"Desire of all Nations Shall Come"
Some time ago the famous National Liberal Club of London called upon Mr. George Bernard Shaw to deliver an address before the members of that club upon the subject of Human Equality, and therein to set forth his remedy for the alleviation of the social inequality and injustice which prevail the world over. Mr. Shaw accepted the invitation, and in a masterful way discussed social conditions.
By both example and explanation he gave in detail his conviction that equality of income is the only kind of equality possible to humanity.
Mr. Shaw's address, together with replies from several members of the National Liberal Club, appeared in the Metropolitan of last December. The article has provoked much comment. The Editor of the Metropolitan gave opportunity for any one who desired to controvert Mr. Shaw's argument to do so.
Friends of Pastor Russell saw the invitation and urged the Pastor to reply. Finally he consented. Following is his letter to the Editor: Editor Metropolitan, New York City.
Dear Sir:-Friends have called attention to Mr. George Bernard Shaw's article in your December issue, and to your invitation for replies thereto. Responding to their earnest requests, I submit the following: THE BASIS FOR HUMAN EQUALITY Our esteem for Mr. Shaw's cogency of reasoning and forcefulness of expression increased with every sentence of his masterful article, as we read it. We hold that his argument is unanswerable, except upon one point. We endorse it all except that one point, even though no two thinkers might express their thoughts in precisely the same terms. Unfortunately for Mr. Shaw's argument, his one point of weakness is the center, or fulcrum, upon which his masterly argument rests. In other words, while he has demolished practically all other arguments, theories and fads, he has not established his own.
Mr. Shaw sets before us a human equality based upon an equality of income. Yet a picture of his ideal is disconcerting and unsatisfactory. For this reason, every reader of Mr. Shaw's article, while conceding the strength of his argument, must have felt a keen disappointment in the end. His own and other men's ideals ground to powder, Mr. 'Shaw's proposal was wholly unsatisfying. We are prone to believe that Mr. Shaw shared in this disappointment with his readers!
For surely reasonable reflection will convince us that the mere giving to every human being a bag of gold of equal size would not make the individuals equal-but merely the money, which one would hoard, another lavish and waste, and a few wisely use. A world thus on the financial basis of equality would be as unequal as at the present time as respects mental and moral equality-the soul. Indeed, they would be more unequal than now; for each, able to gratify his whims, would accentuate his peculiarities; whereas now the treadmill of necessity moderates these whims and teaches valuable lessons.
Having brushed aside Mr. Shaw's theory of human equality on a financial basis, and he himself having already swept away all other theories, our way is cleared for the presentation of the true theory of human equality. We confidently affirm that the only basis of human equality, as yet an ideal only, is the perfection of the human soul. By this soul-perfection we mean that balance and poise of mind which is represented by the Golden Rule, and which the Bible calls the image and likeness of the Creator. With all men brought to this grand standard of mental and moral perfection of meekness, gentleness, patience, brotherly-kindness, justice and love, we should have human equality. Be it remembered that such perfection of mind would include perfection of body, since the two are so intimately related as to be really parts of the same. Provide this condition in the world, and we shall have peace, love, joy, and as the Bible says, there will be no more sighing, no more crying, no more dying-no more curse in any sense of the word.
We take it that all of our readers will heartily acquiesce in this presentation-that they will all admit that any other equality would be as unsatisfactory as our present conditions-or nearly so. But do we hear an objection? Does somebody say: Such a perfection is idealistic and impracticable? We reply that this is not the question before us. The question is: What is human equality? With equal force we might claim that Mr. Shaw's theory of an equality based on income is an unattainable theory-that by no process of reasoning can we imagine that humanity, constituted as it is with diversities of tastes and appetites, could ever bring itself to the place where all incomes would be exactly alike. And if the equal income could be attained daily, one man would have spent his before noon and be seeking to rob the other who had been more economical. The same is true of all the other theories which Mr. Shaw so cleverly dashed in pieces. [HG637]
Our answer to the question is complete in the foregoing; but, as we still have space at our disposal, let us briefly outline how the Bible teaches that the ideal of human equality above set forth will yet become an accomplished fact-in approximately a thousand years from now.
