River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1914-12-10
G|VE THANKS F|)R
WAR Or FOR PEACE?
Many Confused and PeTplexed
WOrshIpperS.
CONTINUED FR I'M LAST WEEK

trials and testings. Only those who
have great faith. buiIt upon clear
knowledge Of the Divine promises, can
realize thoroughly that all things are
working together for their good
Similarly. III respect to the great Eu
rOpean war now in progress, its casual
ties. desolations and wounds, only the
well-instructed Of Gods people may
understand the Divine plans and ar
fragments SO thoroughly as to be able
to give thanks in respect to the war
and able to exercise confident faith
that the outcome Of it will mean bless
ings Of instruction and preparation for
future blessings
If the Scriptures did not foreteIl this
time Of world wide distress of ma
tions," we might not know that God
had foreseen it and had made pro
vision for its results before permitting
it, But the same Bible that foretells
the war tells Of It's results, saying,
"When the judgments of the Lord are
abroad in the earth, the inhabitants
Of the world will learn righteousness"
isaiah 269) II, then, the war is
teaching the world lessons along the
lines Of righteousness and justice, it
will be doing permanent good. More
over, the same Bible tells that the war
is merely the Outgrowth Of human self
ishness, ignorance, superstition and
false doctrine, and assures us that al
though it will lead on to revolution,
anarchy and the utter wreck Of the
present order of things-the present
civiiza observation-disclosures, God is pre-
pared for the emergency. Mans ex-
tremity will be Gods opportunity"
Great Cause For Rejoicing.
The hour having come for Messiah to
take the reins of government. He will
stand forth in Power and Majesty at
the proper moment, and exclaim to the
raging elements of the restless human
sea, Peace! Be still!' And there
will be a great calm The lesson learn
ed in the Trouble will be a tasting
one; and the blessed opportunities OF
Mcssiah's Kingdom. which will be
built upon the ashes Of present insti-
tutions, will bring everlasting life and
everlasting joy to all the willing and
Obedient
Those who see the war from this
viewpoint may indeed in everything
give thanks; rejoicing that the reign
of Sin and Death will soon be ended!
rejoicing that Gods Kingdom will soon
come, and His will be done on earth
even as in Heaven! rejoicing that soon
the knowledge Of the true character Of
God will be universal! rejoicing that
then. in the light of that knowledge,
"every knee shall bow and every
tongue confess. to the glory of God!
rejoicing still further that any who
under all those favorable conditions
will refuse to make a full surrender to
the Lord. will be mercifully cut off
from life in the Second Death!
The Hope of the Resurrection.
The explanation of the sorrows of
the world is given in the Bibles which
tells us that sin lies at the door. and
that the mental. moral and physical
blemishes which cause humanity such
distress are Incidental to the penalty
pronounced against sin; namely, death
The soul that sinneth, it shall die
When Father Adam was on trial rep
resentatively for his race he sinned
and came under the penalty for sin
dying, thou shalt die" Therefore all
his children share by heredity his i'm
PROJECTIONS and are likewise imperfect
sinners, rs ST Paul explains. (Ro-
mans 5:12D Thus, during sixty cen
turtles, approximately twenty thousand
millions of Adams children have been
born in sin and shapen in iniquity,"
and have entered the world condemned
and dying. mentally. morally and phys
ically
Divine sympathy exercised toward
this race of sinners provided Savior.
who for the joy set before Him" sac.
rifced His life for the world (John
3:16; Hebrews 12:2.j Jesus Christ by
the grace of God tasted death for ev-
cry man." (Hebrews 2:9) Then, In
stead of setting up the promised King
dom to bless the world, instead of say
ing the world. the Savior did some
thing else; and that which He has been
doing from the time of His resurrec-
ton until now is, as the Apostle ex-
q
Colossians 90 27D THE Mystery of
God the world does not understand;
for He prefers to keep the matter from
them. But the secret of the Lord is
with them that fear Him, and He will
show them His Covenant"
This Mystery is that God has pur
posed that the blessing of the world
should be accomplished by our Savior
in association with a select class gath
cred out Of the world and especially
prepared in the School of Christ dur
ing the Gospel Age. During the cen
turtles required for the finding of this
sanity class for whom the Lord has
been searching with the magnet Of
Truth, various false theories have
sprung up and found acceptance in the
world. One of these is that God does
not love the world and has never pur-