| VOL. XXVIII | OCTOBER 1 | No. 19 |
'I will stand upon my watch, and set my foot upon the Tower, and will watch to see what He shall say unto me, and what answer I shall make to them that oppose me.' Hab. 2:1
Upon the earth distress of nations with perplexity: the sea and the waves (the restless, discontented) roaring: men's hearts failing them for fear and for looking forward to the things coming upon the earth (society): for the powers of the heavens (ecclestiasticism) shall be shaken. . . .When ye see these things come to pass, then know that the Kingdom of God is nigh at hand. Look up, lift up your heads, rejoice, for your redemption draweth nigh. – Luke 21:25-28, 32.
Our "Berean Lessons" are topical rehearsals or reviews of our Society's published "Studies," most entertainingly arranged, and very helpful to all who would merit the only honorary degree which the Society accords, viz., Verbi Dei Minister (V.D.M.), which translated into English is, Minister of the Divine Word. Our treatment of the International S.S. Lessons is specially for the older Bible Students and Teachers. By some this feature is considered indispensable.
This Journal stands firmly for the defence of the only true foundation of the Christian's hope now being so generally repudiated, – Redemption through the precious blood of "the man Christ Jesus who gave himself a ransom [a corresponding price, a substitute] for all." (I Pet. 1:19; I Tim. 2:6.) Building up on this sure foundation the gold, silver and precious stones (I Cor. 3:11-15; 2 Pet. 1:5-11) of the Word of God, its further mission is to – "Make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery which...has been hid in God,...to the intent that now might be made known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God" – "which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men as it is now revealed." – Eph. 3:5-9,10.
It stands free from all parties, sects and creeds of men, while it seeks more and more to bring its every utterance into fullest subjection to the will of God in Christ, as expressed in the Holy Scriptures. It is thus free to declare boldly whatsoever the Lord hath spoken; – according to the divine wisdom granted unto us, to understand. Its attitude is not dogmatical, but confident; for we know whereof we affirm, treading with implicit faith upon the sure promises of God. It is held as a trust, to be used only in his service; hence our decisions relative to what may and what may not appear in its columns must be according to our judgment of his good pleasure, the teaching of his Word, for the upbuilding of his people in grace and knowledge. And we not only invite but urge our readers to prove all its utterances by the infallible Word to which reference is constantly made, to facilitate such testing.
All Bible Students who, by reason of old age, or other infirmity or adversity, are unable to pay for this Journal, will be supplied FREE if they send a Postal Card each June stating their case and requesting its continuance. We are not only willing, but anxious, that all such be on our list continually and in touch with the Studies, etc.
The Editor is always pleased to have your personal letters, but as for business communications (including TOWER subscriptions) we are sure that your interests will be served best and most quickly if you will address our British Branch, London, as above.
All new publications announced in these columns can be expected at the London office about a month later, as that is the length of time usually required for ocean freight service.
The above message to the friends in Britain will apply to the friends in Australasia by substituting Melbourne for London and remembering that ocean freights from here to your coast require about three months.
Brother W. E. Van Amburgh will be the Convention Chairman until Wednesday. Brother A. E. Williamson will be Chairman from Thursday until the close. Brother C. T. Russell expects to be present the forepart of the Convention, but cannot remain to its close. Baptism services will be on Wednesday. Tuesday will be "Colporteur Day." The friend who assisted some needing Colporteurs to get to the Niagara Convention now proffers through us the same aid, of one-half their expenses, to all colporteurs who have been to no convention this year and who have ordered books and sent in reports during the past two months and who would be unable to attend without the aid.
"NOBODY in Chicago now claims that the University of Chicago is a Baptist institution, either in a general or a special sense, and it may be gravely doubted whether or not it is even a Christian institution," writes Rev. J. B. Cranfill to the Texas Baptist Standard, giving his estimate of the Baptist life of Chicago. In many Baptist quarters the university on the Midway stands in great disfavor, but probably never before has such bold expression been given that disfavor.Dr. Cranfill says that "the University of Chicago is the greatest organized enemy of evangelical Christianity on the earth today." He doubts if Standard oil has ever worked or can ever work such harm as has the university which Mr. Rockefeller founded and fosters.
"During my short stay here," he writes in his letter, "I have spent most of my time in South Chicago, near the university. In 1895, when it was my pleasure to interview President W. R. Harper for the columns of the Baptist Standard, it was believed that the University of Chicago was a Baptist institution. Indeed, that was one of the points elicited in the interview. That pleasing delusion has long since vanished, and nobody in Chicago now claims that the University of Chicago is a Baptist institution, either in a general or in a special sense. It may be gravely doubted whether or not it is even a Christian institution, but there is a semblance of Christianity of a kind in some phases of the university work.
WORSHIP PECULIAR"The worship of the university is carried on at Mandel hall. This hall was built largely by a Jew, Leon Mandel, one of the most enterprising citizens of Chicago. The hall is a long building, nicely seated, with an elaborate gallery, and will accommodate perhaps three thousand people. I have attended several of the Sunday services in this building. During the time of my stay here I have heard sermons by Dr. O. C. S. Wallace, chancellor of McMaster University; Dr. W. J. McGlothlin, of the Louisville Theological Seminary, and Dr. H. L. Stetson, who is one of the teachers in the Chicago university divinity school. Some of the other sermons I did not hear. One was delivered by an Episcopal rector, and another by a Roman Catholic priest. I understand that this 'pulpit' has also been filled by Unitarians and Jews. The 'worship' is rather peculiar to a Southern Baptist. It is a hybrid service, but it is chiefly Episcopalian. It begins by the incoming of a male choir, who enter the building singing some kind of hymn or chant. They are all capped and gowned after the university style, and are followed as they come in by the preacher of the day, who also has the regulation university uniform. The preliminary service is responsive, after the style of Episcopalians. A Psalm is read in responsive reading, and after the conclusion of the morning prayer the choir chants the Lord's prayer. At the conclusion of the morning service the choir marches out again, singing, followed by the preacher. After they go away somewhere on the outside they finish their song in the distance, and the audience feels relieved and rises for departure. The sermon usually is twenty to twenty-five minutes long; the entire service takes up about an hour and a half. There is no evening service.
"Without in anywise meaning to be unkind or unjust, I believe that the University of Chicago is the greatest organized enemy of evangelical Christianity on the earth today. The whole Chicago religious atmosphere is surcharged with infidelity and skepticism, which is masquerading in Christian garb. At a place where I boarded for awhile, one of the instructors in the University of Chicago, a very bright and intelligent woman, informed me that she never attended Church, and that she had no use for either religion or preachers. I think this feeling among the teachers is [R4065 : page 292] the rule. In many ways I highly esteem Mr. John D. Rockefeller, and have never joined in the crusade that has in certain quarters been made against him, but I believe profoundly that the money he has devoted to the establishment of this misnamed Baptist and Christian institution is doing, and will do, the world far greater harm than all he ever put into the Standard Oil Company or any other trust. The situation here is such that every preacher within the radius of the university has to kow-tow to it, or he will find himself out of a job. The powers that be, humanly speaking, are ordained of the University of Chicago, and the man who has the hardihood to stand out for orthodox Christianity takes his life, denominationally speaking, into his hands, and is marked for early elimination.
"In this connection I hope I will be pardoned for saying that the sort of Baptists I have come in contact with here are not the same type as our southern Baptist people. I recently attended the services at the Hyde Park Baptist Church, where Rev. J. L. Jackson is pastor. He devoted his entire morning sermon to a discussion of the recent Shanghai missionary conference, which he made the basis of an appeal for the obliteration of all denominational lines and the union of the entire Christian world under some kind of a non-descript, ecclesiastical organization. He referred to the Baptist view as 'narrow and selfish,' and placed the emphasis of his discussion entirely upon the importance of the obliteration of the lines that have in the past divided the various Protestant denominations. It was rather a crude piece of irony that, following his discourse, he received for baptism a young man who had formerly been a Lutheran, but who said that through his study of the Scriptures he had come to believe in immersion. The logic of Dr. Jackson's sermon would eliminate immersion and establish in place of our Baptist churches a kind of spineless, jellyfish ecclesiasticism that would be like the original universe – without form and void."
Dr. Cranfill summed up his impression by saying that he had "become convinced that the really sound, aggressive and effective Baptists of the country are found in the Southern States."
– Houston Post.
If Mr. Campbell by his "New Theology," which seems a fresh way of spelling "Old Infidelity," has lost some of his friends and admirers, he has gained others. The most energetic and uncompromising antagonist of Christianity in England, and probably in the world, is Mr. Blatchford, of Clarion fame, who, in commending the recently published book, says: "Mr. Campbell is a Christian minister, and I am an infidel editor; and the difference between his religion and mine is too small to argue about." For once Mr. Blatchford expresses the views of many Christians when he says that the difference between the "New Theology" and infidelity "is too small to argue about." Theosophists also press forward to express their appreciation of Mr. Campbell's teaching. The Indian Daily Telegraph claims that the "New Theology" is simply Theosophy. "This Indian newspaper," says the A. C. World, "shows how Mr. Campbell, by denying the virgin birth, joins hands with Theosophic inquirers, and with them sees in this 'myth' the materialization of a great spiritual event – the virgin birth of the universe.'" Mr. Campbell may well say, "Save me from my friends." He must feel embarrassed, though he has no right to be surprised, at the anti-Christian hosts so enthusiastically rallying around, but he should soon feel at home among them.
– Australian Christian.ROMAN CATHOLICISM IN ITALYThe Italian liberal press teems with detailed descriptions of the alleged immorality and corruption of religious and educational institutions, and a fresh campaign favoring the suppression of all convents and monasteries throughout the country has been initiated.
Recently a so-called clerical scandal was discovered by the Milan police. One old woman, who called herself a nun, had a home for destitute young girls in Milan, which turned out to be a den of filth and iniquity. It was found that the children's earnings were increased by means too horrible to relate. The home was closed and the soi-disant nun and her accomplices, two priests were arrested.
The liberal papers blamed the ecclesiastical authorities, but these proved that they had repeatedly warned the police against the woman and her work, and that they had denied the sacraments to the woman, protested against her and exposed her home to no avail.
Though the calumnies recently printed against the monks and nuns are so loathsome and horrible that they are not fit to be read, not a single proof has been adduced to show that they are based on a particle of truth. It is no exaggeration to say that open acts of violence against religious communities are momentarily expected and these may lead to wholesale suppression by the government. It is difficult to predict what may happen.
The French people were indifferent and rather sympathized with the nuns and monks, but here the situation is different, as popular feeling is hostile to religion and the anti-clerical parties are so well organized that if a movement against the Church once begins they will not stop before they have overthrown religion and perhaps attained a Church war in Italy, which might mean a revolution.
– Chicago Tribune.
"Last year the 43,000,000 inhabitants of these islands spent £164,167,941 on drink, or some £3 16s. each. But a steady decrease is going on, Dr. Dawson Burns points out in his annual exposition of drink bill statistics in The Times. Great as last year's total was, it [R4066 : page 293] was £21,759,286 less than the amount spent in 1899. Every year since that one has shown a decrease. Had there been an increase proportionate to the increase of population, our drink bill for 1905 would have reached £198,012,495. London spent over £18,000,000 in liquor last year."
– English Journal.
The printed program was carried out, but had to be supplemented because the crowd was too large for the auditorium so kindly provided free by the Natural Food Co. However, we secured the Opera House for Sunday forenoon and afternoon. Its capacity (over 1700) with that of the auditorium (capacity 1000) and a reception room holding several hundred, made us quite comfortable. In consequence two sets of speakers were kept busy serving two audiences. The following speakers gave longer or shorter addresses, and some of them several: Brothers W. M. Hersee, I. Hoskins, R. E. Streeter, J. Harrison, W. E. VanAmburgh, J. F. Rutherford, P. S. L. Johnson, F. W. Williamson, O. L. Sullivan, G. Draper, J. H. Cole, L. W. Jones, T. E. Barker, S. Walker, J. Hutchinson, W. J. Mills, W. E. Page, C. A. Dann, J. G. Kuehn, A. C. Wise, and the Editor of this journal.
The total number in attendance was over two thousand – some of whom were present only for Sunday and Monday. However, at least 1542 were present on Saturday, for that number of heads appear in a photograph taken on that day. Notwithstanding the larger crowd than we had expected there was no excitement, no confusion. This was doubtless due in part to a very careful preparation for the friends by those who looked out for their comfort, secured lodgings in advance, etc. However, the principal source of the calm and peace and joy so manifest undoubtedly was the "new mind," which the Apostle calls "the spirit of a sound mind." Indeed we rejoice that this spirit of love and confidence in divine supervision is growing among the Truth people everywhere. Nothing encourages us more as we witness it at the One-Day as well as the General Conventions. There is of course plenty of room for further growth, but let us appreciate what we already discern and encourage it and be encouraged by it.
It would be difficult to decide which feature of the Convention was the most interesting and impressive. It was all good; the speakers and subjects were quite distinctly different. It was surely inspiring to the writer to look into the earnest faces of about 600 who were present at a special meeting of Colporteurs and intending Colporteurs. The sunrise prayer meeting at 5.30 a.m., attended by approximately one thousand, was also inspiring. But we believe that the baptism services were the most impressive of all, to many.
No Church edifice in that city had accommodation for our numbers, and so it was decided to use a lagoon or bye-water off the Niagara River for the water immersion, and hold the service on the bank where the hillside formed a natural amphitheatre. An audience of about 1500 gathered at the appointed hour, and after an address explanatory of the true baptism and its water symbol 241 were immersed.
The service was very impressive from every point of view. The preaching reminded one of the Scripture narratives of our Lord's discourses and those of the apostles, and the baptism in the lagoon reminded one of the account of our Lord going down into the Jordan and coming up out of it. The lagoon or side stream is formed by a small island connected with the mainland by a stone bridge at its upper end. Those desirous of immersion crossed over the bridge, receiving the right hand of fellowship and a word of cheer. On the island were two robing tents, one for the brethren and one for the sisters.
