the Divine Pla
u the true teachings Of the Bible. {
II course, the individuals identified vii
IS the systems have more or less respo