Utica, N. Y., August 21 – Pastor Russell, of Brooklyn Tabernacle, preached here twice today to large audiences. We report one of his discourses from the above text.
He said in part: One of the wonderful things about the Bible and the Christianity founded upon the Bible's teachings is the fact that it contains so much sympathy – comfort for the bereaved, the sorrowing, the troubled. This is not true of any other book or any other religion in the world. And who is there that does not at some time in life need sympathy, need encouragement, need a powerful and loving friend such as our Bible assures us our God is to all who will accept his favor? But our great adversary, Satan, seeks to make the light appear dark and the darkness light.
He seeks to negative the testimonies of God's Word, and, to a very great degree his deceptions have been successful, as is witnessed by the creeds of Christendom. Practically all of our creeds, even though they assert that God is gracious, careful, kind and loving, contradict this description of Him and His plan for humanity in monstrous terms, fiendish in the extreme. The majority of creeds tell us of His foreordination and pre-arrangement of whatsoever comes to pass, and that this signifies that a saintly handful will gain eternal life of joy in heaven and that the unsaintly thousands of millions of heathendom and Christendom are equally foreordained to spend an eternity of torture foreknown, foreintended and provided for before their creation. Is there comfort in this?
Is such a plan God-like or Satanic? Could any intelligent and good being rejoice in such a plan of damnation or sincerely worship an Almighty God who would so misuse His unlimited power to distress His creatures? "Born in sin, shapen in iniquity; in sin did their mothers conceive them."
The majority of Christian creeds declare the same results, but that they were not designed of God, not foreknown by Him, not predestinated. They tell us in other words that we have an incompetent God, well-meaning, but deficient in wisdom and in power. Is there any comfort in this? Would it assuage the grief and pain of those suffering in eternal torment if they could be assured that their lot was such, not because of Divine premeditation and design, but because of Divine incompetence?
Surely there is no comfort to be had from such a view. After all, we Protestants did not make much of an improvement upon the theory held by our forefathers against which we protested in the sixteenth century. Surely purgatorial tortures of a few centuries are no worse, no less comforting than our Protestant conceptions of an eternity of torture for all the non-elect. Our Catholic forefathers manufactured Purgatory without a shred of Scripture upon which to base the theory. They built it in their imaginations; they invented its fires and tortures.
Our Protestant forefathers, using their imaginations, gave us an eternal torment hell – not more tangible, not more Scriptural than Purgatory. They did indeed use a Scriptural term – sheol, hades, hell – but, overlooking the fact that these words all signify the state of death, the condition of the dead, they wrested the language and warped it in an unscriptural manner to signify torture. The penalty or "wage of sin is death."
They made of it torture everlasting, without the slightest authority of Scriptures except a misunderstood and misapplied parable, which rightly understood, teaches a totally different lesson.
Our contention is that during the dark ages the church lost sight of the true Gospel message of comfort, rest, help, held out by the Lord as a special boon and reward for the weary and heavy laden, to [NS836] attract them. During the dark ages we substituted another Gospel containing no comfort, and therewith we sought to drive men to love, serve, worship, adore, a God we erroneously pictured as meaner and in every way worse than the worst of his fallen creatures. Is it not time for us to get back to the Gospel of our text, the Gospel of comfort, of sympathy, of gracious promises? The false Gospel has surely lost its power. People are becoming too intelligent to endure it. As a consequence attendance at churches is decreasing and reverence for God is diminishing. Infidelity, called higher criticism, etc., is increasing. The need of the hour is the Gospel of comfort. St. Paul declares what we all know, namely, that "the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God."
Here we see the necessity for this Gospel of comfort. We see also that God has provided it and that it is coming to the world in the end of this age, in the dawning of the new age. It will come to the world in general as soon as the elect church shall have been selected, and, by the "First Resurrection" power, glorified with her Lord as His kingdom class, as the glorified sons of God, whose mission it will be to bless all the families of the earth.
When St. Paul says, "Knowing the terrors of the Lord" he evidently refers to the fact that our Creator has declared that "the wage of sin is death" (not eternal torment); that "all the wicked will God destroy" (not preserve in fire); and that only such as come into vital relationship with the Redeemer can have everlasting life. Knowing these things respecting the Divine government we persuade men everywhere, "Be ye reconciled to God" – and thus attain the only eternal life which He promised.
But, on the other hand, note the kindly description of our God which the Apostle furnishes, "Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, the God of all comfort; who comforteth us in all of our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them that are in any tribulation, by the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted of God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our comfort also aboundeth by Christ. And whether we be afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation, . . . or whether we be comforted, it is for your comfort and salvation, . . . knowing that ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the comfort." 2 Cor. 1:3-7
What a wonderful statement respecting the divine intentions for the comfort of the world and the comfort of the church, all proceeding from "the God of all comfort!" Nothing written in any sacred books of any people at any time reveals such a God as the God of the Bible – a God infinite in justice, wisdom, power and love. It is He that is working all things according to the counsel of His own good will, for the ultimate comfort and salvation of as many of his creatures as will accept his favors, after being brought to a knowledge of the truth respecting them.
The church is now comforted during this Gospel Age (saved to the highest plane of the heavenly nature) and during the coming age the world is to be comforted and saved to the human nature – as many as will. For the world this means the glorious opportunity of the mediatorial reign of Christ which will constitute their time of restitution, uplifting, resurrecting, to all that was lost in Adam and redeemed by the precious blood of Christ. Acts 3:19-21
Our text not only tells of comfort, but that this comfort is to be attained and enjoyed through words – through instructions, through God's teaching, through human channels and agencies. Thus, as the Apostle declares, "God hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son."
And God's Son used His twelve apostles as His special mouthpieces to declare the Father's will, the word or message of comfort. And in turn God is pleased to use human instrumentality's for the explanation of His gracious message – for the enlightenment of His people – that the faithful and obedient may have the necessary words of life, for their comfort. In order to appreciate the meaning of our text we must consider the words of the apostle preceding it, beginning with the thirteenth verse. He declares, "I would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope."
