This service had been advertised for a long time, and many thousand copies of the People's Pulpit (see cut of reduced facsimile of back page) were given out by the faithful Volunteers. Naturally this subject and the fact that Pastor Russell had just returned from a visit to Palestine and Jerusalem awakened a great deal of interest among the Jews, and many were inside the Academy and heard the sermon, while many others waited a long time outside hoping that some of those inside would leave and then they could secure their places. They waited in vain, however, as those within were too deeply interested to leave. We report the sermon in part, as follows:
Text: "Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her that her appointed time is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned; for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins" (Isaiah 40:1,2).
Christendom, with united voice, admits that all of the Divine Revelation came to and through the Hebrew people. Listen to the argument of the Apostle Paul, "What advantage, then, hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision? Much every way; chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God" – the Divine message respecting the Divine purposes, present and to come. The Apostle again informs us that the entire Gospel message was briefly comprehended in the Creator's promise to Abraham, "In thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed" (Galatians 3:8). [CR104]
It was the most natural thing imaginable for the Jewish nation to suppose that the giving to them of the Law at Mount Sinai, through the mediatorship of Moses, was the fulfilment of the promise to Abraham. Nevertheless they were mistaken.
Israel's Mediator, and the sacrificing priests, and the sacrifices they offered, and their Tabernacle, with its Holy and Most Holy, and the Temple, and all the features of the Law Covenant were types or foreshadows of the "better sacrifices," higher Priesthood, better Mediator, and glorious blessings of eternal forgiveness and reconciliation yet to be accomplished. Nevertheless the period of Israel's types was not wasted. Not only were the types there given, but at the same time a special class of agents were selected: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the Prophets and worthy ones of that age, holy, consecrated to God, and accepted as agents qualified for the Kingdom conditions. Of these the Scriptures declare, "They fell asleep." They are still asleep in the dust of the earth, awaiting the glorious resurrection morning, and a grand share then with Messiah in the work then to be accomplished. In their lifetime, they were styled the Fathers, because Messiah was foretold to be of the posterity of Abraham, and also "David's Son."
But other Scriptures, without contradicting these statements, show us distinctly that "David's Son" and "Abraham's Seed" is to be Lord and Father of both David and Abraham. Thus we read, "Instead of thy fathers shall be thy children, whom thou mayest make princes in all the earth" (Psalm 45:16). David's son, Messiah, will be David's father, or life-giver, when he will raise David from the dead. Similarly he will be the father of all of those ancient worthies; and as David's Lord, and "Lord of lords," it will be his pleasure to appoint to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and all of the Ancient Worthies, and Prophets, and faithful ones a glorious share with himself in the great Messianic Kingdom, which he is about to set up for the ruling and blessing of Israel and all the nations of the earth. Will not this be a grand honor to Abraham and his Seed! Could we expect that the Almighty would honor and use in such a high position any except the faithful? Surely not. When Messiah shall make these Ancient Worthies "Princes in all the earth," as representatives of his invisible Kingdom, will not this mean honor and dignity to the Jews first?
Our text is one of three declarations in the Old Testament, which assure us that there is a "double" connected with Israel's history. That is to say, Jewish history naturally divides itself into two exactly equal parts; the first of which was a time of favor, intermingled with disciplines, but favor nevertheless. The second of these parts has been one of disfavor and exclusion from Divine fellowship. As foretold by the Prophet, Israel for many centuries has been without prophet, or priest, and without ephod and without communion with God; whereas, at one time they were God's favored people. They now, according to their own admission, are so thoroughly rejected that they have no communication whatever, no light to shine upon their pathway. The Prophet's words have been fulfilled, "Let their table become a snare before them: and that which should have been for their welfare, let it become a trap. Let their eyes be darkened, that they see not" (Psalm 69:22,23). They have stumbled; they are blinded; but, thank God! their blindness is not to be perpetual. The period of their blindness is the second part of the "double"; with the fulfilment of that "double" their blindness will begin to vanish, and "All the blind eyes shall be opened." Of that time the Lord declares that "He who scattered Israel will gather them."
We are impressed, not by fancy, but by the Word of God, that Israel's "double" is now fulfilled, that Israel's blessing has already begun, that the opening of Israel's eyes is now in progress. For this reason we have chosen for our text, "Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Cry unto Jerusalem and say unto her that her appointed time is accomplished, for she hath received at the Lord's hand double [the two parts of her chastisement] for all her sins." Because the "double" is completed, we may speak the words of comfort.
Thirty-four years ago we called attention to these facts, but few had ears to hear. When eighteen years ago we visited Jerusalem, having in mind chiefly the fact that the time for the regathering of Israel was nigh at hand, and that the set time to favor Zion had come, we found no hearing ears amongst the Jewish people; and Zionism had not then been dreamed of. Our communications with the representatives of the Baron Hirsch Immigration Fund, and also with the executors of the Sir Moses Montefiore Jewish Relief Fund, met with scant recognition. Nevertheless, we felt sure that Israel's "double" had been fulfilled, and that her morning of joy would soon break.
Meantime, how much has happened during those eighteen years! Zionism has risen and engendered the hope of the "chosen people" in every land, and turned their eyes toward the land of promise; not that all are thinking of returning thither, but that every Jew who retains faith in the God of his fathers, and in the Abrahamic promise, is now looking and hoping for the time of blessing, long foretold. They know not about their "double"; they have not been studying the Holy Scriptures, but the teachings of their ancients, as presented by the Talmud. They have been making a very similar mistake to that of Christian people, who have been studying the creeds of the "dark ages" instead of the Word of God.
Glance with me at three different statements by the Lord through the Prophets of Israel respecting Israel's "double" of experience: the first, an experience of God's favor; the second, an experience of equal length without divine favor. Notice first Jeremiah's prophecy (Jeremiah 16:18). After telling of Israel's disfavor, and then of their regathering, the Lord declares, "And first I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double" – some of the recompense with favor, and some without favor. Jeremiah's prophecy looks down to the "double" from his own day, which was more than six hundred years before the second part of their "double" began.
Turn now to Zechariah's prophecy, and note that prophetically he takes his standpoint at the very time when the second part of the "double" began. His words are, "Even today do I declare that I will render double unto thee (Zechariah 9:12).
Come next to our text, and note that the Prophet Isaiah stands with us, and views the matter from the standpoint that the "double" of experience has been fulfilled: "Speak comfortably unto Jerusalem, cry unto her that her appointed time is accomplished, because she hath received at the Lord's hand double [two equal parts] for her sins." It is our understanding that this "double" reached fulfilment in the year 1878 A.D., and since that date we have been declaring to the best of our ability, as the Lord granted opportunity, these comforting words to Israel, assuring God's chosen people that their period of disfavor has ended, and that they are gradually returning to prosperity; that Divine favor began with them in 1878. Yea, more than this, our sermons which to some extent reflect this feature of the Divine program relating to Israel's restoration to Divine favor, are being read to a considerable extent by Hebrews as well as by Christians; their eyes are gradually opening, as the Scriptures foretell they shall do.
But how may we know when the turning point of Israel's "double" took place? How may we know that the "double" was completed in 1878? We reply that the answer to the question necessitates an acknowledgment of Jesus as the Messiah. Israel's rejection of him as their King marks the turning point of God's favor, as the prophecy of Zechariah, just quoted, distinctly shows. Neither Christians nor Jews have appreciated the full import of the incident mentioned in the Gospel; that five days before his crucifixion, Jesus rode upon an ass, after the manner of Jewish kings, into the city of Jerusalem, a multitude surrounding him, and going before him, shouting, "Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he that cometh in the name of Jehovah!" The Prophet Zechariah called attention to this incident centuries before it occurred, and then gives the Lord's words, "Even today do I declare, I will render double unto thee."
Israel's history as a nation began with the death of Jacob, when he gave his blessing to the twelve tribes. The period from that time to the death of Jesus, according to the Scriptures, was 1,845 years; and a like period of disfavor, measuring from the day of Jesus' rejection, marks the year 1878, as the end of Israel's disfavor – the time when the message of comfort should go forth. However, Divine favor was only gradually taken from Israel, and altogether a period of thirty-six years intervene between the death of Jesus and the utter destruction of Jerusalem. Similarly we [CR105] should expect that the return of favor would be gradual, a like period of 36 years; and this would bring us to the year 1914, as the time when God's favor for his people will be publicly and openly manifested.
The question now arises, What has God accomplished during the latter half of Israel's "double"? Did he pass by his chosen people to directly bless the Gentiles, or how shall we understand Divine Providence with respect to this matter?
We answer that Almighty God had one feature of his plan which he did not make known directly and explicitly to Abraham or any other prophet; he kept that feature of his purpose a secret. It is this: Messiah could not be a man and yet accomplish the great things which Jehovah intended, as stated in his Word. The Law called for an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth and a man's life for a man's life. In this God set forth his principle governing his course of dealing with men. As by man (Adam) came the sentence death, and through heredity upon all of his offspring, even so the Divine law purposed that there must be a sacrifice of one human life to offset the one human life condemned to death. The one who would thus meet the demands of Justice on behalf of the race would have the right to give eternal life and human perfection to every member of Adam's race willing to accept it on the terms of the Divine law. It was for this reason that Christ should die, "the just for the unjust."
As a reward for his obedience to the Father even unto death, Christ was raised from the dead to the Divine nature. In this exalted condition he is capable of being a Mediator and of doing a work for Israel and for the world much higher and broader than Moses could effect. Moses, the typical mediator, made atonement for a year with the blood of beasts; but Messiah with his own blood makes perpetual atonement for the sins of all the people. This is the great Messiah (Jesus) who suffered the death of the cross – for the Jews and for the Gentiles – "for all the people." This is the glorified Messiah, who as the spiritual seed of Abraham is about to bless Israel's Ancient Worthies, and to "make them princes in all the earth"; ministers of his Kingdom for the ruling, blessing and instruction of whosoever will, out of the present sin and death conditions, to life eternal to full human perfection, with the earth as Paradise restored.
But, some one may say, Where do Christians come in in connection with this Divine arrangement? And if God's dealings with the world are to be through Israel, and not through the Church, why has there been so long a delay? Why did not the glorified Messiah at once set up his Kingdom, and bring forth the Ancient Worthies from the tomb to be its earthly representatives? Oh, here is another part of the mystery of God! Isaac, Abraham's son, was typical of Messiah, the spiritual seed, but before Isaac began the work of dispensing the blessings to his brethren and to his children, he first took a bride, and this act also was allegorical or typical. In the antitype, Messiah, the glorified Jesus, partook of the Divine nature according to the Father's invitation, and he is to take a Bride who is to be his joint-heir on the spirit plane – to share with him the glory, honor and service of his Messianic Kingdom. The period of Israel's disfavor, as a nation, has been the time in which a special class has been called of the Father and begotten of the Holy Spirit to joint-heirship with Christ as his Bride.
But did God pass by the natural seed of Israel to give these spiritual privileges to the Gentiles – to gather from the Gentiles a people, figuratively, to constitute the Bride of Messiah? Nay. The Scriptures assure us that this spiritual privilege went first to the Jews; they show us that during the three and a half years of Jesus' ministry, and during the thirty-six years following it, the gospel message was given almost exclusively to the Jews, and gathered from that people as many as were found to be "Israelites indeed without guile," as many as were not only of the circumcision of the flesh, but also who were of the circumcision of the heart. God did not continue to deal with his chosen people, but after having gathered from them as many as were worthy of the spiritual blessing and exaltation – only then was the message sent to the Gentiles, to gather from the Gentiles a number sufficient to complete the fore-ordained and predestined number who will constitute the Bride.
So then, my brethren, in proving from the Scriptures that Israel's "double" is about completed; that Israel's blindness is about to be taken away, and that Israel's exaltation as the earthly representatives of Messiah's Kingdom is near at hand, we are proving to ourselves another thing; namely, that the full number called from amongst the Gentiles to participate with Christ on the spirit plane, as members of his Bride class, will soon be completed (Romans 2:25-32).
Is it hard, O my brother or sister,
Some sweet human joy to lay down?
Remember as priests we must serve him,
'Ere we wear kingly glory or crown.
Is the sacrifice thou'rt called to offer
Some precious thing close to thy heart?
Does it seem life itself is relinquished
If thou from this treasure must part?
Remember without spot or blemish
The lamb for the altar must be,
Think not strange that what most thou dost cherish
He should ask as an offering from thee.
Then willingly, joyfully, gladly,
Thy sweet smelling sacrifice, bring,
And fulfill thy atonement-day service
As priest, if thou would'st be made King.
Oh! Haste then, thy best gifts bring hither,
By faith's fervent prayers well perfumed,
And place them with zeal on the altar,
And leave there till all are consumed.
Such sacrifice, under Christ's merit,
Jehovah has never reproved,
But will in His sight be well pleasing,
"Acceptable in the beloved."
He appoints to the mourners in Zion
For heaviness, fullness of joy,
For ashes, perfection of beauty
And happiness without alloy.
Then grieve not O Soul at thy losses
Nor count any sacrifice great;
Who bear His mild yoke with endurance
Immortality's crown doth await.
Behold how the strong ones are falling,
Be faithful and watch unto prayer,
Joint sacrifice now, in His suff'ring,
But soon in His glory, joint-heir.Gertrude V. G. Calkins
THE discourse on "Jerusalem" caused so much interest among the Jews that a few days afterwards several prominent Jews called upon Pastor Russell for an interview. At one of the conventions this summer, while speaking upon the questions concerning the Jews, Pastor Russell said:
"I am pleased to tell you that the Lord seems to be rather indicating there is to be work done among the Jews. We preached in Jerusalem from Isaiah 40:1-2, "Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people, saith my God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem," etc., and there were quite a number of Jews present on that occasion, and some of them were very greatly moved. The principal Jewish man in all Palestine was present. He is treasurer and business manager of the Zionist associations of the world and is located there now. He is the head of all their business enterprises, in advance even of the president, although the president is the higher official of course; but he is the highest man, practically, among them. His name is Doctor Levy. His remarks to some of the friends were more than anything he said to me. He greeted me very cordially after the meeting and said he was sorry there were not more of his co-religionists there. There was a little prejudice against the hall we used. It was known to be a hall owned by one of those converted from Judaism to Christianity, in which an endeavor would be made to convert the Jews and make them Christians, and they were opposed to going to that hall. If he had not had a special invitation he would not have been there himself. But somebody took him a very special, urgent invitation, and on the strength of the assurance of that invitation he was present. He said, "I wish you could remain longer; I would be glad to have our Jews here in the city get acquainted and hear what you have to say." But I could not stay. You know everything was mapped out ahead. I was obliged to tell him I could not remain. Then there were others there to speak, and he spoke to some of them. He said, "Why is it Christian people in general do not have such a message as this man brings? How is it all are against us? Instead of having a sympathetic word, they are all against us." He seemed to be touched by the fact that we had nothing to say against them, but rather pointed out the blessings of God that were coming to them. He indicated he intended to write to some of his New York friends that they might attend the meeting there, when he learned from some of our party that the subject there would be from the same text. I do not know to what extent he brought anyone to the meeting at Brooklyn, but there was a good attendance, and many were turned away, unable to gain admission. Those who were present gave excellent attention for nearly two hours. There was a corridor full of people waiting to take their places, hoping some would go out, but they did not go out, seeing what an interest there was not only amongst Christians but also amongst Jews. The Jews were astonished that any Christian should speak of the prosperity of Judaism, and what blessings God had for the Jews; that was something they could hardly understand. Three Jews called on me to see if they could find out what I meant, what I was going to try to do. Was I going to try to get hold of the Jews and make Christians of them? I told them no, the sermon was not preached at all for the Jews; it was for Christian people, but that the Jews were as welcome as anybody else, and that I was glad if anybody heard anything that was interesting to them in the sermon; but we intended making no special endeavor to convert the Jews. I told them, on the contrary, we understood that God had one plan for the Jews and another for the Gentiles, and then I briefly outlined to them the heavenly and higher calling, calling attention to the fact there were no promises made to them of a heavenly kind; that from Genesis to Malachi there was not a heavenly or spiritual promise mentioned; that they were all earthly promises. They agreed to that. I said, All of those promises are to be fulfilled to you, and the time is near at hand. They were good listeners. One of them was editor of a paper, and the other a publisher of a paper, and they were deeply interested to hear what the object was; they thought there must be something or other behind the scenes, and their thought was, Why would it be so? What are you going to do? Where is the trap? We are looking for the snare that would catch the bird. I told them we had no snare at all. We merely had a good message, that we had a good deal of sympathy with the Jews, and we saw God had cast them off at a certain time. They admitted all of that; they could not think otherwise. We told them that we believed God, that we believed the Prophets, that we acknowledged those prophets of the Old Testament the same as they did; that many Christian people had abandoned the Old Testament, thought it was all fulfilled and past, but we followed the Old Scripture suggestions that many of those things were yet future – indeed most of them; that only a small portion had ever been fulfilled, and God in his due time would fulfill all of those promises to the Jews; and just as soon as this spiritual class was selected, forthwith the message would go to the Jews, and the awakening referred to in this valley of dry bones would take place. We called their attention to the fact that it was Israel's hope that they were to be revivified and they would begin to awaken, and I said to them, What has awakened you now to Zionism is a part of God's promises coming at the right time, but it has nearly spent its force; the power that is behind Zionism is merely the power of patriotism. You feel as though you Jews have no home. The Germans speak of the fatherland, and the others speak of some other land; they have a home land. And you say, We Jews have no home land. You would like to have a home land, and it is a kind of a patriotic spirit that is moving Zionism as far as it can, rather than anything practical. Now, I said, Zionism has nearly spent its force, and it has nearly gotten you ready for the power that is going to move you. The power that is going to move the Jews is the power of God through the prophets. God is going to move you as none of this patriotism ever did in the past. And then they had good ears to hear, and I went on and outlined the "Times of the Gentiles," and the "Seven Times," and how they would end in 1915. Also the fact that God had told the Jews in Leviticus that there would be seven times trial, etc.; that we thought these were the same seven times mentioned when God took away Zedekiah, the King of Judah, who was the last king they had, and that the seven times dated from there. Their eyes sparkled and they listened attentively. I think they were there nearly two hours, just in the parlor talking about it – I did nearly all the talking. Well, they said, we thought that if this is not an endeavor to turn the Jews to make Christians out of them, if it is not that, this would be a wonderful power among our people, and we would like to have you address a meeting. Would you? I said to them that if it were anything like a political meeting I would not wish to address it at all; that we did not mingle in politics at all, but if any of them would have an ear to hear, and would like to know about what God has for them as a nation of people, we would be glad to talk to them as much as we have time. You see I am very busy and I could not give you a great deal of time, but if we could have some one large meeting, perhaps then I could talk to a good many Jews together, and I would be very pleased to do so."
Brother Russell afterward said, at one of this year's conventions, Well, they are thinking it over. I did not know what they would think, and do not know what they will do; they had come merely to see what was the motive behind it, to learn if we were trying to trap them. They were afraid if they would push it along we might really catch some of them. That is what they are afraid of. But they all acknowledged and said, Why, this is the most powerful thing we have ever heard. And one of those men said, "I was an unbeliever when I came in here, but now you have convinced me there is something in the Bible for the Jew, and that there is truth in the Bible." And so you and I are learning more and more every day, that that is the wonderful power, both for the Jew, the Gentile and the Christian; it is our Book. Primarily it is for the Christian, but there are certain good things in it for the Jews and for ALL the families of the earth. The Jews are waking up all over the country. I presume that a synopsis of the discourse, which was published in eleven Jewish and Yiddish newspapers, will reach probably half a million of Jews all over the world."
Subsequently Brother Russell received an invitation to address a JEWISH MASS MEETING in the great HIPPODROME THEATRE of New York City.
A copy of the invitation, and Brother Russell's response to the same and a report of the meeting, which took place as per arrangements, will be found farther along in this Report.
THE gentle sighing of the wind among the pines,
The joyous singing of the lark at break of day,
The rippling of the water-brooks through cooling shade,
The patter of the softly falling rain at night,
Are sounds less sweet by far than His most precious
name.
No art can show a form so gracious and so fair,
No master's hand hath drawn a smile so sweet,
Nor could depict the majesty of that pure brow;
No canvas ever glowed with such a holy light
As shines from His most radiant image in my heart.
The dearest earthly friend may fail in time of need,
The sweetest and the loveliest grow cold at heart,
The nearest may not heed the throbbing heart's sad cry,
The gayest throng may hold the loneliest solitude,
But Jesus, Jesus never fails my call to hear.
Oh, may the music of Thy name more clearly fall
Upon my ears attuned to catch that sweetest sound!
Oh, may Thine image in my heart so bright become
That I by gazing may be changed into the same;
Oh, blessed Jesus, let Thy presence ne'er depart,
Oh, come and reign forevermore within my heart!
I AM very pleased to be with you. I am not down on the program for this morning, and will speak to you later, but I thought this would be a testimony meeting, and I would like to put in an appearance and say that I am here, and that I am glad to see you – glad to see so many faces I recognize; and I am glad to see some that apparently I have not seen before – evidencing the fact that there are some still coming to the knowledge of the truth day by day and year by year.
Now I have only a few moments to speak, and simply will say, "How do you do?" and "Good-bye." Brother Hollister is to speak in a few minutes; he was anxious I should speak instead of him, but I would not do that because he would not speak instead of me this evening.
I was thinking of something I might say to you at this time, that perhaps this will be the best opportunity for mentioning, namely: That we have some little souvenirs of the conventions of 1910. Some of you doubtless have seen them, and others have not. I will describe them to you. Each one contains four sermons that you see all at a glance, [CR108]
Said to be "Taken from one cut in emerald by command of Tiberius Caesar, and which was given from the Treasury of Constantinople by the Emperor of the Turks, to Pope Innocent VIII, for the redemption of his brother, then a captive to the Christians."
The following translation from the Latin is said to be the statement of Publius Lentulus, to the Senate of Rome, during the term of Tiberius Caesar – part of his report on prominent affairs in Judea.
"There appeared in these our days a man of great virtue, named Jesus Christ, who is yet living amongst us, and of the Gentiles is accepted for a Prophet of truth, but his own disciples call him the Son of God. He raiseth the dead and cureth all manner of diseases. A man of stature somewhat tall, and comely, with a very reverend countenance such as the beholders may both love and fear. His hair of the color of philbert, full ripe, and plain almost down to his ears; but from his ears downward somewhat curled, and more orient of color, waving on his shoulders. In the midst of his head goeth a seam or partition of his hair, after the manner of the Nazarites; his forehead very plain and smooth; his face without spot or wrinkle, beautified with a comely red. His nose and mouth so formed as nothing can be reprehended; his beard somewhat thick, agreeable in color to the hair of his head, not of any great length, in the midst of an innocent and mature look. His eyes are gray, clear and quick. In reproving he is terrible; in admonishing, courteous and fair spoken: pleasant in speech, mixed with gravity. It cannot be remembered that any saw him laugh, but many have seen him weep. In proportion of body, well-shaped and straight; his arms and hands right and delectable to behold; in speaking, very temperate, modest and wise. A man for singular beauty surpassing the children of men."
Respecting this portrait, an expert phrenologist, Prof. E. G. Walters, says: –
"The fact that it is a profile, is one point in its favor. Note the great length of the head from the extreme back-head to the root of the nose. This type of head is what phrenologists term 'dolichocephalic head,' which gives the owner a great love of investigation, study and thought; also love of science and domestic traits. The distance from the opening of the ear to the root of the nose equals the distance from the same center to the extreme back-head (minus hair), something I have yet to see in others.
"The very high coronal region, or top-head, is also remarkable. If an imaginary line be drawn from the opening of the ear to any point of the top-head, the space will at once be perceived to be very great. Another very remarkable fact is that were we to use this imaginary line as a radius it would describe a perfect arc or semi-circle starting from the root of the nose clear back to the base of the back-head (minus hair) thus giving all the organs along the line an equal development, which implies an evenness of disposition, completeness of character – perfection. Spirituality, located in the lateral parts of the anterior region of the top-head, looms up conspicuously. The theoretical and practical developments are equal. While I have not a view of the width of the head, yet from the general appearance there must be sufficient degree of executiveness, attack, tact and economy. Do not fail to catch the outline at benevolence and follow it to the extreme back-head. Such 'Human Nature' and 'Spirituality' create marvelous intuitive powers. And such parental love and friendship as here appears! Its owner would instinctively 'pick up little children and bless them.' Such an one, it would be easy to believe, wept over Jerusalem, and would have 'gathered its children as a hen gathereth her brood' (parental love). His large friendship and benevolence would prompt him to willingly lay down his life for the world.
"Notice the full arch of the brow – a perfect arc, caused by the extraordinary development of calculation, order, color, weight and size, all equal. The evenness, fullness and roundness of the forehead are beautiful to behold. As viewed by the science of phrenology, the head is of unusual size (25 or 26 inches in circumference) and perfect in all its parts. Indeed, this head is evenly developed at all points, no one organ, apparently, predominating.
"If this picture were of recent origin I might think it the work of some phrenologist, who alone could devise such a head for the Christ. But, as it is not modern but ancient, I feel persuaded to believe it genuine."
[CR109] so that every time you see that little souvenir you think of those four sermons; and if you do that every day that will mean a great many sermons inside of one year. These souvenirs are for all present at this convention who have not already had them, and not only those who are here that belong to the Chicago church, and those who are visiting, but all the different classes that are represented here. So that when you go to your home you can describe this matter to them and send in a list to the Watch Tower office through one of the brethren, and say how many there are in the class, and that he was appointed to write and get these souvenirs. They are free, and yet they are priceless – they are priceless because they are free. They will not be given out for money; you cannot buy one for any money. So in two senses they are priceless – like the grace of God. You have not money enough to buy the grace of God, and yet you can have it on certain terms, and the terms are that you shall ask for it. So with these souvenirs: you must ask for them, and say they were promised, and get them in the regular way.