Nature has arranged the spot so that it taught several symbolic lessons in connection with our use of it, as several remarked. Above the island for about 200 feet the side channel, there about 100 feet wide, was separated from the river proper by a row of stones which rise up out of the water; but when the island is reached the channel narrows to about 30 feet in width, and just there, above the bridge, all of the water being unable to enter the narrow channel, some of it turns back through a cut into the river proper.
If the Niagara river be considered as symbolic of the course of the world, the picture is impressive, for is not the whole world rushing swiftly in mad competition and boisterous glee toward the great time of trouble with which this Gospel Age will be consummated, even as those waters hastened more and more swiftly and madly toward the famous cataract? And did not the narrow and placidly-gliding little lagoon correspond well with the statement of the Prophet – "There is a river the streams whereof make glad the city of our God"? (Psa. 46:4.) The wider intake of water seemed to picture the path of the many "justified" who are "called"; the narrowing of the channel represented the "narrow way" of consecration; the turning aside there of much of the water represented the testing, the sifting [R4066 : page 294] of the Gospel invitation to sacrifice and enter the narrow way. The bridge and those who passed over it represented well the point of decision for God and not for Mammon, and the right-hand of fellowship the encouragements and assistances proffered to all who become disciples in the narrow way of baptism into Christ's death.
Those who witnessed from the shore declared the scene most impressive. Before them in the clear, quiet water one after another was buried into Christ's death in symbol, while just beyond them could be seen and heard the wild, rushing, laughing, moaning waters, representing the whole creation groaning and travailing in pain together.
Major Butler, one of the officials of the Natural Food Co., said this to a representative of our Society:
"I want to tell you, on behalf of the company, that it has afforded us the greatest pleasure to have your convention here. The influence of so many happy people, with smiling faces, evident sincerity, earnestness and zeal for what they believe to be right has been greater than I can express. To see so many people who really believe what they say and practice what they preach has been a revelation to us. I never saw anything like it before. While we have tried to do all that we could for your convenience and comfort and to make your stay here a pleasant and profitable one, you have done more for us than we possibly could have done for you."
The policemen who had charge of the streets in the vicinity of the opera house and the officers of the State reservation where the immersion service was held, were very much impressed by the order maintained, and said they had never seen so large a crowd without the necessity of handling.
Those who entertained our friends spoke in highest terms of them and were anxious that they come again. The janitors of the Auditorium also remarked the quiet orderliness of all, and that no cigar stumps nor tobacco quids nor even banana peels needed to be gathered up. We were glad of this evidence of the love of God, which does good to all and injury to none. "What manner of persons ought we to be in all holy living and godliness?"
The testimony of all, we believe, would be, It was good to be there! Our prayers unite with others, that under the Lord's blessing the privileges and inspirations and encouragements and resolves of the week at Niagara may mean blessings to other thousands than those that were present, and that thus the work of grace may abound more and more to the praise of our Lord and the comfort of his people.
The end is not yet, we trust and believe. The influence from all these conventions (one-day and general) is carried home to those who cannot attend them and both the relating and the hearing of these seasons of refreshing from the presence of the Lord bring fresh love and joy and zeal.
We answer, as we have frequently done before in the DAWNS and TOWERS and orally and by letter, that we have never claimed our calculations to be infallibly correct; we have never claimed that they were knowledge, nor based upon indisputable evidence, facts, knowledge; our claim has always been that they are based on faith. We have set forth the evidences as plainly as possible and stated the conclusions of faith we draw from them, and have invited others to accept as much or as little of them as their hearts and heads could endorse. Many have examined these evidences and have accepted them; others equally bright do not endorse them. Those who have been able to accept them by faith seem to have received special blessings, not merely along the line of prophetic harmonies, but along all other lines of grace and truth. We have not condemned those who could not see, but have rejoiced with those whose exercise of faith has brought them special blessings – "Blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear."*
Possibly some who have read the DAWNS have presented our conclusions more strongly than we; but if so that is their own responsibility. We have urged and still urge that the dear children of God read studiously what we have presented; – the Scriptures, the applications and interpretations – and then form their own judgments. We neither urge nor insist upon our views as infallible, nor do we smite or abuse those who disagree; but regard as "Brethren" all sanctified believers in the precious blood. On the contrary, it is those who differ who smite us and speak evil of us, because we do not welcome them as, with hammer and tongs, they seek to remove a mote which they think they see in our eye of understanding. They are our critics who always claim the infallibility. We go humbly onward, following the Apostle's example and words, "We believe and therefore speak"*; – whether others hear or forbear to hear. Is not this in accord with the Spirit of Christ? Is it not in accord with our Lord's instructions also, – "Forbid him not" (Mark 9:39); and again, "What is that to thee? Follow thou me." (John 21:22.) But some of those who come to a trifling point on which they disagree seem to imagine that the entire harvest work must be overthrown or at least stopped until they get their little jot or tittle satisfactorily adjusted. Such evidently make mountains out of mole hills, and forget that, if the present movement among [R4067 : page 295] the Lord's people is the harvest work or under the Lord's supervision at all, the Lord is responsible, and not they, and can be trusted to accomplish his own ends in his own best way without the violation of either the letter or spirit of his commands.
Recurring again to the query on Chronology we quote from DAWN-STUDIES, Vol. II., page 38, last paragraph, as follows: –
"In starting with the question, How long is it since man's creation? we should and do feel confident that he who gave the prophecies, and said that in the time of the end they should be understood, has provided in his Word the data necessary to enable us accurately to locate those prophecies. However, any who expect to find these matters so plainly stated as to be convincing to the mere surface reader, or the insincere skeptic, will be disappointed. God's times and seasons are given in such a way as to be convincing only to those who, by acquaintance with God, are able to recognize his characteristic methods. The evidence is given "that the man of God may be thoroughly furnished." (2 Tim. 3:17.) These well know that in all the paths by which the Father leads they must walk by faith and not by sight. To all who are prepared to walk thus, we expect to be able to point out at every step solid statements of God's Word – a sure foundation for reasonable faith."
In the same chapter we proceed to point out that many of the links of chronology in sacred and profane history are "broken, lapped and tangled so much that we could arrive at no definite conclusion from them, and should be obliged to conclude, as others have done, that nothing positive could be known on the subject, were it not that the New Testament supplies the deficiency." (Page 49, first paragraph.) Thus we sought to prove that chronology cannot be built on facts, but can be received only on faith. But again we urge a fresh reading of Vol. II. entire. If with these suggestions some shall lose their faith in our chronology, others and many more we believe will have their faith in it strengthened greatly.
We remind you again that the weak points of chronology are supplemented by the various prophecies which interlace with it in so remarkable a manner that faith in the chronology almost becomes knowledge that it is correct. The changing of a single year would throw the beautiful parallels out of accord; because some of the prophecies measure from B.C., some from A.D., and some depend upon both. We believe that God meant those prophecies to be understood "in due time"; we believe that we do understand them now – and they speak to us through this chronology. Do they not thereby seal the chronology? They do to faith, but not otherwise. Our Lord declared, "The wise shall understand"; and he told us to "Watch" that we might know; and it is this chronology which convinces us (who can and do receive it by faith) that the Parable of the Ten Virgins is now in process of fulfilment – that its first cry was heard in 1844 and its second cry, "Behold the Bridegroom" – present – was in 1874. It is this chronology and none other which awakened us to trim our lamps, in harmony with the Lord's promise through the Apostle, "Ye brethren are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief." If our chronology is not reliable we have no idea where we are nor when the morning will come. Bishop Ussher's chronology, as we have pointed out (DAWN II., p. 51) puts the end of six thousand years nearly a century future and would destroy every prophetic application as we have seen and profited by it. And when we say "our" chronology we merely mean the one we use, the Bible chronology, which belongs to all of God's people who approve it. As a matter of fact it was used in practically the form we present it long before our day, just as various prophecies we use were used to a different purpose by Adventists, and just as various doctrines we hold and which seem so new and fresh and different were held in some form long ago: for instance – Election, Free Grace, Restitution, Justification, Sanctification, Glorification, Resurrection.
The work in which the Lord has been pleased to use our humble talents has been less a work of origination than of reconstruction, adjustment, harmonization. ["every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old." – Matt. 13:52] God's Word, the great harp from which now comes such wondrous music, was unstrung. One denomination had one string, another denomination had a different one – Election, Free Grace, Baptism, Second Coming of Christ, Time Prophecies, etc. They had twanged away, each on his own string, until all were disgusted at the discord and about ready to quit for relief – as they since have done, practically. Then came the Lord's time for putting the old harp in order again, for the use of his most faithful followers. To whatever extent the great Master has used any of us either in restringing and tuning the harp, or in calling to the attention of his "brethren" the harmony and the beauty of the melodious paeans therefrom in honor of the Almighty, let us praise him for the great privilege enjoyed, and use it.
The fact that we have reached this harmony just at the right time according to our chronology – just at the time promised by our Lord when he declared that, to those who would be ready and open to his knock promptly, he would "come in and sup with them," that he would "gird himself [become their servant] and come forth and serve them" (Luke 12:37) – is an evidence to us that the time features of the prophecies as we understand them are correct. To this great Chief Servant of his Church then we render thanks for the harmonious light of Present Truth – and are we not to consider that the chronology which has had so much to do with this light is also of him?
But let us suppose a case far from our expectations: [Condition 1] suppose that A.D. 1915 should pass with the world's affairs all serene AND [Condition 2] with evidence that the "very elect" had not all been "changed" AND [Condition 3] without the restoration of natural Israel to favor under the New Covenant. (Rom. 11:12,15.) What then? Would not that [All three conditions] prove our chronology wrong? Yes, surely! And [R4067 : page 296] would not that prove a keen disappointment? Indeed it would! It would work irreparable wreck to the Parallel Dispensations and Israel's Double, and to the Jubilee calculations, and to the prophecy of the 2300 days of Daniel, and to the epoch called "Gentile Times," and to the 1260, 1290, and 1335 days, the latter of which marking the beginning of the "harvest" so well fulfilled its prediction, "Oh, the blessedness of him that waiteth and cometh unto the 1335 days!" None of these would be available longer. What a blow that would be! One of the strings of our "harp" would be quite broken!
| Condition 1 | A.D. 1915 should pass with the world's affairs all serene | Not only was this condition NOT MET but additionally the world's affairs at that time were about as far from "serene" as possible. At that time "The Great War" was raging in all its fury! |
| Condition 2 | with evidence that the "very elect" had not all been "changed" | We believe we have such evidence. This condition was met. |
| Condition 3 | without the restoration of natural Israel to favor under the New Covenant. | While Israel was restored to nation status in 1948, yet it is not yet under the New Covenant. This condition has also been met. |
However, dear friends, our harp would still have all the other strings in tune and that is what no other aggregation of God's people on earth could boast. We could still worship a God so great and grand that none other could compare with him. We should still see the grandeur of his salvation in Christ Jesus – "a ransom for all." We should still see the wonders of "the hidden mystery," our fellowship with our Redeemer in "his [R4068 : page 296] death" and also "in his resurrection" to "glory, honor and immortality" – "the divine nature."
If, therefore, dearly beloved, it should turn out that our chronology is all wrong, we may conclude that with it we have had much advantage everyway. If the attainment of our glorious hopes and present joys in the Lord should cost us such disappointment as our friends fear, we should rejoice and count it cheap! If the Lord sees it necessary for the arousing of the "Virgins" to permit a false note upon the time bugle, let us take it joyfully as one of the "all things" working together for good to those who love him, – to the called ones according to his purpose. But let us not forget that the parable shows that the second awakening of the Virgins was no mistake! The Bridegroom came! The "wise virgins" had the necessary faith to follow; the others, too worldly-wise, lacked the faith and missed the high honors accorded to the Bride class, though privileged later to be her companions at the "marriage supper of the Lamb."
The best medicine, the best antidote for a poisoned faith in Present Truth, is a careful review of the presentations of the DAWN-STUDIES. If that fails we know nothing to recommend. But let us not forget that there were conditions precedent to our admission into this light, and that those conditions must be maintained if we would stay in the light. If, therefore, all or any portion of the light becomes darkened, our first query should be, "Am I living up to my covenant conditions – self-denial, self-sacrifice?" If we discover a coolness there we may know that we have found the real secret of our trouble and should at once "take it to the Lord in prayer."
Having already discussed this phase of the subject we will not further elaborate it, nor will we go into detail in respect to the sentence upon them – that they were restrained in Tartarus, the atmosphere of our earth – and thus separated from the holy angels. Nor will we take time specially to discuss the chains of darkness which have since the flood hindered them from materializing in human form, and obliged them, if they would have anything to do with humanity, to do so secretly or through agents, mediums, witches, etc. Nor will we here repeat the evidence elsewhere given that these fallen angels, "wicked spirits," as the Apostle calls them, otherwise called in the Scriptures "demons," "lying spirits," have been operating from the time of the flood to the present time under these restraints of darkness and inability to materialize. They seek and very largely accomplish the ensnarement of the human family by the propagation of false doctrine – amongst others that the dead are not dead, but alive as spirit beings – by pretended communications with these, in which the evil spirits personate the dead and communicate matters unknown to other humans. Thus they seem to corroborate their claim, that the dead [R4068 : page 297] are alive, and thereby to corroborate Satan's original lie, "Ye shall not surely die," the very reverse of God's plain declaration, "Ye shall surely die." – Gen. 3:3,4.
We shall not here repeat the evidence that these wicked spirits – not content with operating through humanity as mediums – seek to "possess" or "obsess" them so as to use their bodies as if they were their own, succeeding in this largely in proportion as the subjects will yield their minds to the influence brought to bear upon them. We shall not here give the proofs that the human organization is such, by divine arrangement, that these evil spirits can be resisted, and only intrude into human privacy of thought as mankind may disregard the divine warning and give ear or heed or attention to the various tricks and devices for arousing curiosity of which they make use. We shall not repeat the proofs that in some instances, the will becoming broken down, a number of these fallen spirits get possession of an individual who, by their simultaneous communications and suggestions to his mind, becomes what we call deranged, insane. It is claimed that one-half of the inmates of the insane asylums are there by reason of such obsession, corresponding to the instances mentioned in the New Testament, in one of which the Lord inquired the name of the unclean spirit and got the answer "legion," for there were many possessing the afflicted one – the legion which, afterward permitted to go into the swine, crazed them so that the entire herd ran into the sea of Galilee and were drowned.