All Christian people agree that the word sleep here refers to those who died. They are not asleep in heaven, of course, for there all is wakefulness and intelligence and joy. They are not asleep in purgatory, of course, for, according to our Catholic friends, sleep there would be an impossibility. They are not asleep in an orthodox hell, for, according to the description given by Protestants, none could sleep there. Where, then, are those who are "asleep?" St. Paul says that we should not be ignorant concerning them. Have we not been ignorant in the past – foolishly ignorant? We have ignored the apostle's words entirely. We have refused to believe that any are asleep and claim that all are awake, [NS837] alive – a few in heaven or joy, the many in purgatory or eternal torture. But St. Paul was right! The entire Bible teaches that all who die fall asleep. Thus we learn of St. Stephen, the first Christian martyr, that he "fell asleep" (stoned to death). We read of the good and the bad, Kings and peasants, falling asleep in death. We read that King David slept with his fathers – some of them heathen. The Bible tells us where they sleep and that they will all be awakened from the sleep of death in due time – in the resurrection during Messiah's reign of a thousand years. The Prophet declares that "many that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to life everlasting and some to shame and lasting contempt." (Dan. 12:2)
Those who will be awakened from the sleep of death unto resurrection of life will be the blessed and holy, the saintly, who will be associated with the Messiah in the kingdom work for the blessing and uplifting of the non-elect. Those who will be awakened from the sleep of death to shame and age-lasting contempt will be the non-elect world. Their shame will be in proportion as they have enjoyed light, knowledge and opportunity and have failed rightly to appreciate and use these.
They will have contempt from their fellows, in proportion as their shortcomings of the present time will be shown up. Many highly esteemed among men will be awakened to that shame and age-lasting contempt. But their case will not be a hopeless one. Much of their weakness and dereliction were the result of Adam's transgression and the sinful conditions which have resulted, including unfavorable environment. God has provided in Christ redemption for all from the sins and weaknesses resulting from Adam's disobedience, and thus the entire race of Adam is guaranteed an individual trial under favorable conditions for life everlasting or death everlasting.
All who will render obedience to the laws and regulations of Messiah's kingdom will begin to rise up, up, up, out of their fallen, degraded condition of sin and be brought back to all that was lost in Adam and redeemed at Calvary. In proportion as they will retrace their steps and come back into divine fellowship their shame will decrease and their contempt also. Finally, in the consummation of that age all who will may have attained full restoration and regeneration and freedom from shame and contempt. The unwilling and disobedient and rebellious will be destroyed in the second death – "twice dead, plucked up by the roots" – without hope of any further resurrection or restitution.
St. Paul urges that Christians should not be ignorant concerning those who are asleep – that they that "sorrow not even as others who have no hope."
It is bad enough to think of millions of heathen as being totally extinct, hopelessly dead, without any prospects of a resurrection. The same would be true respecting our neighbors and friends, parents and children, brothers and sisters, who are not saintly, who are not in "Christ Jesus," who are not walking after the Spirit, who are not heirs of God and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ our Lord. And if it would be a sore trial to think of them as utterly destroyed in death and without hope of resurrection, how much worse would it have been when, in our misunderstanding of God's plans, we thought of them as even worse than to believe them without hope and extinct. The Apostle proceeds to point out the basis of this hope in these words, "If we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring (from the dead) with (by) Him." (1 Thess. 4:14)
So, then, the Apostles declare, the resurrection hope is the Christian hope, and the basis of the hope of this resurrection is that Jesus died that He might be man's Ransomer – that He arose from the dead that He might be the great Deliverer of mankind, the Prophet, Priest and King of God, and that He might gather to Himself the elect, Church, the Bride, the Lamb's Wife, as His joint-heir. Christians, of course, in thinking of the resurrection of the dead, would primarily, chiefly, consider their dear ones of the household of faith; hence the Apostle continues his argument, saying, that those of the church living at the present time of the Second Advent will not precede or hinder those members of the Church who have died during the past centuries, for the dead in Christ shall arise first – shall be awakened first from the sleep of death.
We cannot think that the Apostle refers merely to the Church in this case, for uniformly, in speaking of the resurrection of the dead, he refers both to the Church and the world, the "resurrection of the just and of the unjust."
So in this case he evidently refers both to the Church and the world as, "asleep in Jesus."
The expression will be noted as different from another one of his respecting those who "sleep in Christ."
The latter expression evidently refers to the Church as the glorified members of the Christ. But in speaking of those asleep in Jesus he evidently has reference to the whole world of mankind. The whole world died in Adam without having a voice in the matter of their birth or trial or condemnation. "Condemnation came upon all because of one man s disobedience."
Likewise justification is to pass upon all [NS838] of our race through the precious merit of Christ's sacrifice. The fact that He "died, the just for the unjust," constitutes His death a satisfaction price for the sins of the whole world. From this standpoint, therefore, the whole world not only died in Adam but now sleeps or waits unconsciously for a resurrection of the dead through the merit of our Redeemer's sacrifice. If we believe that Christ died for our sins and laid the foundation thus for His great work of blessing the world of mankind, including the Church, the first fruits, let us believe also that God who began His work will not stop until He shall have brought forth judgment unto victory – until all the redeemed world shall be brought to a knowledge of the Redeemer and of the Heavenly Father and to an opportunity for life everlasting through obedience. The world died in Adam – "in Adam all die."
Jesus is the Redeemer of the world. "Even so all in Christ shall be made alive."
The message has reached the Church only, as yet. In due time it will reach every member of the race. The Church is already reckonedly quickened from the dead by the holy Spirit, and will shortly be born from the dead in the "First Resurrection."
The world, therefore, from the divine standpoint, is not dead in Adam now, but merely asleep in Jesus, waiting for the glorious time when, His Kingdom established, He shall call all mankind from the prisonhouse of death, from the tomb, that each may learn to the full of the grace of God in Christ, and have opportunity for attaining life everlasting. These are the words in which we are to comfort one another – words of hope respecting the resurrection of the dead, both the just and the unjust – words of sympathy, words of assurance, words that show that God is better than all our fears; that yet in a little while He that shall come will establish His Kingdom – first the Church in glory, and, secondly, Israel and all the families of the earth through them. Everything connected with the divine message is full of hope, full of encouragement, full of blessing, to those in the condition to receive it.
These words from the lips of our Master, the Great Teacher, have been grievously misunderstood. The teaching of our Protestant childhood was to the effect that only the saintly elect would go to heaven, and that others would not only lose heaven, but gain an eternal life in torment.
Thus our text was understood to portray what practically the whole world of mankind would be compelled to endure. This hell was pictured to our childhood minds from outside the Bible as heated to a white heat.