They are thin, like paper, made of celluloid, cut into the shape of a heart, and then on each side they are printed. On the one side is a wreath of forget-me-nots at the top. And that will remind you to forget not the Lord and all his benefits. Forget not the brethren who represent the Lord; forget not the convention that you are enjoying here; forget not the assembling of yourselves together; and forget not to continually look to the Lord in connection with his mercies, and to avail yourself of all the privileges that are ours in this wonderful day.
Then underneath that is this text of Scripture, "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is." That text has a whole lot in it, you see. It reminds us of our consecration by which we become sons of God, and that we already enjoy this blessed relationship. We are in covenant relationship with our God. "Beloved, now are we the sons of God." We have come into this blessed union with him.
This reminds us of another thing, a matter that has perhaps occurred to you frequently. I have had many say to me, "Brother Russell, it seems to me I enjoy restitution things, I can understand them better; I think God must really mean I shall be of the restitution class because I can think about the beautiful flowers and beautiful fruits, and beautiful trees, and all the beautiful things of Paradise restored, but I cannot understand, cannot imagine those spiritual things; I am just lost when I try to think of those." And I say to them, "My dear brother, that is the way with all the rest of us; you are no different from the rest; nobody understands spiritual things. God does not even pretend to explain them. He says you cannot understand them. He tells us, 'Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.' You see God knew you could not understand it; he did not waste time and space in the Bible to put it in; it would only have been a stumbling block to you; you would have said, I cannot understand that as well as the earthly. But God tells us in advance that we cannot understand these things, therefore you are not to suppose you understand them."
But this text tells us something. It tells us God has certain things in reservation. They are there, they are genuine, and the fact that God tells us they are better than the restitution blessings for mankind, is our very best assurance; and we know that he knows the good, and he knows the better, and he knows the best. He wishes us to have the best things, and, by his grace, let us take them.
There is this text, then, on the heart: "It doth not yet appear what we shall be." We do not know how grand and glorious a spirit being is. We do not know what is meant by the glory, honor, immortality, that God has in reservation for us. We cannot understand it – but we do know this, that when he shall appear, we shall be like him. Oh, that settles it all! If we are going to be like him, that will do, we need not say another word. That satisfies any longing. Do you expect anything better than that? Surely not. If we shall be like him and see him as he is, and share his glory, that is enough – all in one word. We shall be like him who is the express image of the Father's person, he who has been highly exalted, far above angels, principalities, powers, and every name that is named. Another lesson there, you see.
Then turn the heart over and on the other side is a grape vine, branching around the sides of the heart. That reminds us of John 15. You see the large clusters of grapes there and they represent the large fruit of the Lord Jesus, which you and I are to copy after, even if we do not hope to bring forth such fruit as he did. That will remind you all of how Jesus is the vine, and we are the branches, "And herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit." Then we remember also what he says to us about pruning. Just as surely as you are a vine, and just as surely as he sees evidence of fruit in you, he will prune you – give you troubles, give you trials, give you earthly disappointments – that the juices of the vine may go to make up the more fruit. He prunes away the earthly attachments and your tendency to cling to earthly things, and when you have trials and tests, understand, then, that is one of the evidences that the Father loves you and that the great Husbandman regards you as a fruitful vine and that he wishes you to bring forth more fruit and fall in line with his providences. Then remember that any branch that does not bear fruit, the Husbandman takes it away – cuts it off entirely. So you and I say to ourselves, We must bear fruit.
Then let us not forget what the fruit is. It does not consist in imagination and all sorts of making types, etc. I am not speaking against types, dear friends, though I think some of the dear friends carry them to quite an extreme. I am sorry to see some have such a tendency to make types out of everything and take their own minds, as well as the minds of the others, away from the more important things. I am afraid the adversary is behind some of this typemaking. Therefore I warn you all to look carefully what types you make. If possible stick to the types explained in the Bible. Then let us bear these fruits, the fruits of the spirit. What are they? Meekness, cheerfulness, patience, longsuffering, brotherly kindness, love. If these things be in you and abound, they make you that you shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. That is what he wants. Whoever therefore helps himself, and helps the brethren, to fruits of the spirit, does that which is most particularly serving the Lord and his cause.
Now just underneath the vine, covering the roots, is a picture of the Lord Jesus, about the size of my finger nail. That is a wonderful picture. It is a copy of probably the oldest likeness of the Lord in the whole world. That likeness was found in Constantinople. The history that attaches to it is this: Pontius Pilate, Governor of Judea, had it executed. It is an intaglio etched into an emerald stone. It was sent to Tiberius Caesar when he was the Roman emperor, a little gift from Pilate of a noble face. This was in the palace of the emperors for some time. When they moved the capital of Rome to Constantinople it went along. It was found there in the old palace and was sent to Rome, and it is now in possession of the Vatican. It is certainly one of the oldest likenesses of the Lord, and this is a photograph of it. So you see that it is pretty near priceless in itself.
Then finally underneath this likeness of the Lord is this text of Scripture which each can apply to his own heart and life: "Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life." With you and me it is not the flesh, but it is the heart we are to keep. If you keep the heart, the Lord will assist in the direction of keeping your flesh. But the Lord is going to judge us by our hearts, by our intentions, by our endeavors. Therefore keep your hearts with all diligence – you cannot be too diligent about it – for out of it are the issues of life, – life or death is the thought. You are either going to have eternal life or eternal death. All of those who have made their consecration have taken this position, and if it be eternal life then still it is to be determined whether you shall be one of the grand characters of the Little Flock, and have glory, honor, immortality, or whether you shall be one of the lesser characters who shall have life as a member of the Great Company, the Levitical class. I thank you.
BROTHER RUSSELL knew that, on account of the convention, the letters and orders coming to the Brooklyn office would be fewer than usual. He therefore took practically the entire office force to the convention, there to continue the necessary features of the work in all departments. The Editor, as President of the International Bible Students' Association, felt it proper that he should be in attendance throughout the entire convention.
Nevertheless, as it was necessary for him to keep up his literary duties, it was advisable to isolate himself to some extent from the glad hands and loving hearts of the 4,000 plus, each of whom desired a few minutes' conversation and to shake hands every time they came within reach. Isolation seemed cruel, but necessary, in the interest of the King's business. Accordingly we rented the Mayville Inn, which was vacant but furnished. There about fifty of the friends were entertained, with the understanding that Brother Russell must not be intruded upon, and could be visited only at meal times and at the evening receptions. He spoke at the Auditorium five times:
(2) On Sunday morning, July 31.
(3) A special address to the Pilgrim brethren and to Elders and Deacons from everywhere on Thursday evening, August 4.
(4) To Colporteurs on Saturday morning, August 6.
(5) To the convention and to the public on Sunday, August 7.
On the latter occasion the house was crowded and an overflow meeting of about 700 was held in the adjoining theater, addressed by Brother John Kuehn.
In view of the impossibility of personal contact with any but a very few at the Auditorium, he arranged for six receptions at the Mayville Inn, with admission only by cards. He had 3,600 of these cards printed, and additional permits were granted for the last reception on Saturday evening, August 6. The tickets were good only for the date they bore, so that the chartered steamer which took the friends twenty miles to the Inn and back might not be overcrowded. He desired that all should have a view of the beautiful lake and the opportunity for fellowship en route. The arrangements were enjoyed to the full and were seasons of refreshing fellowship and praise.
At the Inn the crowds each evening were received in the large parlors and halls and verandas and spacious lawns. Brother Russell used a corner of one veranda for a pulpit, and, after greeting the dear friends, spoke a few words along spiritual lines to assist in making the occasion one to be remembered from the standpoint of spiritual refreshment. Then, while hundreds sang some of our sweet hymns, other hundreds were invited into the large dining room, where with zeal they were served by loving brethren and sisters (recruits chiefly from the Colporteur ranks) with a little ice cream, cake, etc., soon exchanging places with the singers. These six receptions added to the comfort and joy and spiritual refreshment of all who participated. The numbers attending furnished a good gauge of the total number attending the convention. Yet there were probably nearly 1,000 who, for one reason or another, did not get to the receptions – some of them refrained from attending, fearing that there would not be room, and that they would crowd out others. There was, however, room for all, and more could have been entertained.
THE Convention opened with singing of Hymn No. 19, "His Loving Kindness." We were then led in prayer by the chairman, Brother John Kuehn, at the close of which he said: It is our great privilege, dear friends, to have the Mayor of Jamestown with us this morning and he wishes to speak a few words of welcome to you.
DEAR FRIENDS: On behalf of the town of Jamestown and vicinity, I wish to extend to you all a cordial and hearty welcome. During the time I have been mayor of Jamestown it has been my privilege to welcome to this city various organizations. I have welcomed commercial, political, educational and fraternal organizations, but this is the first time it has been my privilege to extend the keys of this city to an organization, world-wide in magnitude, coming as it does from all parts of the world, coming here for one sublime purpose – the work of redeeming the world. I want to say to you that I feel deeply interested in this movement, although I do not understand much about it, but I can read in your faces that you are all truth-seekers, and I know that the great unrest in the political and social world means something – it is significant – it means that the great power which moves the world is preparing for a great change in the future. I believe that the day of restitution is near and I understand that that is one of the great purposes of this organization, to prepare the world for that new day of righteousness that is coming.
I want to extend to you the hand of welcome and I hope your stay will be a pleasant one, and I hope that you will enjoy the exhilarating breeze of this lake, 1,500 feet above the level of the sea, one of the highest bodies of water navigated by steam. I hope that you will partake of this beautiful atmosphere, not only physically and mentally, but perhaps this convention will be the means of working toward that which will uplift this community to that higher, that nobler, grander thing, to which mankind is destined, and I hope this convention will have this influence in this city and surroundings. Again I welcome you.
I AM very glad, dear friends, to be with you this morning. I recognize a great many of your faces. It gives me a great deal of pleasure to meet with so many of God's consecrated people who are loyal to the Word of God. I understand there are representatives here from various countries. I have not had the pleasure of meeting all of these various delegates, but I am sure the Lord intends that we shall have a great spiritual feast.
I trust you have come with your hearts prepared and that you are desirous of a blessing in your heart, and desirous also that the Lord may use you to bless one another, and that you will seek to pour out your blessings on every hand, not only here with those assembled for Bible study, but upon all the dear friends in this vicinity. Around this place live so many intelligent people there must be many Christians of all denominations, and I am glad we are meeting them here on interdenominational planes, Christians meeting Christians, and not on any denominational lines. I am glad we have no fence to divide us from God's people, that we have seen the folly of these fences, if I might so [CR111] express it, of having such denominational fences. Some of us were once inclined to think that we must think along the Presbyterian line, and others along the Methodist line, and others along the Baptist line, so we have divided and separated. Now, by God's grace, as we study the Word of God we are being drawn "Nearer, my God, to thee, nearer to thee," and in being drawn nearer to the Lord we are being drawn nearer to all those who are his; so I trust, dear friends, and in fact I believe that it must be so, that you are having greater love for the brethren, and I can go beyond that and say, that those who are truly the Lord's feel in their hearts a great stirring love for the world of mankind besides the Church of Christ, a greater sympathy for them, and a desire to do all you can to help them along. This is evidently the proper sentiment. This is the One faith, as the Apostle expresses it, "One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father over all." How blessed it is to have that experience.
Once, perhaps, we also were more or less divided by sectarian lines, and thought we did God service by so dividing ourselves; but as we study his word we find it is adverse to any such divisions. "That they all may be one, as thou Father and I are one," was the Master's prayer on the very last night he was with his disciples. So I trust that is coming to be your and my sentiments, that we desire to be more and more at one with all who love the Lord Jesus and are begotten of the holy Spirit.
I was thinking, as I sat here, What is it that serves to unite our interests and has brought us to be specially Bible students, instead of as we formerly were, students of our creeds and theories, handed down to us from the past? I believe, in speaking for myself, that I also speak for many who have opened their hearts to me upon this subject: I can say this, that the very thing that is bringing infidelity to the whole world is the very thing that has been drawing my heart to the Lord. I will explain: In my own case it happened a good many years ago, with others it is happening day by day. The experience was this: The higher critics began to tear the Bible to pieces, took off the covers, and took out all the books, and practically told us that there was no Bible there, and that the people who wrote it were old dotards, and knew not what they were doing, and that the Lord and his disciples were fools because they thought the prophecies were inspired, and quoted those prophecies all through the New Testament. So, forty years ago these things aroused my mind and I said, Can this be true? This book upon which the world has been building for centuries, is it all a farce? The first effect upon me was to shake my faith and I threw away the Bible entirely, but afterward in God's providence he led me to a re-examination of the Bible. I took off the spectacles received from my parents and began to study the Bible myself, comparing Scripture with Scripture, the Old and New Testaments from Genesis to Revelation.
As I studied, the harmony began to appear more and more. Now every day my faith becomes stronger and better established, because I know in whom I have believed and why. That is the experience of very many of you here. You have been studying the word of God and that which has injured others, because of the higher critics, has made you more eager to study the word of God. They denounce it as fallible and of men, not worthy of credence, but the more you think of the Apostle's words, that God gave us this book "That the Man of God might be thoroughly furnished unto every good work," the more you are convinced that it is the Word of God. He also tells us in 2 Tim. 2:15, to "study to show ourselves approved unto God, workmen that need not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." I believe that has been your experience and that I am expressing the sentiments of all who are gathered here from all of the states of the Union, Canada and from various parts of the world.
Well, dear friends, I am glad to be here in your company, and as the Chief Officer of your Association, THE INTERNATIONAL BIBLE STUDENTS' ASSOCIATION, I am glad to be here.
And I want to say to the Mayor of Jamestown and vicinity, We appreciate his words of cordial greetings extended to you this morning. We are glad to meet in Christian fellowship Christians from everywhere and we trust that Jamestown will not be the worse for our having been here, but better because of your influence in this vicinity – not meaning by this that there is any special lack of Christian character, but that every Christian should be growing day by day, and that the people of this vicinity ought to receive an impetus from this convention, and we too. Much will depend upon all here, not collectively, but individually. It will not do to say, that if we as individuals are careless of our deportment or words, that others will make up for it, but we must recognize that the whole is made up of individuals as the river is of drops of water; each one is accountable, and so let us seek to glorify God in our bodies and spirits which are his.
We have come here and will stay with the Celeron people in their midst and spend some money, but not for their "gim-crack" amusements. I fear they will be disappointed in this respect, but I hope they will see that there is something better to live for. The majority of people have very little to live for, and I sympathize with them. I tell you, dear friends, that if you should take out of my life the knowledge I have of Christ and God and the fellowship of the brethren in Christ and the interest in his Word, it would leave my life a blank. Now I say that the majority of the world have very little to live for, not only around this beautiful sheet of water called Lake Chautauqua, but all over the world, rich and poor everywhere; they are without God and have no hope. They do not even know why they are in the world; do not know what God's purpose was in bringing them into existence. How thankful, dear friends, we ought to be that God has so graciously favored us as to give us an interest in his book, and to gradually open our eyes of understanding. We sometimes sing "Wonderful words of life" – and they are words of life. What the poet expressed was far beyond anything that he knew, but which we realize to be the very grandest possible statement of the Truth, that these wonderful words of life have a power in them not only in restraining from sin, but a power of producing a happy life and joyous faith.
I do not know when I have seen a more contented and happy set of faces. I congratulate you that you have something inside shining out. I am glad of that hymn. God not only tells us the truth through Jesus, the prophets, and apostles, but all who receive the spirit of truth manifest it in their words, conduct and features. Send out the truth, then, dear friends. You and I have something to do with sending it out, and with how much blessing we will get every day from this convention. May it be a time long to be remembered, of joyful blessing and fellowship with God and with each other, a time of growing in grace, a time of being strong against temptations that may assail you afterwards. Here I remark, that our heavenly Father has so arranged matters that those who are his people, those who constitute the Church, are to have certain special trials, "The trial of your faith being more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor at the appearing of Jesus Christ." That trial of your faith and mine must go on if we are to be overcomers. It will not therefore do to pray that we have no trials. I do not pray for trials but leave that to the Lord. I am not going to do as one brother said: Brother Russell, I have been praying that the Lord will send me some great trial. I said, Brother, you have a great deal of courage. I believe that the Lord will hold me in the trials which he sends me, and as the Scriptures say, he will provide a way of escape. So then, knowing that God intends to give us trials, let us be prepared for the trials. Let us remember, that if we have special privileges at this convention, in fellowship, being strengthened in our spiritual nature, growing in the power of his might, that it may be an offset for certain trials which may come to us some time after we have returned to the busy world. So as the bee lays up honey for the winter time, store up your spiritual refreshment for your return to your home; also as the bee lays up more honey than for itself, so in our various associations together as Bible students let us go back laden with the precious things we have heard for those behind, laden with the precious things from the Lord's words and filled with the spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ, able to be a comfort and to strengthen and build them up in the most holy faith.
Now, then, in conclusion let me say, It will not be possible to do as I have done on some previous occasions and smaller meetings; it will not be possible for me to have a private interview with all who would like to have one, two or five minutes. Five minutes for 4,000 people, we would have to stay here the remainder of this year. Our Jamestown friends would no doubt make us welcome, but we cannot afford to stay. Finding that impossible, I have arranged another way: My own lodgings at the convention are at the other end of the lake, at Mayville, and I want to invite every one of you to come up and see me. If you [CR112] all try to come up at one time you will block all the lines, therefore I have made provision for 500 on six different nights, that will take in 3,000 – that may leave out a thousand who cannot get in, as I see they are still coming. Anyway, we have made provision for the six nights, 500 for each night. We have invitation cards, so that there will be no difficulty about those who are going. Get a card or you don't get in; the card will not cost you anything, except that you write your name and address. A plain luncheon will be served on the boat, as you will not get to Mayville until 7 o'clock. As the boat leaves at 9:30 you will need to start at 9 o'clock – that will get us rid of you, you see. That will leave a twenty or thirty minutes' walk to the boat, and then a nice ride of an hour and three-quarters and give a splendid time for fellowship. I know from previous experiences that the whole theme you will have to talk about is God's word, the Truth in general. We cannot get too much of God's Word and the farther you get into the Truth, the emptier you will be of the world's vanity and the more peace you will have on the journey in the narrow way of all those who are walking heavenward.
So I close by wishing you all a very happy time at this convention. The Association's Secretary and myself have done our very best to serve your interests in appointments, etc. Of course, like everything human, it is imperfect. You will probably not have it as nice as you will when you get to heaven. But be sure that they have done the best they can for you, but if anything is unsatisfactory, please report to the Information Bureau. It has been reported that we are all colored people. I hope we have the proper color – by this I do not mean to say anything discouraging to our colored friends who are with us. We recognize all those who are the Lord's, without respect to nationality or color; we love all those who love him. May we have a very joyful time at this convention; let us ask his blessing. (Brother Russell then offered prayer.)
Services closed with singing Hymn No. 19 – The Beauty of Holiness.
MEMBERS of Bible classes affiliated with the International Bible Students' Association arrived on every train Saturday evening and all day Sunday; still others reached the city this morning and more are expected this evening, tomorrow and even as late as Wednesday. A conservative estimate of the total number of persons present for the annual convention of the association at Celeron, which was opened Saturday morning and will continue through next Sunday, is 4,500, and it is safe to say that several hundred more persons will be here before the great gathering comes to a close.
Not only is the convention the largest ever held in Jamestown or at any point on Chautauqua lake, excelling all others in point of attendance by many hundreds, but it is one of the largest gatherings of the kind ever held in the United States. In spite of the fact that the burning of the Sherman house deprived the city of its largest hotel, the committee in charge of the arrangements for the convention went quietly at work and by one of the most effecting house-to-house canvasses ever conducted in this or in any city, succeeded in providing accommodations for the great army of visitors, and it is still a source of wonder to the great majority of the residents of Jamestown how the work was accomplished in such a highly successful manner without an aggressive campaign of publicity.
Everything connected with the convention moves like clockwork and thus far no hitch of any description has occurred, although the problem of handling between 4,000 and 5,000 visitors is a gigantic one. In speaking of the matter of providing accommodations for the thousands of visitors to the convention, one of the officials of the association stated that Jamestown is now really entitled to consideration as a convention city for the reason that it is taking care of the largest convention in its history and but seldom indeed does any city, large or small, have an opportunity of entertaining a larger gathering for such a long period. The visitors are being cared for in the hotels and homes of this city and at every point on the lake from Celeron to Mayville.
At the conclusion of the testimony meeting, Pastor Russell spoke on "The Desire of All Nations," and he was greeted by an audience of fully 3,500 persons, occupying practically every seat in the mammoth auditorium. The discourse was plainly heard in all parts of the hall and every word received the careful attention of the immense audience.
Pastor Russell took as his text, Haggai 2:7, "I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come."
(Pastor Russell prefaced his remarks by saying:
The whole world, dear friends, in one sense or another is looking for something great, and we are not behind them, for we also are looking for something great.
For a long time the world of mankind has realized that conditions as they now are here are not satisfactory, and yet, they have realized that these conditions are not of our own making, and that they must be under divine supervision, and this has been a cause for a great deal of wonderment on the part of Christian people and others, as they have noted the terrible reign of sin and death, and have thought, How different things are from what they are in heaven.)
"The great Messiah, 'King of Glory,' has long been waited for by the civilized nations," he began. "For thirty-five centuries the Jews have waited for him as the great Prophet foreshadowed by Moses and foretold by him (Acts 3:22); and as the Great King foreshadowed by their Kings David and Solomon; and as their glorious priest typified by Aaron, but especially in the former's majesty as king and priest foreshown by Melchizedek – a priest upon his throne (Psalm 110:4).
"Free Masons have waited twenty-five hundred years for the same glorious personage, as Hiram Abiff, the great Master Mason whose death, glorification and future appearing are continually set before them by the letters upon their keystones. He died a violent death, they claim, because of his loyalty to the divine secrets typed in Solomon's temple. He must reappear, they claim, in order that the great antitypical temple may be completed and its grand service for Israel and for all peoples may be accomplished. They claim that his presence is to be expected speedily.
"Christians of every shade, in proportion as they are conversant with the Bible (Old Testament and New), believe, also, in a great temple builder who died because of his faithfulness to the divine plans for the spiritual temple, the elect church (1 Peter 2:4,5). Him they expect to come a second time, 'in power and great glory,' to complete the temple which is his body, and in and through that spiritual and glorious temple to bless Israel and all the families of the earth. His second presence in glory and power, but invisible to men, is believed to be imminent.
"The Mohammedans, also worshiping the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and David and Solomon, are also expecting a great heavenly messenger to bless them and all peoples by the establishment of a heavenly kingdom. They have awaited his coming for centuries. They believe his kingdom to be near at hand. [CR113]
"The same glorious personage will fulfill all these desires – these hopes. Is it not time that all of these peoples, fearing God and hoping in his promises, should come together in one hope, in one expectation? It must be so, for do we not read prophetically, 'The desire of all nations shall come!'
"We are well aware that great barriers lie between these multitudes; but we hold that they are chiefly barriers of superstition and ignorance. In the past they have pulled apart, and have slandered and persecuted one another. If now they will sympathetically draw near to each other surely they will find much to appreciate in each other's hopes and aims.
"The fact that the Jews and Mohammedans, Catholics and Protestants and Free Masons, all base their faith on the Old Testament of the Holy Scriptures, is ground for the better understanding pleaded for.
"All Christians must accept the authority of the Hebrew Scriptures because the founder of Christianity, Jesus, and his special mouthpieces, the apostles, taught nothing contrary to the law and the prophets. Indeed, they quoted from the Old Testament in proof of every doctrine advanced. They claimed that they neither destroyed nor ignored the Old Testament, but merely noted its fulfillment.
"The error in the past has been the general disposition to appeal to superstition and prejudice and bigotry, rather than to facts and Scripture. We must reverse the lever in order to attain the good results – in order to see eye to eye.
"All agree that the world needs the divine blessing! All agree that we have been laboring under a mistake in supposing that education and civilization are alone necessary to secure human happiness. We perceive that the greater the civilization the greater is the unrest; and the broader the education the greater are the suggestions and opportunities for taking selfish advantage of others.
"All are agreed that only the later inventions, telephones, etc., and our modern and costly police precautions, make it possible to live in civilized lands and that, despite all these, murders are a hundred fold what they were fifty years ago. In those days a murder would be detailed and discussed for a year. Now we give little heed to several reported in each day's newspapers. Thousands are executed, other thousands are imprisoned for life and we pay little heed – so gradually have we become accustomed to these horrors of our civilization and education.
"We oppose these with church and mission influences, with Sunday-schools, Y.M.C.A.'s, with courts, juvenile and superior, and yet they increase. We penalize the carrying of weapons and bombs and wisely prohibit inflammatory speeches; and the better informed know that Christendom is like a powder magazine which some unlucky friction between the classes may any day explode.
"Admitting that all mankind are imperfect, 'born in sin and shapen in iniquity,' we nevertheless cannot assent to the doctrine of total depravity – that there is nothing good in any man, or in all men. Each one who prays 'forgive us our trespasses as we forgive others' should concede that others, as well as himself, would prefer righteousness to sin, if the environment were different – if his appetite were not so perverse, if his will power were not so inadequate. So, then, whether Jew, Mohammedan, Catholic, Free Mason or Protestant, do we not all really desire the one thing? And do we not admit, after centuries of endeavor along different lines, that God alone can send us the aid which the whole world so greatly needs? We do!
"Let us now formulate this 'desire of all nations' from those holy Scriptures which we all acknowledge. Let us see that it is exactly what we all have been looking and praying for under different names: It is the Kingdom of God! – the Kingdom of Allah! Its rule is to be 'under the whole heavens,' however heavenly or spiritual the great ruler will be (Daniel 7:27). Under its beneficent and uplifting influence the glorious result will be that God's will shall be done on earth as completely as it is now done in heaven. This is exactly what the Scriptures declare – that sin and ignorance will be done away; that the knowledge of the glory of God's character will fill the whole earth. It means a strong government exercised for the restraint of sin and for the freeing of mankind from slavery to sin – the slavery of inherited weaknesses entailed by Adam's disobedience. The great heavenly king, the son of David, who will do these things, according to the law and the prophets, will have many titles indicating various features of his greatness. 'He shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty Elohim, the Prince of Peace, and the Father (life-giver) of eternal life (Isaiah 9:6).'