Our present inquiry is more particularly respecting the judgment of these fallen spirits, concerning which we read, "Know ye not that the saints shall judge angels?" (I Cor. 6:3.) Our text also refers to their judgment, saying, that their restraint in chains of darkness would be unto or until the "judgment of the great day."
We have already discussed the hope of these angels, and have seen the manner in which Christ preached to them by his death and resurrection – preached to the spirits in prison which were disobedient in the days of Noah – the angels which kept not their first estate. We have seen that our Lord did not orally preach during the time he was dead, and that he was dead the three days he was in the tomb, and that he rose from the dead on the third day. We have seen that his preaching to these fallen spirits was after the manner that the proverb suggests when it says, "Actions speak louder than words." We may be sure that Satan and all these fallen angels knew the Lord and observed closely everything pertaining to his early life, death and resurrection. Did they not declare, "We know thee who thou art, the holy One of God" – the Messiah? (Mark 1:24.) While the holy angels watched every procedure, these fallen angels had a special interest in this manifestation of God's love for humanity, which brought the Redeemer from the heavenly plane to the earthly one, and then cost his death to redeem Adam and his race, because the penalty was death. They had known God's character for justice; their own experience was an illustration of it, and the experience of mankind likewise testified to it. But here was taught a manifestation of divine love and compassion, bringing aid to the degraded race of Adam. They perceived, too, in our Lord's resurrection that his obedience had brought him a great reward and high exaltation, so that he arose from the tomb a mighty God, a partaker of the divine nature, while they wondered in amazement. Can we doubt that these circumstances, as the Apostle suggests, were a great sermon, a great lesson to them? Bright, intelligent, wise, they doubtless reasoned that if God had done so much for Adam and his race in their degradation, he might not be unwilling also to show them some favor at some time. Indeed if we will but allow our minds to reason along this line we may suppose that forthwith some of those fallen angels, inspired by hope of a reconciliation to God at some time in the future, began to mend their ways and to seek to live more in accord with righteousness. We may assume that these no longer exercised deception and wiles against humanity, but that, though still restrained, they are hoping and waiting for some leniency of the Lord in the judgment of the great day. [R4069 : page 297]
With the facts of the case before our minds – that there is to be a judgment, and that this implies a trial – we inquire what kind of a trial or judgment will it be? The word translated judgment in our text is in the Greek krisis, its primary signification being decision, determination, hence trial in order to reach such a decision. This implies that the decision in the case of these fallen angels is not yet rendered, and that some test or trial must come to them which will determine results. The word of the Lord gives us to understand clearly that, whatever God's dealings may be in the interim, the finality of his judgment is that none shall have eternal life except those who are fully in accord with himself and the principles of righteousness, and that all others shall be destroyed utterly and without hope of recovery. There can be no doubt then as to the result of the trial. Both the Apostolic statement that the fallen angels are reserved unto judgment, krisis, testing, and the further statement that the saints shall judge angels, show that the matter is not yet settled as respects all of these – shows that there is hope for such of these fallen ones as may heartily recognize their wrong course and return to obedience to the Lord.
When will this judgment take place? – at the beginning of the great day or at its further end, or throughout the day of Christ? We answer that the judgment of mankind requires and has appointed to it the entire period of a thousand years, because man – ignorant and deluded and impaired under the reign of sin and death and by the machinations of these evil spirits – will need to have the counsel and instruction and assistance of the various agencies which God has provided for his [R4069 : page 298] social, mental, moral and physical uplifting during the Millennium, and his trial or testing will be all the way along – as to his willingness to accept of and use and profit by the various blessed agencies which will then be in operation for his aid. So then the entire Millennial day is Scripturally called man's day of judgment, – as the Apostle declares, "God has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness." But as for the fallen angels, it is not said that the Millennial epoch as a whole is set apart as their judgment day, and indeed we can surmise that this would be neither necessary nor proper, because, never having come under the sentence of death, we are to understand that those spirit beings are as much alive and perfect in their organization as they ever were – that all the change possible to them has been in their mentality, their wills. Their knowledge is great, and not, like man's, confined to a knowledge of sin and evil things, for they had previously a knowledge of goodness, holiness and purity, and throughout all the various epochs of human history they have seen the divine dealings, first with Israel under the typical mediator Moses and the typical covenant, the Law; second they have seen Christ, the antitypical Moses, and have been witnesses of the proclamation of the Gospel throughout this age and of its influence upon those who are rightly exercised thereby, leading them to sacrifice and to walk in the footsteps of Jesus. It would appear then that these fallen spirits have little to learn of either good or evil, and that any judgment or trial coming upon them would not need to be long drawn out, as in the case of humanity.
Their judgment would signify the bringing of them to a decision, a crucial testing of their hearts, their wills, as respects righteousness and sin – harmony with God or with Satan. In order to have such a testing, such a krisis, a peculiar condition of things would be necessary – a condition in which they would have an opportunity to do the evil or to resist the temptation and to do good. As we have suggested, no doubt some of them have acted upon the sermon of Christ's death and resurrection, and its manifestation of God's loving character and the hope that it inspires respecting their future. Such might be said to be in a condition of trial all through this Gospel Age – whether or not they would stand firm in their opposition to sin and to those around them, or succumb and yield and participate in the sins. But evidently, according to the Scriptures, we would expect that some crucial point of testing would be reached which would decide matters for all these fallen spirits – the "krisis of the great day."
In view of all these conditions and considerations we hold that we are now living in this krisis time – that the restraint of darkness placed upon these fallen angels was to last only until the crisis or judgment of "the great day." Our understanding is that this great day of the Lord began chronologically in October, 1874, and from what we can learn it is since that date that "materializations" have become more and more common. Admitting that there are many frauds along this line, we consider that the evidence is too strong to be disputed that there have been numerous genuine manifestations – materializations – in which the spirit personating the dead has assumed a material body, possessing weight and various qualities similar to a human. Not only have such cases been reported in the public press, but some friends of the Truth who at one time were identified with Spiritism have corroborated these. A sister in the Truth who was at one time a spirit medium assures us that not long since in the parlor of her own home, the door being shut, a spirit materialized before her in the form of a man who spoke to her. His request being refused he threateningly caught her by the arm with a firm grasp, but at that instant her brother opened the parlor door and the materialization instantly dissolved.
Another sister in the Truth, who had been less directly connected with Spiritism, informed us that recently one of the demons personating her deceased sister, opening the spring lock, walked into her room while she was wide awake and tried to choke her, afterwards leaving, as she had come, through the door.
Another case was that of a brother who at one time had made some slight investigations of Spiritism, but ceased when he obtained light as to its demon origin. An apparition representing his wife appeared to him in his room as he was walking toward his bed, and reached out a hand while walking by his side. He, recognizing the source of such manifestations, and remaining firm to his resolution to have nothing further to do with the spirits in any sense or degree, refused to take the hand, and instead turned his heart to the Lord in prayer for deliverance from the Adversary's power; then the apparition vanished. It would appear that, for some reason we cannot explain, these evil spirits have special power and liberty with those who have at any time yielded to curiosity in connection with spirit manifestations. Here we have a fresh reason for our repeated advice that the Lord's people totally refuse to have anything to do with spirit mediums, seances, hypnotism and clairaudience – this latter a development of the powers of the ear whereby the spirits may be heard without the ordinary sounds of speech. Attempts of the demons to intrude upon us are usually associated with something or other to excite our curiosity, and our advice is that the Lord's people restrain their curiosity and resent such intrusions as dangerous beginnings, the end of which we cannot surmise.
The proper course to pursue, when these evil spirits attempt to intrude upon us, is to look to the Lord with faith and confidence, and in the name of the Lord Jesus to command the evil one to depart. We need have no fear of their power against us so long as we are the Lord's and are walking in our daily life not after the will of the flesh but after the Spirit. Remember our Lord's words to Pilate, "Thou couldst have no power at all against me except it were given thee from above" (John 19:11); and again the Apostle's assurance, "We [R4069 : page 299] know that all things work together for good to them that love God – to the called ones according to his purpose." (Rom. 8:28.) Greater is he who is on our part than all they that be against us. If the Adversary had power to injure us he would have done so long ago – "The angel of the Lord encampeth about them that reverence him, and delivereth them." – Psa. 34:7.
Our surmise is that this loosing and liberating from the chains of darkness will increase, perhaps very rapidly; that these fallen spirits are permitted to gradually invent a method by which they can accomplish such materializations, and that the knowledge of this and their proficiency in it will be permitted to develop during the remaining seven years of this harvest time, and constitute not only a trial for them, but have much to do also with the perilous times for the Church and the world which the Scriptures indicate should now be expected.
These fallen angels (demons), still in opposition to God, will doubtless ignore the Lord's restraints and use their discovery of the new power or new method of materialization. Those having respect to the Lord and his will would of course refuse to use such powers as he had condemned and forbidden and restrained, and thus their loyalty to the Lord would be demonstrated. Indeed we may be sure that whichever of these fallen angels have repented of their wrong course have abstained from all attempts to communicate with humanity in harmony with the Lord's prohibitions. We may be sure, then, that when spirit mediums tell us they communicate with both good and bad spirits this is not the case, that none of the good seek to communicate [R4070 : page 299] with mankind, and that those who do represent themselves as good spirits are, as the Scriptures declare, "lying spirits," who sometimes use the "cloak" of good admonitions for the purpose of trapping mankind and deceiving them. In a word, then, all of the demons who communicate with mankind are wicked spirits, and as these become conscious of their power to materialize and become proficient in the use of the same we may expect that their vicious natures will lead them to beset mankind with the grossest immoralities and every evil work. Neither should we forget the Apostle's declaration that one of the delights of these demons is to personate the pure, the good, as an "angel of light" (2 Cor. 11:14), that they might thereby the more effectually accomplish injury: for it seems to be one of the delights of the evilly disposed to entrap others into sin and wrong doing. When we remember Christendom in respect to these matters we almost tremble for the results that may follow the permission of such materializations:
(1) They do not understand about these demons; they make light of the casting out of devils by the Lord and the apostles, and think that they erred and called diseases demons.
(2) On the other hand they do not believe that the dead are dead, but that they are bodiless spirits.
For a long time Christian people have been deterred from any intercourse with the demons personating their dead by an undefinable fear, but now Christian Science has taught many of them to fear nothing, but to say, "Everything is good, there is no evil, there is no devil, there are no demons," and additionally some of the lights of science have lately been investigating psychic phenomena, as it is called, and able professional theologians have declared that there is truth connected with it somewhere and that it is worthy of investigation. Looked at from this standpoint, is not Christendom in general standing on the brink, as it were, of terrible delusions and ensnarements? To this picture we must not forget to add the Apostle's testimony respecting this very time. He declares that because Christendom has not received the truth in the love of it, but has preferred a lie – preferred to believe that the dead are alive when the Scriptures declare that they are dead and without hope except in a resurrection from the dead – therefore God will send them strong delusion that they may believe a lie because they had no pleasure in the truth – that they all may be condemned – shown to be unworthy a place amongst the Elect of the Kingdom. Respecting this time the Lord also through the Prophet declares that "because this people draw near unto me with their mouth, and with their lips do honor me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment of men which has been taught them, therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvelous work amongst this people, even a marvelous work and a wonder; for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid." – Isa. 29:13,14.
Our conclusion then respecting the judgment time for the fallen angels is this – that during the Millennial Age, when righteousness shall be laid to the line and justice to the plummet, and when nothing shall be permitted to hurt or to injure in all God's holy Kingdom, it would be impossible for those fallen angels to have any special trial in connection with mankind – indeed their trials would then seem to be over – surely they will then have less opportunity and therefore less temptation than at present. We reason therefore that their judgment in this great day is in the immediate present and within the next few years – that the permission for them to find and use means of materialization and communication with mankind will furnish the special trial and testing of these angels which is called their judgment, their krisis, their testing time, and that it will prove which of them are sorry for sin and at heart now loyal to God, and which are otherwise. And at the same time this matter has been so gauged as to bring it within the period of man's day of trouble – "the day of wrath."
The declaration that the saints shall judge angels must not be forgotten. We are to remember that the majority of the saints have already passed beyond the vail into the condition of heavenly glory and wisdom, and that with their Lord they would represent the entire [R4070 : page 300] Church, including those of us who are on this side the vail. What they will have to do with the judging, with the bringing of this krisis time upon the fallen angels, we know not, but we believe them to be entirely capable for any work that the Lord may assign to them. Furthermore it is possible that the saints on this side the vail may have something to do with the judging of these fallen angels. In this very article we are endeavoring to set forth their responsibility and how the repentant ones will be distinguishable from the unrepentant, the evil. The coming of this very matter to their attention will serve the more particularly to test them – to show them the krisis or decision time into which they have come. Furthermore it is possible that in the period of their expected activities the saints on this side the vail who know the truth respecting the nature of man and the deceptions of these demons may have more to do than we at present know of in the way of reproving them, exposing them, condemning them, judging them.
1. What was represented by the "posts" which stood in the "Court" and upheld the white curtains? T.113, par. 2 (1st 3 lines).
2. Why were they constructed of "wood," instead of "copper"? T.113, par. 2 (4th to 9th lines).
3. What does their being set in sockets of copper typify? T.113, par. 2 (9th line on).
4. What was illustrated by the "white curtain"? And should we hold up before the world the "pure linen" – Christ's righteousness? T.114, par. 1.
5. What was symbolized by the "silver hooks"? T.114, par. 2, Ex. 27:11-17.
6. What was represented in the "door-posts" at the entrance of the Tabernacle – under the "vail"? T.114, par. 3 (1st 12 lines).
