RESTITUTION.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXV, Issue 10713, 7 June 1913, Page 3

RESTITUTION.

MODERN FULFILMENT OF A FAMILIAR TEXT—WHAT THE BIBLE MEANS BY "RESTITUTION TIMES"—EARTH'S HAPPY DAY NEARING. (Inserted by Arrangement.) Pastor Russell, of London Taberimcie, spoke on the above subject on Sunday last. His test was Acts iii. 19-21:' '.-Times of Restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all His Holy Prophets since the world began." 'He said:— In Panama and Colon a week ago I saw one of the most stupendous works of man in subduing, or conquering, the earth and making it suitable for his purposes. 1 thought how wisely God had left the subduing of the earth to man, and a blessing must come to humanity from mastering nature and subduing it to man's convenience. I testified to the people there, and to the millions who read my sermons, respecting the increased education of humanity through modern inventions, which speak to us of "the dawning of the New Era so long foretold in thd Bible.

To-day I point you to man's increasing skill along other lines. The laws of health and of disease are much better understood than ever in the past. The laws of chemistry, applicable to nearly everything in life, are marvellously clear and greatly extended beyond anything of previous times. This increased knowledge lies closo to the work of sanitation, so generally improved and so widely extended in our time. All this 'sudden influx of knowledge, not only upon the professors of our colleges and the few learne-d, but. upon the masses of mankind also, is a sign of the dawning of the New Day of God's favour and blessing—Restitution.

The Pasior urged his ..congregat:on to consider the wonderful transformation of conditions in certain places an exemplification of , the great work which , will : prevail; throughout the whole world shortly. It makes for human happiness and comfort, and properly raises our estimation of human intelligence. It mark* the dawning of the New Day of Restitution of all things," which God has promised from the beginning.

HUMAN RESTITUTION BEST OF ALL.

Everywhere in the Scriptures the glorious work of human uplift is gJirectly associated with , Messiah's Kingdom. Perhaps many have expected the blessings to come in another way; nevertheless, now that they are coming, all should be able to op?n their eyes to see the facts and to acknowledge prophetic ful- , filme,nts. Is it any,less true that ! the wilderness is coming to blossom as, the rose because this is resulting from human energy—well-drill-ing and other irrigating projects? Surely not! Instead of being disappointed that God is using humanity for 1 the fulfilment of His glorious promises, we should all rejoice that mankind may be associated with the marvels of Divine wisdom. Nevertheless, the best that has been attained here Or anywhere is evidently far below' the glorious standard of perfection which God has declared to be' the ultimate resu.t.

As fell from the image and likeness of God, "restitution" to him would mean a return to that imagj and likeness. Of all the Restitution wonders, this will be tlu grandest. Were "every prospect pleasing," and humanity 'still were vile, -sinful, imperfect—mentally, morally, and "physically—the curse would still rest upon • the earth. The evidence of the beginning of Restitution in the lifting of some of man's ignorance and superstition is by no means a realisation of what is to be expected. If a "taste" of Divine favour and goodness be. refreshing, what will the "full draught" mean to our poor race! HUMAN EVOLUTION UNSCRIPTURAL.

My" message is meaningless to those who have left the teachings of the Word of God, and who believe in human evolution. Disbelieving in the fall of our race from Divine image in the flesh, these must logically deny_ also the Redemption, and all necessity to due for our sins. Surely they could not count it sin to experience evolution, as they claim; could -not be 'a redemption from sin, nor a "restitution" to a condition enjoyed before sin entered into the world.

All such theories, therefore, are unscriptural. For this reason they ar* antagonistic to the Bible view —that man fell from God's image six thousand years ago; that he has passed through six great Daya in which has prevailed a reign of bin and' death, seduced by Satan at the "beginning, and still, to some extent, influenced by him. Under this reign of sin and death, man has lost much of the Divine image, and has 'become, brutal—more or less. The Redemptive work of Jesus is not to be understood as a change of the Divine plan and an abandonment of the purpose to make • the earth a Paradise populated by human beings in the mental and moral likeness of their Creator. Goi changes not. The mistake was merely one of ours, not authorised by the Bible. The times for Restitution were not due when Jesus t gave his life as man's Redemption-price; but those times, or years, of Restitution are due now; for we are living in the dawning of the great Seventh-thousand-year-Day. Messiah's first work as the great King of earth is about to be inaugurated. He „is about to bind Satan, "that old "serpent, the Devil." He is about to bless, not only this earth, but also humanity, by rolling away the original curse. Messiah's Kingdom is pictured as a Day, ushered in by a glorious sunrise of truth and grace. In contrast with light and knowledge, all the past six thousand years are figuratively spoken of as darkness. Darkness has covered the earth and

gross darkness th;* people (Isa. lx. '2), but tho Sun of Righteousness now arises with healing in his beams. Gradually, not suddenly, the sun rises; and so the Restitution blessings are coming in gradually, not suddenly. HERALD OF THE DAWN. Sometimes in the early morning there i» a thunder storm, which, for a brief space, hinders the dawning of the day; but it results in the drenching of tho earth with a refreshing shower. So, according to the Bible, will this New Day ol Messiah's Kingdom be ushered in, by a terriffie storm and time of trouble. "But it will be short; and its eft Yets upon the earth will be refreshing. The great contrast between' the righteousness- of the future and the sin of the prosrnt will be so con.spic.uous that all will enjoy that new condition: "The desire of all nations shall conic" (Hap. ii. 7). You will notice that in to-day's discourse I have confined myself to the blessings coining upon the world by and bye. But T must not leave you under any The Church, in tho language of-tho Scrip ture, is called a "First-fruits unto God of His creatures" (James i. 18). Nothing of Restitution to human perfection is possible until after the completion of the Church. So particular is this feature ot God's great plan that nearly two thousand years have been devoted to it, whereas only one thousand has been assigned as sufficient for tho uplift of the whole, world to earthly perfection. No wonder! God is selecting a saintly class to be His children on the very highest plane —far above angels, chernbin and sepaphin—"partakers of the Divine nature." These, because of their high station and the great work to be committed to theni in conjunction ■with their Redeemer.; are required to be exceptional characters, and to attest thoir faithfulness and devotion, even unto death.