"He is called the Savior by the Prophet Isaiah (14:15), for he shall 'save from their sins' and from the penalty of sin all who shall become his 'people.' And all who will wickedly refuse his rule of righteousness and his assistance out of sin and death conditions will be esteemed 'wicked' in the proper sense of that word; and of these we read: 'All the wicked will he destroy.'
"We have had too much of hatred and persecution because of the differences in our degrees of knowledge as expressed in our differences of belief. Let this cease. Let us unite in our love of righteousness and in our hatred of unrighteousness – in-equity. Let us cultivate such a sympathy for the coming reign of righteousness to be established by Messiah (by whatever name he and his kingdom may be handed down to us) that our characters shall be more and more influenced and transformed by the prophetic view. We are all agreed that Messiah's kingdom is nigh, even knocking at the door of the world. In the wonderful inventions of our day we have the very foregleams of that kingdom as outlined in prophecy. The necessities of the case also corroborate this: The tension between capital and labor will soon be to its limit and break; the grasp of monopoly will soon be so strong that the masses will be ground between the upper and the nether millstones; our high-tension living is calculated soon to have our race in the madhouse; specialists say, within one century. Let us believe the Word of God delivered by the prophets of old. Let us prepare our hearts for the Great King and know that such will have the chief blessing.
"According to the Bible the reign of the promised Great King shall not be an eternal reign. Eventually the dominion of earth originally given to Adam and lost by disobedience and consequent incapacity, is to be restored to such of Adam's race as shall attain earthly perfection and Jehovah's approval. Messiah's empire will be a mediatorial one and, according to the Scriptures, will continue only one thousand years. But we are assured that the period will be quite sufficient for the great work to be accomplished. Father Adam, after being sentenced for sin – 'Dying, thou shalt die,' experienced the dying process for 930 years. Contrariwise, the world will, under the Messiah's rule as king and priest, Melchisedek (Psalm 60:4), gradually rise up, up, up, out of sin and death conditions during a very similar period of time.
"Paradise restored will no longer be a garden merely, but the whole earth, as God's footstool, shall be made glorious (Isaiah 9:13). The promises of God to the children of Isaac and Jacob are not heavenly or spiritual, but earthly. From Genesis to Malachi there is not a suggestion of a heavenly or spiritual calling. If Christians have a heavenly calling it is no cause for offense to Mohammedans and Jews – neither of whom have conflicting hopes. There is no need for conflict – every reason for harmony.
"Not only do the ancient prophecies foretell coming blessings of the Lord upon Jew and Gentile, bond and free, but the law typified the same. Every fiftieth year with the Jew was to be a jubilee year – a time of release from debts and from all bondage. The lesson is that Messiah's reign will be the great time of jubilation to men, to all who will accept and obey his rule. The cancellation of debts represents that God (through Messiah) will thus cancel the debt of original sin and set free Adam and his race. All will then be given a fresh start for life eternal. The setting free from bondage in the jubilee year typed man's release from the weaknesses inherited through Adam's fall. It will include the resurrection from the dead, the great prison house mentioned by the prophet (Isaiah 61:1).
"If we see this great fact about to be accomplished need we quarrel about how it is to be done? Since it offers [CR114] blessings to all who love God's righteousness, why dispute over details? Shall we contend with God and his plans and promises except to our injury? Let us rejoice with the Jew. God has decreed for the natural seed of Abraham a glorious share in the great work of blessing the world – to the Jew, first, this means a blessing; to the others, later. The Scriptures clearly teach that Messiah will establish the new covenant with Jacob – natural Israel. Let all who reverence the Lord acquiesce in his arrangements. And if the Jews shall some day see that the oath-bound promise to Abraham meant two seeds, let them be glad and rejoice in their portion. If the great Messiah soon to be revealed in power and great glory be composed of many members on the spirit plane, what matters it to Jacob, all of whose promises are on the earthly plane? Moreover, there is no room for jealousy anyway, for these 'elect' who shall be on the spirit plane are of all nations – the Jew being there given also the preferred place. Furthermore, the select or 'elect' few are not either Christians or Jews in the ordinary usage of those words, but saintly, holy ones chosen by the Lord from every sect and party, because of their love for righteousness and faithfulness under trials.
"The context shows us that 'The desire of all nations' will be realized as the result of a great shaking of the heavens and earth and sea and all nations. This is prophetic of the great time of trouble, with which the collapse of present institutions will come about as precedent to the establishment of Messiah's kingdom – 'the desire of all nations.'
"We are not left to speculate respecting the import of these words, 'Shake the heavens, the earth and the sea.' The great theologian, St. Paul, quoted this very passage in his epistle to the Hebrews (12:26-28). He pointed out that the literal shaking of Mt. Sinai and the terrible sights associated at the time of the inauguration of Israel's law covenant was but a feeble picture of the awful commotion which will prevail in its antitype – when Israel's new (law) covenant will be instituted at Mt. Zion in the end of this age at the hands of the antitypical Moses – Messiah.
"The prophet intimates that it will be a short, sharp, decisive shaking, quickly accomplished. And the Apostle explains that it will be so thorough-going that everything that can be shaken will be shaken and will be removed. In other words, everything that is in the nature of a temporary makeshift for righteousness, truth, equity, will be shaken out of the way – not be allowed to remain, because the Lord will make a thorough work. St. Paul intimates that the kingdom which the church is to receive will be the only institution which will stand the shaking time and that only because the 'Church of the first born, whose names are written in heaven,' will have the divine approval; they will 'be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye' – established enduringly on the heavenly plane at the right hand of God, principalities and powers being subject.
"Notwithstanding the fact that Messiah's kingdom will be introduced by a period of universal trouble, anarchy, etc., which will overthrow civilization and uproot every sinful and imperfect human organization, nevertheless this will eventually lead to the most profound and most enduring peace. In that one great lesson humanity will learn the futility of its own endeavors, and will cry unto the Lord for help and for the desired peace – then 'the desire of all nations shall come.'
"Referring to this time of trouble the Prophet David declares of the Lord's work at that time, 'He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth. He breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear asunder.' (Psalm 46:9.) Then wonderfully he announces the climax of it all, 'Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted amongst the nations. I will be exalted in the earth.' The only true basis of peace is righteousness and on this firm foundation Jehovah through his Anointed One will shortly establish it (Psalm 46:10)."
THE wrath of God is love's severity
In curing sin – the zeal of righteousness
In overcoming wrong – the remedy
Of justice for the world's redress.
The wrath of God is punishment for sin,
In measure unto all transgression due,
Discriminating well and just between
Presumptuous sins and sins of lighter hue.
The wrath of God inflicts no needless pain,
Merely vindictive, or Himself to please;
But aims the ends of mercy to attain,
Uproot the evil, and the good increase.
The wrath of God is a consuming fire,
That burns while there is evil to destroy
Or good to purify; nor can expire
Till all things are relieved from sin's alloy.
The wrath of God is love's parental rod,
The disobedient to chastise, subdue,
And bend submissive to the will of God,
That love may reign when all things are made new.
The wrath of God shall never strike in vain,
Nor cease to strike till sin shall be no more;
Till God His gracious purpose shall attain,
And earth to righteousness and peace restore.
A SECOND detachment of Bible students, after the day's services, took a steamer for the upper end of the lake to attend Pastor Russell's reception. The lake journey was an enjoyable one along spiritual lines, the students rendering various well-known hymns effectively and discussing the convention topics of the day. They were as happy a crowd as ever passed over our beautiful lake.
At Peacock Inn the visitors crowded the lower floor of the house and the extensive lawn. Pastor Russell, after greeting each visitor, addressed them as a whole. He welcomed those already well known to him, as well as others whom he had not met previously. He congratulated them upon the wonderful day in which we are living; upon the wonderful Bibles from which we may study concerning the great divine plan of the ages. With an Oxford Bible in his extended hand he remarked: "I fear that even we fail to appreciate the value of this great book, which has exerted more influence in the world than all other books combined." He remarked that few preachers realize that the Bible has been in the hands of the public for only about one century. "Our oldest Bible societies," said he, "are this very year celebrating their centennial. When they were organized Bibles were only possessed by the rich. Now they are to be found in the homes of all – obtainable free by the destitute. Many are learning the value of Bible reference and the usefulness of Bible concordances in Scripture studies.
"Furthermore we are too apt to forget that general education has only now reached the masses. It is not yet thirty years since free schools were established in Great Britain. It is only about ten years since education has been made compulsory in all the most civilized lands. Thus God has favored our day in a two-fold manner, not only by giving us the Bible, but by giving the masses the intelligence necessary to its study.
"But, alas, just as these precious opportunities are in the hands of the masses – just as these blessings were given to humanity – just as Christendom was prepared for Bible study, the Lord allowed the Adversary to bring forward a most subtle influence in opposition to it. The foul-mouthed infidelity of the past has been supplanted by a far more dangerous enemy to Christian faith – the infidelity known as 'higher criticism.' It is dangerous because of its insidious character. It has entrenched itself in all the colleges and in all the theological seminaries. While all of our churches of all denominations ostensibly stand as defenders of the Bible, the citadel of faith is being captured by the great Adversary of God and the truth – Satan. He is deceiving, estranging and misleading the hosts of Christendom through the very theological professors and D.D.'s to whom they have been led to look for spiritual light and direction and whom they had supposed to be staunch defenders of the Bible as the inspired Word of God.
"This is a severe arraignment, but it is a generally truthful one, as each may demonstrate to himself. Most regretfully I am persuaded that four out of every five of all the ministers and Sunday school superintendents of Christendom have ceased to believe in the Bible as the divinely inspired revelation of the will and purposes of the Almighty. Some of these, nevertheless, claim to be earnest followers of Jesus as the Son of God and of divine origin. Yet how weak is their position! If Moses did not write the law and if it were not inspired, nor the prophecies inspired, what could we think of Jesus and his Apostles accepting those prophecies as inspired and founding all of their teachings thereupon? Most evidently higher critics who still believe in Jesus as the divine Son of God have not thought logically on the proposition and will reject everything pertaining to the Scriptures upon further reflection.
"I congratulate you, my friends, that while sorrowfully we behold the fulfilling of the Scriptures in the falling away of these our friends, we are not compelled by anything in reason nor in the Scriptures to suppose that their fate for such infidelity will be eternal torment. I congratulate you that, as Bible students, we are growing stronger in our faith day by day while, in fulfillment of the Scriptures, a thousand fall at our side and ten thousand at our right hand (Psa. 91:7). I congratulate you that the study of the Bible with the assistances which God is now providing is clearing up the mysteries which have perplexed us all our lives and is bringing to us greater appreciation of his glorious purposes and greater loyalty to him and more earnest desire to serve his cause of righteousness and to lift up the standard of the cross of Christ.
"Truly, as the Lord through the prophet expressed it, our feet have been kept from stumbling. Instead of stumbling-stone of greater intelligence of our day has lifted us to a higher plane of devotion and appreciation of the heights and depths and length and breadth of the love of God which passeth all understanding.
"Do not misunderstand me to be speaking harshly or unkindly of our dear friends who are stumbling over the educational opportunities of our day. On the contrary I sympathize with them. Once I stood exactly where they stand – once I, too, repudiated the Bible and the Word of God. I was as honest then as I am today, and feel bound to give others credit for equal honesty. They are blinded by the dazzling glare of the earthly science of our day. If they ever knew they have forgotten and dropped the light, the science which comes only from above. Some of them may be recovered from the snare of the Adversary, as I was. There is this difference, however; the majority seem to exult in their unbelief and to pride themselves and plume themselves on their opposition to the Bible, while my position was the very contrary of this. I deplored the necessity for abandoning the Bible. I considered it the rational thing to expect from the Supreme Creator some revelation of his purposes respecting mankind – the object of our creation; the purpose to be attained, and how and why.
"I have no doubt that many of you have had experiences similar to my own. Many of you have told me so. Let us hope that, as we have been recovered from the snare of the fowler, so also may some others be. Let us be prompt to lend the helping hand and an encouraging word. Let us realize that to the honest-hearted, the loss of the Bible must be a disaster to faith and hope, as it was in our own cases. Let us trust that there are many others, honest as ourselves, who will yet be recovered. Let us be encouraged to help them by a remembrance of how great a blessing came to us through the proper understanding of the Word of God."
BIBLE STUDY CONVENTION.
"One of the greatest conventions, both in point of attendance and enthusiastic interest, that have ever been held on the shores of Chautauqua lake is that of the International Bible Students' Association, now in session at Celeron. There are more than four thousand visitors at the convention, and from all reports they are delighted with the beauties of Chautauqua lake and with the arrangements which have been made here for their entertainment.
"These devoted Bible students are certainly given a cordial welcome to fair Chautauqua and industrial Jamestown. They come here in a quiet and unostentatious way in a spirit of devotion to the Book of books and a desire to learn more and more of its teachings under the leadership of Pastor Charles T. Russell, of the Brooklyn Tabernacle, a preacher and Bible teacher of world-wide reputation. The people of Chautauqua county are somewhat familiar with Pastor Russell and his teachings by reason of the Sunday School lessons which have been prepared by him and published in The Journal for a long time. But until the coming together of this great number of his followers from the very ends of the earth Chautauquans had little idea of the magnitude of the movement of which Pastor Russell is the recognized head."
THE Tuesday morning session was one of the most important of the convention and the auditorium was very well filled, both main floor and gallery. Brother E. W. Brenneisen, of Brooklyn, delivered an excellent discourse on "Baptism and Its Import." This was followed by a symbolic immersion in Chautauqua lake, near the toboggan slides, in which 242 men and women participated. Old men and women were immersed along with young people, the ceremonies taking place in the shallow water, and being witnessed by hundreds of persons along the water front and in boats.
The morning session of the convention opened with the singing of a hymn, "Love Divine, All Love Excelling."
TUESDAY evening the third installment from the Bible Students' Convention, numbering nearly 600, visited Pastor Russell and were addressed by him on the lawns and verandas of Peacock Inn. The twenty miles' ride on beautiful Lake Chautauqua feasted their eyes. Their hymns of praise wafted to the cottages on the shores led many to surname these International Bible students – The Happy People. Pastor Russell spoke briefly and informally. Referring to the beautiful scenery of the lake, he remarked:
"The view turned my mind back to the Garden of Eden, reminding me of the divine provision of our first parents before sin came to mar the divine likeness in which Adam and Eve were created. Then my mind went forward into the future, guided by the divine lamp – the Word of God. In its light there arose before my mental vision Paradise restored – not a garden merely, but the entire earth made beautiful, gorgeous, fruitful, sinless, happy.
"I called to mind the inspired promise so familiar to us all: 'There shall be no more sighing, no more crying, no more dying;' for the former things of sin and death will have passed away, and the great King of Glory shall announce, 'Behold, I renew all things.' (Rev. 21:5.) I recalled also St. Peter's words of assurance respecting those glorious 'times of restitution of all things which God hath spoken by the mouth of all the holy prophets since the world began.' (Acts 3:20-21.) St. Peter adds that this restitution of earth to its designed perfection typed in Eden, and of man to God's likeness, delays until the second advent of the Redeemer. And other Scriptures, dear brethren, assure us that the coming of our Master as the King of Glory is timed by God to take place as soon as the elect church shall have been called and chosen and tested and found faithful.
"The divine purpose will not be thwarted by the permission of sin to mar the original. The sacrificial death of Jesus is the complete offset to the penalty pronounced on Adam and his race. Restitution to perfection and divine favor will result in God's 'due time.' And we believe that time near at hand.
"Do we not see the promised blessings coming? What are our vast irrigation schemes by artesian wells and by aqueducts but fulfillments of the prophecies pertaining to the reign of Messiah and the blessing of the earth? Hark to the message: 'Streams shall break forth in the desert, and the wilderness shall blossom as the rose.' – Isaiah 35.
"Burbank and others are under divine guidance working miracles in horticulture, just as Edison and others have been the instruments of Providence to give us electrical devices. What beautiful fruits and flowers are the result! It is difficult to imagine greater perfection either in Eden of old or in the world-wide Eden to be restored.
"But, my friends, the most important piece of restitution work relates to man. The hard, stony selfishness of heart which is worldwide is not God's likeness nor to God's glory.
"'Man's inhumanity to men
Makes countless thousands mourn.'
"Nineteen centuries of preaching shows that the cure of this malady is not in our power, and that only the few even desire or seek for the Lord's spirit of gentleness and tender-heartedness. The great King of Glory is also the Good Physician. He only can cure the disease of sin and its results. Through him God's promise to Israel will be fulfilled."
After some light refreshments the "happy people" departed on the boat for the lodgings along the lake and at Jamestown, singing en route.
THE Peacock Inn and its spacious lawns at Mayville, with Pastor Russell of the Brooklyn Tabernacle as host, entertained the fourth contingent of Bible students, about 600 strong, Wednesday evening. The numbers each night are regulated by cards of invitation. Like its predecessor the occasion was an enjoyable one long to be remembered with pleasure and profit. Again the songs of "the happy people" of the International Bible students, coming and going, gladdened and cheered the dwellers at the lakeside homes, who will not soon forget this convention.
In connection with his greetings Pastor Russell said:
"To the gathering of Bible students who visited me here last evening I remarked the increasing beauties of nature as foregleams of the great 'restitution' promised in the Bible (Acts 3:20), and which we believe is now nigh at hand. We then considered the world's hope, based on the great sacrifice at Calvary and the Bible's testimony respecting its far reaching results. Tonight let us consider briefly the future of the church's hope.
"Like many of our Christian friends, for a long time we did not understand how to 'rightly divide the word of truth' (2 Tim. 2:15); we did not comprehend that God's plan provides first a heavenly salvation for the church and then an earthly salvation for manhood in general. The study of our Bibles along dispensational lines clears away all of our difficulties. It shows us that the promise that the redeemed 'shall sit every man under his own vine and fig tree and long enjoy the work of their hands' is God's provision for Israel restored to divine favor, and for all the families of the earth; but not for the church. Of the true church, the Bride of Christ, it is declared that her members shall in the resurrection be 'like unto the angels' – heavenly or spiritual beings.
"St. Paul distinctly says of these: 'Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.' (1 Cor. 15:50.) Jesus tells these that he has gone to prepare them a place in the Father's house on high. But the place for man, the earth, already provided from the foundation of the world, is a very different one from ours, of which we read, 'Eye hath not seen nor ear heard, neither hath entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath in reservation for them that love him.'
"Now we understand why it is that from Genesis to Malachi there is not one suggestion of a heavenly or spiritual hope for anyone. Every promise is earthly. In Abraham's case, for instance, we read, 'Lift up, now, thine eyes and look to the east, west, north and south, for all the land which thou seest to thee will I give it, and to thy seed after thee.'
"St. Paul refers to this difference between the hopes of the spirit begotten church founded at Pentecost and the hopes of all others. Pointing to the faithful of the past [CR117] he declares that although they had God's testimony to their faithfulness, nevertheless they received not the promises, 'God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.' (Hebrews 11:38-40.)
"As soon as we get our better thing, our higher reward of 'glory, honor and immortality,' in joint heirship with our Lord as figuratively his bride, then the worthy ones of ancient times will get their reward of resurrection to human perfection. Then under Messiah's kingdom those perfect men will be the 'princes in all the earth.' (Psalms 45:16.) Then from the spiritual to the perfected earthly ones, the blessings and instructions for the world will descend to the poor, ignorant, selfish and superstitious world – to help them; to uplift the obedient to the perfections illustrated by the perfected worthies.
"We have all heard of the Sunday school teacher who told her class about heaven – about its pianos, harps, organs, horses and carriages, fruits and flowers, etc. We see that she was merely thinking of the blessings God has provided for the faithful and obedient of the world, 'in due time.' She had no conception of the heaven of heavens promised to the faithful followers of Jesus in the narrow way.
"The Great Teacher explains that it is impossible to describe heaven and its beauties and charms. He said to Nicodemus: 'If I have told you of earthly things and ye believed not, how would you believe if I should tell you of heavenly things?' (Jno. 3:12.)
"In line with this the Bible makes no attempt to describe heaven itself, nor its inhabitants. Merely we are told that God is a Spirit 'dwelling in light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can ever see,' personally. Man must discern God in his works – the noblest of which is the perfect man – made in his moral likeness on the earthly plane – a little lower than the angels on the spirit plane. The most that the Word declares of our heavenly inheritance is that eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath in reservation for them that love him.' (1 Cor. 11:9.)
"But while refusing to inform us of the heavenly conditions God does give us a soul-satisfying portion. Through the Apostle he declares 'it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he (the glorified Jesus) shall be revealed (at his second advent, in power and great glory) we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is,' while others not thus 'changed' from human to spirit nature, by the first resurrection power, will not see him as he is, but only as he shall be revealed in his providence and judgments, which every eye shall recognize.
"How satisfactory – beyond all that we could have asked or thought. 'Like him' – what more could we ask – 'like him' whom God hath highly exalted, far 'above angels, principalities and powers.' We stand amazed at such grace. Moreover, we can realize that he who called us to become 'partakers of the divine nature' and joint heirs with the Redeemer in his mediatorial kingdom has provided for our every comfort and joy in that heavenly state, the details of which we may not now grasp. Prophetically of these it is written: 'I shall be satisfied when I awake in thy likeness.'" (Psalms 17:15.)
IN an interview with a representative of the Journal, Pastor Charles T. Russell declared that many evolutionists fraudulently hold Christian pulpits and that they are thus sailing under false colors. Pastor Russell gave utterance to this expression of sentiment when he was told that many wealthy and respected citizens of this country contribute liberally to foreign missions and thus indicate their consistency and sincerity in their efforts to promote the Christian faith. Among other things he said:
"You state that some of our wealthy citizens occupy a ridiculous position in that they contribute millions to the support of foreign missionary societies to send Bibles and missionaries to the heathen to convert them to Christianity, and that at the same time they contribute other millions to college which openly teach evolution and repudiate the Bible. Is this a fair statement of your contention?" Pastor Russell was asked.
"Yes, you have stated the matter fairly. It seems to me that the position is an inconsistent one – to spend money in making infidels at home and other moneys in the opposite direction abroad. Indeed, to my understanding, the so-called gospel that is preached to the heathen is a message of damnation rather than a message of salvation; the doctrines of the creeds of the dark ages are presented instead of the doctrines of the Bible. Thus God's character and Book are misrepresented at home and abroad."
"What would you advise the rich to do in this matter? Would you advocate the discontinuance of contributions to the foreign missions, or the withdrawal of support from colleges teaching higher criticism, or what?"
"Each rich man must decide such questions for himself; each is a separate steward, responsible to God. For my own part, I would not give a dollar to either. I surely would not assist the colleges in their present work of undermining faith in the Bible as the Word of God; and just as surely I would not assist in preaching to the heathen doctrines which misrepresent the divine character and government. Understand me, however, I hold that the rich have every right to give their wealth to the promulgation of infidelity if they choose, and that college professors have every right to undermine Christian faith in the Bible and to destroy all confidence in God and Jesus Christ as the redeemer of the world, and that the name of Christ should not be used as a foil of infidelity – that Christian parents should be permitted to know in advance that the sending of their children to college in this, our day, means the destruction of all their faith in God and the Bible."
"Do you consider it wrong for a man to accept a Christian pulpit when he disbelieves the Bible and its teachings of the Savior's miraculous birth and sinfulness, and that he 'gave himself a ransom price for all?'"
"Yes, I would consider such a course highly reprehensible and thoroughly dishonest. But, of course, if the entire congregation fully understood the preacher to be an infidel – an unbeliever – and if they called him because of his unbelief, he then would be fully at liberty to accept such a call, and would be free from charges of personal deception. But if the congregation and the minister still maintained and held out to the world that they were Christians, they would be really deceivers and slanderers of the name Christian."
"From your remarks, I gather, Pastor Russell, that in your estimation a man believing the doctrine of evolution would not be a Christian at all. Did I understand you rightly?"
"You understand me correctly. The entire teaching of the Bible is opposed to the suggestion that man was evolved from a lower order of animals. The issue is so squarely drawn as to leave no room whatever for compromise. A Christian is one who believes the testimony of Jesus and the apostles, that Jesus is the son of God, that he died for man's sin, the just for the unjust that he might bring us back to God, from whose favor we fell representatively in Adam. I see no reason why a man who denies the Bible, denies the fall of Adam and his race, denies the redemptive work of Jesus, and denies the restitution work which eventually he will accomplish – I see no reason why such a man should misrepresent himself as a Christian. Far more honorable would it be for him to declare himself anti-Christian – in opposition to the teachings of Christ and the Bible. One surely wonders whether or not the majority of the learned gentlemen who occupy this incongruous position would do so if there were neither salary, titles, nor honorary emoluments attaching."
(Reprint from Jamestown Evening Journal, Saturday, August 6, 1910)
A REPRESENTATIVE of The Journal visited Pastor Charles T. Russell and interviewed him upon various points which, we believe, will prove interesting to our readers. The questions and replies follow:
NO ADMISSION CHARGE – NO COLLECTIONS LIFTED.
"It is reported that you never participated in a meeting where an admission fee is charged or where collections are taken up. Is that a fact and, if so, what led you to such a course?"
"It is a fact. Without wishing to reflect against brethren who take a different view of the matter and who follow a different course, I feel that I should follow my own conscience in this and in every matter. Not long since it was the general custom to sell the sittings in every church, in addition to charging a rental. This custom is still followed, but the majority of churches have broken away from it and have their sittings free. I believe that they have taken a move in the right direction and that it can only be a question of time until they will agree with me that the lifting of collections is equally ungracious – a cheap form of begging – an attempt to wheedle from people money which they are not really anxious to give to the cause. In some parts of Germany they used to have the matter skillfully arranged with a tilting lid upon the collection box and a cord which passed back over the collector's finger by which he could trap the lid and dump the contents when desired. To the lid were fastened coins of large value as an appeal to the pride of the contributor not to put anything very small on the plate. If a small coin were placed upon it the cord was pulled and it was dumped out of sight; but, if large pieces of money, they were allowed to remain in sight.