7. Why were these posts, also, set in sockets of "copper"? T.114, par. 3 (13th line on); 2 Cor. 4:7; Ex. 26:37.
8. What was represented by the "door-posts" within the second "vail"? T.115, par. 1; Ex. 26:32.
9. What did the "golden table" symbolize? T.115, par. 2; Phil. 2:16; Rev. 19:7.
10. Explain the meaning of the "golden candlestick." T.115, par. 3; Rev. 1:20; 1:11.
11. Describe its workmanship and explain the beautiful symbolism of its various features. T.116, par. 1.
12. What supplied the light for this "golden lampstand"? And of what was this a symbol? T.116, par. 2 (1st 4 lines).
13. For whom alone did this light shine? T.116, par. 2 (4th line on); I Cor. 2:14; Heb. 9:6.
14. How often were these lights trimmed and replenished with oil? And what important lesson is taught us in this symbol? T.116, par. 3; Ex. 27:20,21; 30:8.
15. Why cannot some Christians see spiritual things? T.117, par. 1; I Cor. 2:9.
16. What three classes have always been represented in the Church nominal? T.117, par. 2; Gal. 5:24.
Nothing could be done – none could fight against Jericho – until they had been circumcised; which typified the circumcision of the heart, the putting away, the cutting off, of the love of sin from the hearts of the true Israelites. The next lesson to be typified was that our power over our natural desires (represented by the Jerichoites) must come from God. The natural desires and appetites are protected by strong walls, the will of the flesh, which first must be broken down before we as New Creatures can conquer our natural selves, our depraved appetites or desires.
This power of God in the type was shown in the fall of Jericho's wall; but before it fell the faith of the circumcised ones was made active as shown in the seven days marching around the city and seven times on the seventh day, representing completeness. The slaughter of the Jerichoites, then, represented the victory of true Israelites over self-will, self-love, self-indulgence, and over every enemy of the new nature – for the two are contrary one to the other and one or the other must die. – Compare Gal. 5:16,17.
Everything in Jericho was accursed, condemned or devoted; and so everything in and of our carnal nature is condemned or devoted – every living creature must be [R4070 : page 301] put to death. This represents that every active influence and principle of the fallen nature must be destroyed, "Mortify [kill], therefore, your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence [desire], and covetousness [greed], which is idolatry." – See Col. 3:5-10.
Yet the deliverance of Rahab (who afterward married into the tribe of Judah and became an Israelite, and has the honor of being one of the ancestors of our Lord Jesus) shows in type that some of our members, once enemies of the new nature, may be so transformed that instead of becoming the servants of sin they may become servants of righteousness, through full consecration. For instance, talents for speaking, writing, teaching, etc., once used in the service of Satan and sin, may be reckoned dead and quickened to newness of life and activity in God's service. But as such a transfer could only be through a reckoned death and quickening through faith in the great sacrifice for sin, this too must be illustrated in the type. And it was illustrated in the act of faith which displayed the scarlet cord.
The inanimate valuables, the gold, silver, brass and iron vessels, etc., were all consecrated, too, but not to destruction; they were to be devoted to the Lord's service. So with the truly circumcised Israelites indeed: not only are all their carnal powers to be destroyed as servants of sin, but all that they possess is to be consecrated [R4071 : page 301] to the Lord's service, their treasures of gold and silver and their ordinary possessions represented in the vessels of brass and iron. All must now be considered as belonging to the Lord: and any appropriation of these to their own selfish uses brings a curse, as was illustrated by the sin of Achan, who appropriated of the spoils of Jericho some gold and silver and a fine Babylonish garment. The result of his covetousness was his own destruction, and for a time he troubled all Israel.
So, amongst Spiritual Israelites, covetousness of gold, silver and the fine Babylonish garments is a most fruitful source of spiritual weakness and in many leads to destruction. "For the love of money is a root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith and pierced themselves through with many arrows. They that will [to] be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness." – I Tim. 6:9-11.
The blowing of the trumpets by the priests may well be understood to typify the proclamation of God's Word against sin and his assurance to his people that he is able and willing to give the circumcised New Creatures victory over their carnal propensities. Not until we understand the assurance of the Word of the Lord and have faith therein are we able to blend the shout of victory with the shout of trumpets and see the obstacles to self-mortification fall before us.
We observe also many similar promises made to Israel as a nation conditioned on their obedience to God and their faith and loyalty: – They should eat the good of the land; their days should be long upon the land which the Lord gave them; their enemies should not triumph over them; they should be blessed in basket and in store, etc., etc. These were the immediate temporal rewards of earthly things promised to the obedient. But the promises to be realized to them even beyond the grave were also of an earthly kind. To [R4071 : page 302] Abraham God said, "Lift up now thine eyes and look from the place where thou art, northward and southward and eastward and westward; for all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it and to thy seed forever." And Stephen and Paul, referring to this earthly promise to Abraham and to his seed according to the flesh, remind us that this promise was never fulfilled to Abraham in his past life (nor has it yet been fulfilled to his posterity – "for an everlasting possession"); but that he died in faith believing that when he should be awakened from death in due time the promise would be verified. – Acts 7:5; Heb. 11:8-10.
These observations suggest several important questions. (1) May the Christian expect the temporal rewards of earthly prosperity as a present reward of faithfulness to God? (2) Shall the Spiritual Seed of Abraham share the earthly inheritance with the Fleshly Seed? or (3), vice versa, If the higher promises were made to the Spiritual Seed, the Gospel Church, can they apply also to the Fleshly Seed?
Considering the second question first, we answer, No; for the saints of the Gospel Age are to be changed from the human to the spiritual, divine nature. They are to be made like unto Christ's glorious body, who is now "the express image of the Father" – "the King immortal, invisible and dwelling in light which no man can approach unto, whom no man hath seen nor can see"; and with Christ they are to inherit all things. (I Cor. 15:51-53; Phil. 3:21; 2 Pet. 1:4; Phil. 1:5; I Tim. 1:17; 6:16; Rev. 21:7; Rom. 8:17.) While the Fleshly Seed of Abraham will rejoice to sit, each man, under his own vine and fig tree with none to molest or make them afraid (Micah 4:4), the Spiritual Seed will be reigning with Christ in glory, and from their exalted position will be able to bless all the families of the earth; and not only so, but even to judge angels. – Gen. 28:14; Gal. 3:16,29; I Cor. 6:3.
Nor can the Fleshly Seed of Abraham, even the most worthy and faithful prophets and martyrs, inherit the "exceeding great and precious promises," which belong to a subsequent dispensation of divine favor; for it is written that "flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God," – the spiritual plane of that Kingdom being here referred to, – though they will inherit its earthly phase, as it is written: "Ye [unfaithful Jews] shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the Kingdom of God [the earthly phase], and ye yourselves thrust out." (Luke 13:28.) These two phases of the Kingdom will be in communication and cooperation during the Millennium – the one, the higher, spiritual and invisible, and the other, perfect, human and visible among men. Thus it is written, "Out of Zion [the spiritual phase] shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem [the human, visible phase]." (Isa. 2:3.) And while the promise to Abraham, "In thee and in thy Seed ['which Seed,' says Paul, 'is Christ' – Head and Body] shall all the families of the earth be blessed," shall be fulfilled in the Spiritual Seed primarily, yet the exalted earthly phase of the Kingdom is to be the blessed channel or agency through which the blessing shall flow to all the kindreds of the earth. And thus, as the Apostle declares, the promise of God – "In thee and in thy Seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed" – shall be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law (the Fleshly Seed), but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham. And if ye be Christ's then are ye Abraham's Seed and heirs according to the promise. – Rom. 4:16; Gal. 3:16,29.
This calls to mind the two phases of the Kingdom of God as presented in MILLENNIAL DAWN, Vol. I., Chap. XIV., and the separate and distinct inheritance and office of each. We are also reminded of the Lord's teaching that not all the natural descendants of Abraham are to be heirs with him of the promise, but only [R4072 : page 302] such as Abraham would be honored in owning as sons – such as partake of his spirit or disposition. – See John 8:39,44.
While to the Natural Seed of Abraham is promised all the land which Abraham saw, and the privilege of dwelling in it in safety, and while the inheritors of the earthly phase of the Kingdom are to be princes in all the earth (Psa. 45:16), to the Spiritual Seed of Abraham, which Seed is Christ – Head and Body – are given the "exceeding great and precious promises." – 2 Pet. 1:4.
This brings us to the consideration of our first inquiry, May the Christian expect the rewards of earthly prosperity for his faithfulness to God, either in the present life, or in that which is to come?
We have already shown that Christians, members of the Body of Christ, have beyond this life "an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven" for them (I Pet. 1:4); consequently the earthly inheritance of human perfection and a peaceful home, each under his own vine and fig tree, could not confine to earth the immortal spirit beings, partakers of the divine nature, the scope of whose powers must necessarily extend to the utmost bounds of creation.
Nor can the rewards of present temporal prosperity in worldly things be expected by those who are running for the prize of this high calling to glory, honor and immortality as kings and priests unto God; for the way to the crown is the way of the cross, the way of sacrifice, as well to every member of the Body of Christ as it was to our Head and Lord, Christ Jesus. He was "a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief"; the reproaches of them that reproached God fell upon him; though he was rich, for our sakes he became poor; so poor that he said, "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head." There was no reward of earthly prosperity for the Lord's faithfulness, but the reverse – privation and persecution were realized, even unto death. And the servant is not above his Lord: if they have persecuted him they will persecute us also; and the reproaches of them that reproached him will also fall upon us. The only present reward for which the followers of Christ may look is the heartfelt manifestation of the Lord's [R4072 : page 303] love and approval. "In the world," said he, "ye shall have tribulation, but in me ye shall have peace."
It should be observed also that while rewards of temporal prosperity were promised and given to Fleshly Israel as a nation and as individuals, yet the very cream of that nation, the faithful patriarchs and prophets received no such temporal rewards, but like the Gospel Church, they endured hardness as good soldiers and nobly fought the good fight of faith; and their abundant reward will be in the glory of the earthly phase of the Kingdom of God. Note the account of their faithful endurance as recorded by Paul in Heb. 11.
The temporal rewards and punishments and general discipline of Fleshly Israel were typical of the Lord's similar discipline of the world in the age to come; while his selection out from among that people of a worthy class of overcomers for the earthly phase of the Kingdom was typical of his selection during the Gospel Age of a class of overcomers for the spiritual phase of the Kingdom. In any case, it pays to wholly follow the Lord God of Israel, who is a rewarder of all them that diligently seek him to walk in his ways. – Heb. 11:6; Prov. 8:32-36.
(1) This is the Common Version Bible, but printed on India paper; it is very light in weight. (2) It is small – less than 1 in. thick, 4¾ in. wide, 7 in. long, convenient for an overcoat pocket. (3) The type is quite large for so small a book – the same used in books three times its bulk and four times its weight, namely Minion type. (See illustration of types in our issue of Dec. 1, 1906.)
The above features commend the book to every Bible user, but now we come to our special features. (4) It contains 220 pages of brief DAWN-STUDIES COMMENTS from Genesis to Revelation, with references to the DAWN volumes treating the subjects more fully. This was the work of our dear Brother C. J. Woodworth, and cost him six months' time, seven hours per day. He declares it to have been the most enjoyable and most profitable work he ever did. He began the matter for his own use and subsequently called it to our attention as an arrangement of incalculable value to all the dear Brethren – enabling all to accomplish two or three times the amount of studying in their study hours and with better success. We are sure that all the dear Brethren will thank the Lord for this labor of love and in their hearts thank Brother Woodworth also.
(5) The above is the title of the second section of these Helps. It was prepared for our use by our dear Sister G. W. Seibert, and will surely be much appreciated by us all. Again we render thanks to our Lord and to the Sister who has thus been used as his servant. This will be found very helpful to all who attempt to explain the divine plan to others. It cites not only the Scriptures, quoting them in part, but it refers to DAWNS and TOWERS, etc., in which these subjects are treated. Many quite familiar with the Truth are unable to locate the desired passages and this will aid them. By its aid every WATCH TOWER reader will become, we trust, an "able minister" of the Truth, capable of vanquishing any opponent. We trust, however, that all will remember our Captain's command that we "speak the truth in love," and again, "that nothing be done through strife or vainglory."
(6) This feature of these Helps, also prepared by Sister Seibert, is a revision merely of a similar index which appeared in our previous "Watch Tower Bible" (too bulky for carrying). This Index will be found very helpful as it gives both TOWER and DAWN references on subjects of special interest to us all.
(7) This section of our Helps will commend itself to all Bible students immediately. Coming across an obscure or difficult passage this will direct you at once to the exposition of same in DAWNS or TOWERS. The spurious passages found in our common version Bible, but not found in the original Greek MSS., are all shown. These valuable arrangements are also the work of Brother Woodworth, as well as
(8) AN INDEX TO SCRIPTURES TREATED AT CONSIDERABLE LENGTH IN ZION'S WATCH TOWER.
(9) The having of these helps all together and under one cover with the Bible and of convenient size for carrying to meetings, will be apparent to all at a glance. We will all soon feel, no doubt, that we shall want this spiritual arsenal always at hand wherever we go. Let us never forget, however, that the Truth without its spirit of love would be vain.
The Bibles and Helps will be all exactly alike except the bindings, which are of three grades. The best is the cheapest really, but knowing that many of our readers are far from rich we have done our best to serve them all. All such Bibles are stamped so as to look much alike whether made of split sheepskin, split cowhide, goatskin, or genuine sealskin. The latter is the best book-leather in the world. We selected it for our best edition. The cowhide is the best of the cheap leathers and is styled "French Seal"; we chose it for our cheaper editions. The below prices are actual cost. No discount to anybody nor on any quantity:
No. W. 138 – French Seal (cowhide), divinity circuit, red under gold edges..................................... $1.38 No. W. 150 – French Seal (cowhide), linen lined, divinity circuit, red under gold edges............................ 1.50 No. W. 300 – Genuine Sealskin, calf lined, divinity circuit, red under gold edges..................................... 3.00
Any of the above with patent index on edge, 25c extra, but this is not recommended. Postage, 10c. each. Order by number.
page 305
October 1st
| VOL. XXVIII | OCTOBER 15 | No. 20 |
'I will stand upon my watch, and set my foot upon the Tower, and will watch to see what He shall say unto me, and what answer I shall make to them that oppose me.' Hab. 2:1
Upon the earth distress of nations with perplexity: the sea and the waves (the restless, discontented) roaring: men's hearts failing them for fear and for looking forward to the things coming upon the earth (society): for the powers of the heavens (ecclestiasticism) shall be shaken. . . .When ye see these things come to pass, then know that the Kingdom of God is nigh at hand. Look up, lift up your heads, rejoice, for your redemption draweth nigh. – Luke 21:25-28, 32.