If we expressed wonder or surprise that any human creature could endure such conditions so long, the answer was that God would exercise his omnipotent power to make us fireproof and also pain-sensitive. Some theologians of the Thomas a'Kempis school of thought went so far as to picture the poor creatures in their sufferings, and to show that the heat would form a kind of an asbestos covering which would shield them from a measure of its intensity. But these deluded theologians proceeded to explain that these outer coverings would crack and shell off every little while, leaving the poor victim freshly tender that his suffering might be the more intense. Of course, these theologians of the past had their difficulty in dealing with the worms. They could imagine devils who would oversee the torture as being made immune to pain by the chief torturer, the Almighty God. But just how to imagine the worm getting along in so great a heat, and how they would in any wise increase the torture of the poor sufferers, was to many a perplexity.
But patient thoughtfulness along these cruel and devilish lines enabled some to formulate the theory that the worms would be fiery ones, living in fire, delighting in fire – worms that would bore through the incrustations and add still further to the horrible sufferings of the world of mankind.
Did the Great Teacher intend that such conclusions should be drawn from his language? And did He stop short of the description from reasons of sympathy or modesty or shame? Is this the general teaching of God's Word or has a great and terrible mistake been made? And have we mistaken a figure of speech and treated it as literal? We erred. We misunderstood. The Great Teacher who rebuked His disciples, James and John, when they desired to call fire from Heaven upon the City of Samaria, because the people thereof refused to sell them food for the Master – the sympathetic [NS839] One who said to them, "Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of; the Son of man came not to destroy men's lives, but to save them," could that Son of man in any wise intend to tell us that our great Heavenly Father had less of the spirit of love and righteousness than the two impetuous disciples?
Did He mean to intimate that while the disciples impetuously might have been willing to destroy the earthly life of the Samaritans, the Heavenly Father, of still more demoniacal disposition would treat practically all mankind 10,000,000 times worse than that and use divine power to all eternity to perpetuate the sufferings of His earthly creatures which His own Word declares were born in sin, shapen in iniquity, in sin did their mothers conceive them? – earthly creatures, too, whose environment was unfavorable and whose adversary the devil, God neither destroyed nor bound?
Such an interpretation, my dear hearers, is not supposable. We must look for some explanation of the Master's words more consistent with His own character and with the Heavenly Father's character, and more consistent with our conception of what a just, loving, wise and powerful creator would do. It does not answer the purpose to say, as so many do, "Bosh, do not discuss such a matter. Nobody now believes such things!"
This one Scripture repudiated would shake our confidence in the whole Bible. But rightly explained and understood it would settle and increase our faith in the Scriptures as a divine message. This, then, must be our object – not merely to cast from us the devilish interpretation of the dark ages, but to ascertain the true interpretation – to get the true lesson from the words of the Great Teacher. Thousands are drifting off into more or less open infidelity simply because of the irrational interpretation given to this text and two or three others. And these errors have become so fastened in our minds from childhood days that they have become part and parcel of our very lives, so that many of us would have been inclined at one time to dispute the very existence of a God as much as to dispute such slanderous misrepresentations of His glorious character.
Let us go back to Jesus' day and in mind place ourselves with those who heard Him utter the words of our text and context. The Teacher had just said: "If thy hand offend thee, cut it off – it is better for thee to enter into life maimed than, having two hands, to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: Where their worm dieth not and their fire is not quenched."
He said the same in the following verses respecting the foot and the eye. Was He speaking literally or figuratively? Does any sane person suppose today that Jesus advised a literal cutting off of a hand or a foot or the plucking out of an eye? Assuredly not. And the person who would follow His counsel in that way would be considered unbalanced in mind.
We all recognize what He did mean, namely, that if any who desired to have eternal life found that they had hindrances of appetite or pleasure or what not, as dear to them as an eye, foot, hand, these precious, but disqualifying sins or wrong-doings, should be put away, no matter how precious they were, no matter how highly esteemed.
By way of contrast the Master suggested that if the retaining of these things would hinder them from entering into life they could not afford to retain them – that even if they were to carry the figure further and suppose that in the future life they would be deprived to the extent of being maimed to all eternity it still would be preferable to them to practice the self-denial now and to enter into life. Be it noted that the reward here indicated is in the entering into life, and the intimation is that those who fail will not have life at all – that they will fail to attain life; that they will have no eternal life, either in pain or in pleasure. Let us examine our text further and see this.
The word hell in our text is from the Greek word gehenna, which in turn was a corruption of the Hebrew word geh-hinnon, which signifies valley of death. There are two other words in the New Testament Greek translated hell in our common version. One of these, tartarus, has no reference to humanity whatever, but merely signifies our earth's atmosphere – the place where Satan and the fallen angels are restrained in chains of darkness. (2 Pet. 2:24)
The other Greek word rendered hell in the New Testament is hades, which corresponds exactly to the word rendered hell in the Old Testament, namely sheol. And all scholars know that both of these words signify the same thing. They are used interchangeably in the Scriptures to designate the state or condition of death – the tomb.
No person, of even slight education, would for a moment attempt to claim that eternal torment is taught by sheol, hades or tartarus. The great stress of all who teach eternal torment falls, therefore, upon the word hell found in our text – in the original Greek, gehenna. What we have to say respecting it will undoubtedly be news to but few of this congregation. But since this sermon will be reported in more than 700 newspapers of the land, our explanation will probably eventually reach 10,000,000 people to whom the truth of the subject will be new. What we have to say is not new to [NS840] educated ministers, however, and why, as pastors, they have kept the sheep of their flocks in the dark on the subject is for them to explain. They certainly cannot plead ignorance. At very most they can apologize that they hoped that the misunderstanding would do more good than the truth. They seem to forget entirely that this terrible misunderstanding is not only wrecking the faith of thousands, but dishonoring our Creator – blaspheming His holy name, His holy character, by misrepresenting it and the Divine Plan.
I wish that those of you who have modern Bibles with maps at the back, would turn to the map of the city of Jerusalem, and there notice on the southwest side of the city, just inside the wall, the Valley of Hinnom. That is the valley that, in brief, was called Geh-hinnon, the Greek of which is gehenna. All of our Lord's uses of the word gehenna stand related to the valley. For the sake of my larger congregation it will be worth while for us to take a glance backward at the history of that valley during many centuries before Jesus' day. The first mention of this valley in the Bible is found in Joshua (15:8), where it is given as one of the boundaries of the tribe of Judah, according to the lot cast by Joshua in the division of the land that had come into possession of the Israelites. It is again mentioned similarly in Josh. 18:16.