"All Christian people claim God as their Father and the Lord Jesus as the great supervisor of the affairs and interests of the church. All agree that our God is rich. 'All the gold and the silver are his, and the cattle upon a thousand hills.' It seems to me, therefore, that we discredit our faith or discredit our God when we beg in his name and without his authority. 'The Lord loveth a cheerful giver.' And such will find no difficulty in finding opportunities for contributing to the work which they love and desire to serve. For the sake of those who are cheerful givers and who might feel a hesitancy about giving so small an amount as they could afford to give I think that a collection box might be fastened in every church – but then not in a conspicuous place – not before the worshiper as he passes out or in but off in some corner where he could find it or be directed to it if anxious to use it.
"This sentiment has been with me from childhood. Well do I remember how then I saw some of the wealthy men of the congregation passing the collection boxes Sundays and how I sympathized with them, thinking that it must be a very uncomfortable matter to pose as beggars, even for a good cause. I did not then realize as I now do that such lifting of collections is out of harmony with the spirit of the entire Word of God. When about 13 and connected with the Congregational church I had an experience which made a lasting impression. Our congregation held a church fair, in connection with which the 'sheep' worked hard, giving their own time and money so that they might have an opportunity also of fleecing and milking the 'goats' – their worldly neighbors and friends who had no particular interest in religion. Amongst other novelties incidental was a voting contest for a lady's watch. One of the subscription books was given to me, with the suggestion that I get some votes. Having few wealthy friends I cast about in my mind with whom I should begin to get my book properly started. I thought of Dr. Hostetter, of stomach bitters fame, as a man of whom I had heard as being wealthy, but whom I did not know. I went to his office, explained my errand, and was promptly handed $2, the gentleman evidently appreciating the privilege. As I walked from his office the thought bore upon me, 'You have begged two dollars.' I felt so mean about the matter that I wished that $2 back in Dr. Hostetter's pocket. I started to return, but concluded that I would be making a bad matter worse by so doing. Resolving that I would never beg another cent under any conditions, I rendered up my accounts. I feel as strongly in the matter today as I did then, and am determined never to make an appeal for money, either directly or indirectly – not even making a 'poor mouth.'
"My conclusion that the Lord is fully able to supply whatever money he needs for his own work is fully borne out by my experiences. It is mine to use carefully, economically, every dollar which the Lord puts under my control directly or indirectly, and to leave to him to decide what are the necessities of his work. I neither beg nor go into debt."
"Are we to understand, Pastor Russell, that no collections are lifted and no appeals made for financial assistance in the Brooklyn Tabernacle?"
"Yes, that is exactly right. We have no desire to 'milk the goats.' And as for the 'sheep' of the congregation, they consider it a privilege to participate in the expenses. I might say that financial matters are not mentioned on the Brooklyn Tabernacle platform, either by myself or the assisting pastors.
"Pastor Russell, will you kindly tell our readers why your work is always along independent lines – never under the auspices of any denomination or denominations?"
"All Christian people of all denominations, Catholic and Protestant, and Christians outside of all denominations have my sympathy and Christian love. I desire to be in fellowship with them all. To my understanding, however, the division of God's people into sects and parties having other names than those approved by Jesus and the apostles and separated from each other by creedal fences is all wrong. The majority of Christians have quite outgrown the sentiment which first led to their denominational organization; but through custom the differences are maintained, and to the dishonor of the Lord's character. It is not questioned that our Redeemer and his apostles established only the one church. When our various organizations were organized, each at its organization claimed that the others were wrong – were not the Church of Christ originally established – and that it was the original one, or modeled after the original design. Hence the warfare which one time was bloody between the different sects and parties claiming to be the one true church.
"I thank God that that day has passed – that today a broader thought prevails. All denominations have repudiated the basis of their organization. We should, perhaps, except Catholics and Episcopalians, but the latter, at least, are ready to concede that all who are joined to Christ through faith in the merit of his sacrifice and through consecration to his service are members of the one true church, 'the church of the living God, whose names are written in heaven.' In proportion as this general fact is recognized all denominationalism is discounted, repudiated, as of human [CR119] organization, the product of ignorance and misunderstandings. The wonder is that, realizing and confessing all this, Christian people of various denominations still support their creedal fences – maintain their human creeds, which many of them at heart disown.
"As for myself, I consider it proper that I should not only preach Christian fellowship with all Christian peoples, but that I should ignore and stand free from all the creedal fences – in the open, in the liberty wherewith Christ makes free, in fellowship with all who acknowledge him. And thus it is that, by the grace of God, I am preaching weekly through the newspapers to millions of Christian people of all denominations the 'One Lord, one faith, one baptism and one God and Father of all.'"
"How about your church enrollment at the Brooklyn Tabernacle? Does it not imply a subscription to some kind of a confession of faith?"
"The Brooklyn Tabernacle congregation has no roll of membership. It welcomes all who love the Lord Jesus, who trust for justification in the merit of his sacrifice and who desire to walk in his steps of consecration and self-sacrifice. In view of what I have said respecting our financial affairs your readers will be surprised perhaps to learn that the Brooklyn Tabernacle congregation numbers very few who are rich in this world's goods. It is quite heterogenous as respects nationality and worldly conditions. Every Sunday you may meet not only American borns, but English, Irish, Scotch, Welsh, French, Norwegians, Swedes, Danes, Germans, Poles, Syrians, Italians and Chinese. Of every nation and of every denomination they were described by St. Paul's words, 'not many great, not many rich, not many mighty, not many noble, but chiefly the poor of the world, rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom.'"
"Pastor Russell, it is well known that you do not preach eternal torment, but in the interest of our readers I desire your view of the recently promulgated suggestion of theological seminary professors, to the effect that ministers must endorse in their pulpits the doctrine of eternal torment, even though they do not so believe, in order to maintain an influence over the masses. Should they, or should they not, do so?"
"Surely if there is any place in which honesty and conscientiousness might be expected it would be in the Christian pulpit and from Christian ministers, whose very position is a claim that they are not seeking the world's favor, but that of God alone, and that they stand for the truth at any cost. Ministers who believe that all except the saints will at death pass either to purgatorial sufferings of centuries or to an eternal torment, would be inexcusable if they did not so preach. My advice to such would be that they make a fresh examination of the Bible's teaching on this subject – that they be no longer satisfied merely with the fact that thus and so our fathers believed. Our fathers read the Bible in the light of a pine knot or tallow candle. Must we do the same? Shall we refuse the electric light of better translation and more harmonious interpretations which the Lord is now supplying? To spurn these privileges would surely be wrong.
"But assuredly very few Protestant ministers anywhere in any denomination any longer accept as true this horrible nightmare of the dark ages! Beyond question every educated minister knows the Hebrew and Greek texts of the Scriptures furnish no basis for belief in such a hell – that the hell of the Bible is the tomb, the state of death, recovery from which can only come by a resurrection of the dead. Under these circumstances it is not strange that a hell of torture is no longer preached amongst civilized people, except in an inferential manner.
"Some ministers of easy conscience content themselves with the use of ambiguous language respecting the future of the heathen and non-elect in general. They know that the thought of eternal torment is deeply imbedded in the minds of the majority of their hearers and without directly referring to the matter or explicitly saying what they do or do not believe, their hearers will surely draw the inference of eternal torture. Others less logical, without claiming any inspiration on the subject or any knowledge, proceed to manufacture and picture eternal remorse, gnawings of conscience, etc., as being the punishments for sin. Every minister of God should long and pray for the time when the truths of God's Word on this subject will be made plain. And each one should do his share to lift the cloud of ignorance and superstition which dominates the minds of the majority of the people on this subject, and which hinders love for God and for his Book and a full consecration to his service.
"Yes, I am aware that Dr. Vernon, venerable and respected as a minister of the Methodist Episcopal church, not long ago at a public meeting advised that the old-time hell fire torment must again be preached if the churches would be filled and their treasuries replenished. But I do not think that any particular number of the ministers who heard Dr. Vernon shared his sentiments on the subject. They well know that if they were dishonest enough to preach what they do not believe on this subject the masses of their hearers are too intelligent to be interested any longer in such absurd misrepresentations of divine justice and love."
"It is well known, Pastor Russell, to the readers of your sermons that you are not an evolutionist, but I believe it would be of interest to our readers if you would frankly state whether or not in your opinion one could believe the theory of evolution and still be a Christian, and are there many who are thus departing from what you claim in the Scriptural teaching? And are these mostly in the cities or in the rural districts?"
"Perhaps you have misunderstood my position. I understand the Bible to teach that the creative days of Genesis, some of them before the sun and moon shone in upon the earth, were not solar days of 24 hours each, but epoch days thousands of years long – each day 7,000 years long according to the Scriptures, in my understanding. During the first six of these epoch days I understand the Scriptures to teach that a process of evolutionary development prevailed. This, I think, is substantiated in the statement that God said 'Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life.' Such a bringing forth implies a gradual process of nature, instead of an instantaneous, creative act.
"It is in respect to man's creation that our evolution theories conflict with the Bible, the divine revelation. Evolutionists claim that man was evolved from a monkey. The Bible claims that man was a direct creation of God. I stand by the Bible. And even the most pronounced evolutionists seem ready to admit that the entire human family sprang from one pair, although this gives a death blow to their own theory, according to which many monkeys of the past should have evolved into humans, and some monkeys of today should illustrate the processes – especially the educated monkeys, chimpanzees, gorillas, etc., brought into contact with our civilization. I would not think it worth while quarreling with people who desire to run down their ancestry. What I object to is that their willingness to demean their forefathers should have any weight with Christian people as an offset to the Word of God.
"When you ask whether or not a person could be a Christian and a believer in evolution, you place me in a difficult position. It is not mine to judge any man's heart and to determine whether or not he has been gotten of the Holy Spirit. On the other hand, the Scriptures assure us that 'if any man will do the will of my Father he shall know of my doctrine.' We can surely say that any Christian who believes in human evolution – that man is falling upward – has gotten far away from the divine message knowingly or ignorantly. The fundamental teaching of Christianity evolutionists certainly cannot hold –
"(1) That man was created in the divine image and likeness.
"(2) That by his transgression of the divine law he came under a penalty of death, 'Dying thou shalt die.'
"(3) The teaching of Christianity is that Jesus came into the world to rescue mankind from that death sentence which came through father Adam, and by satisfying the requirements of divine justice to open up the way for man's resurrection from the dead in due time. The teaching of Christianity is that the world's salvation will be by restitution of the willing and obedient to human perfection lost in Adam and redeemed by Jesus. Christianity further teaches that that blessing will come to the world during Christ's mediatorial kingdom reign, and that during this age God is calling the saints, holy ones, followers of Jesus, to testify their devotion by their faithfulness and self-denials unto death and then to be glorified with their Redeemer as his bride and joint heir in his kingdom. Every feature of all the Gospel of Christ is denied by the teaching of human evolution, which knows no fall and which knows of no need [CR120] of a redeemer to rescue from the fall, and which knows of no resurrection, and which knows no need of a glorified church to effect the restoration in due time.
"I believe that many sincere people, confused by the misinterpretations of the Bible and certain poor translations in our common version, have gone over to evolution, not from choice, but because they thought it preferable to thus believe rather than to believe the doctrine of eternal torment. Such people have my sympathy. I wish that they could see with me the beauties of the great divine plan of the ages."
"It has been reported, Pastor Russell, that you in your youth were an infidel – an unbeliever in the Bible. May the readers of The Journal have a word from you on that subject? And would you supplement it, please, with some advice to honest infidels?"
"I recognize a broad distinction between an atheist and an infidel. The former atheist, in my use of the term, signifies one who does not believe in a personal God, the creator. The latter word, infidel, to me signifies one who disbelieves that the Bible is a divine revelation. That is to say, an infidel does not have faith in the Word of God. I never was an atheist, and could never be one. To me all nature speaks of a great supreme first cause, a God, of and by whom and through whom are all things, and we by him. To me 'day unto day uttereth speech and night unto night showeth knowledge, and there is no place where their voice is not heard.' Everybody should believe in a supreme creator – a personal God. And it seems to me that only idiots and imbeciles could really be excused for total blindness on this subject. To this agree the words of Scripture, 'The fool hath said in his heart, "There is no God."'
"But so far as rejection of the Bible as a divine revelation is concerned, I was an infidel – an unbeliever. Reared a Christian, I early made full consecration of my all to the Lord. Before I reached 16 years of age my early teaching of heaven for the elect and a hell of eternal torture for the non-elect acted upon me as an emetic and I threw up all that I had believed on that subject. I took the spectacles of the higher critics and through them found fault with everything from Genesis to Revelation. I said to myself, 'I can no longer worship the imaginary God of my childhood, ferocious, unjust, tyrannical, unloving and unlovely.' Why should I worship an inferior? Rather would I worship a good man than a vicious God. I perceived that our great creator had not been changed by the various misrepresentations of his character; that he must be the embodiment of every grand and noble trait and quality.
"I bowed my knee and worshipped an unknown God, saying, 'Great Creator who made me, I reverence thee. I perceive that neither other men nor myself have the power to create the tiniest little creeping thing that has life. How great must thou be, my Creator! the Creator of all men and of all things! Whatever I have of appreciation of justice and whatever I see in others of that quality must have come from thee. Whatever I possess in the way of wisdom and whatever other men have of this quality it can only be so much that thou hast given us, and we are unable to measure thine infinite wisdom, so far beyond the scope of our intellects. We perceive the mental and the physical power of man and his ingenuity and ability to harness the winds and waves, flame and water, and to make these his servants. How much beyond all of this must be the power of him who created us! We bow before thee! We wonder and adore! Above all I recognize that the grandest of all qualities in the human character is love and sympathy. And I reflect that the very noblest, most loving and sympathetic of our race must be far inferior to our creator who implanted those qualities. Appreciating, then, with our mental grasp something of the length and the breadth and height and depth of thy wonderful character, I bow before thee. Thou art my God and I thy creature and servant. Would that I might call myself thy son, though I realize that for this I am not worthy!'
"My heart found rest when I found the true God, but I said, How strange that we lost him! And surely so wise, so just, so powerful and so loving a God would be pleased to give to his creatures some expression of his will respecting them and of his divine purposes in connection with their creation. This started me to look for a divine revelation. I said to myself, 'It is but reasonable to expect that a good God must have a gracious purpose in connection with my creation. And it is but reasonable to expect that if he gave man the power to think he will give some satisfactory message to those seeking it in sincerity.'
"But I said, 'This is not in our Christian Bible, as I had supposed.' Interpreting it in the light of the conflicting creeds, it seemed to me a confused mass of contradictions. The trouble was in my regarding the Bible from the standpoint of the various creeds instead of allowing God to be his own interpreter, that he might make it plain. Thinking that perhaps those whom we called 'heathen' peoples might be indeed wiser than we, I investigated the prominent religions of the world, only to turn from them all, and from all their sacred books, in disgust. I was obliged to concede that, however unsatisfactory was the Bible, it is far superior to all competitors.
"I began a fresh study of the Bible. After a hasty glance at the Old Testament I said, 'No, those old prophets, however good, however well-intentioned, were confused and spoke irrationally.' Then I took up the New Testament. I said 'Surely Jesus of Nazareth was a most wonderful character. Surely of him they said truly, "Never man spake like this man!" Surely the purity of his life shines through all of his teachings and through the teachings of his apostles.' The feet of my faith began to find a resting-place. Joy and peace began to come with the very suggestion that I was finding the divine revelation for which I sought.
"Now I rejoiced that I had found a substantial rest for my faith – that I had found the channels of divine revelation respecting the divine purposes. But I encountered a new and unexpected difficulty. I noted that Jesus and the apostles corroborated their teachings by the prophecies of the Old Testament Scriptures – that a large proportion of the New Testament is made up from quotations from the Old Testament and of comments thereupon. Alas, I said, I must either repudiate the New Testament or accept the Old Testament also! It would not be logical to suppose that Jesus and his apostles were the inspired channels of the Creator, able to make me wise and yet suppose that I was so much wiser than they that I could know wherein the prophets of old strayed from the truth while they discovered it not.
"Again I was driven to an examination of the Old Testament. Well do I remember when I discovered the key to the difficulties. One of my first stumblings was over the Prophet David's prayer for his enemies, 'Let them go down quick into hell.' I re-examined this from the standpoint of the Hebrew and found that in plain English the word hell here signifies the grave, the state of death. I perceived that I had been unjust to David; that he merely had been praying for what the judges of our courts today attend to without praying, namely, the sentencing of evil-doers to a death penalty. This proved to be the key. When I found that our English word 'hell' in the Old Testament is the translation of the Hebrew word 'sheol,' signifying tomb, the bulk of all my objections to the Old Testament vanished. A critical examination showed that the original sentence upon our first parents in Eden was a death sentence; that in consequence our race is a dying one, but that it has been redeemed from 'sheol' by the Saviour and that ultimately 'sheol' will be destroyed and all the prisoners of the grave be released in the 'resurrection of the dead, both just and unjust.'"
"In preparing your Sermons and Bible Studies for the hundreds of newspapers publishing them each week, The Journal being one of the number, what class of readers do you especially cater to?"
"I seek to be a purveyor of the Divine Truth to Christians of all denominations and to Christians outside of all denominations – the great mass of nominal, church-going people. It is my endeavor to make them educational, uplifting, beneficial, to every reader. Many write me of their deep appreciation – some from the educational, some from the sentimental and some from the religious standpoint. I have personal knowledge of hundreds of infidels that have been reclaimed to Christianity by my Volumes of Scripture Studies and by my sermons in the newspapers. In a letter recently received the writer informed me that his neighbor had put up a wire fence to keep his chickens off the writer's garden patch as a result of his reading one of my sermons in which the principles of justice were set forth. The neighbor perceived for the first time that he must observe the Golden Rule and must have his chickens observe it also." [CR121]
"It is reported that you expect the re-establishment of the Jews in Palestine within the next five years, never to be again overturned. Will you advise our readers how you would harmonize this view with the statement of some that the world is soon to come to an end – to be destroyed – to be burned up?"
"It is the common teaching, I admit, of all the Christian creeds that the earth is to be destroyed by fire. Adventists more frequently refer to this expectation than do others, but it is a fundamental in all the various creeds. To my understanding they all err in that particular. They have lost sight of what the Bible teaches, namely, that 'The earth abideth forever,' that 'Seed time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, shall continue as long as the sun and moon endure.' St. Peter is good authority with all denominations, and he explains that with the return of the Messiah the great time of blessing will ensue, 'times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord. And he shall send Jesus Christ which before was preached unto you, whom the heavens must retain until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.' (Acts 3:19-21.) Times of restitution signify the years of the Messiah's reign in which he will bring the whole earth back to the glorious condition typed in the Garden of Eden; and bring man from his lost condition in sin and death to the original perfection in which he was created, plus the valuable lessons of experience learned in connection with the reign of Sin and Death and the redemption and restitution therefrom.
"By the way the foundation for the World-burning theory was laid in St. Peter's words also. The commentators of the past, not perceiving that 'times of restitution' are to follow the second advent of the Messiah, the time for blessing all the families of the earth – mistook St. Peter's symbolical fire and thought it literal. The fire of that day will be no more literal than the coals of fire which we are scripturally urged to heap upon the heads of our opponents, and the 'fiery trials' that assail all who are loyal to the Lord and to his word. 'The fire of that day shall try every man's work, of what sort it is.' All the wood, hay and stubble of error will be consumed, St. Paul tells us, and only the gold, silver and precious stones of divine truth will stand the test.
"It is my understanding that we are already entering this day of fire. The elements of society are preparing for the great crash, the great conflagration, the great conflict between the rich and the poor, princes and peasants, the trusts and the people. The scriptures intimate that this great day of trouble will be a period of anarchy, in which the fabric of the present social structure will be consumed. They assure us that upon their ashes the Lord will establish the new order of things, symbolically styled the 'New heavens and the new earth,' before which the present symbolical heavens (ecclesiastical) and the present symbolical earth (human society) will flee away and no place be found for them.
"As for the Jews, it is not our thought that all the Jews will return to Palestine, but that representative Jews from all lands, some of the most religious of them, will return thither. According to the scriptures, we understand that they cannot possibly have any governmental standing or recognition there until after the close of the 'times of the Gentiles,' 1915 A.D."
GOD never would send you the darkness,
If He felt you could bear the light;
But you would not cling to His guiding hand,
If the way were always bright;
And you would not care to walk by faith,
Could you always walk by sight.
'Tis true He hath many an anguish,
For your sorrowful heart to bear,
And many a cruel thorn-crown,
For your poor, tired head to wear;
He knows how few would reach heaven at all,
If pain did not guide them there.
So He sends you the blinding darkness,
And the furnace of seven-fold heat;
'Tis the only way, believe me,
To keep you close to His feet –
For 'tis always so easy to wander,
When our lives are glad and sweet.
Then nestle your hand in your Father's
And sing, if you can, as you go;
Your song may cheer some one behind you,
Whose courage is sinking low;
And, well, if your lips do quiver –
God will love you better so.
DEAR Friends: I am very glad to meet with you this evening – the pilgrims, strangers foreigners, respecting this world, elders and deacons in the Church of Christ, of all denominations, irrespective of denominational lines. I thought I should like to have a little talk with you, because it seems to me that, in the first place, there is a great work devolving upon you – a great responsibility in connection with the Lord's harvest work. And, in the second place, because I believe that those who occupy any place of service in the Lord's household have correspondingly heavy temptations and trials, and every one of us ought to feel the responsibility of the position and the dangers to our own feet. You know it is very easy for us to think about other people, and other people falling, and other people slipping, and other people sliding, but it is a very important matter, I think, to bring it right home to ourselves. When, in looking over the general interests of the Lord's work, I have seen those who are in danger, and those who are slipping and sliding, I have observed for years that a large proportion of them are those who have had influential places in the Church of Christ – important positions of service in the Body of Christ, – and I feel that the Apostle's words are fully substantiated when he said, "Do not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that we shall receive a severer judgment." So while it is a very honorable thing to be a servant in the Body of Christ, it carries with it a very weighty responsibility and danger, lest, after preaching to others, we ourselves should be castaways. In my own personal experience, dear friends – and I expect to say nothing to you I do not feel for myself – I have had this heavily upon my heart and mind for several years. I have noted some of those who slipped away from the truth, and have said to myself, Some of these people have good intellects, some of them at least see matters very clearly, and if they could see clearly at one time and, apparently, be very intelligent in the truth, and then to lose it and have it all become blind to them, might not I, similarly, fall away from the position of favor, and knowledge of truth, also? And my heart answered, Yes, and I said to the Lord, "Lord keep me, hold me in thy powerful hand."
While we are not to attempt to pass judgment on anybody and say, "You are thus, and you are so, and you have too much of this, and too little of that," yet we cannot be oblivious to some conditions you know, and after one has fallen away, it is not improper at least to say, "On what did he slip?" At the time it might be improper for us to judge that anyone was slipping, or that he was in a wrong condition of heart, because we are not able to judge the heart; but after one has slipped, then I think it is right and proper that we should look to see upon what did that person slip.
I remember as a boy passing along a street of Pittsburgh, one evening, after the snow had fallen, I walked over one of those old, smooth, iron cellar doors when it was covered with a thin shimmer of snow. Just as I stepped upon it I went down that quick (snapping finger). And just as I fell I thought of the Scripture that says, "Pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall." I think I had hardly touched the cellar-door when I had that all through my head. I do not know that I had any haughty spirit in connection with that fall, but I concluded that I could learn a good lesson from that. I have watched, and my experience is that there are slippery places along the spiritual pathway, and when we are carelessly walking along, thinking about something else, and not minding our feet, not watching where we are stepping, is the time when we are likely to go down quickly. And the thing, so far as my judgment will enable me to determine, that has proven the most disastrous to those who have fallen, has been a spirit of pride and selfishness. You know what I mean. I think it is often well for us to be so much on guard on that subject that if we find any feeling creeping up at any time of any disposition to sit down on anybody, we had better inquire of ourselves, Why am I wishing to sit down on that brother? Is it simply because it is necessary and proper, or is it some feeling of pride that I have? And whatever may be the matter that comes, we need to keep close watch upon ourselves, upon our own hearts. Of course, we want to keep watch upon our tongues, and upon all the conduct of life, but especially upon our hearts. What is the motive? Why did you say that? Why did you do that? What was the motive behind such an action? And when we thus criticise ourselves, we are doing what the Apostle Paul meant when he said, "See then that ye walk circumspectly." To walk circumspectly means to look all around to see where you step. And so you and I, dear brethren, in proportion as we have service to do for the great King, realize that our adversary, the Devil, goeth about seeking whom he may entrap, and ensnare, and stumble, and that in like proportion he gives special attention to us. I am confident he gives me plenty of attention. Of course, we are glad on the other hand that the Lord also is giving us his attention. Whoever is specially beset by the adversary, the Lord, we may be sure, is also specially caring for, if they are his and loyal at heart. "The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him and delivereth them."
It would not be my thought to inculcate a spirit of slavish fear, but a spirit of great reverence for God, and an intense feeling that we are in the most important work and that we are simply there as God's servants, and the servants of the Church, and it behooves us to do all in our power to serve the flock of Christ and not to do so from any selfish motive, any spirit of vaunting self, or puffing up self, or exalting self before the people, but, simply, How can I best serve the Lord, and those who are his? And where that spirit is within, I believe there is safety, and if there be any other spirit, if you find yourself looking out for a position, I believe you will find you are in a dangerous place and should pray God for your deliverance.
