River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1914-08-20


The poetess caught the proper thought
when writing respecting the Epiphania
of Christ:
ct see His flaming judgments
AS they circle all the earth,
The signs and groanings promised
To precede a second birth.
/ read His righteous sentence
In the crumbling thrones of earth
Our King is marching on
Nevertheless, this flaming forth of
Messiahs judgments, severely awful
as they will be, will be manifestations
of the Love of God and of Christ. By
the consuming of the dross in the fire
of that tribulation, mankind will be
blessed. transformed. uplifted. deyel
oped This flaming fire in which
Christ and His Church, Gods Kingdom
In glory, will be revealed to mankind.
is elsewhere in the Bible spoken of as
the fire of Gods anger. Of it we read
that the proud and all that do wickedly
will be as stubble, and that the fire of
that time will consume them. root and
branch. The hope, of course, is that as
they realize the changed conditions
they will drop their pride and their
wickedness, and turn unto the Lord.
He will send the flaming fire of judg
ments for the. very purpose of consum-
ing the worlds impurities, and thus of
blessing and purifying all who will
learn to love righteousness.
When Christ Will Come.
Again we were misled by our creeds
in respect to the time of ChriSt's Sec
ond Coming. Some of us declared that
He already had come the second time
and that His Kingdom was set up long
ago. Our Catholic friends claim that
the establishment of the Kingdom took
place in the year 800, under Pope Leo
Ill, and that the thousand years of
Chrfst's Reign are in the past We
sincerely hope that they are in error;
for, If that theory be correct, Christ's
Kingdom has accomplished far less for
the world than the Bible statement
would lead us to expect. PrOtestants
have also held that Christ's Kingdom
has been established, that His Reign
began centuries ago; that the Church
of England has been reigning, also the
Church Of Germany, the Church of
Sweden and the Church of Russia
each claiming authority in the earth
The majority of Christian people are
much confused, bewildered; but Bible
students are of late getting better
focus upon this subject. They are
seeing that. according to the Bible, we
should still pray, ""Thy Kingdom come;
Thy will be done on earth, as it is done
In Heaven;" that we should still wish
for the Son of God from Heaven, and
that we should still remember ST.
Peters words respecting the Times Of
Restitution, blessing and favor, which
will come to the world at the Second
Advent Of Christ--Acts 3:19-21.
| Admitting that those who interpret
| the prophecies to teach that we are
now living La the time of the Second
A@Easpk of f9snAst are not infallible in
tAAeH Interpretation. we must, neverthe
hess, concede that there are signs all
about us today which closely tally
with what the Bible tells us respecting
| the condition of things which will OBJ
tain at Christ's Second Coming. Let
us note some of these: st. Paul told
of the end OF the Age (also st. Peter,
that it would be marked by form of
Goodness but lack the power; that 1t
would be marked by disobedience to
parents, by readiness, by high-minded
ness, by love of pleasure, by unre-
liability q Timothy 3:1-5.) Surely we
see on every hand what answers well
to these Apostolic prophecies of the
closing time of this Age and the dawn
ing of the New Age.
On the other hand, we have
prophecies which tell us of glorious
blessings due to come to the world in
conjunction with Messiah's Second Ad-
vent Hearken to the Lords Word
in the prophecy of Daniel. We read
that tn the Time Of the End (of the
present order Of things-in the time of
the dawning Of the new order of
| things) ~ MANY shall run to and
fro;" (2) Knowledge shall be in
creased;;',' 81 The wise shall under
stand" A There shall be time of
trouble such as never was since there
was a nation"
Are we not at the time when the
whole world is ON the move as never
before in the past? Steamboats,, steam
and electric railways, ETC., are only a
century old and are only reaching their
climax of efficiency. 1t would seem as
though God had prospered human in
telIigence along these lines just at the
opportune moment to bring in the run
ming to and fro at the appropriate time
in the end of this Age.
How about the increase of knowi-
edge7 Is 1t not true that greater In
crease has been made in knowledge
within the past fifty years than ever
before? Not only Is this knowledge
exempiified in tunnels, bridges, build
ings, machinery, electric lighting and
power, and in every conceivable device
for human comfort, but it is especially
marked in human education. Within
the past thirty years free schools, yea,