Few evolutionists would be reckless enough to express the hope that the ideal human perfection above suggested could be attained by the human family short of millions of years-if ever. All evolutionists know that in one thousand years more, say, A. D. 3000, at the present rate of human increase, doubling every century, Earth would be overcrowded with a population two thousand times as many as at present, which would give them no time adequate to the attainment of human perfection, even if their theories were correct. Furthermore, evolutionists are becoming discouraged with their own theories, in view of the fact that mental, moral and physical decay seem to be on the increase, despite the heroic efforts made by noble souls to stem the tide. Despite the efforts of our learned physicians and surgeons the race is growing weaker and diseases multiply proportionately.
Education does not stop immorality, vice, criminality-our prisons and reformatories are overflowing. Humanity's brain power is deteriorating. Asylums are multiplying and yet are crowded. In our noble Empire State more than thirty-two thousand thus mentally unequal, are confined in asylums-one out of every one hundred of the adult population of the State. It surely is time to bring forward some more satisfactory solution of the matter than the Evolution theory can offer, of attaining human perfection-God-likeness.
It has well been said that "Man's extremity is God's opportunity." The Bible, ignored or scoffed at in the colleges, and misunderstood and misrepresented in the house of its friends, is now in God's due time coming to the front. To the astonishment of Bible students the Holy Spirit is illuminating its parables and dark sayings in an astounding manner. Instead of its being the foolish old Book that many of us once supposed, it is now radiating a light all its own-harmonious, reasonable, grandly beautiful-the very thing that honest, intelligent souls have yearned for and sought for ages. Astonishing wonder! The Bible tells that from the very first God has planned a world-wide Human Equality. More than this, the Bible indicates just when this condition of things will come to pass. Furthermore, it tells precisely the instrumentalities and methods God will use in bringing it to passl Only concisely can we portray this great, marvelous story of Holy Writ in our allotted space. Briefly: God foreknow the disobedience of the first man, who was created in his Maker's moral likeness-perfect, yet untrained and inexperienced.
The Creator permitted him to take his course, to bring upon himself sorrow, pain, crying and dying-mental, moral and physical imperfection; not eternal torment in some other world, as taught by our creeds and generally misunderstood by all.
The Divine purpose, according to the Bible, is that humanity's troubles and difficulties shall eventually prove educational to all. The Divine Program as therein set forth is divided into seven great Epochs or Days, corresponding to the human week. For six of these great Thousand-Year Days man has labored in toil and sweat of face to extricate himself from the entanglements of his fallen condition-sin, sickness, sorrow, pain, tears, dying.
But as we have seen, all of these efforts have been futile. The sages of the past, who sought the world around for the waters of life and elixirs of health, have been followed by our great schools of medicine and thousands of able practitioners-to no effect. In spite of all our efforts, we are a dying race. As St. Paul declared: The world has been living under a reign of "Sin and Death," for six of these great Days, each a thousand years long.
We are now entering the Seventh Day, or Epoch. We have been amazed that the aurora of its dawn has been so much brighter than that of its predecessors. Within its first fifty years the world has been illumined with rich blessings of intelligence, which evidently come, not because of humanity's increased mental powers, but because the hand of Divine providence is lifting the veil and scattering the mists hitherto impenetrable. The Bible explains that according to the Divine Plan, arranged before man's creation, the Seventh Day or Thousand-Year Epoch is to be totally different from the preceding six. Through appointed agencies "God will wipe away all tears from off all faces"-the curse or blight of sin, DEATH, will be removed. Instead, the sunshine of Divine favor will bring to humanity life, joy, peace, not through Evolution, but through Restitution. Acts 3:19-21
According to the Bible, humanity deteriorated at an alarming rate for four thousand years. St. Paul explains to us that this degradation, which is still more or less manifest all over the earth, came because of [HG638] human willfulness and because God did not interfere to hinder the demoralizing course, except in a few instances-Sodom, Nineveh, etc. We read, "When they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened; professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, . . . Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts . . . and even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, . . . being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, quarreling, deceit, malignity. 'Two ways were open to the Creator in dealing with His rebellious creatures:
(1) He could coerce them or destroy them.