I am not the only one who has observed this. Some dear brethren have written me along the same line. I think of several pilgrim brethren who wrote me, saying, "Brother Russell, I wish you could put something in the Watch Tower that would serve to help save and protect us pilgrims. When we go places the dear friends make so much of us that I feel," one writer said, "that so far as I am concerned I sometimes almost feel my head swelling, and you know that is a dangerous feeling." It was; he was right. It is well that the Lord's people everywhere should exercise judgment, and not speak in too laudatory terms of anybody, but speak in as laudatory terms as you please about the truth and about the Great One who gave us the truth – the Lord. But do not puff up anybody unduly. There may be some that could stand it, and others who could not stand it, and you and I would be very sorry if we should find ourselves responsible ultimately for having helped to stumble some brother in the way. The very fact they mention this, you see, shows that others besides myself have felt the importance of the situation and the responsibility of the position.
As I was thinking about this little address this evening, a certain text of Scripture came into my mind, the language of the Apostle Paul when he called together the elders of Ephesus, when he was on his way to Jerusalem, and had not time to go to the city. The elders came out to meet him near the ship, and when they were together he said, as the mouthpiece of the Lord Jesus, "Take heed, therefore, unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood." (Acts 20:28.) Mark the way the Apostle states it – "Take heed [CR123] PILGRIMS, ELDERS, & DEACONS.... (Picture only on page) [CR124] unto yourselves." That comes in first, my dear brethren, with all of us. God sees it to be more important to you what you shall do for yourself than what you shall do for anybody else, and God sees it to be so with me, and that I must be more particular respecting myself than respecting anybody else, no matter who. It is well I should feel the responsibility of being a servant of the Lord and a mouthpiece and ambassador, and it is well that you should feel your responsibility in whatever you shall say and in all you shall do and in all your conduct, remembering the influence this will have on others, either for good or for evil, but it is still more important for yourself. God says that this matter should begin with you, in your own heart, and with me in my own heart. "Take heed unto yourselves." That means, dear friends, a very careful watch, a watch of our motives, a watch of all we do – strict heed – not merely that you took heed last year and took an inventory and saw then just the condition of your heart and found it all right. I have found in my experience it is important for the Lord's people, especially for those who are in any prominent place, to take inventory of their condition every night. How are you tonight, before you go to bed? What is your heart's condition? How near are you to the Lord? Have you any spots upon your garments, any wrinkles upon the wedding robe? If so, get rid of these. There is only the one way. He who does not keep rid of the spots he gets and keep rid of the wrinkles he gets, is not in any condition to teach the flock of God anything on the subject. This matter begins with ourselves, dear friends. "Take heed unto yourselves."
Then, secondly, you will be in the proper condition to take heed of the flock of God, which God has purchased with the blood of his own Son. How much heed does the flock need? All your imperfect powers, and all of my imperfect powers. It is a wonderful privilege to be ambassadors for God, as though God was speaking, as though we were his mouthpieces. Oh, if we could only feel this evening as we sit here, and feel it every day, that it is not a plume or a medal, or something to be displayed, but it is a responsibility that we must give an account of! If you have large privileges, you have also large responsibilities. If the Church of Christ has given you a position, then you owe it to God to consider, as the Apostle said, that the Holy Spirit has made you an overseer – not merely that the flock of God has made you an overseer, not merely have they voted for you to be the elder or deacon in the Church, but that God has been behind this matter, and that the whole arrangement is of him. It is that you are to recognize and feel the responsibility, not merely to those brethren who chose you, but also that God was behind the whole arrangement, and that they were acting according to design and arrangement in electing you, and that you in accepting the election were responding not merely to their votes as the votes of so many New Creatures in Christ, but because you understand that the Holy Spirit was acting and moving according to the directions of the Word of God through those brethren who thus voted, and that your responsibility, therefore, is a double one: that as having accepted their votes and as having accepted the service which they tendered, and to God as recognizing that all the affairs of the Church of Christ are under divine supervision. As the Apostle puts it, God hath set in the body the various members as it pleases him, and if we are not faithful to the setting, he is very able to unset and to bring a different arrangement. It is for us to be, therefore, very careful to feel fully and strongly this responsibility to God and to the flock over which the Holy Spirit has made us overseers.
The Apostle goes on to say that the Holy Spirit made us overseers for certain purposes – with a certain object in view. What was that object? Was the object of the Holy Spirit in making us overseers of the flock that we might entertain the world? No. That we should feed the world? No. That we should tickle the ears of the Church? No. That we should show off ourselves, and flash? No. What was the object of the Holy Spirit in making us overseers? The answer of the Apostle is that the Holy Spirit made us overseers that we might feed the flock. What is it to feed the flock? It is to give them the meat in due season, to give the nourishment. Now, there are some who have a feeling that they must give the flock that kind of food which would glorify the giver most, and unless they can find some way of glorifying themselves in connection with it they are not going to feed anybody. That is all wrong. We all know that is wrong. They know that is wrong. They have not thought upon the responsibility of their position. The proper attitude, dear brethren, I am sure you will agree with me, is this: God wishes his flock to be fed; he has given you and me the opportunity of service in that direction; he expects us to lay aside self entirely and to devote ourselves with every energy to do all we can to feed the flock, ignoring self. Never mind whether they have any respect for you or not; never mind whether they glorify you or not; go in and feed the flock – let the other matter take care of itself. But my opinion is that the flock will ultimately know whether you have been feeding them or not, and the flock ultimately will appreciate you as a servant. They will not appreciate you as lord and master and as a king over them, and you should not wish to be so appreciated. The proper attitude for all the Lord's people is to be glad to be privileged to be servants of the flock, and, as Jesus said, he that is greatest amongst you, he whom you should esteem the most highly, who was it to be? The one who puffeth himself up? Nay, verily. Who was it to be? The one who serves most – the one who most thoroughly lays down his life in the service of the Lord's cause. Now that is the lesson the great Teacher himself gave to you and to me, that if we would be pleasing to him what care you and I whether we are pleasing to any one else or not. Of course, we should all like to be pleasing to everybody, and especially to the flock of God; that is proper enough; but we should fix first in our own hearts and first in our own minds that we should be pleasing to our Heavenly Father and to our Lord Jesus. And if we find that we are pleasing to them, no matter what else may happen, we have every reason to be thoroughly satisfied with the result. Is not that what we all agree to? I am sure it is.
Therefore, the special exhortation I wish to give is, that we forget self entirely, except to see that self is hard at work, that the "old man" is thoroughly bending his back to help on the New Creature in all the work that the New Creature is engaged in; that you are working him for all he is worth – making a regular slave of him if you please – your old man, the natural man, the human body. I do not suppose there is any danger of anybody here going away and telling a story to the effect that they did not like the speaker because he spoke so disrespectfully of his father when he mentioned the "old man." We have the thought that our old man is the old nature, and that, as the Apostle tells us, you remember, the old nature has been given to us as New Creatures to be our servant, and whereas some of us formerly lent our powers to sin and wrong doing, so now, as New Creatures, we are to take these bodies and use them for every kind of righteousness, that we may glorify God in our bodies as well as in our spirit which are his.
So then I hope I make clear, and that it enters into all our hearts, the very great responsibility of being representatives of the Church in service – appointed to a service and not to lordship, and, secondly, appointed of the Lord to be his servants to feed the flock of Christ. We will honor our Lord and please him best to whatever extent we forget self and engage most thoroughly in the service of the truth. So that if the thought ever comes before your minds – as it may, or might – if I do this it will not glorify me, if I do that it would glorify me, you are to put such a thought entirely from you as being disloyal and unworthy of yourself as a New Creature. The whole thing you and I must have in mind in respect to our service is, What will please our Master whom we serve and whom we expect to join shortly, if found faithful, in his kingdom? If we seek to serve ourselves, then be assured that we will not be pleasing to him, and that we will fail of the great prize. We may be sure – I am certain you will assent to this – that the Lord will not have a single one in the kingdom class who is self seeking and selfish; that is contrary to the spirit of our Master; and so the Apostle tells us that God foreknew and foreordained the election of those who would be copies of his Son, and, therefore, if you and I would be copies of Christ and joint heirs of Christ in his kingdom we must be copies in this particular sense that he was servant of all; and to the extent that you and I can be servants of all, or servants of a few, as the case may be, we should be glad of the opportunity.
Now, another line of thought, if you please: When I use the word "preach" do not understand me to mean merely to orate as in a discourse or sermon. We are preaching in the sense of teaching. All public speaking is in the nature of preaching or giving forth the message, whether it be in holding Berean classes, or whatever other way; it [CR125] is a preaching or sending forth the message of the Lord. And I suggest to you, dear friends, that the thing we are to preach, the message we are to deliver, is a very important one, and that the Adversary would like very much to get our minds diverted from it. Some he might tempt to go off on to some side issue that was new, so that the class might think they were getting new light. I do not think you want any new light. I do not think the Lord wants any new light. I do not think there is any new light, my dear friends. Our great light was started eighteen hundred years ago. The difficulty with us has been that that light has become obscured by the traditions of the elders, and we are trying to get the globe washed clean so the light can shine out. We are trying to get things so that the great truths that Jesus and the Apostles enunciated are understood clearly by ourselves and all the flock of God over which he has made us overseers. Hence we should avoid anything like trying to manufacture some new light, dangerous to ourselves and dangerous to the flock. Is there not plenty in the Gospel Jesus preached? Is there not plenty in the Gospel the Apostles preached? How much more do we want, I would like to know? I do not think, my dear friends, that it is necessary for you and me to turn in to be manufacturers of new light, and I think there is a danger in that direction, therefore I am seeking to guard you. I believe that the message of the Lord Jesus, the message that the angels announced, is the message that the world needs to understand – the great love of God, and the great love of the Lord Jesus Christ, and how he died, the just for the unjust, and the class he is now calling, and how we must make our calling and election sure, and how the ransom price that Jesus paid is the foundation for the entire scheme of salvation, that the death of Jesus is the foundation upon which every feature of divine grace is builded. Then all the philosophy connected with that can very well come in; it is all connected; but ransom, restitution, sacrifice, and the divine nature – these are the fundamentals of the Gospel of Christ, so far as I can see. These are the things that Jesus and the Apostles taught and that they set us an example respecting. I believe your course will be the most pleasing to God, and the most successful with his people in bringing them into harmony with the Lord and blessing them with the richness of his spirit, in proportion as you keep very close with the Master and to those twelve stars whom God appointed to be the circle, the crown, of the Church, as pictured in the 12th chapter of Revelation.
Another thing: Some of the dear brethren seem to find as much about Brother Russell in the Bible as they find about the Lord Jesus, and I think that is a great mistake. I do not find it there. Some of them say that I am blinded on that subject, that they all can see better than I can. Perhaps they can, I do not know, but I think, dear friends, that there is a danger in that direction, and I would like to put you all on guard. I think it is the Lord's will that we should recognize every agency God uses, but we are not to recognize any agency of God as being in any competition whatever with the Lord or with his divine arrangement. He is the fountain of blessing, he only is most to be praised. I think that is the right sentiment. I believe you all agree with that. And yet I think there is a danger of some dear friends preaching Brother Russell. Brother Russell would like for you not to do so. He thinks it would not be to the glory of God. Let me repeat, then, dear friends, that in my opinion we have so much of the Gospel of God, so much of his plan to study, so many opportunities of showing forth his praises, that we should employ all our time in that way. My advice, therefore, is that we give very little attention to anything outside of that. The Scriptures do indeed say that we may render honor to him to whom honor is due, and that is applicable to anybody and everybody; as, for instance, we look back and we see Martin Luther, and he did a grand work, and we thank God for him; and we might say the same of John Wesley, and very truthfully; I am glad in God's providence he lived, and that he was a faithful man. And there were others of the Lord's people in the past. Let us be glad and rejoice in every one, and be thankful to God he has used various agencies in helping us, and in helping others, and in bringing forward his great cause; but let us not go into anything that would be at all like man-worship, for I am sure that would be displeasing to the Lord and injurious to ourselves. I remind you again of the Scripture in Revelations where the Church is pictured, which we called attention to, I believe, thirty years ago. John, the revelator, who was seeing these things, fell down to worship the angel who showed them to him, and the angel said, "See thou do it not; worship God; I am thy fellow-servant." And so, dear friends, if our Heavenly Father and our Heavenly Lord have used Brother Russell in any measure he is very glad and very thankful to be used. And if the Lord is pleased to use him any more, he will be glad to be used down to the last breath, but he does not want any worship, he does not want any undue adoration, he does not want any praise. He is glad to have the love of all those who are brethren of the Lord and to be considered a fellow-servant with all, striving to bring to pass all the glorious things that God has promised, striving to tell the good tidings of great joy to as many as the Lord, our God, shall call.
NEARLY six hundred more Bible students from the convention visited Pastor Russell at the Peacock Inn, Mayville. Pastor Russell welcomed all most heartily. In the course of the evening he gave a little address as on previous occasions. He said in part:
"One of old was declared to be 'a burning and a shining light.' There is force in this expression. Some lights are cold, austere, unsympathetic; but the kind approved by the Master was the burning kind – warm, glowing, sympathetic, helpful, intensive. The Master himself furnishes the best of all illustrations of the principle enunciated. He was the light which came down from heaven – undimmed, resplendent, shining forth to the utmost the light of divine truth. Not a cold, forbidding recluse was he, holding himself aloof from the people with a haughty and disdainful spirit, telling coldly 'wonderful words of life.' On the contrary his entire life was sympathetic, whole souled. One of the charges brought against him by the cold Pharisees was, 'He receiveth sinners and eateth with them.' Even his disciples were shocked that he should converse with a woman of Samaria. But the common people heard him gladly. While recognizing that he was far above their plans – while beholding in him the glories of an only-begotten of the Father they nevertheless were drawn to him because he was the burning as well as the shining light. And they declared, 'Never man spake like this man.' – John 6:46.
"Bible students are all Christians, though, alas, all Christians are not Bible students. True, God's Book may even be read through by some who are unbelievers. And it may be scanned critically by opponents who seek to find fault with it and to entrap it, as they sought to find fault with the Master. But these are not Bible students in the proper sense of the word. Only those who have made a consecration of their lives to the Lord and who are anxious to know the divine will, that they may conform their lives to it, and who, to attain this end, have entered the school of Christ to be taught of him – only these are Bible students from our standpoint – searchers after the secrets of the Lord because they love him and are appreciative of his glorious plans and desirous of understanding them fully. Such Bible students – including you, dear friends, and myself, I trust – should be burning and shining lights in the world and amongst our fellow Christians of all denominations, many of whom, alas, have much of the spirit of the world and are lacking in the spirit of the truth because of insufficient knowledge of the truth itself – because they are not sufficiently Bible students. [CR126]
"'Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven' (Matt. 5:16). We are not enjoined to make a show of carrying our Bibles in an ostentatious manner. We are exhorted to show forth in our daily lives the lessons we learn from its precious pages. As the Bible is our lamp provided by the Lord to all those who walk in its footsteps, so each of these in turn is a lamp which should shine forth upon others the light, the knowledge, the spirit of truth for their edification. In other words the holy spirit is not poured out upon the world of mankind, but merely upon the Lord's servants and handmaidens. It is an appointing for these and upon these evidencing to them that they have been begotten again to the new nature. It makes of them light bearers for the benefit of others – burning and shining lights, sympathetic and helpful lights that they might 'show forth the praises of him who hath called us out of darkness into his marvelous light.' – 1 Peter 2:9.
"While keeping the lamp trimmed and burning – while seeking to glorify God as burning and shining lights in the world, we must not forget that the Bible assures us that we will be no more successful in converting the world than was our Master. His great light shone in darkness and the darkness comprehended it not. And the religionists of his day instigated his crucifixion. The Master's prophecy respecting his followers will prove true to the end of the age: 'The darkness hateth the light.' 'Marvel not if the world hate you. Ye know that it hated me before it hated you.' John 3:13. It is altogether a mistake, therefore, to suppose that you or I or any other person or all of the Lord's consecrated people, letting their light shine faithfully before men, could convert the world. Such was not God's intention.
"It is the church, and not the world, that is being tested at the present time. The opposition of the world and all the powers of darkness serve to test us as new creatures – to test our loyalty to God and to his truth. Whosoever receives the light of truth intelligently must rejoice in it, and, rejoicing in it, he must let it shine out upon others, or by covering his light with a bushel, he will demonstrate his lack of courage, lack of appreciation, lack of opportunity, which the Lord is now specially seeking for amongst those whom he has invited to be sharers with Jesus in the glories of the mediatorial kingdom about to be established amongst men. It is important, therefore, that we do let our light shine before men. It is important that we be willing, nay, glad if need be, to suffer for our loyalty to the Lord and to his message. And we have his word for it that he that is ashamed of him or of his word now, of such he will be ashamed by and by, and not own them as members of his bride class, not accept them as assistants with him in his glorious throne.
"'The light of the world is Jesus.' 'That was the true light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.' (John 1:9.) Thus far Jesus has not been dealing with the world, but merely the blessed ones who have the eye of faith and ear of faith. 'Blessed are your eyes for they see and your ears for they hear.' (Matt. 13:6.) The time for the enlightenment of the world will be after the special call of the elect. Then the church, as the bride, will be with the heavenly bridegroom in his throne. Then all now found faithful in the matter of letting their light shine will be associated with the great light, Jesus, as members of his body. Altogether they will constitute the great sun of righteousness which will then arise with healing in its beams for the blessing of all the families of the earth. 'Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who hath ears to hear let him hear.' (Matt. 13:43.) He that hath a desire of heart, let him be obedient and thus make his calling and election sure to this glorious chief salvation."
BROTHER RUSSELL: Dear friends, I am not on the program this morning. I really have other duties that would properly claim the time, but as I thought of this gathering of the colporteurs this morning, I could not resist the temptation to come down and meet you here, and it seemed too good an opportunity to say a word or two.
I want to tell you how much I love, not only all of the Lord's dear flock, but how much I especially appreciate the dear ones who are engaged in the colporteur service. In this I am not saying a word against those who are not privileged to engage in this work. God bless them! I know that a great many would like to be in the colporteur work if they could be, and are not so situated that it would be proper for them to engage in it. Some of them have mortgages in the way of debts, and some have obligations and mortgages in the way of families, and these are properly to be recognized as responsibilities not to be passed by. We must be just before we are generous; and while we might like to give our time in the Lord's service wholly and completely, yet, if in his providence, or by our neglect, or in some other way, we are handicapped and cannot so engage, then the Lord expects us to be patient and to do the best we can, and to do all in our power thereafter to redeem the time, and make the best use of what we have and reasonably can do in his service. When I speak encouragingly of the colporteurs, or speak favorably of their work, I trust that the dear friends who are giving their time and energy to other parts of the work will not feel discouraged. As, for instance, I think very highly of the pilgrim service, and I think that God is blessing it and using it. Also the volunteer work. That is very noble work, too, and accomplishing a great deal for the spread of the knowledge of the truth. But it seems to me, so far as my observation will carry, and you know I have a good place of seeing up in the Watch-tower top, a good outlook from there – the Lord has greatly blessed the colporteur work in the finding of many of the grains of wheat that are being gathered in this harvest time.
I want to say that much for your encouragement, because I am aware that you may leave a city, or a town, or a village, and feel as though you had accomplished perhaps very little, not seeing much fruitage of your labor at the time, and you may need to know, and it may be to your advantage to be encouraged with the knowledge, that that city frequently fructifies after you have gone, and brings forth fruitage you know not of. I have been pleased during the last two years, and during the last year particularly, to notice that the colporteurs are getting more and more into what I might term the spirit of the ministry. I am not sure if I make myself clearly understood by that expression, but my thought of the ministry is the particular service of the truth, that they are thinking of the matter less and less as a business proposition, and more and more seeing the great fact that you go forth as ambassadors for God, as the representatives of the Lord, blowing upon the silver trumpet, and telling the people directly, or indirectly, perhaps by dropping some word, and more particularly, perhaps, by the printed page that you will leave with them, that the Jubilee time is at hand; the great time for the blessing of the world has come; that the redemption accomplished by our Lord is further reaching than we had once supposed; that it includes not only the saints of this present age, but also the whole world of mankind within the sweep of God's wonderful provision of grace, truth and blessing, and life eternal, if they will receive it, and that they shall all have the eyes and ears of their understanding opened, that they may clearly see and appreciate, before they will be counted as rejectors of the grace of God.
I see that you seem, as colporteurs, to be appreciating this matter more during the last two years in particular, and seeing that it is not merely a business affair, but that it includes the opportunity for especially presenting the truth and gathering together in little groups those Bible students with whom you come in contact. We have already suggested, and many are following it, more we believe each year, the thought of keeping track during your canvass of a city or town and marking on your books those who manifest a spirituality – those that seem to have really an ear for the truth, and an ear for more truth than you dare tell them while you are colporteuring; because in attempting to tell a good deal in a few minutes you might spoil the whole matter, and it is wiser that you shall refrain yourself at the time and merely get the books into their possession, that subsequently they may have that special opportunity [CR127] of reading; whereas if you would stop to discuss the matter, you not only would take too much valuable time, but also you might start something that would be injurious to your work in general. Therefore your wise course seems to be that which you are more and more following – disposing of the books and making note of those in a memorandum who seem to have a spiritual character and to manifest an ear for the truth, that you may call back again upon those and in a friendly way make their acquaintance, speak a few words, and ascertain whether or not they are reading. Let them know it is not merely a business matter with you, but that you are deeply interested and had noticed their evidences of spirituality. They will feel all the more pleased, and perhaps encouraged, if you will tell them that you noticed in your conversation with them that they were not of the ordinary merely nominal class, but that you perceived they had a real heart interest in God and in his Word. They will feel complimented, and very properly so, because perhaps that very thing has been to their disadvantage with many others who would think that strange or peculiar. Now if you recognized their peculiarity as being an evidence that they have been with Jesus and that they were students of his Word, it would be a refreshment and encouragement to them. And thus getting acquainted with these, you would be in a position by the conclusion of your canvass of the place, where you could bring them together and say, Let us meet together at such a little room, or such a little place as might be convenient, and there tell them the importance and value of study, and how it would be to their advantage to meet together, and there introduce to them the Watch Tower and other things that might be interesting to them, and get them acquainted with each other, so that they might start some kind of a prayer and testimony meeting.
Now that is the kind of meeting I think would do them the most good to begin with – a prayer and testimony meeting. They can do their reading perhaps by themselves and it will probably be the very best way that they should read all through the entire set of six volumes before they begin to have ordinary Dawn studies. If they first of all get their minds saturated with the truth as best they can, then coming together, if there are any wrinkles or difficulties they can be smoothed out by the meeting; but if they meet together merely to read, it is too tedious for a new beginner; I think, as a rule, it goes too slowly. If he has interest at all, he wants to read ahead faster. The most interested people are those who want to read the first volume through in a week, at least. Some of them have injured their digestion by wanting to read it all through before they go to bed; but I have known some very good ones to do that – staying up all night. One brother told me he was a local elder in the Methodist church, and the first time he met the colporteur he declined to purchase, and the colporteur had heard a good report of him, and said, My friend, I hear that you are a real Christian man, and I want to lend you one of these; you can have it for the reading of it, and I will not charge you anything for it. No, he says, if you bring it here I will burn it. I would not have it in my house. Afterwards this gentleman came home from his work in an iron mill in Pittsburgh, and said, As I glanced through the parlor, I saw on the floor a book, and behold it was one of those very books, as I thought, that the colporteur had been trying to sell to me, and I had refused and said I would burn; it was night-time and I said to myself, Now I have got a good chance to read it when nobody will see me. A luncheon had been left for him. He went and got the book, and he ate and read, and ate and read, until he had eaten enough of the natural food, and he pushed the plate back and kept on reading. "Well," he says, "Brother Russell, I won't be tedious in the matter, but I will just say that when my folks came down to make the fire in the morning to get ready for breakfast I was still reading – but by that time I did not care who saw me."
I am just telling you that as an evidence of how it is that some who are at first in opposition afterwards become very fast friends of the truth. It does not count any that a man is in opposition. I rather think that some of our very best material has come from some of those who were most opposed to us before. There is one of the brethren on the pilgrim force who was preaching at one time, and advised his congregation that if they got hold of one of those books to burn it, and now he is on the other side of the fence – very strong indeed as an advocate of the truth. I rather like the kind of people who have enough energy to want to do something one way or the other. I remember that Saul of Tarsus was the very one who was doing everything of damage to the Church when he thought he was doing God a service; and when God opened his eyes by and by, and he saw where he really stood, he had that same energy to put in on the other side for the truth. That is the Apostle Paul who has done so much for us all.
Well then, dear friends, be not discouraged with the various experiences that come to you, but try to meet the occasion. The first thought is to get the book into the hands of the people under as favorable conditions as possible, and encourage them to read; and the second thought is, not to let that seed which you have planted simply dry up there and lie without any care, but attend to the watering of it. Go back in every case where you find that you have evidence of true Christian character, whether they are deeply interested in the truth or not. Even if they have expressed the real Christian character and they have purchased of you, go back and see whether or not they have been reading, and in a kindly way let them see you are not in it for the money. They will be surprised at that. Nobody but an ambassador for the Lord is doing anything except for money.
Then try to get them together before you leave. Now this is the work of the ministry, the work of service, not merely getting the books out, but specially getting the hearts open and getting the truth in. I want to tell you that every day, practically many letters every day, are telling how this good colporteur or that good colporteur has brought the truth to somebody; and that is an encouragement to you and an encouragement to us at the office also.