Our "Berean Lessons" are topical rehearsals or reviews of our Society's published "Studies," most entertainingly arranged, and very helpful to all who would merit the only honorary degree which the Society accords, viz., Verbi Dei Minister (V.D.M.), which translated into English is, Minister of the Divine Word. Our treatment of the International S.S. Lessons is specially for the older Bible Students and Teachers. By some this feature is considered indispensable.
This Journal stands firmly for the defence of the only true foundation of the Christian's hope now being so generally repudiated, – Redemption through the precious blood of "the man Christ Jesus who gave himself a ransom [a corresponding price, a substitute] for all." (I Pet. 1:19; I Tim. 2:6.) Building up on this sure foundation the gold, silver and precious stones (I Cor. 3:11-15; 2 Pet. 1:5-11) of the Word of God, its further mission is to – "Make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery which...has been hid in God,...to the intent that now might be made known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God" – "which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men as it is now revealed." – Eph. 3:5-9,10.
It stands free from all parties, sects and creeds of men, while it seeks more and more to bring its every utterance into fullest subjection to the will of God in Christ, as expressed in the Holy Scriptures. It is thus free to declare boldly whatsoever the Lord hath spoken; – according to the divine wisdom granted unto us, to understand. Its attitude is not dogmatical, but confident; for we know whereof we affirm, treading with implicit faith upon the sure promises of God. It is held as a trust, to be used only in his service; hence our decisions relative to what may and what may not appear in its columns must be according to our judgment of his good pleasure, the teaching of his Word, for the upbuilding of his people in grace and knowledge. And we not only invite but urge our readers to prove all its utterances by the infallible Word to which reference is constantly made, to facilitate such testing.
All Bible Students who, by reason of old age, or other infirmity or adversity, are unable to pay for this Journal, will be supplied FREE if they send a Postal Card each June stating their case and requesting its continuance. We are not only willing, but anxious, that all such be on our list continually and in touch with the Studies, etc.
We have the following special offer to make to TOWER readers residing in Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, West Virginia and Virginia, and all States south of these and west and northwest of them:
The Woman's National Daily, a very clean and every-way respectable daily paper, proposes that it will publish Brother Russell's discourses every week, beginning October 12, and we have made clubbing arrangements with it by which that daily newspaper and this journal, ZION'S WATCH TOWER, will both be supplied for $1.60 a year. Subscriptions under these conditions should be sent to us immediately.
To the very large number of our readers throughout the South and West the above will be very welcome information. Many of them have desired to have Brother Russell's discourses, but two difficulties stood in the way; first, the Dispatch costs $6 a year, and even at clubbing rate, $3; and, second, the papers when they reached them were out of date and of little value, so that all they got for the money was the discourse. But the arrangement above referred to gives a daily newspaper with all the news and none of the trash common to dailies, and gives the weekly discourse as well, and all for the insignificant sum of $1.60 a year when taken by this clubbing arrangement. We believe that the dear friends residing in the territory named will appreciate very highly the arrangement effected in their interest.
ONE after another so-called "Catholic countries" are shaking themselves free from the Roman Church-fetters which have held them for centuries. All are familiar with the situation in France, where the authority of Rome is now disowned and disallowed – Catholics, Protestants and Jews, etc., all standing on a common footing before the law – much as in this country.
Spain followed the same course with, it is reported, the following outline of policy: –
First. No religious order shall be established without the authorization of parliament.
Second. The State shall accord support to any member of a religious order desiring to renounce the vows taken.
Third. The Minister of Justice is empowered to withdraw the authorization of any religious order found to be inimical to morality or public tranquility.
Fourth. The Cabinet shall forthwith examine the authorizations previously granted to religious orders and cancel those which are illegal.
Fifth. Religious orders whose members are foreigners or whose director resides abroad shall be dissolved. The authorities are empowered to enter monasteries without ecclesiastical sanction.
Sixth. Religious orders shall not be allowed to hold property in excess of the objects for which they were instituted.
Seventh. The sums of money given by members of religious orders to such institutions on their admission and the sums derived by orders from charitable subscriptions shall be strictly limited.
Eighth. All legacies to religious orders or donations to orders by living persons or by testaments or through intermediaries are formally prohibited.
Ninth. Religious orders engaging in trade or industry shall pay the regular taxes.
Tenth. Regulations for the dissolution of religious orders shall be established.
Eleventh. The law of 1887 concerning the registering of religious orders remains in force.
Now the people of Italy are in a ferment. Charges of immorality against the clergy (many of them probably false) are being widely published, with demands for the opening of all "homes," "reformatories," "nunneries," etc., to civil inspection, as are all others not Roman Catholic. In a word, the special privileges and immunities of the Church of Rome are likely to be abolished – as of course they should be. Austria-Hungary is the only great nation still acknowledging pronouncedly the Roman Catholic system as entitled to special and exclusive rights and privileges.
The reason for the apparent greater prosperity of Romanism in Protestant countries – Germany, Great Britain, Canada and the United States – is that in these their clergy wisely refrain from expecting much special privilege, though they quietly obtain some because of their solidarity and the respect of politicians for the influence of their votes.
The stripping of Romanism's power and special privileges will doubtless prepare her the better for the new role marked out for her in Revelation – her cooperation with Federated Protestantism in the exercise of power during the closing days of this Gospel Age – just before the downfall of everything in horrible anarchy.
Under the heading, "Preaching without Religious Faith," a secular editorial says: –
The confusion of religious thought at this time of declining religious faith was never made more apparent than in the sermons preached hereabouts on Sunday.
The Rev. Dr. Van Dyke, preaching on the Atonement, declared his belief "that the Son of God would have come into the world whether man had sinned or not," a confession which conflicts radically with the whole orthodox theory of the sacrifice of Christ. He said also that "there are a thousand true doctrines of the Atonement," which is substantially the same thing as saying that no doctrine specifically is true, for instance, the doctrine of the Westminster Confession, to [R4073 : page 308] which Dr. Van Dyke pledged loyalty when he was ordained a Presbyterian minister.
The first sermon of the Rev. Dr. Hillis, as pastor of Plymouth Church in Brooklyn, was devoted to extolling Christ without any reference to the Atonement or any doctrine which raises him to a divine or a supernatural elevation. He spoke of "the supremacy of Christ among men of genius," said "Jesus is the supreme literary artist," and celebrated the wonderful power of his "imagination." Nowhere in his sermon was there any evidence of the positive faith which gave the impulse to Christianity; only generality, sentimentality, the vague imaginings of a mind without any definite belief were made manifest in the pretty sentences of Dr. Hillis.
Secular editors deprived of theological instruction in word and conscience-twisting seem much more logical and more honorable than theologians. This editor evidently sees clearly that those who have abandoned the faith of their ordination vows should seek a new ordination in accord with their present agnosticism, and not practise a fraud.
We publish the item to call attention to the departure from the central feature of the Gospel – our Lord's atonement for sin. We have challenged the evidence that there is a single college or theological seminary in the United States where Evolution or Higher Criticism infidelity is not taught publicly or privately. No one thus far has produced proof in refutation of this charge.
Similar conditions prevail in Canada. A minister recently charged publicly that there is but one college in Canada loyal to the doctrine of original sin and our redemption from it by the death of Christ. We challenge that one case. We are morally sure that investigation will prove that if Higher Criticism, Evolution and No Atonement for Sin are barred from the textbooks and curriculum some of the professors surely hold these wrong views and privately confess them and laugh at the backwardness of their college. Well did the Apostle declare, "The time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but having itching ears [desiring something new and different] will gather to themselves teachers after their own liking: and they will turn away their ears from the Truth and unto fables" – respecting monkey progenitors millions of years ago. – 2 Tim. 4:3,4.
Dr. M. Scheinkin, Director of the Information Bureau, Jaffa, Palestine, says in a recently published report in The Jewish Exponent: –
[R4074 : page 309]"Soon after the October riots of 1905, Jewish immigration into Palestine considerably increased. Every vessel from Russia brought sixty and even one hundred passengers. About 1500 persons arrived in Palestine during the winter of 1905-06. Among these three to five per cent. were wealthy people, between ten and fifteen per cent. workmen, ten per cent. artisans and twenty per cent. had no particular occupation, and the remainder consisted of old people who became proteges of the Halukah. Almost all of the young workingmen found work in the colonies. Most of the artisans, with the exception of the tailors and shoemakers, who arrived in very large numbers, obtained employment in the cities of Jaffa and Jerusalem. Twenty families of the wealthier class remained in the land, eight of whom acquired land in the colonies, one rented a large farm from an Arab, and the rest engaged in business, chiefly in Jaffa. Eighteen thousand dunams of land passed into Jewish hands during the past two years.
"Different societies undertook the rebuilding of various streets in Jerusalem. A London philanthropic society built up one quarter of 150 houses. There are also two private building associations which are financially assisted by the Anglo-Palestine Bank. A large society of artisans recently began to build up a new quarter in Jerusalem. Ten families formed a company to build up a Jewish quarter in Kaifa, at the foot of Mt. Carmel.
"The large commercial enterprises are still in the hands of Mohammedans and Christians, although during the last decade many Jews also attained a high position in the commercial world. In consequence of the recent immigration, twenty new Jewish stores were opened in Jaffa, a similar number in Jerusalem and several in Kaifa and in Beyrut. During the last month a Russian Jewish immigrant opened a large grocery store in Damascus. The lumber business is passing entirely into Jewish hands, due to the large credit allowed them by the Anglo-Palestine Bank.
"The spiritual condition of the Palestine Jews greatly improved during the past two years. The hundreds of young laborers, the teachers and other intelligent persons brought with them a new life and new spiritual aspirations.
"Aside from lower-grade schools the grown-up youth is desirous of obtaining more knowledge, and for that purpose there was organized in Jaffa, first, evening classes for languages, natural history, history, etc.; and secondly, popular lectures on hygiene, political economy, etc. It is interesting to watch the groups of young people returning in the evenings from the various places of study and instruction. In Jerusalem there is an evening school in connection with the Bezalel. The educational and cultural work of the Alliance and the Hilfsverein are being strongly influenced by the new tendencies."
"The distinguished author, Prof. Goldwin Smith, approaches this vexed question with a judicial spirit, and in the brief space which he has occupied tells some plain truths which both sides in the controversy might study with profit. His sympathy with labor goes back to the days when he defended the unions after the Sheffield outrages, and stood on the platform of Joseph Arch. 'All round the industrial horizon there are signs of continuing storm,' he says, in opening. 'The outlook is threatening, not to industry and commerce only, but to the general relations between classes, and even to the unity of the commonwealth.'
"He accepts the estrangement between labor and capital as a fact. Capital has been erected into an industrial tyrant, the mortal enemy of labor, and yet, what would labor do without capital? 'Without capital we should be living in caves, and grubbing up roots with our nails. Such, in fact, was the state of primitive man. The man who first stored up some roots was the first capitalist, and the man who first loaned some of his roots on condition of future repayment, with addition, was the first investor.'
"On the other hand, the author admits that a strike is a legitimate engine for enforcing the concession of a certain wage, though not for any exaction beyond. Further exaction must break the trade. As a matter of policy the author believes that employes should share in the prosperity of their employers, and the want of inducement to improving effort on the part of workmen is a weakness in the factory system. While capital can be rapacious and unjust, it is also true that organizations formed for an aggressive purpose are naturally apt to fall into the hands of the most aggressive and least responsible section. 'There would be fewer strikes if the votes were always taken by ballot, and every married man had two....Power newly won and flushed with victory seldom stops exactly at the line of right. From enabling the wage-earner to treat on fair terms with the employer, unions seem now to be going on to create for themselves a monopoly of labor. To this the community never has submitted, and never can submit. Freedom of labor is the rightful inheritance of every man, and the vital interest of all.'
"'Refusal to work with non-union men is undeniably lawful, though far from kind,' is another of the author's many obiter dicta. 'The best of tempers,' he adds, 'can hardly fail to be tried by the intrusion of a walking delegate. Why aggravate by discourtesy the perils of the industrial situation? Capital and labor must settle down in harmony at last, or both must be ruined.' His examination of Socialism leads to a rejection of that remedy for the industrial ills. In spite of the harsh aspects of competition, he believes it will remain the indispensable spur. The danger attending public ownership is interfering with the rights of those who have been allowed to invest their capital under the protection of the law, and disregard of whose rights would be public rapine.
"The conclusion reached by the author, after his all-too-brief discussion of the problem, is found in his closing paragraph: –
"'It would seem, then, that there is something to be said for acquiescing, provisionally at least, in our industrial system, based as it is on the general relation between capital and labor, and trying to continue the improvement of that relation in a peaceful way, without class war and havoc. Progress, in a word, seems more hopeful than revolution. When the Socialist ideal, perfect brotherhood, is realized, there will be social happiness compared with which the highest pleasure attainable in this world of inequality, strife and self-interest would be mean; but all the attempts to rush into that state have proved failures, some of them much worse. It is conceivable, let us hope not unlikely, that all who contribute to progress may be destined in some way to share its ultimate fruits; but there is no leaping into the Millennium.'"
– Toronto Globe.
Whatever may be said of Pope Pius X. he cannot be charged with being a Higher Critic or sympathizing with the agnostic spirit of our day which has gained such absolute control of all Protestant seminaries and secular colleges. It would appear that this same spirit has been gaining rapidly amongst Roman Catholic professors, etc., also. This fact has led the Pope to condemn and prohibit recently a large number of books tinctured with "Modernism" or "New Theology," and on Sept. 16 led him to issue an encyclical or general epistle to all Roman Catholics, condemning the same. In it he declares: –
"Modernism is a peril for the Church. Its reforms in faith, philosophy, theology and history are all errors and drive those who believe in them to atheism. Boundless curiosity, pride of individualism and disregard of true Catholic knowledge and discipline actually have spread modernism among the clergy."