The next reference to this valley is found in 2 Kings 23:10. There we read how Josiah, the good King of Judah, instituted a great reform in the nation and abolished idolatry, one of the most heinous forms of idolatry having been practiced in this Valley of Hinnom, which had got a new name, namely, Topheth. History tells that the Israelites built in this Topheth, the Valley of Hinnom, a great brass image to the heathen god Moloch.
In various places they had groves in which a licentious form of worship was enacted, and then they resorted to this Valley of Hinnom to offer sacrifices of the most revolting kind to the heathen deity. Sometimes it was a boy and sometimes it was a girl that was placed naked in the arms of the great image after it had been fired to a red heat with fuel piled underneath the image, and passing through it was a flue. The cries of these infants so horribly sacrificed were drowned by the cheers of the worshippers and music of various instruments. All of this, indeed, everything akin to suffering, was strictly forbidden by the Divine Law given to Israel. And they had been specially warned against this very form of idolatry. (Leviticus 18:21; Deut. 18:10)
It is a gross mistake and slander of the Divine character and law to suppose that it ever sanctioned torture. And it is a still worse slander upon God to suppose that He would Himself do, and that for all eternity, what He condemned in His fallen creatures. The Lord declares all this through the Prophet Jeremiah (7:31-34).
Here God particularly forewarned the Israelites that their wrong course would eventuate in the terrible time of trouble which came upon Jerusalem in the year A. D. 70, when it was estimated that over 1,000,000 died at the siege of Jerusalem. In fulfillment of this prophecy the Jews cast the dead bodies over the wall of Jerusalem into this very valley. Thus we read, "Behold, the day is come, saith the Lord, that it shall no more be called Topheth, nor the Valley of the son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter; for they shall bury in Topheth till there be no place. And the carcasses of this people shall be meat for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth."
After the reformation made by King Josiah the Valley of Hinnom was desecrated to the intent that it might never afterward be considered fit for any kind of religious worship, sacrifice or ceremony. It became the valley of defilement. It was used at certain times for the burning of the offal and rubbish of the city. It became the dumping place of dead cats and dogs, etc. If any of these fell upon the ledges of the rock no one thought worth while to interfere, and the maggots and worms destroyed them. Fires also were lighted occasionally to burn the combustible rubbish, and brimstone was added so that the fumes might destroy any malarial tendency, in the interest of the health of the city.
We have before our minds now the gehenna fire, which no one ever attempted to quench, but which was designed to consume utterly everything cast into it.
We have in mind also the worms of which he spake – worms which were permitted to feed on the carcasses undisturbed until the carcasses were consumed and the worms themselves died. Another item here should be noticed, namely, that a saying among the Jews was, Whosoever commits such a misdemeanor will be in danger of going from bad to worse until he will be brought before the tribunal of the Sanhedrin, a culprit.
Jesus took the same line of proverbs, and declared that any one violating the Golden Rule to the extent of calling his brother a fool would be in danger eventually of such digression from righteousness as to bring him under sentence of the greater tribunal of Messiah's Kingdom, and "Whosoever shall say unto his brother, Thou art a fool, shall be in danger of gehenna fire." (Matt. 5:22)
What the Great Teacher meant was that the earthly [NS841] Jerusalem was a picture or type of the heavenly Jerusalem, which represents the Divine Government or Kingdom – the New Jerusalem which, by and by, will come down to earth – when God's will shall be done on earth as it is done in heaven. That New Jerusalem stands for or represents in pictorial language the great salvation of all who will come eternally into harmony with God through the merit of Christ's sacrifice and the various agencies which God will use for bringing the willing and obedient back to harmony with himself and his laws – back to the full human perfection and everlasting life.
The elect church of this Gospel Age, the Bride of Christ, will constitute the nucleus of that New Jerusalem, through which eventually all shall come into the Divine blessing. As gehenna lay outside of the wall of Jerusalem, so our Lord intimated there would be an antitypical gehenna outside the New Jerusalem. As the trash and offal of the typical city were consumed in the Valley of Hinnom, so the offal and trash of humanity who will refuse all of God's favors, mercies, blessings and opportunities, will be treated as disgraceful wretches and be consumed, destroyed, in the antitypical gehenna – which is the Second Death. Concerning this antitypical gehenna, the Second Death, we are definitely informed of the characters which will there be destroyed utterly, as St. Peter says, "as natural brute beasts." 2 Pet. 2:12
We have a description of this symbolical New Jerusalem or Divine Kingdom, composed primarily of the church, and secondarily of all from the world who, during the Messiah's reign, will enter in through its gates and enjoy the blessings of Divine favor and life eternal. And then we read, verse 8, "But the fearful and unbelieving, and the abominable, the murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the Second Death."
Note that this lake of fire and brimstone, into which all the offscouring of humanity will be cast, is a symbol, and the meaning of the symbol is plainly stated in the words, "Which is the Second Death."
The first death passed upon all mankind on account of father Adam's disobedience. Our Lord Jesus was appointed the Savior of Adam and his race, and gave his life a ransom for all, to rescue all from death, to give to each and every member of Adam's race one full, fair opportunity for a test of loyalty to God and righteousness, and to secure life eternal in the New Jerusalem. Contrariwise all who will reject that full opportunity will die the Second Death, from which there will be no redemption, no resurrection, no recovery of any kind.
This discourse has been republished in the Overland Monthly, pages 318-321, entitled, "Messiah's Fast Approaching Kingdom."
"Behold, a King shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment." (Isa. 32:1).
Brooklyn, Sept. 4 – Pastor Russell preached today in the Academy of Music, our largest Auditorium, the "Tabernacle" being of insufficient capacity. He had a very attentive hearing. There were many Hebrews in the large audience. He said in part:
"I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ." Rom. 1:16
Portland, Me., September 11, 1910 – The International Bible Students' Convention is in session here with an excellent attendance and deep interest manifested. Pastor Russell, of Brooklyn Tabernacle, delivered two addresses today, one of them in Jefferson Theater. We report one of them, from the text foregoing:
"Three weeks ago today Christendom was startled by a communication which announced that the Christian Alliance had lifted a collection of $60,000 in a few minutes – $30 cash, the balance in promises. Then followed the startling announcement that Brother Simpson, its President, stated that the [NS842] collection lifted would probably be the last at Old Orchard, because the Camp Grounds Directors had rented its Auditorium for three days for the use of our association. He declared that he disagrees with our theology. This, of course, was a veiled threat that the Directors of the camp ground must break their contract with the Bible students. This they promptly did and we accepted back the money paid in advance rather than go to law. It is for this reason, dear friends, that we are having our convention "outside the camp."