I am sorry to have to say that we have an apology to make respecting the office management. Some of you have been disappointed this spring in the matter of your books. I want to assure you, dear friends, it gives us at the Watch Tower office just as much pain, grief, and sorrow, as it gives you who were out in the field, and if we had known any way, if we could have thought of any way, to have gotten things out of the rut quicker, we would certainly have done it. The dear friends who are serving you there at Brooklyn, be assured, are doing all in their power to serve you properly. I am sorry to say they have not all got perfect heads – but you knew that before. You have experience on your own part, I am sure. We all know that, dear friends – none of us are perfect, and we want to have sympathy with one another. You remember the Lord says he will have mercy on us in proportion as we have mercy on others, and I want to tell you right on that point I was wonderfully pleased with the manifestation of the sweet spirit of patience, and long-suffering, and brotherly kindness, that many of your letters manifested. It did me good. It showed me that the work of grace had been going on in your hearts as well as going out from your hands. We are not going to blame Divine Providence with our getting short of books this spring. That would not do, but we do believe that the Lord's Word is true which assures us that all things – all of our circumstances, all of our affairs – shall work together for good to them that love God, to those who are called according to his purpose. If it does not work out this way it will work out that way, and whichever way it works it will work good to the right class. It may be working some patience, and some experience, we do not know. Get as many lessons out of it as you can, and be assured that those at Brooklyn who have charge of matters there – myself included, for I am not going to try to dodge the responsibility, you know – are trying to learn our lesson, too. We do not want you to have all the patience and all the experience, we want to get some of it, but we are not going to let you have patience and experience in the future along that line if we can help it. We are going to have plenty of books if we can possibly get them printed, and we think we can.
I want to say further that some of the dear friends thought when the books ran short it meant that we had not the money to pay for them. That was not the case. The Lord was good, and the money could have been there to pay for them, and it was more to our shame that we did not have them in time. If the Lord had withheld the money and there had not been money to pay for the printing of them, then that would have cleared us of responsibility entirely. But we cannot clear ourselves in that way. We must say that, with our very best endeavors, and trying to be as expert as possible, and to watch every opportunity to serve your interests and all the other interests of the [CR128] work, there happened to be a corner that was overlooked temporarily – in trying to watch another part of the work, that particular feature was left unguarded temporarily. With such a large force, and with so many books going out, if we once get short we get into a whole pile of trouble, and so do you. We are trying to have it so that the dear friends who are in the colporteur department have that matter so deeply impressed on their minds and hearts, and so sorry about it, that they will never forget it all their lives. If that is a satisfactory and sufficient apology to you, I hope it will be accepted as such.
To tell the truth about the matter I think this is about the way of it: The wonderful amount of volunteering that has been going on, and the getting ready of that volunteer matter and sending it to all parts of the country, and the different editions, is quite a job – more of a job than probably any of you imagine. And you know a human mind has only so much ability, and we cannot get more than 24 hours in a day, and you have to sleep part of the time and eat part of the time – and that is where we came short. If we could have gotten the days lengthened it might have worked out all right. But it taught us a lesson, and we will try to see you will have no further difficulty in that way.
I want to say also in this connection that if there is any colporteur present – and I will not merely limit it to those present, but I will say any colporteur anywhere, who has been engaged in the work, and who, by reason of this – I do not know what to call it – not negligence, because I do not think it was negligence, but I will call it accident, the best name I know of – has been disadvantaged so that it will interfere with his colporteur work, I wish he would let us know the amount of financial loss he sustained, and we will use our best judgment as to how much of it we will credit to his account to help him out of the difficulty.
I do not know, dear friends, to what extent the home office has been responsible for the fact that there are not so many books selling this year as previously, but it is a fact. I do not know what reasons there could be for it. So far as I can judge, the colporteurs are just as earnest as they ever were, and those that are working seem to be selling as many books as heretofore, and I am trying to probe the matter to see just where the difficulty lies. In my opinion there ought to be more books selling today than ever before. I know someone might say to me, "Brother Russell, some cities and towns have been colporteured three times." Very well, I will guarantee you the last time more books were sold than at any of the others. Surely so. I believe a great many more books will be sold and I believe the field is far from being overdone. Perhaps we have distracted some of the minds of the colporteurs, by suggestions respecting the newspaper work. I rather think that has been the case. Now I think we had better get that right out from our minds – wipe out all about the newspaper work. Let me give you just a few suggestions, fresh, new, that you will just put down now and leave out all the other things, for I find the letters we have sent out have been understood by some in one way, and understood by others in another way, and some turned clear upside down. We have not any better heads than we were born with, and when we get things mixed up we have to have patience with each other. So if I mix up the letters you must have patience with me, and if you mix up the reading of them, I will have patience with you. Now the thought we have, putting it in brief form, would be this: the newspapers all over the country are doing a great work. To me it seems to be really a miracle that God has wrought. I do not know any other way to look at it than that. Just to think of it, that several hundred of the prominent newspapers all over the United States and Canada are publishing the sermons every week, reaching so many people every week, and that this is new to them! The majority of them never published a sermon before. Some of the New York newspaper people told some of the friends that they had not published a sermon in thirteen years before. They said the reason was, when they published them the last time there was such a conflict over the matter, such a commotion made by the people, that all the preachers wanted to have their sermons in the paper after one appeared there, and they could not publish all because they had not space for them, so they stopped publishing any. Now the big thing is that so many have undertaken the publishing of our weekly discourses. It looks to me as though the Lord was behind it; but anyway, it is for you and me to take the situation and not stop to discuss the matter, whether the Lord arranged it or how; if we believe it is a service for the truth, we are glad of it, and we won't spend any time guessing about how it came about or who was responsible. The Lord, we believe, is responsible for any of the openings for the truth that may come to us during this harvest time.
We think that is a safe proposition to have in our minds. Then it is for you and for me and for all of the Lord's people to do what we can to cooperate with what seems to be the openings of divine Providence. Now what can we all do? I think all will agree that a very proper thing would be to let the gentlemen who are publishing the sermons know that you are appreciative of it, that you are glad they are being published, and that you are a subscriber because they are publishing them. That is certainly fair to the publisher. If he never gets a letter from you, he will never know but that this is something nobody is reading and nobody cares for. He knows about base-ball and basket-ball and the prize fights, because he has information from people about these, that they like these features, and they are looking for that, but he will never have any word about the sermons unless it comes from the people who are interested in the sermon feature. The editors are wanting to see whether or not this feature of their publication is meeting with popular endorsement, and they will be glad to hear from you. Write them in a kindly strain, not saying too much, but merely pointedly saying that you are taking the paper, and you appreciate the fact that a great newspaper is thus forwarding the Gospel message of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that the world is getting some knowledge of what things are written in God's book.
Then as to the colporteurs, – as you go to a city where the sermons are published, in the course of your conversation something may turn up that would indicate that the party knew of or did not know, or you might put the question in some delicate form whether they were aware or not, that certain sermons were published weekly in their paper, and then listen to see how they seemed to take it.
Yes, I have read them, and like them very well.
If you find they like them pretty well, you can say, Now this book is along the same line as these discourses. And if you find they did not like them very well, you had better say nothing about that. In other words, the Lord said we were to be fishers of men, and if you find a kind of bait that the fish don't like, keep that off your hook.
There are a few of the newspapers that would like to have some special canvass made that would call the attention of their people to the fact that the sermons are being published. At the office we will know of these newspapers, and we will have a special arrangement hereafter that will disassociate the colporteurs working for the newspapers from the colporteurs that are working in the regular way. The regular colporteur work will go on just as before, ignoring the newspapers, except as they may have an opportunity of drawing attention to the fact that they are publishing the sermons, and if they find that they are interested in the matter, then identify the books with the sermons – that will be all the ordinary colporteurs will have to do; but we will have another set of colporteurs, some that will or have already sent in their names as being willing or anxious to engage somewhat in the newspaper work, and for them we will have a special edition of the HEAVENLY MANNA prepared specially for their use. We have not all the particulars of this so we can give them to you now, but to those who have indicated their desire to be engaged in that newspaper feature of the work, and who seem to have special qualifications for it, we will give special instructions by mail and send them samples of this HEAVENLY MANNA that is intended for the public. It will be more showy in style than our ordinary thirty-five cent edition and it will not be as good in quality as our best leather edition of the MANNA, but it will be specially something that will be attractive to the people and that can sell at a price which will allow a good margin, and then the price of the book and a brief subscription to the paper can be combined all for the one price of one dollar.
And thus those who engage in that part of the work will be able to do a double service of putting into the hands of the people something that will be very helpful to them in the HEAVENLY MANNA for every day reading, and, secondly, also helpful in putting into their hands the weekly sermons and drawing their attention to the matter, which will be a good service. But my thought is that it should [CR129] not in any sense of the word interfere with the regular colporteur work, and that the field had best be entirely separated, and that you keep right along with the ordinary colporteur work as heretofore as being one of the best services that we know how to render to the Lord.
I believe, dear friends, that is about all I have to say, and it is my custom when I have got through to sit down. I do not often get through so soon, and I would have more I could talk about, but this meeting is called specially for the colporteurs' testimony meeting and for some colporteur instructions.
We have asked Brother Cole to take special charge of the instruction feature, Brother Bohnet feeling himself rather rusty in colporteur work now, having been out of that part of the work for a while and not so up to date as Brother Cole is, therefore we are going to leave the instruction feature to Brother Cole, and you will have an opportunity of plying him with some questions if you wish. We think that is the better way, rather than to have each one give his experience, because while some of the experiences are very good, they are not apt to be as broad. That one person may be successful in his method, but there are certain methods by which all can be rather successful, therefore we think that is the better way; and I hope you will concur, and not think we are trying to muzzle anybody, or keep anything that is good away from you, for that is not the intention; but we have found that sometimes very unsatisfactory methods were proposed, and some thought they were very good when we knew they were not. They might be good for one person to try, but would be very unsatisfactory, as we have proofs, for the rank and file of the colporteurs. Therefore, we are trying to give you such suggestions in the colporteur work as would be generally helpful to all, and then if you know a better way, God bless you, take the best you know.
Then, dear friends, I will conclude my remarks by saying that I have had great pleasure in being with you this morning, and if I were to think for a moment you were all colporteurs, it would rejoice my heart so much I could hardly eat my dinner; but I guess you are not all colporteurs, though you are all sympathizers with the colporteur work; and I presume all the rest that are not colporteurs are what we call sharp-shooters, looking for special opportunities to slip in some of those keys for Bible study. So, dear friends, be encouraged. The harvest is great and the laborers are none to many, and there is very much ripe wheat to be garnered. We are having evidences of it every day. And the newspapers where they are published are, we believe, stirring up a good sentiment. I want to tell you just about one case that came to my notice, and I do not have as much time to examine those matters as I used to have – I used to read over many more of the letters than I have time now to read, but this matter was brought to my attention as being one of special interest. A brother who was a colporteur was laboring in a country district, and he went to a very small village and went into the country store and spoke to the storekeeper, and in the hearing of others made a canvass of him. The storekeeper said, That is something like what I have been reading in our newspaper we get from our county-seat town. He saw that the storekeeper was favorable, and he said, Yes, it is by the same pen as those sermons.
Well, then, I want it. The brother says he took orders, I think, for ten copies in the grocery store, because those people had been reading the discourses in the newspapers. He said, to his surprise, as he was going a few days after that down the road, he met a party of men working on the road, as farmers generally do join together and fix up the road, and one of those men was one who had been in that store and recognized the colporteur and he says, Here is the man I got those books from; you all want to get them. He took six more orders from those men right in the road there. It shows, dear friends, that there is an opportunity being opened up by the newspaper work that may make a very much larger field for the colporteurs than they have had before, because it gives a certain kind of an impetus, something to back up what you have said respecting the presentations you are making.
So then, dear friends, addressing you as colporteurs, I am very glad to be with you this morning, to look into your faces, and say, Be of good courage, there are not very many more hills on the road for us to climb before we get to the Eternal City, and soon we will be there, we hope.
IN order not to crowd the chartered boat, no more than six hundred were permitted to attend Pastor Russell's reception on any one evening. The restriction was effected by means of visitation cards, not more than six hundred of which were issued for any one of the six evenings. Last evening marked the conclusion of the receptions. The steamer was crowded, but "The Happy People" maintained their equilibrium of spirit and let their songs abound, giving good evidence that they were singing and making melody in their hearts unto the Lord. They evidently enjoyed the scenery of the lake, but the eyes of their understanding seemed to take in still more beautiful Elysian fields. It was the same on the return journey.
The Mayville Inn was illuminated throughout, as were also its verandas and lawns, the Chinese lanterns giving a gala effect.
The crowd was welcomed by Pastor Russell, who greeted each one personally. He subsequently addressed them from the veranda, following which a light collation was partaken of. The address in part was as follows: –
"My dear friends, our Convention nears its close. To me it has been a very enjoyable one. So far as I can discern, it has been the same to all in attendance. It is a delightful and blessed experience that so many of the Lord's people, by his Providence, have been permitted to turn aside from the busy cares of life to spend ten days in Bible study and in fellowship with each other in spiritual things. We have thus been remembering the inspired exhortation, 'Forget not the assembling of yourselves together, ...and so much the more as ye see The Day draw nigh.' The nearer we come to the great Day of the Lord, in which the Church will be glorified with the Bridegroom, and in which the great work of blessing the world at large will begin, the more precious are our opportunities for Christian fellowship. And more than this; they daily become more important to us for our strengthening and upbuilding in the faith once delivered to the saints.
"As we think of the closing of this Convention, let our minds go out toward the Great Convention promised in God's Word. At it will be gathered all of God's people – all 'Israelites indeed, in whom is no guile.' That Convention, like this one, will be unsectarian, interdenominational. Presbyterians, Methodists, Congregationalists, Baptists – the holy, the saintly out of each and all of these will be at that Great Convention. St. Paul styles it the 'General Assembly of the Church of the First-born ones.' How grand to think of such a reunion, without a creedal fence between any of the participants and all of them surrounded and safeguarded by the
'Love Divine, all Love excelling,' and the Wisdom and Power Divine! Do you desire to be [CR130] present at that Convention? The question is an unnecessary one. It is the hope, the desire, the aim of every one of us to be there – to make our calling and our election sure; to so run that we may obtain that great prize of participation in the 'First Resurrection.' Of that resurrection we read, 'Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the First (chief) Resurrection; on such the Second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years'! (Rev. 20:6.) Let us have this in mind, dear friends, that our participation with our Lord in the glories of his Kingdom is dependent upon our faithfulness here in following him through evil report and through good report, through honor and through dishonor in the bearing of the cross along the narrow way of self-denial.
"I remind you that when God brought typical Israel out of Egypt, the first-borns had a peculiar salvation or preservation first. The night before the deliverance all the first-borns were in danger of death, and were saved only when under the blood of the Passover Lamb. We see, dear friends, the significance of this beautiful type. St. Paul tells us that Christ is our Passover Lamb, slain for us. We each have appropriated his flesh, his human nature, which he sacrificed on our behalf. We recognize his sacrifice, the blood of atonement. We see that this entire Gospel Age is the antitype of that night. We are hoping to belong to the first-borns begotten of the holy Spirit who, during this night time of sin and death, will be passed over and, on account of the blood without and the Lamb within, be accounted worthy of being passed over – accounted worthy of eternal life on the spirit plane as members of the 'Church of the First-born' – participants in the 'First Resurrection' to glory, honor and immortality with our Lord – like him.
"I remind you that all of these first-borns, passed over, typified all of the Lord's people of all denominations and outside of all denominations who are now passing from death unto life. I remind you, however, that in the type, the first-borns of every tribe were exchanged for the one tribe of Levi – the priestly tribe, which thereafter typified the 'Church of the First-borns' – the 'household of faith.' But I remind you further that the Lord divided that tribe into two classes. A little handful were made priests and occupied a special position of favor and relationship and nearness to God, and the remainder of that tribe were honored in being used as the assistants or servants of the priests. This is an allegory or type. 'The Church of the First-borns' will consist of two classes, a 'little flock' of priests and a 'great company' of the 'household of faith' and typical Levites who will serve. I remind you that the 'little flock' of priests do their sacrificing now and, if faithful, will shortly be made a Royal Priesthood, a reigning priesthood, joint-heirs with the great King of Glory and High Priest of our profession – Jesus. I remind you that the 'great company,' typed in the ordinary Levites, will not be in the Throne, but serve before the Throne. They will not be living stones of the Temple, but serve God in the Temple. They will not wear crowns of glory, though they will be granted palms of victory.
"What places will you and I occupy in the resurrection, in the General Assembly of the Church of the First-borns? Will we be of the Royal Priesthood, or of the less honorable, but still blessed, servants? Will we be of the Bride class or of the less honored virgins, her companions that follow her? It is for us, dear friends, now to make our calling and our election sure by our zeal, our earnestness, our devotion to the great King and his Cause. He has called us to the highest place. It rests with us, under his wonderful and gracious arrangements, to determine whether we will be passed over or not passed over, and, if passed over, to determine whether we will accept the place to which we are all called or the inferior place which will be granted to those who do not keep their garments unspotted from the world and who, therefore, must come through great tribulation to enter into the Kingdom at all.
"I exhort you, dear friends, that we strive to be present at the Great Convention, 'the General Assembly of the Church of the First-borns,' and that we strive to make our calling and election sure, that we may be of the Bride class, the Royal Priesthood class, the members of the Body of the great Prophet, Priest and King of Glory! It is to this end that we have come to this Convention – that we might encourage each other and be encouraged to maintain the good fight of faith and to gain the victory, so far as our hearts are concerned, over the world, the flesh and the Adversary. I trust that we shall all go away from this Convention strengthened by Divine might in the inner man. I trust that we shall leave behind us a sweet fragrance of the Spirit of the Lord in every cottage and hotel in which we have been lodged. I trust that we shall go to our homes so filled with the Spirit of the Truth, the spirit of meekness, gentleness, patience, long-suffering, brotherly kindness and love that we shall carry a blessing to those of our homes, that they may take knowledge that we have been with Jesus and have learned of him and that the blessing may thus overflow and abound to many hearts. I doubt not that such will be the blessed results and that this Celeron Convention of Bible Students will be a marked epoch in the Christian careers of many, marked with blessings from on high and mutual refreshment of spirit amongst all those who have participated."
"Chosen in Christ ere the dawn of creation;
Chosen for Christ to be filled with his grace;
Chosen to carry the streams of salvation
Into each thirsty and desolate place."
THE Sunday afternoon meeting in the Celeron auditorium was marked by the largest attendance of the entire series, Pastor Russell addressing an audience of between 4,000 and 5,000 persons, including many Jamestowners.
Pastor Russell took as his subject, Preaching to the Dead, and as his text the sixth verse of the fourth chapter of 1 Peter, "For this cause was the Gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but alive according to God in the spirit." He spoke as follows:
"The Bible, to be understood, must be viewed from its own standpoint. This, as Bible students, we are learning more and more particularly every day. In the past we have read our Bibles 'up-side-down.' Many read as a duty; others as a sort of charm that would placate divine justice and bring us divine favor. Now we are learning to read the Bible in a common sense way, and to use our reasoning faculties in connection with its statements and prophecies. As a consequence, while others are falling from the faith – some into infidelity styled higher criticism and evolution; others into fanciful wrestlings of the Word of God – we are coming to appreciate the Bible as the most safe and sane book in the world. Correspondingly our faith in God increases – faith in his wisdom, justice, love and power to accomplish all the good purposes which he purposed in himself before the creation of our race. Correspondingly, too, we are coming to appreciate more than ever the value of the great Redeemer and of the great sacrifice for sin which he accomplished at Calvary. We are coming to see the truth of what we once considered poetic license when we sang,
'There's a wideness in God's mercy
Like the wideness of the sea.'
"No Bible topic requires more careful discrimination in its study than does the subject of death. This is mainly because of the general confusion of mind which came upon [CR131] Christendom during the long centuries of the church's comparative darkness, when Bibles (the lamp of God upon the Christian's path) were scarce, and when few could read the truths of priceless value that were chained to lecturns. In consequence of this confusion we hear intelligent people talk ignorantly and stupidly respecting death. They make confusion worse confounded by telling us of Adam's spiritual death and discussing 'natural' death and 'the death that never dies,' etc., etc.
"To get the Bible view of death we need to brush away such foolish babblings and confine ourselves to Bible language and the rational thought connected therewith. For instance, according to the Bible, there is no 'natural death' – it is not natural for man to die. It is according to the Bible arrangement and man's nature that he should live – live eternally, as do the angels, if obedient to the divine commands. Death, therefore, is the unnatural thing! Do we think of angels as dying, and of heaven as filled with cemeteries? Have they doctors and undertakers there? Surely not! Yet it would be just as proper to speak of natural death amongst the angels as in respect to men.
"The term spiritual death so frequently used respecting Adam and his fall is wholly unscriptural. No such expression is found in the Bible; neither such a thought. Adam could not die a spiritual death, because he was not a spirit being. He was an earthly being – not an angel, but a man. As the Scriptures declare of Adam, 'Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; and crownest him with glory and honor, and didst set him over the works of thy hands;' 'over the beasts of the field, the fish of the sea and the fowl of the air.' (Hebrews 2:7; Psalm 8:5-6.)
"It is, therefore, absurd for us to continue longer to speak of Adam dying a spiritual death, while admitting that he was not a spirit being. It was simply the man Adam that died. His death, however, did include the gradual processes of decay, and affected not only his bones and muscles, but also his brains – his every mental and moral quality. The sentence, 'Dying, thou shalt die,' took hold of him as an entirety; hence we find, as the Scriptures declare, that there is 'none righteous; no, not one' – none mentally, morally or physically right. All have sinned. All come short of the glory of God in which Adam was created. From the moment of disobedience and divine condemnation Adam and his race have been judicially dead and gradually going down, down, down, in degradation and into the tomb.
"Speaking of the dying race from the judicial standpoint our Savior called them all dead. He declared that none has even a reckoned life, except such as by faith accepted him as their Lifegiver – Savior. His words are, 'He that hath the Son hath life; he that hath not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.' (John 3:36.) Speaking to one who believeth on him the Savior said, 'Let the dead bury their dead; go thou and preach the Gospel.' (Matthew 8:22.) From the right standpoint this meaning is evident. Let the dead, the condemned and legally dead world, look out for its own affairs. You become one of my followers and carry my message of life and hope to as many as have ears to hear!
"Thus the whole world of mankind through heredity, through inherited weaknesses, through participation in the sentence that came upon father Adam justly, are all judicially dead in trespasses and in sins – not one of the race is worthy of eternal life upon the only terms and conditions which God can offer – namely, perfection and obedience of the divine standards.
"Jesus preached the Gospel amongst those judicially dead through trespasses and sins. A few had the hearing ear and accepted the good message and gave their hearts to God and accepted the terms of discipleship – to walk in the Master's footsteps in the narrow way faithfully unto death – willingly offering, sacrificially, their little all in the service of God, his truth, his righteousness, his people. These few, as we have seen, the Savior recognizes as having life – as having 'passed from death into life' (John 5:24.) nevertheless their change was only a legal one. Actually, according to the flesh, they were still imperfect, fallen, dying. But by divine arrangement their new minds, their new wills, were accepted of God in Christ and their flesh ignored as dead, and they were begotten by God of the Holy Spirit as new creatures and became sons of God. As sons, they were free from all the previous condemnation that came upon them as members of Adam's race – freed through the imputation of the merit of the Redeemer's sacrifice applied on their behalf. Thus they attained the liberty of the sons of God – freedom from sin-condemnation.
"While speaking of believers begotten of the Holy Spirit and new creatures in Christ Jesus as having passed from death unto life, the Bible, with equal explicitness, tells us that the resurrection of the mind, the will, of the new creature, is not the completion of his salvation. He has received a great blessing, a great salvation; but what he now enjoys is merely a fore-taste, an 'earnest,' or hand-payment of the great blessing which he will receive eventually, if faithful to his covenant unto death. The fruition of the hopes of the new creation will be attained in the end of this age at the second coming of the Redeemer, when he comes to set up his kingdom in power and great glory for the blessing and salvation of the world, when 'every knee shall bow and every tongue confess' (Psalm 6:23). The Scriptures point the new creation, the Body of Christ, the 'saints,' the church, to that illustrious day as the time when they shall experience their glorious change from earthly to heavenly conditions – when in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye the resurrection power will lift them wholly out of earthly conditions to the perfection of the 'divine nature.'
"Describing this 'first resurrection' of the saints, the Apostle says, 'It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body' (1 Corinthians 15:43-44). Respecting this glorious consummation of the hopes of the church, the Apostle declares it to be the end of our faith, the salvation of our souls – 'the grace (salvation) that shall be brought unto you at the revelation of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ' (1 Peter 1:13). For that glorious time the Lord's people are to wait patiently, realizing that, as new creatures, they are being tested by the weaknesses and frailties of their old bodies reckoned dead. They are to show their loyalty to God by fighting a good fight against the weaknesses of the flesh, against the allurements of the world and the snares of the Adversary.
"Consider now, in the light of the foregoing, the meaning of St. Peter's words used as our text. We perceive how the Gospel message from first to last has been preached to a dead world – to a world under sentence of death – to a world dead in trespasses and in sin and unworthy of divine notice. The message has not gone forth to every creature yet. The divine promise is that eventually every eye shall see and every ear shall be unstopped, and then 'the knowledge of the Lord shall fill the whole earth' and 'every knee shall bow and every tongue confess.' But that will be during Messiah's kingdom of righteousness, which will last for a thousand years for the world's uplifting. That time has not yet come; hence that glorious message which all must hear and those glorious sights which all must see and all confess are not yet revealed. As yet the message can be appreciated only by a comparatively small proportion of our race, 'even as many as the Lord our God shall call.'
"The Redeemer says that they must not only be thus 'called of God,' but that they must be 'drawn' by him, in order to be blessed during this age. He says, 'No man can come unto me, except the Father which sent me draw him, and he that cometh unto me (thus drawn) I will in no wise reject' (John 6:44-47). For these few of the dead world the gospel in the present time is intended. No others have the ear to hear. But while those who hear are few in comparison to the millions of the world who do not hear, nevertheless they are many in comparison to the still fewer who accept the call under the conditions and limitations of the narrow way of self-sacrifice. 'Many are called, but few are chosen' to this high calling of joint-leadership with the Redeemer in his kingdom.