The encyclical decrees that philosophy and theology hereafter must be taught in the Catholic schools and universities in the complete spirit of the Catholic Church and in accordance with the rules of the Church.
It is decreed that all teachers imbued with the spirit of modernism be dismissed and all bishops must compel the clergy and the faithful to abstain from reading papers inspired by the spirit of modernism or advocating the new theories.
A board of censors is to be established in every bishopric to revise and edit all Catholic publications.
The ecclesiastics are forbidden to send papers through the mails or otherwise directing them without the consent of the bishop. The ecclesiastics also must keep a close watch upon their assistants to prevent violation of this ruling.
Clerical congresses are forbidden, except in cases when dangers of modernism arise; or when the laity show signs of restlessness and rebellion against clerical domination.
A board of supervision is to be formed in every diocese to prevent the spread of "new errors."
All bishops are instructed that they must forward [R4074 : page 310] to the pope individual reports regarding the matters covered in the encyclical.
The encyclical has caused a great stir throughout Europe and is regarded as by far the most important issued during the present pontificate. It is regarded in some circles as liable to arouse as much controversy and discussion as the famous promulgation of the dogma of the immaculate conception by Pope Pius IX.
Mr. Edison does not profess a general knowledge of the Millennium, but he does see some things in the line of his own experience and work. He sees them to be near, too. Of his views The Electrical Trade says: –
"'A great electrical discovery which I expect to see before I die,' remarked Thomas A. Edison, the man whose own inventions have done so much to revolutionize modern life, 'is the direct generation of electricity from coal. Imagine what will be the consequences! Then locomotives will be thrown into the scrap heap. All trains will be run by electricity. No longer will coal be laboriously transported to the cities, but there will be great power plants established at the mouths of the mines, from which the electricity will be sent out over the country by wire. There will be no horses in the streets, no stables, no flies. Wagons will be propelled by electricity, for it will be so cheap it can be used by the humblest tenement dwellers. Ships will no longer be driven by steam. Electricity will be their motive power. And then it will be possible to cross the Atlantic in three days. At the present time nine-tenths of the power obtained from coal is lost by the use of boilers, wheels and dynamos. With the direct generation of the electrical current, therefore, the world will have ten times more energy than now. We are still ignorant of the true character of electricity. Indeed, to me, after all the years I have spent in studying electricity, it is more a mystery now than ever.'"
The bitter, vitriolic spirit of the unregenerate heart, when soured and stung to resentment, is well illustrated in the speech of Emma Goldman, the anarchist. She declared in a speech to workingmen, as reported in the public press: –
"Why should workingmen warn their employers when they are about to strike?" she demanded, stamping her foot. "Why should workingmen govern their actions in such cases by moral or ethical considerations? Why should you give notice, time to prepare your own destruction. Oh, I think it is time for workingmen to become unmoral. Your employers will tell you piously that they have been placed by God in the position that they occupy. That is right. You will always find God on the side of the thief and the robber.
"Win your demands quickly by direct action. The striking tailors of Glasgow went back to work with apparent docility, but when they were inside the shops they used their shears to destroy a large quantity of goods until their employers saw the wisdom of yielding.
"Oil workers, striking in a Russian city, when they saw that they were about to be overcome by scabs and militia, burned huge quantities of kerosene, thus striking their employers in their one vulnerable spot, their pockets.
"Paris-striking bakers doped the bread with kerosene and castor oil and made the city sick. That is the way to enforce your demands. You can't do it by process of law."
Happily only a few people as yet have so bitter a spirit toward their fellow-men; but it is our expectation that conditions during the next few years will [R4075 : page 311] eventually sour the hearts of thousands to just such a frenzy. Now, comparatively few are so wicked and so desperate; but under favorable conditions such a ferment might develop quickly.
Nor are we to suppose that the wealthy and educated are all saints. The natural mind is in its last analysis under desperate conditions, all that the Scriptures claim – "deceitful and desperately wicked." Education and training assist in the development of moderation and self-control, but it will be seen that brutish ferocity will characterize their conduct also, though it may take a different form.
A hint at the possibilities along the line of capitalistic combination was recently thrown out by The Wall Street Journal, a staid financial sheet which daily visits all the prominent financiers, bankers and brokers, in a semi-humorous article written after the style of "Looking Backward." It is in the form of telegraphic news, dated next year, and begins thus: –
"WHOLE COUNTRY 'TIED UP.'""Washington, D.C., June 10, 1908. – Capital has gone on strike. On Friday, June 12, at 8 o'clock in the morning, practically every wheel in the country will cease to turn. Manufacturing establishments will be closed. Railroad trains will be brought to a standstill, mining will be suspended, banking houses will close their doors and the stock exchange will take an indefinite recess, as in the panic of 1873. Fully 15,000,000 persons, the bread-winners of 15,000,000 families, will be thrown out of employment. It is believed that many of the rich men of the country have gathered their available funds together and have prepared to leave the country."
Then follows the names of the leading bankers, railroad presidents and industrial managers, with an account of a visit by them to President Roosevelt. The reporters are represented as waiting long for a report of the interview, until Mr. Carnegie comes out, saying, "I see my way clear, now, to die poor and undisgraced"; then followed President Baer of the P. & R. RR., referring to Isaiah 66:15.
Then follows the story of the stormy, desperate interview, E. H. Gary representing the iron and steel trades and "all of the 216,000 manufacturing establishments of the United States, representing invested capital of $12,000,000,000." Next President Baer of the railroad interests and Jacob H. Schiff of the banking interests are represented as telling the President that all these interests have decided to stop work.
Then the President makes an impassioned speech. He tells them it is a monstrous, inhuman thing they plan, and says he will call out the army and navy to prevent them from carrying out their threats. Then Harriman asks the President, with "snapping sarcasm," "What can you expect from undesirable citizens?" The President then roasts Harriman and demands of all those who confront him if the conditions of which they complain – hostile legislation, exorbitant demands by the labor unions and socialistic agitation for government ownership by confiscation – are not the outcome of capital's outrageous treatment of the people. Then he tells them that if they will not operate the factories, the railroads and "the various tools of commerce, the people will take your properties and operate them on their own account."
The capitalists at this point paralyze the President by telling him they have formed a union which includes, in addition to all employing capitalists, "the great mass of high-class labor, such as executive heads of departments, experts, scientists, etc., who preferred to throw their lot and portion with the employing capitalists." Henry H. Rogers, after stating this, demands to know whether the people could run the properties if they took them.
Then the meeting is represented as breaking up, the President not even saying adieu to his callers, and the article ends with this paragraph:
"Long past midnight the lights were burning in the cabinet room, where the President and his advisers (the cabinet) were laboring on a plan to avert the catastrophe."
An improbable picture this, yet who acquainted with human nature, who that knows the indomitable force and energy of these "captains of industry" will doubt that if not this method some other would be used to "bring the masses to their senses"? – in other words to convince the public of the value of brains in all the affairs of the world.
Selfishness will spur on both sides: each will proudly feel its strength and imagine erroneously that its next stronger show of power will discourage its opponent, until matters will get beyond the control of all human wisdom, counsel and power.
Mrs. Hettie Green, reputed the wealthiest woman, sees the writing on the wall, and is reported to have said: –
"There is going to be a revolution in this country. The people are going to revolt against the oppressions of the Trusts. There will be a deluge and the streets will run with blood when the people are aroused. The people are finding out gradually about the Trusts, and when they realize a little more fully how they are ruining the chances of the average person there is going to be a revolution. It will be a deluge, I tell you."
On the other side of the question we have Chancellor Day of Syracuse University, N.Y., who discerns that brains are necessary to the world's progress, but nevertheless joins in predictions of coming disaster so clearly set forth in the Scriptures. He says: –
"For some time we have been in the grip of this mighty spasm over corporate wealth and swollen fortunes. These current phrases are from high sources. All of our national ills are being stated in this formula. Down with the rich! Puncture the swollen fortunes! Make the rich poor and all the poor will be rich! Destroy the corporations, hamper them, obstruct them, sue them in the courts! Assail them in the press! Tie the strings of the Lilliputians to them in Congress and bind them, and then the individual can have a chance!
MAKE GREAT MEN UNNECESSARY"Make the returns of great businesses sufficiently small and uncertain by petty legislative restrictions and control and we shall not be troubled by the genius of a Rockefeller, a Hill, a Morgan, a Carnegie, an [R4075 : page 312] Armour or a Swift. The little men will be big enough for the little things remaining to be done. It is a crime for several men to exercise the power of giving employment to 50,000 or 150,000 men.
"I predict," he says in conclusion, "that we are passing through an epoch that will stand in future times to our everlasting disgrace and shame. We are phenomenally blessed by providence. We are steadied by the calm confidence and signal ability of the greatest men ever known in the commercial world. But if this mania continues, it is not far on to a crash that will carry down all confidence, confuse all property rights, block the wheels of all progress and wreck not only the millionaire's fortune, but the laborer's cottage. The demand of the hour is control of the controller. Swollen fortunes are a thousand fold less dangerous to our land and people than swollen demagogy."
If all the rich were "saints" according to the Scriptural usage we might blame them for not sacrificing their talents and opportunities and incomes for the welfare of others. But amongst the "saints" are not many rich or great or noble. The rich children of this world, like the poor of the same class, know no consecration to self-sacrifice. Each is doing his best to serve his own best interests as he conceives these. The difference lies in the birth, environment and opportunities. Both wisdom and grace bid the followers of Jesus to think generously of the entire "groaning creation" and rejoice that to all – rich and poor – the Millennial Kingdom of God's dear Son will bring soon after the day of trouble a day of grandest blessings and opportunities.
But the "New Creature in Christ Jesus" is one in whom the transforming influences of the Lord's Spirit have already begun – one who has a new heart, a new will, a new disposition. With such, "old things have passed away, and all things have become new"; they have been begotten again – i.e., re-begotten – to new hopes, new wishes, new ideas of propriety. Instead of the earthly wisdom and way, with its "bitter envying and strife," which "descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish," they have now the wisdom that is from above, and a heart (a disposition) to appreciate and pursue its counsels, which are, first purity, then peaceableness, gentleness, meekness, mercy, good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. And the disposition of this class, in proportion to their attainment of this heavenly wisdom and new nature, will be to "provoke" or incite or encourage one another, and all with whom they come in contact, to similar goodness of thought and word and act, in harmony with the heavenly wisdom which is guiding their own course.
This is laid down in the Scriptures as an unvarying rule: "A bitter fountain cannot send forth sweet water, and a good fountain cannot send forth brackish water." A thistle cannot bear grapes, and a grape-vine cannot bear thistles. It is the Master himself who says, "By their fruits ye shall know them." If, therefore, we desire to prove ourselves, and to judge respecting our progress in mortifying (putting to death) the old nature, and our growth in the new nature, we will judge ourselves by this standard; answering to ourselves the question, – Is my own spirit (disposition) one which delights in sin in its various forms (not necessarily in its grosser forms of murder, theft, etc., but in its more refined forms, falsity, envy, strife, vainglory, slander, evil-speaking, evil surmises, etc.), or is my delight increasingly in righteousness, truth, goodness, gentleness, meekness, patience, love? If the former, we are yet, either wholly or partially, in the gall of bitterness and in the bondage of iniquity, and have need to go at once to the Great Physician, and to submit ourselves to his radical treatment – the cutting off of sin, the mortifying of such fleshly desires, etc. If the latter be our condition of heart we have cause for rejoicing, yet no cause for pride or boastfulness; for we can say no more than that we only have done our duty, having merely learned, and that imperfectly, the lessons set before us by our great Teacher.
The Apostle is addressing the Church, the consecrated New Creatures in Christ Jesus. This is shown in the text, for he classes himself with these, using the word "us"; it is also shown by the context. He calls the attention of the consecrated to the influence which goes out from each to each, and the consequent importance that the influence shall always be stimulating, or provocative of that which is good. No doubt the Apostle found in his day, as we find now, that many who are consecrated at heart fail to see clearly how this consecration should associate itself with and mark itself [R4076 : page 313] upon our every act and word. Perhaps he saw then, as we see now, that the holy influence of truth, gathered at a meeting of the Lord's people, through their communion of heart with each other and with the Lord, is not infrequently spoiled, dissipated entirely, by inconsiderate or unkind remarks of some of the company, upon dismissal.
Who, of experience, does not know how great a matter a little fire may kindle; how much evil may be started by the fire of the tongue? how many unkind thoughts, evil suspicions, surmises, how much envy, malice, hatred and strife may be started by a mere insinuation? Since the Lord declares, "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh," it follows that the hearts and lips, from which emanate these evil influences, are not controlled by the wisdom that cometh from above, though they be in some measure consecrated to the Lord.
It is a great mistake, also, to suppose that because the evil thing is said in a kind and gentle manner, therefore it is a good thing, and evidence of a pure heart, that is full of love; quite to the contrary, we know that the great Adversary is continually presenting himself in garments of light, that he may exercise the greater influence for evil upon those who have made a covenant with the Lord. So, likewise, those who implant evil thoughts, surmises, etc., in a smooth and polished manner, and perhaps with a tear, are the most dangerous foes of peace and fellowship, and often accomplish the greater harm; because they succeed in planting roots of bitterness and thoughts of evil in hearts which would utterly resent the same evil thoughts and evil surmisings if presented in a coarse, offensive and obtrusive manner.
We are not to be reckless of each other's interests. In our contact with each other, whether a personal contact or a contact by mail or a contact through the columns of this journal, we are to "consider one another." We are to consider what would be helps, and what would be hindrances, what would be encouragements and what would be stumbling-blocks; and we are to do all in our power to assist one another to run with patience the race for the heavenly prize. If we are truly consecrated to the Lord, we can do nothing "against the truth, but [every effort must be] for the truth." (2 Cor. 13:8.) What a burning and shining light every Christian would be if his every act were considered and shaped for the benefit of those with whom he comes in contact! What a blessing it would be in the home! What a blessing it would be in the Church! This brotherly consideration is what the Apostle is urging upon us: "Consider one another to provoke [incite, encourage] to love and to good works." Avoid every word and every act, so far as possible, that might incite to hatred, envy, strife, bitterness (and bad works, corresponding to these feelings), all of which are "of the flesh and of the devil."