We are glad that its fence does not separate us from our great redeemer and teacher, the joy of whose blessing I see in your faces. Secular editors were astonished. They had been congratulating Christian people that the days of the rack, the thumbscrew and the stake were past, and that from every quarter were coming appeals for Christian Union which, it was hoped, might even ultimately include all denominations of Catholics and Protestants. Yet here they had to listen to the contrary – a suggestion that Christian people in alliance, were so opposed to Bible students that even a year would not be sufficient to purify the air of Old Orchard and to permit them to meet here next year to take up another collection. It seemed funny to them, too, that anything could drive a Christian Alliance meeting away from a $60,000 collection.
Since Brother Simpson may not care to tell the whole truth about the matter, and since the Christian public is interested and ought to have the facts, I must tell them. The unpleasant duty, however, will not necessitate my saying an unkind word concerning Mr. Simpson and the Christian friends who are in alliance with him.
There are two reasons why Brother Simpson thought it doubtful if he could come next year following our three days of this year.
1. He knew instinctively that his collections would be smaller – hardly worth coming for, if the people should begin to get the eyes of their understanding more widely opened respecting what really constitutes the gospel of Christ.
2. The $60,000 "raised" was not cash and a large proportion of it never will be. Some of it is promised over and over again and telegraphed over and over, as was the case with the young woman who in the spectacular manner offered her jewels from time to time and had it mentioned in the papers. Such repetitions of charitable work are considered entirely proper by many in connection with religious work in various denominations, "for the good of the cause."
Subscriptions are given publicly without hope of payment, to influence others who are more sincere – some of whom in the excitement give more than they can afford.
This same method is illustrated in the Chicago stock yards. A fine, large, trained bull gallops out to meet the cattle designed for slaughter. He waltzes before them and becomes their leader. Following him in a grand rush for a narrow passage they crowd one another to the executioner, who knocks them senseless. A special place just large enough for himself is provided for the decoy bull, who, later, goes out to lead another herd for the slaughter. We do not mean to say that those who give their money are slaughtered or otherwise injured. We believe that they are blessed – that everyone is blessed who sacrifices anything heartily unto the Lord, or to what they suppose to be His service, whether it is such or not. It is the method of getting the money from the people and the deception practiced which we deplore.
However, the Alliance has plenty of company in this method in larger Christian denominations. It is part of the "business" method of recent years. Some who did not understand this "business" method wondered where all the money apparently contributed to the "Christian Alliance" work was spent. An investigation of its financial accounts was made, which revealed the fact that they were chaotic, and other "business" were advised.
Someone may inquire why the Christian Alliance should fear us and whether or not we have ever done them harm. We reply, never have we injured them in the slightest degree, not ever even publicly mentioned their name before. Their opposition to us is on the lines of general principles mentioned by the Great Teacher, "The darkness hateth the light," "All things that are reproved are made manifest by the light." (Eph. 5:13)
Our work is to proclaim true Gospel – to incite Christian people to Bible study in the light of the Bible's own testimony and without sectarian spectacles, which, in the past, have so distorted the Word of God and set it forth in false colors.
As Christian people come to see the grossness of the errors by which they have been blinded, the light not only has a blessed and transforming effect upon their minds, but it influences their pocketbooks also. They no longer appreciate the "business" methods of the Alliance nor the brand of Gospel which it sets forth. The more God's people come to a correct understanding of the teachings of His Word, the smaller will be the collections of the Christian Alliance. That [NS843] is the real secret of their opposition. I would that it were true that they would never take up another collection at Old Orchard! The heathen have already had too much of their Gospel of damnation. God's name has already been slandered and blasphemed enough by the false Gospel message – that 999 out of every thousand of humanity ever born are to suffer eternal roasting because of father Adam's sin and the ignorance, stupidity and meanness which have resulted.
If the intelligent men connected with the Alliance really believe the horrible nightmare of the Dark Ages which they are proclaiming as the Gospel of Christ, then, of course, they are excusable for preaching it. It is not for others to judge of their honesty in this matter, but it is for others to decide that they will no longer assist or co-operate in the spread of such horrible travesties upon the Divine character – no longer assist financially or otherwise in binding upon the poor heathen at home and abroad increased ignorance and superstition. Everybody knows that the word Gospel signifies "good tidings."
And everybody ought to know that, as Christian people, we have for centuries mis-used the word, applying it to the bad tidings of great misery to all people except the mere handful of the elect. We did this because it was handed down to us by our forefathers. What Jesus said to the Jews has been true of us as Christians, "Ye do make void the law of God through your traditions."
Thank God that, as in the natural world He is sending us now the electric light instead of the tallow candle, so through Bible study helps, concordances, etc., His word, (the lamp to His people's footsteps until the day dawn), is now shining brighter than ever before. But, alas, those believing the Bible to have been properly interpreted by the creeds of the past, have abandoned every thought of a revealed religion. They have no longer hope of any Divine revelation of a Divine purpose. They have become agnostics and are searching for truth in the opposite direction as higher critics, evolutionists, etc.
Catholic and Protestant orthodoxy have set forth for centuries two general views of the Gospel of Christ. To whatever extent they now disagree with these they should publicly disown and abandon them. Until then they are besmirched with whatever odium attaches. The Catholic Gospel (Good Tidings) is that all the heathen, all Catholics and all Protestants, except a mere handful, go to a Purgatory of awful suffering, terrible anguish, lasting for decades, centuries and thousands of years, roasting, boiling, agonizing, and thus purging away their sins and dross that they may ultimately attain to heavenly bliss for the remainder of eternity.
If that is good tidings it can be considered such only in contrast with something more horrible, if that be imaginable. Whoever can have any joy through believing this Gospel we may surely congratulate as being very easily happified. We surely would not wish to take from him one molecule of his comfort.
Our Protestant Gospel, of which we are so proud that we want to thrust it upon Jews and Catholics and heathens everywhere, we should thoroughly understand, enjoy and appreciate before we waste good time and money giving it to others. Four centuries ago our forefathers were not Protestants, but Catholics, and believed in Purgatory, etc., as above.