"By and by when all eyes and ears of understanding shall be opened and the blessing of the Lord through Messiah shall be world-wide, it will not be merely a calling to righteousness that will be extended. A command will be enforced by disciplines, 'stripes,' 'corrections in righteousness,' to the intent that the 'dead' world in general may be blessed and be resurrected – lifted up, up, up, out of sin and death conditions to the human perfection bestowed upon Adam and his race in creation. Only the unwilling and disobedient will die the second death, from which there will be no redemption, no recovery. [CR132]
"Those who hear the Gospel and accept its terms of consecration unto death of the flesh and are begotten of the Holy Spirit as new creatures, 'partakers of the divine nature,' have, so to speak, a dual existence from the time of their begettal of the spirit. From God's standpoint they are new creatures begotten to the divine nature, which, if faithful, they will fully obtain in the 'first resurrection.' Yet according to all worldly concept of the matter they are still human beings, very much the same as they were prior to their consecration and spirit begetting. The world may, indeed, see certain changes more or less radical in their conduct and words, but, like as not, these will appear to the worldly merely as fads, fancies, eccentricities. Perhaps, indeed, as in the case of St. Paul, they may be considered as 'beside themselves' – mad. Hence, as the Apostle declares, 'The world knoweth us not, even as it knew him not' (1 John 3:1). The world did not know Jesus to be begotten of the Holy Spirit, the son of the highest, etc., nor does the world yet know that he is highly exalted at the Father's right hand. So also it is with the followers of Jesus. They similarly have received a spirit begetting and similarly, in due time, are to experience the glorious change of the 'first resurrection' and be perfected on the new plane of the divine nature.
"Note again the Apostle's words respecting these spirit-begotten followers of Jesus, the 'little flock,' who walk in his footsteps of self-sacrifice. He says that these shall be judged according to men in the flesh, but according to God in the spirit. Men not knowing us as new creatures in Christ may think of us and approve or condemn as they would think of and approve or condemn others – according to the flesh. The world will not see that in these new creatures there is a battle in progress – the new creature seeking to conquer the flesh and to bring it into subjection to the divine will, but not always able to do so.
"All we can do is to do our best, whether our best shall be as good as or better than that of our fellow creatures who are not spirit-begotten, but who may be less depraved by nature – nobler by heredity. Our consolation as new creatures is that we are not to be judged by human judgment, but by him who called us and drew us to himself, who sanctified us through the blood of the cross, and who begat us with his own holy spirit, to his own divine nature. He will judge us according to the spirit, according to our minds, according to our intentions, according to our efforts. To the faithful who at heart are overcomers the Lord eventually will say, 'Well done, thou good and faithful servant! Enter into the joy of thy Lord. Thou hast been faithful over a few things; I will make thee ruler over many things.' (Matthew 25:21.)"
LAID on Thine altar, O my Lord Divine,
Accept his gift today, for Jesus' sake.
I have no jewels to adorn Thy shrine,
Nor any world-famed sacrifice to make;
But here I bring, within my trembling hand,
This will of mine – a thing that seemeth small;
And Thou alone, O Lord, canst understand
How, when I yield Thee this, I yield mine all.
Hidden therein Thy searching gaze canst see
Struggles of passions, visions of delight,
All that I have, or am, or fain would be –
Deep loves, fond hopes, and longings infinite.
It hath been wet with tears, and dimmed with sighs,
Clenched in my grasp till beauty hath it none.
Now, from Thy footstool, where it vanquished lies,
The prayer ascendeth – "May Thy will be done!"
Take it, O Father, ere my courage fail;
And merge it so in Thine own will that I
May never have a wish to take it back;
When heart and courage fail, to Thee I'd fly.
So change, so purify, so like Thine own
Make Thou my will, so graced with love Divine,
I may not know or feel it as mine own,
But recognize my will as one with Thine.
[CR133] (Picture only) [CR134]
BROTHER RUSSELL received an invitation to address a Jewish Mass Meeting in the great Hippodrome Theater of New York City. The invitation and Brother Russell's response to the same follow:
NEW YORK, September 20, 1910. Pastor C. T. Russell, Brooklyn, N.Y.
DEAR SIR: Your sympathetic interest in the Jewish people for years past has not escaped our notice. Your denunciations of the atrocities perpetrated against our race in the name of Christianity has added to our conviction that you are a sincere friend. Your discourse on "Jerusalem and Jewish Hopes" has struck a responsive chord in the hearts of many of our people. Still we doubted for a time if any Christian minister could really be interested in a Jew as a Jew and not merely from a hope of proselyting him. It is because of this feeling that some of us request you to make a public statement respecting the nature of your interest in our people and we desire you to know that the statement you did make was very satisfactory. In it you assured us that you are not urging Jews to become Christians and join any of the sects or parties of Protestants or Catholics. That statement, Pastor Russell, has been widely published in the Jewish journals. We feel, therefore, that we have nothing to fear from you as a race. On the contrary, in that statement you mentioned that the foundation of your interest in our people is built upon your faith in the testimonies of our Law and the messages of our Prophets. You may well understand how surprised we are to find a Christian minister acknowledging that there are prophecies of the Bible still unfulfilled, which belong to the Jew and not to the Christian, and that these prophecies, according to your studies, are nearing a fulfillment of momentous interest to our Jewish race and, through us as a people, to the nations of the world.
These things, Pastor Russell, have led to the formation of a Jewish Mass Meeting Committee, which, by this letter, requests you to give a public discourse, especially to our people. If you will kindly accept this invitation, will you permit us to suggest a topic for your address, which, we believe, will be very interesting to the public and especially to the Jews, namely, "Zionism in Prophecy."
As for the meeting: We suggest Sunday afternoon at 3 o'clock, October 9. We have secured an option on the Hippodrome, New York's largest and finest auditorium, for that date, and we hope that this date and the place will be agreeable to your convenience. We assure you also of a large audience of deeply interested Hebrews, besides whoever may come of the general public.
Trusting to hear from you soon, we subscribe ourselves,
GENTLEMEN: Your kind invitation to address the Jewish Mass Meeting in the New York Hippodrome Sunday, October 9, at 3 p.m., came duly.
I thank you for the confidence which this invitation implies. The date you have selected is not only appropriate in its relationship to the Jewish New Year, but it is very suitable for my own arrangements, as I leave on October 12 for appointments in London and elsewhere in Great Britain.
Amongst the several prominent members of your race suggested for chairman of the Mass Meeting, I select Mr. John Barrondess, because I have had the pleasure personally of conference with him and because I know him to be very loyal to the interests of your people and because I believe him to be very highly esteemed as such in the counsels of your race. Faithfully and respectfully yours,
During the week preceding the Mass Meeting many thousand copies of a special paper printed in Yiddish were sold at news stands and distributed with other Yiddish papers. This paper contained quotations from Brother Russell's writings and sermons, and a report of his findings in Palestine during his recent visit to the Holy Land. In this paper were two very significant cartoons.
One represented an aged Jew seated in a graveyard, surrounded by tombstones. Each of these stones represented one of their dead hopes. The picture shows that the Jews have reached their limit – all hopes practically dead, and they do not know which way to turn.
The other picture represents the Jew as waking up – he hears a voice, and, looking up in a surprised manner, he sees Pastor Russell, who holds in his hand a scroll of their prophecies, and is pointing to them, and to the New Jerusalem in the background, which will soon rise out of the ruins of the present city within the walls. Thinking these cartoons will be of interest to others, we reproduce them on the following pages.
THE unusual spectacle of 4,000 Hebrews enthusiastically applauding a Gentile preacher, after having listened to a sermon he addressed to them concerning their own religion, was presented at the Hippodrome yesterday afternoon, where Pastor Russell, the famous head of the Brooklyn Tabernacle, conducted a most unusual service.
In his time the venerable pastor has done many unconventional things. His religion is bounded by no particular denomination, and encompasses, as he says, all mankind. His ways of teaching it are his own. But he never did a more unconventional thing than this – nor a more successful one.
He won over an audience that had come – some of it, at least – prepared to debate with him, to resent, perhaps, what might have appeared like a possible intrusion. "Pastor Russell is going to try to convert the Jews to Christianity," was the word that many had received before the meeting. "He wants to proselyte us." [CR135]
In the crowd which filled the big showhouse were scores of rabbis and teachers, who had come to speak out in case the Christian attacked their religion or sought to win them from it. They had questions and criticisms ready for him. He was received at first in a dead silence.
But the Pastor did not seek to convert the Jews. To their unbounded delight, he pointed out the good things of their religion, agreed with them in their most important beliefs as to their salvation, and finally, after a warm advocacy of the plan of the Jews establishing a nation of their own, brought about a tumult of applause by leading a choir in the Zionist anthem: "Hatikva – Our Hope."
A more interesting audience the Hippodrome never held, perhaps. From all parts of the city came serious-minded Hebrews to hear what it was an alien, a Gentile, might have to say to them at a service held during their week of feasting, Rosh Hashanah. They were quiet, well-dressed, thinking men and women.
Among them were many prominent figures of the Hebrew literary world. Some of these escorted Pastor Russell to the Hippodrome in a motor car and then took places in the auditorium. The literary men recognized the pastor as a writer and investigator of international fame on the subject of Judaism and Zionism. Some of those present were Dr. Jacobs, editor of the American Hebrew; W. J. Solomon, of the Hebrew Standard; J. Brosky, associate editor of the same; Louis Lipsky, editor of the Maccabean; A. B. Landau, of the Warheit; Leo Wolfsohn, president of the Federation of Roumanian Societies; J. Pfeffer, of the Jewish Weekly; S. Diamont, editor of the Jewish Spirit; S. Goldberg, editor of the American Hebrew; J. Barondess, of the Jewish Big Stick, and Goldman, editor of H'Yom, the only Jewish daily.
No symbol of any religion at all greeted them when they gazed at the Hippodrome stage. It was entirely empty save for a small lectern and three peace flags hanging from silken cords above. One was the familiar white silk banner with the Stars and Stripes in its center, together with the words, "Peace Among Nations," in letters of gold. Another bore a rainbow and the word "Pax." The third was a silken strip bearing miniature representations of all the nations' flags.
There were no preliminaries. Pastor Russell, tall, erect and white-bearded, walked across the stage without introduction, raised his hand, and his double quartette from the Brooklyn Tabernacle sang the hymn, "Zion's Glad Day." The members of this organization are Mrs. E. W. Brenneisen, Mrs. E. N. Detweiler, Miss Blanche Raymond and Mrs. Raymond, Emil Hirscher, C. Meyers, J. P. MacPherson and J. Mockridge. Their voices blended perfectly, and the hymn, without any instrumental accompaniment, was impressive.
But still there seems an air of aloofness about the audience. They did not applaud, but sat, silently watching the stalwart figure of the pastor. When he began to talk, however, they gave him respectful attention.
With a powerful, yet charming voice, that filled the great playhouse, the unconventional clergyman made his every word audible to every hearer. His tones pleased their ears, his graceful gestures soon captivated their eyes, and in a few moments his apparently thorough knowledge of his subject appealed to their minds. Though still silent, the 4,000 were "warming up" to him.
It was not long before all reserve, and all possible doubt of Pastor Russell's entire sincerity and friendliness were worn away. Then the mention of the name of a great Jewish leader – who, the speaker declared, had been raised by God for the cause – brought a burst of applause.
From that moment on the audience was his. The Jews became as enthusiastic over him as though he had been a great rabbi or famous orator of their own religion. He hailed them as one of the bravest races of the earth – having kept their faith through the persecutions and cruelties of all other people for thousands of years. And he predicted that before very long they would be the greatest of the earth – not merely a people, any longer, but a nation. By a system of deductions based upon the prophecies of old, the pastor declared that the return of the kingdom of the Jews might occur at so near a period as the year 1914. Persecution would be over and peace and universal happiness would triumph.
As he brought his address to a conclusion the pastor raised his hand again to his choir. This time they raised the quaint, foreign-sounding strains of the Zion hymn, "Our Hope," one of the masterpieces of the eccentric East Side poet Imber.
The unprecedented incident of Christian voices singing the Jewish anthem came as a tremendous surprise. For a moment the Hebrew auditors could scarcely believe their ears. Then, making sure it was their own hymn, they first cheered and clapped with such ardor that the music was drowned out, and then, with the second verse, joined in by hundreds.
At the height of the enthusiasm over the dramatic surprise he prepared, Pastor Russell walked off the stage and the meeting ended with the end of the hymn. He was congratulated by scores of men and women who had come in indifferent, if not hostile, frames of mind, and he made a friend, they all declared, of everyone who had heard him.
The following is a stenographic report of the entire discourse:
PASTOR RUSSELL: I will read in your hearing from the Holy Scriptures, Leeser's translation, the Hebrew version:
Psalms 102:14-16: "Thou shalt arise, O Lord; for thou wilt have mercy upon Zion; for it is time to favor her, for the appointed time has come. For thy servants hold dear her stones, and her very dust they cherish. Then shall nations fear the name of the Lord, and all the kings of earth thy glory."
Mal. 3:1,5,6,7: "Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall clear out the way before me; and suddenly will come to his temple the Lord, whom ye seek; and the messenger of the covenant, whom ye desire; for, behold, he is coming, saith the Lord of hosts; and I will come near unto you to hold judgment; and I will be a swift witness.... For I the Lord – I have not changed; and ye sons of Jacob – ye have not ceased to be. From the days of your fathers did ye depart from my statutes, and did not keep them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts."
Ezekiel 16:60-63: Nevertheless will I indeed remember my covenant with thee in the days of thy youth, and I will establish unto thee an everlasting covenant. And thou shalt then remember thy ways, and be confounded, when thou receivest thy sisters, both those that are older than thou and younger than thou; and I will give them unto thee for daughters, though not because thou wast faithful to the covenant. And I will establish my covenant with thee; and thou shalt know that I am the Lord: in order that thou mayest remember, and feel ashamed and never open thy mouth any more because of thy confusion, when I forgive thee for all that thou hast done, saith the Lord Eternal."
Jeremiah 31:31-37: Behold, days are coming, saith the Lord, when I will make with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah a new covenant.
"Not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day that I took hold of them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they have broken, although I was become their husband, saith the Lord.
"But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel, after those days, saith the Lord, I place my law in their inward parts, and upon their hearts will I write it; and I will be unto them for a God and they shall be unto me for a people.
"And they shall not teach any more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord; for they shall all know me, from the least of them even unto their greatest, saith the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin will I not remember any more.
"Thus hath said the Lord who bestoweth the sun for a light by day, the ordinance of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, who stirreth up the sea that its waves roar. – The Lord of hosts is his name.
"If these ordinances ever depart from before me, saith the Lord, then also shall the seed of Israel cease from being a nation before me during all time.
"Thus hath said the Lord, If the heavens can be measured above, and the foundations of the earth be searched out beneath, then also will I reject all the seed of Israel, for all that they have done, saith the Lord." [CR136] (Picture only) [CR137]
Isaiah 40:1,2: Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.
"Speak ye (comfort) to the heart of Jerusalem, and call out unto her, that her time of sorrow is accomplished, that her iniquity is atoned for; for she hath received from the hand of the Lord double for all her sins."
MY JEWISH FRIENDS AND OTHERS: I have pleasure in being before you today. I am here because of your invitation, for which I thank you. I am pleased to have an opportunity of speaking to my Jewish friends and neighbors in this city. All the more so because I believe that some, in the name of Christ, have dishonored his name in various persecutions against your race.
I cannot be surprised, my dear friends, that after centuries of persecution you should feel that it would be almost a miracle if you should hear a Christian speaking the words of our text to the Jews, in defense of the Jews. I am pleased, therefore, to have this opportunity of saying that I have no sympathy whatever with the conduct of the Russians, nor with the demoniacal conduct of the so-called Christians of Roumania. We read, too, of the fact recently that in Roumania there was a terrible scene enacted when so-called Christians dug up the dead of the Jews, brought their carcasses and laid them on the doorsteps. Dear friends, this is not properly attributive to the Christianity which I stand for. I am glad that I stand for no such misrepresentation of the One whom I recognize as my Creator, as my Master, and one who is of your race.
Nothing in his Word ever directed his followers to thus misrepresent the principles of righteousness, justice. I should like in one word to tell you the very reason why there is such conduct on the part of some who have named the name of Christ. It is this: That during the period we call the Dark Ages, when ignorance was prevalent throughout the civilized world, various false theories and doctrines, quite contrary to the Law of Moses, quite contrary to the teaching of Jesus and the Apostles, were brought in. So we find that today the name of Christ is attached to various theories which you and I and all Christian peoples recognize as sinful and wrong and dishonest. By all Christian peoples I mean the Christian people in general whom you meet in this land of liberty; a very different view, you will notice, from that held by Christians of Russia and Roumania and some other parts.
The whole world is swayed by the power of the mind. When a man's mind is disarranged his conduct will be in harmony with the disarrangement. What wild and unreasonable things are often done by the insane because the mind has gone wrong. I am not charging the Christians in the Dark Ages with these things, but I am charging it, dear friends, to that which the Scriptures call "Doctrines of Devils," promulgated in the name of Christianity, and some of those doctrines of devils are very devilish indeed. One of these doctrines is what I hold responsible for all the various injustices that have been done to your race – the doctrine that our Heavenly Father, when he created the race, also made a great place of eternal torment and purposed that the great proportion of these human creatures whom he made should be cast into this eternal torture. All of this we believe to be very dishonoring to God, and it is because of this wrong theory respecting God and his character and his purposes toward the children of men that the world has witnessed such terrible persecution of the Jews – and all done in the name of love.
It is not surprising at all that practically all Christian people believe that every Jew is going to eternal torment. So I say, with the thought before their minds that the great Creator has damned every Jew to eternal torment, is it any wonder that those who believe such a thing should act like demons? It is no wonder! A man is bound to be conscientious and we must admit that these people are acting according to their consciences, but if a man is conscientious he will act according to his light or according to his darkness, and this gross darkness which came upon the civilized world 1,000 years ago, from which we have scarcely emerged, is responsible for the misrepresentation of the Almighty's character, and is responsible for the persecution of the Jews. Have we not been told that every man should seek to be in harmony with and should follow the example of his God? Whoever, therefore, has a devilish conception of God will have a devilish form of conduct. And theoretically that has come upon Christian people who are slowly emerging from the gross errors of the Dark Ages. Many errors still cling to them; for instance, the doctrine of eternal torment. These Christian people believe this to be the doctrine of the Bible, and I thought the same. I also thought that I was getting it from the Bible, but I found out differently, my dear friends. I found out that I had been taking the traditions and creeds of men, and I had been told that these creeds fairly represented the Word of God, and under the impulse of the refusal of my mind to follow such a leading I became a kind of an unbeliever, totally rejecting both the Old and the New Testaments; and I know, therefore, how to sympathize with those who are called Higher Critics. I know how to sympathize with those who feel that there is no real intelligence in the Bible.
But, dear friends, after having had this experience, by God's grace I came back to the Bible itself and made an examination along its own lines, and today I am a believer in not merely the New Testament, but in the Old Testament also. I have the opinion that both Jews and Christians have to a large extent neglected the intelligent study of the Word of God and I would like not only to awaken all the Christians – men and women – to study the Bible, but I would also like to awaken all the Jewish people to a study of the Word of God, a study of your own Scriptures, which contain the most wonderful message. They explain all the affairs pertaining to your people.
After making a thorough study of the prophecies I found the whole picture of the world there, and I thank God so often for these prophecies! They are not yet fulfilled. Certain portions of them have been fulfilled; and then there are other things that God has for the Jews and for the Gentiles.
To my understanding, God has two salvations – a special salvation, which is only for a mere handful – merely a saintly few, and as soon as the saintly few have been selected as the body of the Great Messiah he will fulfill all the glorious things the Jews have been hoping for, which you and I have been hoping for, and which the whole world has been hoping for. Do we not all see the need of a great Deliverer for the Jew; do we not see the need of a great deliverer for the whole world; do we not see that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together, waiting, waiting for your Messiah, my Messiah, for the Messiah God has promised, the Messiah of the whole world?
When we come to see what our God is doing, then there is a great sympathetic bond I believe between every intelligent Jew and every intelligent Christian. We have one God, the Father of all, and we have one hope in his glorious plan, and the glorious hope of this plan is all centered in the Messiah that has been promised to the Jews for these 3,500 years since the day of Abraham. God, foreknowing what he would do for the blessing of the world, declared in advance to Abraham that through his seed all the families of the earth would be blessed.
He intimates that there would be two kinds of Abraham's seed – he would have a heavenly and he would have an earthly seed. Remember how in the Scriptures he said, Thy seed shall be as the stars of heaven and also as the sands of the seashore. These two seeds eventually shall bless the world. As soon as the heavenly seed shall be completed – and we believe that that time is near at hand now – then the blessing of God will begin to come to his earthly seed. And what do we see, my dear friends? Do you see the condition in which we are as a race? Do you see the sickness and weakness of the world of mankind today? Do you realize that sin is the very cause of all this, and do you know that God has declared, as I have read in your hearing, that the time is coming when he will blot out all those things which are the results of sin? You and I, and all mankind, are suffering from these things and they will all pass away. Does this not mean that in due time the wilderness shall blossom as the rose, the solitary place shall be glad for them, the knowledge of the Lord shall fill the whole earth as the waters cover the great deep and none will need say to his neighbor, Know the Lord? We have not had that time yet! It is still in the future. That is the glorious promise of God which Israel is looking forward to if they are looking in the right direction; Christians are also looking forward to this, and all nations look forward to it.
As I have read, not only is the blessing to come to Israel but also to the Gentiles. That is my understanding, dear friends, of what the Bible teaches. Let us look for the great antitypical Moses, this great antitypical David, this great antitypical Melchizedek; this great one that is mentioned by Daniel, the prophet, when he said: Then shall Michael (the archangel) stand up (assume control) and there shall be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time; and at that time thy [CR138] (Picture only) [CR139] people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book. God is making a record of those who are true Jews; he has a book; he has an account, and you and I realize that. We know we are not living here in vain. You and I believe that the Great One who created us has something more in store for us than the brute beast. What is that glorious thing that he has provided?
Our Scripture tells us that under this new regime which shall be inaugurated when Michael shall take control, Israel will be the first to be blessed, as God said in the Scriptures which I have read in your hearing. It shall come to pass as the Lord God has said. After those days I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not according to the covenant I made with them when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, but a new covenant, like the former, but more glorious. As the first covenant had a mediator so this new covenant will have a mediator, a better mediator. As Moses led the people on the right way, so also will the antitype of Abraham, Isaac, and Moses, the greater one than Moses, do. There cometh a greater one than Moses. Now this one will be the one through whom all the promises of God will come to Israel, and through Israel to all men.
To my understanding, dear friends, the Scriptures are very clear in their statement that this New Covenant will be for Israel only and that all the nations of the world, if they desire to receive the blessings of that covenant, must come into Israel, so that during the reign of Messiah, which will be for 1,000 years, all nations will be pressing into it that they may become members of Israel, and so the nations will eventually come to be a part of Israel, as the Scriptures say – the seed of Abraham, like the sands of the seashore, filling the whole earth – and every one who will not become an Israelite, who will not come into harmony with God, with that divine law, with the New Covenant, will be cut off in the Second Death. The Scriptures say that at the end of Messiah's reign every one will be perfect; all will be of the seed of Abraham, and his seed shall then be as the stars of heaven and as the sands of the seashore. But during his reign every one who will not hear that prophet will be destroyed from among the people.
Then, you inquire, why is it that God has so long delayed? Well, my dear brother, whether I can make the matter clear to you or not, it is a fact we all recognize, that he has delayed. And during this delay of now more than 3,500 years from the time that promise was made to Abraham, from the time God took his oath, bound himself to the blessing of all the families of the earth, and bound himself that the blessing should come through Abraham's seed, – from that day to this, in all 3,500 years, your faith as a people has not failed. And in my estimation it is one of the most miraculous things in the world today to see the faith of Israel as a people. I esteem it, my dear friends, to be a miracle itself. No other country has ever done anything like this. No other nation is the seed of Abraham, as God has revealed this matter.
God gave an illustration of the delay, you remember. The covenant made to Abraham was made a long, long time before Isaac was born, and so God's promises to Israel, natural Israel, the seed of Abraham, have been long deferred, and to our understanding in a certain way that we may not have time to fully discuss this afternoon. Our thought is that now God's time has come, as we read in Psalm 102: "To favor Zion, for the appointed time is coming." Do you believe that he did found your nation, and that he had a purpose in respect to that founding? Do you believe the promises? Do you believe that the Lord's promises will yet be fulfilled? Do you believe that he is able to do so? My dear friends, I am afraid that some of the Jews are getting weak in their faith respecting the promises of God. God's purposes ripen slowly, but if the Scriptures are true, and we have a right understanding, Messiah will very shortly be manifested in power and great glory, not visible to men, but as a spirit being, invisible to men, as Daniel described, you remember: Who as God – one like unto God, with power. Yes, my dear friends, with power; with power through Israel to fulfill all the glorious promises God made to Abraham and confirmed to Isaac and to Jacob.
Let me give you an idea of one way in which I think of this matter. I refresh your minds respecting the history of Israel; how after God dealt with your people through judges, he gave them kings, and the name of the last king you remember was Zedekiah. Upon Zedekiah God pronounced a great sentence, which has since gone into effect. Let me remind you of the words of the Prophet addressing Zedekiah, the last king of the Jews. I understand about Maccabeus, king of the Maccabees, but the Maccabees were not Jews. God has promised his blessing to Israel and Judah. Now I will quote you the words of the Prophet Ezekiel, 21:25-27:
"And thou profane and wicked prince, whose time has come that iniquity shall have an end. Thus saith the Lord God: Remove the diadem, and take off the crown: this shall not be the same: exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high. I will overturn, overturn, overturn it: and it shall be no more, until he come whose right it is; and I will give it him." Who is this one that is coming? Who is this one that is to take the throne of David? Who is this one that is to be the successor to Zedekiah? Did God not promise to David "the sure mercies of David," that of the fruit of his loins he would raise up this one? This was not fulfilled at that time. It must belong to some future time because the sure mercies of David were pointed to after that time and they have not yet been fulfilled. That great Messiah is not a man, for no earthly being is able to accomplish for Israel, and through Israel for the world, the wonderful things which God has declared this Messiah shall accomplish. He is to bless all the families of the earth – not merely those living at that time, but also all those who have gone down into the sleep of death. That is the time of which Daniel speaks, that in this day many who sleep in the dust of the earth shall come forth; and some shall shine as stars in the firmament.