The Apostle links this advice with the exhortation to forget not the assembling of ourselves together, as the Lord's [R4077 : page 313] people. None of us is so strong in the new nature that he can disregard the fellowship of kindred minds. But even if we did feel sufficiently strong for ourselves, the spirit of love in us should so control that we would delight to meet with "the brethren" for their sakes, if we ourselves received no benefit therefrom. But we are more or less like coals of fire, which, if separated, will tend to cool rapidly, but which, if brought together, will tend to increase in fervency the entire mass. Our Lord has encouraged his people to seek each other's fellowship for companionship in the study of his Word, and in prayer, pronouncing special blessings upon the meeting of his people together, even if so few as only two or three.
It is true that sometimes isolated ones, who have no fellowship in the Present Truth (except through the WATCH TOWER) are often amongst the most staunch and devoted and self-sacrificing of the Lord's people: but we should not from this infer that the blessing comes from their isolation, but rather, since their separation is unavoidable on their part, we may reasonably suppose that our Lord makes up to them, in his own presence and blessing, that which they lack of fellowship with other members of the Body. But if one had opportunity for assembling with others for worship of the Lord and the study of his Word, and neglected to avail himself of his privilege, we need not expect that for his benefit the Lord would work special miracles of grace. The Lord's miracles may be expected only in times of emergency, to make up for natural deficiency.
Besides, we are to remember that through the WATCH TOWER and the mail the Lord has established a channel of communication amongst his people so that no one needs be without such fellowship and spiritual intercourse. And we call attention to the fact that the terms of our journal are so liberal that the very poorest of the Lord's people may avail themselves of this privilege of communion. If they refuse or neglect to use this grace which the Lord has put within their reach, at a cost of one postal card per year, it is their own fault; they are disregarding the Lord's instruction, through the Apostle, and are neglecting the means open before them for having fellowship with others of like precious faith. If such find themselves growing cold, as a result of neglect of the Lord's arrangements and providences, they have themselves to blame. We do not know how to make the WATCH TOWER terms more reasonable than they are. We exhort all the poor to accept it, not as a personal gift, but as a part of the Lord's provision for his people, to which they are as welcome as to all the features of his grace. Freely we have received, freely we will give the message of his love and mercy.
The Apostle intimates that, as "the Day" draws near there will be the more need for the observance of this instruction respecting the fellowship and communion of the Lord's people with each other. And experience proves this: the great Millennial Day which has already begun, chronologically, has brought with it new activities in mind and body, a greater pressure of business and rush to keep abreast of the times, and a correspondingly greater danger to the Lord's people of being choked with the cares of this life, or with the deceitfulness of riches, or the seeking of riches. We need a counteracting influence to off-set this increasing influence of the world and its affairs upon us; and this counteracting influence is to be sought and to be found by the Lord's people among themselves, – communing one with the other and with the Lord, and exhorting and encouraging one [R4077 : page 314] another to steadfastness along the lines of instruction laid down in his Word.
And not only so, but we find that the beginning of this great Millennial Day is a "day of trouble." We find that the latter part of this day of trouble is to be upon the world, and that the Lord promised his Church that, if faithful, they shall be "accounted worthy to escape all those things coming upon the world." But we have found also that the forepart of this day of trouble, which is the time of preparation for the world's trouble, will be a special time of peculiar trouble and trial, testing and sifting upon the Church; for – The judgments of this day "must begin with the house of God." We see this sifting and shaking in progress all about us in the nominal Church, and still more intensely among those who occupy a still higher position and enlightenment through the knowledge of the Present Truth. "The great day of his wrath [judgment, testing, sifting, first of the Church and afterward the nations] is come, and who shall be able to stand?" We hear the Apostle's exhortation, as he looked down prophetically to our day, saying, "Wherefore, take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in exalted positions." – Eph. 6:13,14.
It is "as we see the day drawing on" that we are to be the more diligent in assembling ourselves with those of like precious faith; the more earnest in exhorting and provoking to love and to good works, and thus to assist one another in putting on "the whole armor of God" – the graces of character, meekness, patience, gentleness, brotherly kindness, faith, truth, hope – that with these as the divine panoply or armor, protecting us from the assaults of the Adversary in this day, we may be able to stand. The clear intimation is that, unless we have on this armor, we will be unable to stand. And this armor includes more than mere head-knowledge, represented by the helmet; it includes, be it noted, the entire breastplate of righteousness, purity of heart, and it includes the shield of faith, and the sword of the Spirit, and the sandals of consecration.
In the succeeding verse the Apostle mentions the possibility of wilful sin among the Lord's people, and what it would imply – the Second Death (the sorer punishment than the first death, in that it would be without hope) – "everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and the glory of his power."
While wilful sin has always been the same, it would not be unreasonable to infer from the Apostle's words that the temptations and dangers of "this evil day" in which we live will specially tend to trial along this line. Let it be clearly noticed that the Apostle is not speaking of sins of ignorance nor of accidental missteps by being overtaken in a fault, whose sin is not unto death, and from which the transgressors may be restored in a spirit of meekness. He is referring directly to full, complete sin – the sin upon which the full penalty is justly and properly to be recompensed.
At first thought, many may be inclined to say, "Well, I am in no danger of that sin, for I am sure that I would not commit sin wilfully, intentionally, designedly." But let us notice, dear friends, that there is a way in which sin may come upon us without being at the time a wilful sin, but which later might become wilful sin: for instance, any transgression committed, either in total ignorance or with only a partial acquiescence of our wills, might become a full, wilful, deliberate sin afterward, if we afterward came to a clear knowledge of the truth respecting the subject, and failed to repent of it to the Lord, and to undo so far as was in our power the wrong toward our fellow-creatures. To consent to a sin clearly and fully understood, simply because at the time of its committal we were in ignorance, and to refuse to make amends for it, and thus to endorse the sin intelligently, would appear to make it a will-full sin.
With this view of the matter, the children of God cannot afford to sanction in their minds even the slightest injustice or untruth towards each other, or towards anyone. The essence of this thought is found in our Lord's command: "If thou comest to the altar [if we have anything to offer to the Lord, either of service or of worship or of thanks], and there rememberest that thy brother hath aught against thee [that someone has been wronged by you, either in word or thought or act] leave there thy gift before the altar [do not think that it will be acceptable to God while in your heart or outwardly you are practising injustice toward others]; first go and be reconciled to thy brother [make amends to him, apologies, explanations in full, of whatever wrong you have done him] and then come and offer thy gift [assured that in such an attitude of heart the Lord Almighty will be pleased to accept your gift]."
In describing those who sin wilfully, the Apostle uses very strong, figurative language, declaring that, inasmuch as they are in heart-sympathy with sin, and not in opposition to it, they are the opponents of the Son of God, who was so out of sympathy with sin in its every form that he laid down his life to redeem us from its power and curse. The Apostle declares that such wilful sinners may be esteemed as the enemies of Christ, who really trample him and his goodness and love under their feet, figuratively, disdaining his mercy and favor as well as his instruction in righteousness. He says that, inasmuch as they were once sanctified, as a result of their faith in the precious blood and its cleansing from sin, their turning now into harmony with sin would imply that they now disesteem the precious blood of Christ which redeemed us to God, counting it a non-sacred thing – common – and do despite to the spirit of divine favor which had held out to them freedom from the yoke of sin, and ultimately release from its penalty, death; and the attainment, as the Lord's people, of the crown of life eternal.
While holding up before the Church the dangers of sin, and the danger of falling away from steadfastness for Christ and to the principles of his righteousness, the Apostle encourages us to continue our fight against sin and its influence in ourselves and in others, "perfecting holiness in the reverence of the Lord." Accordingly he calls our minds back to our first love and first zeal – "the former days, in which, after ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of affliction; partly whilst ye were made a gazingstock both by reproaches [R4078 : page 315] and afflictions, and partly whilst ye became companions of them that were so used." He would thus encourage the Lord's people to continue the good fight – to continue to wage warfare against the world, the flesh and the devil, and the spirit of these, especially each within himself, in the battlefield of his own soul. And he urges that faith in the Lord and the rewards which he shall grant by and by, when he shall be glorified in his saints, is very necessary to our endurance of hardness as good soldiers in the fight against evil, both within and without, saying, "Cast not away, therefore, your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward" – "forsake not the assembling of yourselves together, as the manner of some is, but exhort one another; and so much the more as ye see the day approaching."
And this reminds us of the words of the Lord, through the prophet Malachi (3:15-17): In the time when the proud are happy, and they that work wickedness are established in power and influence, and they that tempt God seem to be blessed – "then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another [sympathizing with and encouraging one another, so much the more]: and the Lord hearkened and heard it; and a book of remembrance was written before him of them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name; and they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him." But while all should seek to provoke to love and to good works and to happy looks, we well know that the majority do the reverse. Hence, we suggest that the Lord's peculiar people may be so controlled by the Word and its spirit that they will be incited to good works, good deeds and good looks even by the most unfavorable conditions. Consider Stephen, confronted by those who afterward took his life: not only had he courage to preach to them, but his heart was so provoked to love and good works that his face shone with an angelic beauty. (Acts 6:15.) And the same grace abounding enabled him to pray for his murderers. (Acts 7:60.) Nothing could provoke such a spirit-filled saint to evil. Let us follow the example of such close followers of our Lord's footsteps.
The chosen ones, begotten of the holy Spirit and adopted as Spirit-begotten sons of God, are forthwith in the school of Christ, with a view to their development in grace, knowledge, love, and with a view to their testing as respects the thoroughness of their consecration even unto death. We well know that not all who reach this chosen place will prove faithful and win the crown. The great majority of the exhortations in the New Testament are addressed to this chosen class, accepted of God as probationary members of the Bride company, the little flock, the Body of Christ. To these come the exhortations to "fight the good fight," to "bear much fruit," to "let their light shine," to "so run that they may obtain," to "lay aside every weight," to "strive to enter in," to be "faithful unto death, that ye may receive the crown of life," to be "filled with the Spirit." They are exhorted that if the various fruits and graces of the Spirit be in them and abound, an entrance shall be ministered to them abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. – 2 Pet. 1:11.
If in the foregoing it is intimated beyond question that only the "more than conquerors" will gain the prize – or, as our text expresses it, "gain the full reward" – what shall we say will become of those who will not gain the full reward, not gain the prize, who, being begotten of the Spirit, will fail to have part in the First Resurrection of the blessed and holy, amongst the Body of Christ? These evidently are referred to in the various parables. In one parable the Lord styles this class a wicked and slothful servant. He does not deny him the honor of being a servant, he does not charge him with becoming an enemy, and the entire parable shows no such attitude toward the reproved. [R4078 : page 316] He is counted wicked and slothful because, having undertaken certain responsibilities as a servant, having certain talents committed to his care as a steward, he has failed to manifest the proper spirit of earnest devotion which he had professed at the time of his acceptance, when the talents were entrusted to him. Similarly the foolish virgins are still virgins in the parable. They are not shown as having become corrupt or become lovers of sin. They were drowsy, overcharged with the cares of this life, and did not show proper spirit and alertness in connection with the interests of their Master, the Bridegroom. Hence they did not at the time have the proper oil in their vessels nor in their lamps, and hence were not ready nor of the class finally accepted as the "Very Elect," though for a time they had been a part of the nominally elect. The parable shows the door into the high calling to the exclusion of these.
Moreover, aside from the parables, our own experience teaches that amongst those who have made a real consecration to the Lord and who have for a time manifested a thorough devotion to him, some fall away to the extent of carelessness, lukewarmness, a condition which the Lord describes as "overcharged with the cares of this life and the deceitfulness of riches" – true wheat, but choked so that they do not bring forth the proper fruitage. We cannot suppose for a moment that such would be accepted of the Lord under the strict terms and conditions of the high calling on the narrow way and the faithfulness unto death – the terms and conditions everywhere implied in connection with the little flock. What then shall we say would be the portion of these lukewarm, overcharged ones?
The Scriptures inform us that as that which is begotten of the flesh is flesh, so that which is begotten of the Spirit is spirit. That is to say, that whoever has been begotten of the holy Spirit has experienced a change of nature so radical that it would be impossible for him to share a resurrection with the world on the human plane. He must either be born of the Spirit and become a spirit being, or else experience the only alternative we find, namely, the Second Death. We remember, however, the declaration of the Lord that he willeth not the death of him that dieth, but would that all should turn unto him and live. We must suppose, therefore, that God would feel a deep sympathy with the large class of Christian people who have made a consecration unto death but who have not rightly valued or improved the opportunity for carrying out that covenant in self-sacrifice. Some of this class the Scriptures clearly indicate are destined for the Second Death. One of the apostles describes them as those who have been washed, but like the sow have returned to wallowing in the mire. Another Apostle describes this class saying, "If we sin wilfully after that we have received a knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no longer a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking [R4079 : page 316] for of judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour us as adversaries." (Heb. 10:27.) And again he tells us that it is impossible to renew again unto repentance those who have counted the blood of the covenant a common thing, and done despite to the spirit of favor. (Heb. 6:4; 10:29.) And again we read, "There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it." – I John 5:16.
But are there not many Christians who have not taken these extreme backward steps to sin and to rejection of divine favor, who nevertheless are not so running as to obtain the prize? Is there not a large number that would come under the classification made by the Apostle as those who build with wood, hay, stubble, instead of with gold, silver and precious stones? – a large number, therefore, whose works will be burned in this trial time just before us. And does not the Apostle say of these, "themselves shall be saved so as by fire?" (I Cor. 3:15.) This is a large class; no wonder it is styled a Great Company, no wonder it is symbolically represented in the Levites, while the more than conquerors, the faithful, are but a little flock, heirs of the Kingdom, joint-heirs with their Redeemer. It is in great mercy that the Lord will deal with these and bring them into judgment, testing, so that all of them, who at heart love righteousness and hate iniquity, may be manifested, may be blessed, may be saved, even though they do not come up to the glorious standard which God has predestinated as the only acceptable one for the Redeemer and all those who shall be joint-heirs with him, for he has predestinated that these shall be conformed to the image of his Son – more than conquerors through him who loved them and bought them with his own precious blood.