Then what was known as the Reformation movement set in. Catholics, Jews and infidels will admit with Protestants that a great blessing of enlightenment and civilization has come to the world in the train of the Reformation Movement. But none of us is prepared to admit that the Reformers were perfect, nor their work perfect. We give thanks to God for the greater light of our day and that we have more light than the Reformers had on many subjects. The Reformers criticized the Catholic teachings which they had formerly believed. They examined their Bibles and found nothing there to the effect that Mary was the mother of God, nor that we should pray to saints, nor that we should use pictures or images in our worship, nor that their sacrifice of Christ in the mass was proper, nor that there was a Purgatory anywhere.
The Reformers threw out these things as unscriptural. They completely demolished Purgatory in their minds, declaring that it had never been anything more than imagination. Then came another thought, viz.: What must we do with the thousands of millions of mankind that we and our fathers for centuries supposed were in Purgatory roasting, stewing, tortured, but hoping for heaven? They looked at one another in consternation. They had hearts and sympathies and felt that as it had devolved upon them to smash Purgatory, it must also devolve upon them to relocate all those thousands of millions whom they had on their hands. They felt the weight of the responsibility. Could they demand of God that they should be put into heaven? Surely not! Surely only the saintly few are fit for heaven! They, as well as all, recognized that fact. Then, with blank consternation they determined that they must crowd the entire mass into a hell of eternal torture and shut the gates upon them forever, and write upon the gates, "Who enters here abandons hope." [NS844] Taking from practically all humanity all future hope made the Reformers for the time heartsick. It would be awful to do that for one person, but to thus "do" all humanity seemed terrible. And then to be obliged to label the Gospel "good tidings" must certainly have been a trying experience for the Reformers. But Brother John Calvin helped them amazingly and took from them their burden. He told them that they should not worry, because it was all God's fault and not theirs.
God had predestined them to that awful future long before He created man. Now they should merely try to think of themselves as the "elect" and try to forget everybody else. Of course, it seemed horrible to charge all these things against the God of all justice, wisdom, love and power. But it was the only solution which occurred to them. John Calvin's theories were afterward embodied in the "Westminster Confession of Faith."
And that confession of faith became the foundation of nearly all Protestant creeds. Brother Wesley afterwards objected, but admitted that only the saintly went to heaven and everybody else went to eternal torment. His protest was that, instead of this being by Divine foreordination and intention, it was on the contrary, because of Divine unwisdom and incompetency. Of course to the poor sufferers, it matters not how they got there.
Surely no sane person can any longer defend any of the above "Gospels" as the true one, of which St. Paul was not ashamed! Surely St. Paul never preached any of those Gospels, nor did any of the Apostles – nor does the Bible support such theories, except by the turning and twisting of language, mistranslations of the original and misinterpretations of some parables. The plain statements of the Scriptures are all directly to the opposite. The Bible teaches that "the wages of sin is death," not Purgatory nor eternal torment. "The soul that sinneth, it shall die."
Adam, the perfect, was placed on trial for life eternal or death eternal. He sinned and the sentence against him was, "Cursed is the earth for thy sake; thorns and thistles shall it bring forth unto thee. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread thereof until thou return unto the ground from which thou wast taken." (Gen. 3:17-19)
St. Paul declares the same: "By one man's disobedience sin entered into the world, and thus death passed upon all men, because all are sinners. Looking about us we find this true. Everybody who is not dead is dying. As the Bible says, we are living under a reign of Sin and Death. Nothing that man can do can either eradicate sin or lift us out of our dead and dying condition. God alone can help us! He proposes to help us and the message respecting that help is, in the Scriptures, called the Gospel.
Its announcement by the angels on the night of Jesus' birth is full, complete, satisfactory, viz.: "Behold, we bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be unto all people; for unto you is born this day in the City of David a Savior (life-giver) which is Christ the Lord." (Luke 2:10)
Ah, now we have the Truth! The penalty of sin is death. And the "good tidings" is that God has provided for our recovery from sin and death. The Savior gave his life for the cancellation of our sin, for the satisfaction of Justice, that in due time Adam and all his condemned and imperfect race might be released from the condemnation and be lifted out of the sin and death conditions which now prevail. That uplifting is Scripturally called the resurrection of the dead. Hence the preaching of the early Church was, "Jesus and the Resurrection" – the Redeemer and his work.
The good tidings for the race in general is that the Redeemer in God's due time will become King of kings and Lord of lords – the Messiah of glory, God's glorious Representative. For a thousand years the regenerating work for Adam's race will progress. (Matt. 19:28; Acts 3:19-23)
God's Chosen People, Israel, will be the earthly agents of the heavenly and invisible King of glory. By the close of his reign the whole earth will have been transformed into the Paradise of God. "He will make the place of his feet glorious."
And mankind will all be perfect again, in God's image. There will be no more sin, no more sickness, no more dying, because all the things of sin and death will have passed away and he who sits upon the Throne will have renewed all things (Rev. 21:5).
All who, after coming to a full knowledge of the Truth of God's love and gracious provision, still love sits and hate righteousness, will be destroyed in the Second Death, from which there will be no redemption, no resurrection, no recovery; as St. Peter says, "They shall perish like brute beasts."
This, too, our need – a Christ within, A life with God, afar from sin, A Christ whose love our hearts shall fill, And quite subdue our wayward will.
This discourse has been republished in Pastor Russell's Sermons, pages 730-738, entitled, "The Lord's House Over All."
(Detroit, Mich., Sept. 18, 1910)
Pastor Russell, of Brooklyn Tabernacle, preached twice here today to the local branch of the International Bible Students' Association. He had an excellent hearing and large and intelligent audiences. One address was entitled, "The Great Hereafter."
The other from the text, Isa. 2:2, we now report.
Brooklyn, N. Y., October 2 – Pastor Russell of the Brooklyn Tabernacle addressed a large and very attentive audience today at the Academy of Music from the following text: "The life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar, to make an atonement for your souls. For it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul." (Leviticus 17:11)
He said: Ours is a day in which, more than ever before, the statement of our text is disputed – disbelieved – by Jews, Gentiles and Christians. The great Christian author, St. Paul, agrees exactly with the words of Moses in our text, saying, Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins. (Heb. 9:22)
The orthodox Jew and the orthodox Christian, therefore, are in substantial agreement as to the foundation of things and the unorthodox are in agreement of opposition. The latter agree that there is no necessity for Sin Atonement – that the later thought of all the wise men of the earth, the greatest ministers and rabbis, is that there is no such thing as Original Sin; hence could be no such thing as necessity for canceling it – of making an atonement or satisfaction to Justice on behalf of it. Two things have contributed to these unorthodox, unscriptural views.