Now, my dear friends, a certain period of time from the time Zedekiah lost his crown is measured all the way down. What do we find for this measurement in the Word of God, in the Holy Scriptures? Through the Prophet, God has given a measure which reaches from Zedekiah, from the time his crown was taken away to the time that it would be restored. You remember how it was at the time Israel was discarded from divine favor as a nation – not the people but as a nation; the crown was taken away from them as a nation, was removed, to be no more until the Messiah, but still they would continue to be God's people. This shows the difference between God's people and God's nation. But at the time the crown was removed from the brow of the king of Judah, a lease of power was given to the Gentiles.
I remind you that Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, was the one who took Zedekiah prisoner. I remind you that he had a wonderful dream and Daniel the Prophet was there and interpreted the dream. I remind you what the dream was; that he saw a great image – head of gold, breast of silver, belly and thighs of brass, and legs of iron, and the feet of iron and clay mixed. I remind you that Daniel gave an inspired interpretation of that dream. Daniel said that Babylon was the first, or head of gold; that after Babylon would arise another kingdom, a universal kingdom; and then a third, and then a fourth. You remember who these are: First, Babylon; second, Medo-Persia; third, Greece; fourth, Rome. Rome came in fourth and was represented by the legs of iron – the strongest empire the world has ever known. Since the Roman empire departed as an empire, what do we have? Papal Rome. This was shown in the image by the feet of iron and clay mixed, the feet being part of iron and part of clay; the iron representing the Roman or civil power and the clay the religious influences or addition to the Roman civil power. So these ten toes seem to indicate also the kings of Europe of the present time, for they have been the successors and their empires are more or less of religious and civil power combined; as for instance, the kingdom of England is not merely a civil but also a religious monarchy, and so with the other monarchies in Europe. They have the religious feature represented in the clay and the civil power represented in the iron. This is a picture of the whole world and all the empires of earth to whom God gave a lease of power more than 2,000 years ago.
We see how this has been fulfilled. What will follow this? Is this great image to stand forever? No! Was Babylon to last forever? No, it was cast away and was succeeded by Medo-Persia. Did it last forever? No, it was followed by Greece. Greece was followed by the Roman empire. Did it last forever? No, it merged into Papal Rome. What about all this? What was the end of this prophecy of Daniel? The king beheld in his vision and a stone was cut out from the mountain without hands and smote the image – Where? In Nebuchadnezzar's days, the head? No. In the Medo-Persia days? No. Where? In the feet; smote the image in the feet at the end [CR140] of the Gentile times. If you and I see it that way then we must see that we are now somewhere at the time of the feet and we should expect that the time for the smiting of the image in the feet by the stone would be near.
You remember the result; that the stone which smote the image in the feet accomplished the complete destruction of the Gentile empire. The great image went to pieces and the wind carried it away; there was no place found for it. And the stone became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. And Daniel's interpretation of that stone is that it represented the Kingdom of God. He is pointing out how the dominion was taken away from Zedekiah and given to Nebuchadnezzar, and to all of his successors, and that the kingdom power would revert to Israel. Messiah, the head of Israel, will become the great stone that will eventually be the kingdom which will fill the whole earth, and bless the whole world. Is that a plain picture? I hold that it is. Is it a far-fetched interpretation? I hold that it is not. I hold that there is no other interpretation possible; we must either believe that or give up the whole matter. If we see that the first part has been fulfilled in the past, does it not confirm Daniel's prophecy to you and to me, and to as many as have ears to hear, that the latter part is just as sure of fulfilment as the first part?
Another part of this prophecy shows us that there were seven times determined upon this great people. What is a time? A time is a year. Seven times, seven years. Not literal years. More than literal years. There is a symbolical year used in prophecy which is reckoned on the basis of a lunar year; twelve months of thirty days each, or 360 days – each day representing a year. One symbolical year, therefore, would represent 360 years. How many would be represented in seven times? I answer seven times 360 years would be 2,520 years. And if we measure those 2,520 years from the time that God took away the diadem from Zedekiah and gave a lease of power to the Gentiles, what do we find? We find the 2,520 years will soon expire. And what would that mean? That would mean the time to restore Zion has come, and that, my dear friends, is part of my message to the Jews.
You have suffered persecution for centuries; God has surely promised you a blessing, and the time of fulfilment is near, and the blessing that will come upon you is so much greater than you have ever dreamed of that we are astonished to see the grace of our God and the wonderful lengths and breadths of his mighty plan.
The reason that you and I have been inclined to go after infidelity and to reject the Bible is that we never saw the plan of God as there outlined; never appreciated its wonderful promises, never appreciated the fact that God will bless every member of our race. "In thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed," and that includes the knowledge of God, and the knowledge of his power, and the knowledge of his guidance, and the knowledge of the blessing that will come through the great Mediator of the New Covenant.
Well, how would we measure this period of time? You might say you would count it a few years sooner, etc., but I will tell you how I measure it. I find that the year of Zedekiah is the year 606 which we call in our common reckoning B.C. I forget how it is spoken of by the Jews, or the word that they use. 606 years B.C. and 1914 years A.D. will make what? 2,520 years. What do you see? You see forces at work today that the world has never before seen; every intelligent man sees something wonderful that he does not understand. We hold that the only proper conception of the things that are happening in your day and mine are seen only from the divine standpoint. From God's Word we can know something of what the commotion of our day signifies. Can any deny that we have commotion in our day? That we have wonderful things in our day? That ours is a most wonderful day, for electricity, steam and all the wonderful inventions that come along these lines? How should we understand these things?
Some tell us these are all a result of our having large heads; that we are brainier than any people who have ever lived on the earth. Is this true? As far as you are concerned, and I know as far as I am concerned, you and I recognize great characters of the past that were greater than any of our day. Is it not true that Moses has not today his equal in the world as a law-giver? Is it not true that David could touch more hearts than any other poet in the world? Surely! Shall we say, then, dear friends, that all this great blessing of our day is merely the result of ours being a "brain age" and that we are so brainy today? Let us take the Scriptures for it, let us take the words of the prophet for it, that this is the "day of preparation." Preparation of whom? Messiah. That is what we have been praying for, for Messiah and for the great kingdom of God; for the blessing that God has declared shall come through the seed of Abraham to all the families of the earth. Do you not see that these are the beginning of the blessing? My understanding from the Bible is that the blessings which you and I are enjoying today, the most wonderful blessings the world has ever known, are only the beginnings of God's blessings. I thank God that the great blessing is thus coming to all people and tongues. I thank God we have this hope of Messiah.
As an illustration, the one who has been instrumental in bringing forward many wonderful things from electricity, Mr. Edison, says himself that he has no great intelligence on the subject of electricity or any other subject; he himself tells that he merely stumbled into these things. The simple interpretation is that God's time has come for the lifting of the veil of ignorance that has been in the world, and therefore the blessing of the Lord is coming out here and there.
I remind you of your Jubilee system, inaugurated by Moses; how it pointed forward to a great time of blessing. You remember under the jubilee arrangement that on the fiftieth year every one should again receive what had been lost; everything should go back in accordance with the original arrangement. What did that mean? I agree with you that it was a very good law; I agree with you that it was a very simple law put into operation on a very similar scale to our present bankruptcy law; it was typical of something in the future, typical of a great rest day.
Do you not as Jews hold to the promise of the great period of Messiah's Kingdom when the great Sabbath of rest and peace will come to all the world? I understand that you do. I certainly do. Now this great Sabbath year, this great Jubilee, is another picture of the great day to come, Messiah's reign, his Kingdom, the restitution spoken of, with every man restored to his former estate – that which was lost. Do you know that our Scriptures, your holy Scriptures, read that God created man not in an imperfect condition but in his own image, in his own likeness, perfect morally, perfect in mentality? Do you agree with me that the Scriptures, your Scriptures, show that so perfect, so absolutely perfect was Adam that even when the sentence of death came upon him he did not crumble into dust in a few years, but for 930 years he was going down into death? As we mark the history of the world coming down to us we find that the average of human life is only about 35 years. In our day we have come down to the very limit almost, and I have noticed within a week the statements of some, an English physician of prominence, and an American physician of prominence, and they both reached about the same conclusion, that at the present rate of the mental decline of the human family, 268 years more would make everybody insane. The world is becoming insane so rapidly that these gentlemen figured out that we would all be insane in 268 years. What does this mean? A great fall of our race, in the strength of mind, in the strength of body, which perhaps some of you have discovered already. Many of my friends have told me that they had a nervous breakdown. That means that none of us is equal to the strain.
Now, my dear friends, if you have the Bible standpoint that God created our first parents in his own image and likeness, and that sin came upon them, and that mentally, morally and physically we have fallen – if we have this before our minds, and then the great Jubilee, we see that man will be restored to his former estate – to all that he lost. That would be restitution according to the Bible. Now I hold, that, we either stand for God and the Bible or we stand against it. I stand for the Bible, and the Bible stands for Israel, and therefore I stand for Israel; and the Bible tells of restitution; of Divine favor, and therefore I proclaim it. I am glad, therefore, of having this opportunity of addressing so many of the Jewish people here and of pointing them to their own Scriptures as teaching these things, telling of the good things God has in reservation for you.
What, in view of this, is the lesson of the hour? It is this, my dear friends: That we should seek justice, and not merely seek the land of Palestine. I may say here that it is not at all my conception of the Bible teaching [CR141] that the eight millions of Jews in the world are going to Palestine, even though it has been estimated that, under most favorable conditions, the land could support more than twice that many. It is my thought that some of your most earnest and saintly people will go to Palestine quickly, and that the rejuvenation there will be astonishing to the world. We have no thought whatever that it is God's plan respecting the Jews that all Jews will return to Palestine, but the time has come when it is the duty of every Jew who is not going to Palestine personally, to give his sympathy, to do all in his power to help every Jew that does desire to go there, and should be specially desirous of assisting financially those of the Jews who are now suffering in Russia, helping them back to Palestine, and establishing there great enterprises. (Applause.)
In regard to your Zionistic ideas, I believe the due time, the set time, as our text says, to remember Zion has come; therefore God raised up for you a certain great leader, Dr. Herzl. Through his efforts the attention of the whole world has been attracted to Palestine, and to the Jews, and the original covenant. This I understand was a political move – not religious in any sense of the word – for the benefit of the Jews living in places where they suffered persecutions. It was also with a certain justifiable national pride that Israel might have a home like other people, and national distinction, and this would give them a share and a proper recognition by the world of the right of a government, and the right to share with others, as members, in the blessings belonging to the human family; that was the original proposition, and it has done a great deal. It is not necessary for me to tell you that the Zionist movement has reached practically its limit, that you have gone nearly as far along that line as you can go. What then? Should you feel discouraged? I say that this is NOT the time for discouragement. This is the very time for encouragement! (Applause.)
We have come to the very time, dear friends, when that realization is to come in, when the promises given in the Word of God to your race are about to take hold upon you as a people and fire your hearts as never before. They say, as some have said to me, Pastor Russell, those who are interested in the Zionist movement are only the poor. The rich of our people do not seem to be interested in it at all. I know nothing of that matter, dear friends, but I have this to say. If my understanding of the matter is right, the voice of Moses is going to the rich, the leaders of the Jewish people; the very foundation of your national character is laid in your religion. And whatever touches your religion, and your religious sentiments, and your faith in God, and your faith in the promises made to Abraham, that is going to stir you as a nation as nothing else has ever stirred you. I believe that we have come to the time, the set time, in which God will restore Zion, and that this fulfilment of Isaiah 40:1,2 is true: "Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people, saith your God, speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, Cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, for she hath received of the Lord double for all her sins" – a second portion for all her sins, and a blessing must immediately follow. We are in that very time, dear friends, to my understanding. How largely this will move the hearts of all, and that quickly!
If I rightly understand your prophecies – God's prophecies which you recognize – they indicate that Jacob's trouble is not over yet, that this trouble will still be with you, and that you will have more persecution and not merely in Russia, not merely in Roumania; I do not know, my dear friends, whether it will extend to this country or not; but doubtless it will be done also in the name of Christ – and I am sorry for that fact. It is sad indeed to be obliged to admit that these tribulations will probably come to you from professed Christians. How ashamed I feel of those who thus dishonor the name and the teachings of my Master, I cannot find words to express!
They are deluded. They have misunderstood the Teacher whom they profess to follow. Their thought is that God will torment eternally all who do not profess the name of Christ. Controlled by delusion, they are serving the great Adversary and dishonoring Jesus. At the same time God has in these trying experiences of your people a purpose to develop your people, and to test your faith, and to keep you together as a people and make you a homogenous people. But as the trials and difficulties of the patriarch Joseph were God's providences to lead him on to influence and power and honor, so will all these experiences and persecutions work blessings for your race and tend to drive them out of their present satisfaction and make them long for home – for Palestine. These experiences, in connection with the voice of the prophets, which will henceforth more and more ring in your ears, will be the providences of God to accomplish for you more along the lines of Zionism than personal pride and national patriotism. There is no other race that shows such persistency as the Jewish people, and this is all centered upon the religious sentiment, faith in the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, faith in the promises of God that in the seed of Abraham all the families of the earth will be blessed; and as those persecutions come and as the great time of trouble shall come upon all the world – never mind whether it be in 1916 or not; any way that you can interpret that prophecy, no matter which way you do it, you cannot land very far from 1915 to 1916 – God's promise will be fulfilled. In every direction in the world today, my dear friends, we see signs of great trouble, not only financial, but also capital and labor storms, and the people and the governments and the religious systems of the world will all be in conflict according to the Scriptures. I remind you of Daniel 12:1, which marks our day, declaring: "At that time shall Michael (the antitype of Michael, one like as God) stand up, the great Prince (Messiah.)" Then what? "And there shall be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation," no, nor ever will be again. "At that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book."
My dear friends, when that time of trouble comes over Christendom, over the civilized world, a great many of the wealthy Hebrews will want a place of safety and I think that place will be Palestine. The Bible clearly indicates to my mind that many wealthy Jews will go back to Palestine. The Scriptures clearly show that the end of Jacob's trouble will take place right in Jerusalem; the persecution from the civilized world will drive them there and that finally the time of Jacob's trouble will come; then, as the Lord declares, in the midst of that trouble he will reveal himself, not as a man, but manifest his Divine power, as the prophet declares: "The Lord will go forth and fight for you as he fought for you in the day of battle," pointing back to the time when God fought for the Jewish people. In that day he will fight for Israel as in the day of battle. Then there will be a manifestation of his kingly power, and then the blessing will begin, and at that time also will appear, according to the Scriptures, your ancient Worthies, your saintly ones, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David – all the holy Prophets. These will not appear as imperfect men when they come because they have demonstrated their worthiness and faith in God, but will appear as perfect men, and of these it is written, you will remember, by one of the prophets: "Instead of thy fathers they shall be thy children," and Messiah shall be made prince over all the earth; all the people of the world will be under this government; it will be a kingly government, my dear friends. You remember the great King of Israel will be the Messiah on the heavenly plane, invisible to man, the Prince of Light as supplanting Satan, the Prince of Darkness, and this great one will have the earthly government; your ancient Worthies, your saintly ones, will be princes in all the earth, perfect as men, and under the direction and guidance of the heavenly Messiah they shall be rulers amongst men, as the Scriptures declare: "I will restore thy judges and counsellors as at the first." You remember he gave them a counsellor, a law-giver in Moses and not a king, and so this represents a kind of a republic, if you please – not a real republic, but a theocracy. God will be the great one, Messiah will be his great representative to bring righteousness and peace and blessing to all the earth, and lift up mankind from the degradation and weakness and imperfection of sin, and Messiah will operate through these saintly ones of the past, to bless not only Israel, but through Israel to bless all mankind, all the families of the earth.
I thank God, my dear friends, for such a glorious hope, and I suggest to you all that you should come to the point where you will be seeking the Lord, for he says: "I will pour upon them the spirit of prayer and of supplication." I would that all Jews were in the attitude of prayer and supplication toward God and looking for the fulfillment of all the prophecies which God has written for our admonition and encouragement. Your desires should be more and more for God and righteousness and you should be seeking [CR142] to do those things pleasing to him, and to cultivate those elements of character without which no one could secure a place in the great institution that is to bless the world. Dear friends, God will not receive a man merely because he is a Jew. There must be something in you, something specially in harmony with the divine character, or he will not use you. I think one thing God will be specially pleased with in respect to Israel is faith, faith in God, faith in his promises, and I do tell you that I love and appreciate the faith that has been manifested by Israel for these 3,500 years, and I believe Almighty God is very much pleased with that faith. We see, according to the Scriptures, that this was the very quality in Abraham which made him specially pleasing to God, and he was called a friend of God, and so then the Jews who would be in harmony with God must be men of faith and not faith without action, but faith and action, and your action will be in accord with your faith in the glorious promises which God has made in the Bible.
It has been suggested, and I think it a very good plan, my dear friends, that we close this service by the singing of a hymn which I understand you are well acquainted with.
So long the ancient fires blaze
In ev'ry staunch Jewish soul,
And Eastward we longing gaze
Toward Zion, beloved goal –
Not lost is our hope of old,
Graven in our hearts so deep,
To return to that land foretold,
Where our loved sires sleep.
While yet our eyes with quenchless tears
Yearn for our one-time land,
And by graves of sleeping seers
Our hosts resolve to stand –
Not lost is our hope of old, etc.
Thrills yet every brave Jewish heart
With love of flag and land,
Hope from us shall ne'er depart
Of our return – a triumphant band –
Not lost is our hope of old, etc.
(As we are about to go to press with this Report, we notice the following article in the Chicago Record-Herald, under date of October 30, 1910. While we are informed that the dates mentioned in the article are not all correct, yet Zionists agree with the article in general. We give it place here, as it indicates the general and increasing interest in the Zionist movement in all parts of the world, and illustrates the fact that the secular press is giving considerable space to articles and notices along this line.
SLOWLY but surely the world-wide Zionist movement is approaching victory. The cry, "Back to Palestine," which for more than eighteen centuries has stirred feelings of a new nationalism in the Hebrew race, is nearing realization. Nothing is stronger proof of this fact than the appearance of the modern, rejuvenated Jerusalem.
As the Zionist movement has crystallized and broadened, softening the iron-hand rule of the Ottoman government, the vitalizing spirit of twentieth century progress and achievement has transfigured the city which Hebrews the world over hope before long to call their own. A large department store, modeled after the American system, will soon be established in the Holy City by a wealthy Jew. A company has been formed to introduce the telephone. An arts and crafts school has been established and is doing splendid work. The Jewish Colonial Trust recently declared a dividend of 12 per cent, the sixth dividend in five years, which means that every $5 share has earned 74 cents in five years. In the past few years a large portion of its capital of $2,500,000 has been invested in Palestine. The Anglo-Palestine Bank has been formed with a capital of a half-million, and is doing a great work along the line of colonization.
The Jewish National Fund, which derives its resources from voluntary subscriptions and by selling stamps, has now a capital of $500,000, and recently financed the construction of a workingmen's home. Five hundred thousand olive trees have been planted in the Herzel forest, extending from Jaffa to Jerusalem.
Striving for the establishment of the Jewish nation on its own soil in Palestine, the Zionist movement was born on the day when the Jews became an exiled nation, 70 A.D., but only in recent years has the propaganda assumed definite proportions. Throughout the past 1,840 years there have been at various times individuals who sought to re-establish a Hebrew nation in Palestine. In the fifteenth century Joseph Nasi asked assistance of the Republic of Venice in behalf of his race. But the conditions under which the Jews lived for so many centuries made many of them despair of ever reaching the goal.
Wainder Cressen, once American consul in Jerusalem, who afterward became converted to Judaism under the name of C. Boaz Israel, established a Jewish agricultural college in Palestine in 1845 and asked the American government to enter into negotiations with the Turkish government with a view to restoring Palestine to the Jews.
Sir Moses Monteflore, the English philanthropist, made seven visits to Palestine, seeking concessions for the establishment of Jewish colonies. But all these preliminary projects failed. The Jews did not feel the national enthusiasm necessary to carry the plans to success. The conditions under which they had lived made propaganda difficult.
The influences most prominent in the formation of the first stage of modern Zionism were the rise of a strong nationalistic sentiment and the development of anti-Semitism.
Dr. Theodore Herzel, father of the modern Zionist movement, was inspired in his work by the feeling of enmity which has developed against the Jewish race. Dr. Herzel, an Austrian dramatist and a man of striking personality, wrote his epoch-making book, "Judenstaat" (The Jewish State), in 1894, while the whole race was in excitement over the Dreyfus case. In this book he called upon his people to organize and return to Palestine. The book made a great impression, and such representative men as Max Nordau, Dr. Alexander Mamorek, Dr. Max Bordenheimer, David Wolffsohn, Dr. Moses Gaster and Professor M. Mandelstamm became the co-workers of Dr. Herzel.
The Sultan of Turkey, having heard of the Herzel publication and the intense feeling its exposition of wrongs inflicted on the Jewish people had caused in the whole civilized world, sent a messenger to Dr. Herzel, offering his people a charter to Palestine if they would stop the agitation which followed the Armenian massacre. The offer was rejected.
With Dr. Herzel as the standard bearer the Zionist movement had received sufficient impetus to become a great vital force. A programme embodying the aims and principles of the movement was outlined and accepted at the first Zionist congress, held in Basel in 1897. It was resolved that the Jewish people should be publicly and legally assured a home in Palestine. It was also decided to promote study of the Hebrew language and literature and to establish a high school in Jerusalem.
Another decisive step was taken at the second congress, also in Basel, in the following year, when the "actions committee" was formed and the Jewish Colonial Trust Company was organized with headquarters in London. The latter is capitalized at $10,000,000, of which $2,500,000 has been paid up, and it is managed by a board of directors selected from the executive committee of the Zionist organization. This company stimulates and initiates commerce and industry in Palestine, and is the medium through which funds are directed to their various channels. [CR143]
The Jewish National Fund, the purpose of which is the acquisition of capital for the purchase of land in Palestine, was organized at the fourth Congress, held in London in 1900. The fund is not to be used until $1,000,000 has been obtained, half of which amount is always to remain on hand. People wishing to contribute may purchase Zionist stamps at 1 cent each, or they may inscribe their names in the "Golden Book" and subscribe $50.
In the interval between the fourth and fifth congresses, Dr. Herzel called upon the Sultan of Turkey, who conferred upon the Hebrew leader the grand cordon of the Order of Mejidie. Addressing a meeting in London a little later, Dr. Herzel expressed great satisfaction with his mission. Dr. Herzel's assurance that the German Emperor was in full sympathy with the Zionist movement was a feature of the fifth Zionist congress held in Basel. At the following session the East African scheme was advanced by Dr. Herzel, who had been offered by Joseph Chamberlain, then colonial secretary of England, the use of the Uganda territory for colonization purposes.
The presentation of the scheme was the occasion of one of the most dramatic incidents in the history of Zionism. Dr. Herzel was in favor of accepting the offer, his intention being to use the territory as a place of refuge for Jews threatened with massacre in Russia and Roumania. But his plan was most emphatically denounced by those whom it was intended to benefit. Russian and Roumanian delegates hooted the scheme as a betrayal of the cause of Zionism. They wanted no palliative, they asserted. "Give us Palestine, or we stay where we are," was their cry. "It means the ruin of Zionism!" shouted many delegates, as they shook their fists in anger.
Pale and shaking, Dr. Herzel stood on the platform and attempted a defense. He lifted his right hand. "If I forget thee, O Jerusalem," he exclaimed, "let my right hand forget its cunning."
No final action was taken, but a commission was selected to examine the territory and report to the next congress. But in the midst of strife and agitation, Dr. Herzel, the leading spirit in the Zionist cause, passed away.
A report adverse to the East African scheme was given by the commission when the seventh congress opened in Basel in 1905. A resolution was adopted declaring that the Zionist organization "stands firmly by the fundamental principles to establish a home for the Jews in Palestine, and that it rejects, either as an end or as a means, any colonization activity outside of Jerusalem."
The Zionist organization in the United States is called the American Zionist Federation, and has 250 affiliated societies, with a central bureau in New York. The order of Knights of Zion is the Western Zionist federation, and has its headquarters in Chicago. It was organized in October, 1898, and has thirty-five branches. Attorney L. Zolokoff is the Zionist leader in this city.
Many Hebrews of the United States believe that the whole course of world events is now favorable to the Zionist movement, and that the day is near when their aims will be realized and the Jews, as a united people, will become one of the most powerful factors in the modern world.
All the vales are covered over
With their wealth of golden corn,
All the hills and fields are smiling
With the fruitage they have borne;
Sing! O Reapers, shout for gladness,
'Tis the joyous Harvest morn!
Lo! the ripened sheaf is bending,
Purple hangs the clustering vine,
Rich the vintage thou shalt gather
Golden grain and gleaming wine,
If thou slacken not thy reaping
What a Harvest feast is thine!
Sad one, heard'st thou not the Master
When He sent the reapers forth?
Grieve thou not, tho' late, thy service
Still may have unmeasured worth;
See'st thou not some scattered wheat heads
Almost trampled down to earth?
Fear thou not thy Lord's displeasure,
He will surely bid thee "come,"
For He marks thy smallest service
Thou can'st surely render some,
He'll reward thee, tho' thou bearest
But a single wheat-head home.
For His wheat to Him is precious
As the "apple of His eye"
None too lowly for the Master
Gather all and pass none by;
Each shall have a place, tho' humble,
In His kingdom by and by.
Reaper, art thou? or a gleaner
Entering at th' eleventh hour
In the harvest field of labor?
Rich reward shall be thy dower;
When the "Lord of Harvest" calls thee,
Thou shalt share His throne and power.