The Apostle James seems to speak of this Great Company class when he says, "The double-minded man is unstable in all his ways." (Jas. 1:8.) These surely cannot be the more than conquerors, yet who will say that some of the dear people who manifest considerable vacillation and double-mindedness are enemies of God and righteousness, whose portion will be the Second Death? Such is not our opinion. Rather we understand the Scriptures to teach that this Great Company class, double-minded, intent on serving the Lord and hoping to gain a crown, and at the same time loving the world and seeking to have its approval and emoluments, will miss the prize of our High Calling and not be counted worthy a share in the Kingdom, but put to the crucial test so many of them as under stress will fix their characters for righteousness and become its loyal servants – these will be saved with the lesser salvation – on the spirit plane indeed, but not as partakers of the divine nature nor joint-heirs with our Redeemer in his Kingdom.
Brother C. J. Woodworth has sent us a Bible study upon this subject which we append and recommend to you all. He says that the subject was recently brought to his attention and that he looked it up in the memoranda he has prepared for our new Bibles, and that he found all of these citations within an hour and a half, [R4079 : page 317] whereas without the references he might have been obliged to hunt for days or for weeks to find these various allusions to the Great Company. The study shows where and how the class is referred to in the Scriptures – not directly, because no one was called to be of the Great Company, all being called to the high calling, the little flock. But they are referred to indirectly, yet specifically, as a part of the divine work of grace of this Gospel Age. We recommend a study of the subject to all of the dear friends, reminding you again in the words of our text, that even though loyal at heart to the Lord we should look to ourselves lest we lose the things which we have wrought – that we receive a full reward, the high calling, the joint-heirship, the Kingdom, the divine nature. The letter references denote DAWN-STUDY volumes, TOWERS, etc.
| TWO COMPANIES, BOTH JUSTIFIED, BEGOTTEN OF THE SPIRIT, AND CANDIDATES FOR JOINT-HEIRSHIP WITH CHRIST | ||
|---|---|---|
| Lev. 16:7-10 | Selection of goats by lot | T.60 |
| Lev. 23:17 | Two leavened wave loaves, 16th Nisan | Z.'98-68 |
| Zech. 13:8 | Two parts cut off | Z.'06-151 |
| Gen. 15:5 | Included in the heavenly Seed | Z.'96-277 |
| DISTINGUISHED SEPARATELY WHILE STILL IN THE FLESH | ||
| Dan. 5:2 | Silver vessels at Belshazzar's feast | Z.'99-175 |
| Mal. 3:3 | Silver in the Refiner's fire | Z.'05-379 |
| FIRST CAUSE OF FAILURE – IDLE | ||
| Matt. 25:2 | Five were foolish | C.94, F.75 |
| 1 Cor. 3:12 | Builded with wood, hay and stubble | T.69 |
| SECOND CAUSE OF FAILURE – DISOBEDIENT | ||
| Col. 3:6 | Included in Children of Disobedience | Z.'99-141 |
| Gen. 19:26 | Remember Lot's wife | C.194 |
| Psa. 1:1 | Sinners against their covenant | Z.'00-281 |
| THIRD CAUSE OF FAILURE – FEARFUL | ||
| Heb. 2:15 | Lifetime subject to bondage | T.70,71 |
| Num. 13:31 | The ten spies with Caleb and Joshua | Z.'07-251 |
| 1 Kin. 18:3 | Obadiah | Z.'04-221 |
| Jas. 1:8 | Double-minded, unstable | |
| FOURTH CAUSE OF FAILURE – PRESUMPTUOUS | ||
| Num. 10:1 | Abihu and his strange fire | Z.'07-220 |
| Jer. 8:20 | Harvest is past; we did not do the Lord's will | D.578 |
| Matt. 25:24 | Unprofitable servant | Z.'01-61, Z.'06-318 |
| Matt. 18:28 | Cruel servant, not possessing Master's Spirit | Z.'00-219, Z.'06-199 |
| SUBJECTS OF SPECIAL CHASTISEMENTS | ||
| Rev. 7:9-14 | Out of great tribulation | C364, F.127 |
| Isa. 66:8 | Delivered after Zion's travail | Z.'94-135 |
| Matt. 24:20 | Pray that your flight be not in winter | D.578 |
| Isa. 34:16 | Slaughter of the lambs | D.17 |
| 1 Cor. 3:15 | Saved so as by fire | A.321, T.69 |
| 1 Cor. 5:5 | Turned over to Satan for destruction of flesh | T.69,71 |
| FINALLY DELIVERED FROM BABYLON, WITH REJOICING | ||
| Rev. 19:6-9 | Called to the Marriage Supper | A.87,240, F.128 |
| Psa. 45:15 | With gladness and rejoicing | F.121 |
| SAVED WITH A HEAVENLY SALVATION: MADE SERVANTS OF THE TRUE CHURCH ON A HEAVENLY PLANE OF EXISTENCE | ||
| Num. 3:15 | Northward | D.653, F.129 |
| Rev. 7:15-17 | Before the throne, servants | F.127 |
| Gen. 24:61 | Damsels who went with Rebecca | F.171 |
| Ezek. 44:1-14 | Door was shut: servants | Z.'05-269 |
If the killing proved to be accidental the man-slayer must still remain in the city of refuge until the death of the high priest then in office. This restraint upon his liberty was the penalty for his carelessness, and thus an additional protection to human life.
This feature of the typical Mosaic Law strongly foreshadowed the refuge which the sinner may find in Christ. He is our shield and hiding-place from the penalty of all sin, save that which is wilful. He is no shelter for obstinate, unrepentant sinners; but for every one born in sin and shapen in iniquity – and thus sinners by the accident of birth or heritage, yet earnestly desirous of escaping from sin and its just consequences, and seeking refuge in him by faith – there is protection. We are all under sentence of death; Justice is the avenger; and only those in Christ are shielded. [R4080 : page 317]
But, mark you, the sinner must continue to abide in this city of refuge as long as the high priest liveth – i.e., as long as Christ continues in the priestly office, which will be until he is able to present all the redeemed who abide in him under the New Covenant conditions faultless before the throne of God, at the end of his Millennial reign as King and Priest. Then, being made actually perfect by the great Redeemer-Physician, they will be able to stand, not in the imputed or reckoned righteousness of another, but in their own glorious perfection, yet never forgetful of the great atoning sacrifice, and the patient work of restitution which made possible such a glorious consummation.
Like the cities of refuge, Christ is easy of access to all who diligently seek him, and who have no will in opposition to righteousness, nor to any of his measures of just and righteous discipline.
The counsel of Joshua was reverently received, the covenant was renewed, and the nation purged itself from idolatry, and in consequence was prospered and blessed. But why, we may reasonably inquire, should we be interested now in seemingly trivial matters of history of a date so remote? Why so minutely consider the experience and doings of that nation more than others of the ancient peoples? Or why are they so minutely given by the sacred writers?
Their importance to us lies in the fact that in the experiences of that consecrated people were foreshadowed those of God's consecrated people of this Gospel Age; and in God's dealings with them we can read his judgment of us under similar circumstances, we, the Gospel Church, being the antitypes of fleshly Israel, the Spiritual Israel of God – nominally, as in the type, including all the professed members of the Church, but actually only those who are truly the Lord's – "Israelites indeed," Christians indeed.
In the nation of Israel (nominal Israel) we observe a constant tendency to idolatry, while a faithful few ("Israelites indeed") always resisted this tendency, and, with fixed purpose of heart, worshiped the Lord in the beauty of holiness and endeavored to influence others to similar faithfulness. But their forefathers prior to Abraham were idolaters; the nations all about them were idolaters; and idolatrous worship, unlike the worship of the true God, imposed no restraints upon the downward tendencies of the fallen nature, but, on the contrary, cultivated and pandered to its depravity. Nor did it require faith in the unseen, but presented to the senses tangible objects of worship with rites and ceremonies suited to the carnal nature. Hence the continual gravitation of the nation toward idolatry, notwithstanding the wonderful power and goodness of God manifested on their behalf. Joshua, after calling attention to the marvels of divine providence which their wonderful history furnished, urged upon the people a prompt and firm decision, saying, "Choose ye this day whom ye will serve," etc.
Joshua also gave them distinctly to understand that in choosing to serve the Lord it must be whole-hearted and sincere service, a full and complete turning to the Lord, and the putting away of all rivals. This exhortation was coupled with warnings of the Lord's indignation and wrath if they should wickedly ignore or violate their covenant and turn to idolatry. "And the people said unto Joshua, The Lord our God will we serve, and his voice will we obey."
Happy indeed was it for Israel that such was their decision; and happy would it be for all God's consecrated people, if, with fixedness of purpose they would pay their vows unto the Most High. In his dealings with typical Israel we see that our God is a jealous God and that he desires whole-hearted devotion to himself. If we permit any rival to occupy the mind and heart that were solemnly consecrated to him alone, then we are unfaithful to him and wickedly despising our covenant. Let the language of every heart be, "The Lord our God will we serve, and his voice will we obey."
"If ye forsake the Lord, and serve strange gods, then he will turn and do you hurt and consume you, after that he hath done you good." The fact that the Lord has richly blessed us in the past while we were in the way with him is no guarantee that he will continue his favor with us after we have forsaken him. On the contrary his positive declaration is that he will withdraw his favor from all such. In addition to the above the Prophet Ezekiel says, "When a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die." And Paul adds, ["because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved"], "God shall send them strong delusions, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be condemned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." – Ezek. 3:20; 2 Thess. 2:11,12. See also Heb. 6:4-8; 10:26-31.
We should observe specially in Heb. 10:29 the reference to a sorer punishment to be visited upon the covenant-despisers of this age than that visited upon the same class in the Jewish Age, because of the higher privileges and advantages received here and despised. The death penalty there was a hasty visitation of the original Adamic penalty, but the death penalty here upon the wilful covenant-despisers is the Second Death, from which there is no escape.
I thank God for the glorious privilege of thus addressing you and all the brethren. I have just finished making out my report of four days' work as a colporteur – from the standpoint of results as to the number of volumes sold, which was 82 cloth-bound and 12 leather-bound, making an average of a little better than 23 volumes per day. And this report completed I feel that I ought to report something for which I find no blank but which to me has been the most important, namely, my spiritual blessing. I have been blessed as never before, and it is impossible for me to try to tell the brethren to what extent the blessing has been; it has only been limited by my ability to receive it. I am naturally demonstrative, and when I first saw the Truth I had to tell every one about it that would listen, and that interfered with my business, but now my business is to talk of the Truth and the more I talk of it (with discretion) the more business I do – in fact, I am being supplied with daily bread for the flesh and the spirit at one and the same time, where heretofore one or the other suffered. I find selling the DAWNS just like anything page 319 else as far as the selling goes. One has to use tact and adapt himself to the customer, and use the arguments or rather suggestions best adapted to the prospective buyer as shown to one by what he can observe of the person he approaches. I desire to express my thankfulness to God for such an opening as that as "Colporteur" for one who has been disqualified for his position in the world through the Truth, for it is truly a work where a double blessing goes with every sale. May this branch of the work as well as all God's work be prospered, and may those ministering to the household of faith be enabled to go forward in the strength of the Lord. The class at M__________, led by Brother Raymond, is prospering in the only true and real prosperity. We have three meetings a week now, and can hardly contain ourselves between times. We have about eighteen members, whereas a year ago, or before Brother Raymond located here, there were possibly two. Truly God is good to us. May the Lord prosper this harvest work and may all the brethren everywhere be united in Christ our Redeemer, Pattern and Head.
As ever, your brother and servant in him,
DEAR BROTHER RUSSELL:
I wish for the benefit of the readers of the TOWER to tell a bit of my experience right here. Mother was a Calvinistic Baptist, believing in eternal torment, or as they call it, "hell." I was converted in youth, and firmly believed the same. But God opened my eyes on that question some twenty years ago, under the preaching of The Crisis (Adventist), which I believed was the "faith once delivered to the saints." In December, 1901, mother came from Canada to B__________ to visit me, and she mourned and cried over the death of her youngest son, who was drowned unconverted, at the age of seventeen years. Her doctrine taught her that he was in eternal torment. I told her he was in his grave and would remain there till Jesus came – but even then there was the Second Death, or "hell," as she termed it. Bro. Haynes, Colporteur, God bless him, came to my home with the DAWNS. I told him, No; and meant it. Mother interfered and told him she wanted the books, and he left the first five volumes. Mother commenced to read the first volume and before she got through with it she was walking the house rejoicing and cried, "Praise God, Sammie is not in hell," meaning eternal torment. I commenced to read and investigate. I found the Truth – "the whole truth and nothing but the truth," and with mother I rejoiced and praised my heavenly Father that he had showed us his plan and his great love for the world. And likewise I thanked him for his great love in sending us such a beloved brother as you, our beloved Brother Russell, who gives us meat in due season. May God spare you a few years yet in the harvest work.
I am rejoicing in the Truth, firm and established in the harvest work.
Yours sincerely in Jesus Christ,
DEAR BROTHER RUSSELL: –
We have been delayed from our work on account of sickness, until yesterday, and then, although both of us were under the doctor's care, we went to work. Wife put in about seven hours and I about two. Result: twenty-six volumes for her and fifteen for myself. Praise God! We were so thankful, so happy, when we came home that we could scarcely go to sleep. We are starting out again this morning. We thank you for your kind words of encouragement. We expect to finish this place this week. My orders were all from colored people. I am to preach for them second Sunday in May. Will make full report later both to you and Colporteur department.
DEAR BRETHREN:
The work goes on gloriously. But the trials and testings are severe, and increasingly so. The cry is coming from every quarter. There never was such an important moment as this. Surely the Lord is thus hastening the work of finishing our faith so that we may at once come to the mark, and our faith may be able to stand the final great conflict and we be brought off "more than conquerors." May the Lord grant that none of us may be found wanting in willingness to encourage and strengthen these little ones who are now struggling for existence. In much love to all,
Your servant,
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