(1) The agnostic Jew not only disputes the Bible as an authority on the subject, but, in addition, admits to himself that if the shedding of blood, if the sacrifices commanded by the Levitical code for Sin Atonement be admitted to be right and necessary, it would involve the thought that the Jewish people have had no sin atonement in any sense of the word for more than eighteen centuries, because sin atonement must be made according to certain specified conditions or else it could not be made at all. The loss of the Ark of the Covenant containing the Law, as covered by the Mercy-Seat, was one of these disasters.
The destruction of Jerusalem, the City of the great King, was another, and, above all, the Law required that the sacrifices should be killed, and the presentations sacrificially made to God, only by a priest who could show his lineage as a son of Aaron.
Since the destruction of Jerusalem A. D. 70, the Jewish nation has been so scattered and devastated by their foes – some of these, alas, claiming to be Christians and dishonoring the name of Jesus! As a result all official records and genealogies of the Jewish people are broken, vitiated, destroyed. Undoubtedly there are numerous descendants from Aaron living today; but, since they cannot prove their descent, they are absolutely forbidden to attempt to make a sin atonement on the Atonement Day.
Viewing the matter from this standpoint the unorthodox Jew feels all the more inclined to repudiate the necessity for any Sin Atonement. Alas, indeed many of them seem not only to have lost confidence in the Mosaic arrangement, but to have lost faith entirely in a personal God. We hope and believe that many of these are sincere and will be blessed and assisted back to faith shortly and to a better understanding of the holy Scriptures and of God's dealings with their nation. [NS846]
In view of what we have said, all must see that it would be impossible for the Jews to observe the Atonement Day, having no priest nor other facility necessary to requirements of the Law. Nevertheless, an outward show of ceremony is kept up. On the proper Atonement Day of their year, the Tenth Day of the Seventh Month, the Jew figuratively acknowledges that the merit of the previous sacrifice has expired. He fasts. He prays, according to the original program. But he has no priest.
No bullock is slain for the sins of the tribe of Levi. No goat is slain for the sins of the other tribes. And no blood is taken into the Most Holy to make an Atonement. Not only have they no priest to officiate, but they have no mercy-seat. Some of them wring the neck of a rooster, swinging it over the head three times. But this was not the sacrifice of the Day of Atonement and could not take its place.
We should not be misunderstood as holding up the Jew to ridicule – Quite to the contrary, we sympathize with him – We appreciate his reverence for the Divine Law and his desire for fellowship with God in the cleansing of his sins. We would, however, suggest to them that nothing is to be gained by deceiving themselves and each other into the supposition that their Atonement Day brings them any relief or harmonizes them in any sense of the word with the Almighty. What they do is a mere farce. The sooner this be acknowledged the sooner will their honesty in the matter bring them into the proper condition of heart to recognize that the sins of more than eighteen centuries rest upon them uncancelled and that this is the explanation of the calamities that have befallen them.
When Israelites come properly to understand the situation, they will see that all their hopes center in Messiah's Kingdom. Messiah is not only the great King typified by David and Solomon, but he is also the great priest typified by Aaron and more particularly by Melchisedec, who was a priest upon his kingly throne. So Messiah will not only be the great King over Israel and the world, but he will be the great Priest whose application of his own merit will effect the cancellation of sins forever. He will not re-introduce to them sacrifices of bulls and goats, but will make known to them that those sacrifices were mere foreshadowings of better sacrifices – so much better that they will not need repeating yearly, but work a perpetual cancellation of the sins of Israel and of all the children of Adam.
All the worldly-wise of Christendom have reached the point of repudiating the testimony of the Old Testament and the New respecting the need of a sacrificial death for the satisfaction of Divine Justice, the cancellation of sin and restitution of the sinner to Divine favor. The claim of the so-called, New Theologists repudiates the fall, repudiates the Ransom and repudiates a restitution to all that was lost – claiming that nothing was lost and that all we have is gain. Thus the world and its wisdom know not God and appreciate not his arrangement that, as death came upon mankind through the sin of one man (Adam), even so a restitution to life should come to all men through Christ – that "as all in Adam die, even so all in Christ shall be made alive."
These worldly-wise men cannot deny the fact that there is sin in the world and that there is death in the world and that the tendency of all sin is towards death. They cannot deny that death is gaining a greater hold than ever before upon our race. Insane asylums, prisons and reform schools show that, notwithstanding our educational facilities and wonderful achievements under the lightening influence of the New Dispensation now dawning – nevertheless the insanity statistics and the prison statistics and the physical statistics show that, in spite of everything, our race is becoming mentally, morally and physically weaker day by day. It is for them to explain how these facts fit to their theory of Evolution.
By the term Christian we refer to those who intelligently believe the explanation of the Bible respecting sin, that it is a violation of the Divine Law and carries with it a penalty – that Father Adam was created as sinless as are the angels and as perfect as they, only on a little lower plane of being. Obedience was required of him as the price of Divine favor and everlasting life. Disobedience thrust him from Paradise into the unprepared earth to wrestle with the thorns and thistles, where the decree, "Dying thou shalt die," accomplished his execution.
His race was in his loins and naturally shared by heredity his weaknesses and their death penalty, so that the entire race is a dying race. But the Creator was unwilling that Adam and his children should die as brutes. God did not revoke his decree of death nor give any intimation that he had done unjustly in condemning his creatures. He did, however, provide a way for their relief. He provided that, as the first man alone had sinned actually, so one Redeemer alone would be necessary for the race. And to him he offered a great reward, so that his sacrifice for sins would work out to his own advantage, as well as to the sinner's. A part of the reward was the high exaltation to the heavenly [NS847] nature – far above angels, and the gift of the Kingdom of earth necessary for the overruling and subduing of the spirit of rebellion in the world and for the exaltation and uplifting from sin and death conditions of all the willing and obedient of Adam's entire race.
From the Divine standpoint "the man Christ Jesus gave himself a ransom for all," for Adam's entire race, "to be testified in due time."
He antityped the bullock of Israel's Atonement Day, as well as antityped the priest who slew the bullock – because he offered up himself. Rewarded by the Almighty, he was raised from death to the spirit plane, higher than the angels. Applying his merit to the antitypical Levites, "the household of faith," "the Church of the Firstborns," he then began a work little understood by either Jews or Christians, but nevertheless clearly outlined in the Word of God. His work throughout the age has been the gathering of the elect class – which is chosen because of faithfulness to him (and obedience in walking in his steps in the narrow way).
These composed both of Jews and Gentiles, have for centuries been in course of development – their sacrifices being typified by that of the Lord's goat on the Atonement Day. Their sacrifices are small and lean like that of the goat, in comparison to the bullock. But they are accepted by the Great High Priest, and the offering of their sacrifice is counted as his sacrifice. Thus eventually the High Priest will complete his work of sin-atonement (we believe very soon) and then his second application of the blood – upon the Mercy-Seat will be made, just as it was written in the Law, "On behalf of all the people," only that all the people on the larger scale will not mean merely the Israelites outside of the Levites, but will mean the whole world of mankind outside of the household of faith, the antitypical Levites. Forthwith the whole world will be turned over to Messiah, the antitypical Prophet, Priest, King, Mediator, Judge. Then for a thousand years the world will receive the blessed, uplifting influences. It will not be sufficient that satisfaction be given to Justice for their sins and that they shall be turned over to the glorious Messiah, they will still need his work of uplifting to bring them back to all that Adam possessed and lost through disobedience.
There will come in Israel's share in the great work of recovering the world to God. They are still beloved for the fathers' sakes and the gifts and calling of God to them are things he will not repent of. At that time the great antitypical Prophet, Priest and King will begin his work as a Mediator. At that time he will mediate by bringing into operation the New Covenant which God promised he would make with Israel and Judah, "after those days" – after the days of their humiliation and being cast off, they shall be reclaimed and uplifted and blessed and used of the Lord. This is God's Covenant with them when he will take away – their sins – when by virture of the "better sacrifices" their sins shall be absolutely and forever cancelled by the antitypical Priest, of whom the Prophet David wrote, "The Lord hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for the age after the order of Melchizedec" – a kingly priest on the spirit plane. Psa. 110:4
The word Atonement, or At-one-ment, signifies the bringing of persons alienated or estranged back into harmony, sympathy, union. Many are perplexed at the doctrine of blood-atonement so prominently set forth in the Bible. The shedding of blood is naturally revolting and properly so. It seems strange, therefore, to those who do not understand the philosophy of the Divine Plan of Salvation, why God should have required a blood-atonement for sin. Sometimes the very people who object to blood-atonement believe something much more awful – that an atonement for sin can be effected by hundreds or thousands of years of most terrible torture.
Some believe even worse than this – that an everlasting torment penalty for sin will be exacted of all except the saintly few of humanity. How inconsistent and illogical we have been in our reasoning upon religious subjects! In Scriptural usage blood stands for, or represents, the life. In harmony with this is our ordinary use of the word. We read, 'The blood of Jesus Christ our Lord cleanseth us from all sin."
Here the word blood stands for death, or rather, for the merit of the sacrificial death of Jesus. His death would have been equally efficacious as man's Ransom-Price if his side had not been pierced. It would have been equally meritorious if he had died in any other manner, except that he was to take the place of the sinner to the very last degree – as the Mosaic Law declares, "Cursed is everyone that hangeth upon a tree," thus branding crucifixion as the most ignominious form of death. But why should God require the death of a victim as a basis for the forgiveness of the sins of Adam and his race?
We reply that God's Law was intended to be an illustration of the exactness of Divine Justice. Justice could not punish Adam nor his children with everlasting torture or any other of the horrible things we once imagined. The severest penalty of the Divine Law is represented in our common law, which, as an extreme penalty, requires the death of the transgressor. Adam, having been sentenced to death, would have had no future opportunity to life – neither by resurrection nor otherwise. Adam's children, [NS848] sharing his weaknesses, would have had no opportunity to regain life, because Justice is unchangeable. If it was just to condemn sin, it would be injustice to rescind the penalty and set the culprit free. Divine Love has provided a way by which Adam and his children are all to be freed from death and have an opportunity of eternal life – not by violating the requirements of Divine Justice, but by fulfilling them.
Hence in due time, the man Christ Jesus died for the man Adam, to cancel his sin, to satisfy his penalty. And since his sin and penalty have been inherited by his children, the one sacrifice for sin is sufficient for all. But did not this course do an injustice to the Son of God, some one may ask? No, we reply, the matter was not compulsory so far as the Redeemer was concerned. It was a privilege and gained him a great blessing and reward. As we read, "For the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame," and, as a reward, he is set down at the right hand of Divine Majesty as Prince and Savior, the Messiah, the King of Glory, the "Priest after the order of Melchisedec."
The work of atonement is not completed. The first half of atonement is the satisfaction of Justice. But even this part is not yet completed. The Redeemer presents his sacrifice in two parts, according to the type. The first effusion of his blood spoke peace to believers who now have the ears to hear and the heart to obey; the second effusion, as shown by the Law (Leviticus 16:15) will make reconciliation for the sins of all the people – the whole world of mankind. Then the other part of Atonement begins. After the Divine reconciliation comes human reconciliation.
The great Messiah will not require sacrifices of humanity, but, on the contrary, will open the blind eyes and cause the knowledge of the grace of God to reach Adam and every member of his race. Then all willing for reconciliation will be helped by the great Mediator of the New Covenant and by Israel, his Chosen People and early representatives. The object to be accomplished during Messiah's reign is the bringing to all the willing and obedient the restitution which God has promised – restitution to all that was lost. Ultimately Messiah will transfer the allegiance of the whole world (perfected by him) to Jehovah God, that he may be all in all. 1 Cor. 15:28
The "little flock," gathered from both Jews and Gentiles during the past eighteen centuries, will have been accepted. A little flock has been called and tested and tried in respect to faithfulness to God even unto death. These will be on the spirit plane with Messiah, his joint-heirs and assistants in the glorious work of raising humanity back to at-one-ment with the Father.
This discourse has been republished in Pastor Russell's Sermons, pages 467-474, entitled, "The Seas in the Hollow of God's Hand."
Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of His Hand, and meted out heaven with the Span? Isaiah On the Ocean, October 16, Pastor Russell of Brooklyn Tabernacle is enjoying good health, enroute for London. His Sundays in Great Britain will be given to London, filling appointments with as many as possible of the smaller cities, weekdays.
His discourse for today from the foregoing text follows: WITH me there walks a Presence Unseen to mortal view, Hearing each word I utter, Looking at all I do, Watching to see what power The Truth to me will impart, Longing to see His image Growing within my heart.