(2) He could permit them to take their course and learn the lesson of the "exceeding sinfulness of sin"; and that "whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." Then He would reveal to His creatures His own character of Justice, Wisdom, Love and Power, and demonstrate that He could provide and offer to them recovery from the plight into which disobedience had plunged them-recovery from sin, weakness, sorrow, pain, death-or the alternative of obedience to these blessings, would bring annihilation, "everlasting destruction" (2 Thess. 1:9) to perish "like natural brute beasts." (2 Pet. 2:12) The latter is the plan which God adopted according to the Bible. Who can dispute its reasonableness, it justice, its love, its God-likeness?
Retracing our steps we see in the light of the Bible that while the world in general took its own course, God revealed Himself nearly twenty-five hundred years after the fall, to Father Abraham-because of His loyalty of heart. However, the great Seventh Day appointed for Earth's blessing was yet far distant. And so the Almighty, instead of changing the operation of His Plan, merely injected into the loyal heart and head of Abraham an illuminating ray-a divine promise which pointed down to the great time of blessing. God informed Abraham that the prevalent blight, or curse, of death would ultimately give place to a general blessing which would affect every member of the human family. He assured him that this blessing would be bestowed through members of the sin-cursed race, and that Abraham's descendants would be prominently identified with the work of blessing. Abraham merely got heart-inspirations. These were handed down to Isaac, to Jacob, to all Israel; and these promises are the basis of all Christian hopes. As expressed in Jesus' prayer, "Thy Kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth, even as it is done in Heaven."
Here we see exemplified the power of the mind and its uplifting influence. Not that all the Jews were lifted out of sin and idolatry to grandeur of character-only a few were thus exercised. The others received merely a secondary influence from the promises, which they imperfectly understood and but slightly believed. It has been the same during this Christian era. The wonderful words of life and hope through the Kingdom preached by Jesus and His Apostles had a quickening effect, a transforming influence, a sanctifying power, upon the comparatively few who heartily believed and loyally obeyed throughout this Age. The secondary influence of the teachings of Christ are manifest in the higher civilization that has since come into the world-much of it merely a form of godliness without the real power-nevertheless, this reflex influence of this last Message from Jehovah has done much to lift the whole world out of its previously helpless stupor.
The Bible explains that the dying conditions which have prevailed in the world for six thousand years are to give place to resurrection influences in the great Seventh Day already dawning. In that day Messiah will reign-exercise Divine power in the interest of humanity. Satan and all malevolent influences opposed to God, righteousness, truth, will be bound or restrained; and good, helpful, blessed influences, knowledge, truths, will, like a rising sun of righteousness, flood the whole earth with blessings and helpful opportunities of return to Divine favor and everlasting life.
God's promise to Abraham, "the hope set before us in the Gospel" (Heb. 6:13-19), is so comprehensive as to include every member of our race in the blessings promised. "In thy Seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed." This, as Jesus and the Apostles pointed out, guarantees a resurrection of the dead-both just and unjust, "every man in his own order," company, or class. The first, or chief, resurrection Jesus informs us will include none but the saintly class who faithfully follow His leading in their hearts, and, so far as possible, in their words and deeds. (Rev. 20:4,5) Only the saintly will receive perfection of life at the Second Coming of Christ.
The world's resurrection will be a gradual process, lasting a thousand years, the reward of everlasting life obtainable only when the thousand years are finished.
The entire work of Messiah's Kingdom will be restitutionary, uplifting, resurrecting, and will include every member of Adam's race-involved in sin and death through one man's disobedience (Adam), [HG639] and privileged to have return to Divine favor through the merit of the Second Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ. Retribution there will be, the Bible assures us.
"Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." But those retributions will not be vindictive, nor will they be administered during death, nor by Satan and his hosts. They will be purifying, administered in sympathy and love, with a view of correction in righteousness and the uplifting of the degraded ones gradually back to the Divine image. The judges of the world who will administer those corrections and rewards, the Bible tells us, will be Christ and the Church in glory-unseen-on the spirit plane.
The Bible, as now better understood, teaches that these glorious things of God's grace, these blessings for every creature of the human family, are nigh, at the door. Although so near us, they are discernible only by those who are permitted to look through the key-hole of the Bible. The view there seen is that the multiplied blessings of this dawning hour of the Millennium are not being received by mankind in a proper spirit. Gratitude, thankfulness and love are not the fruits of this increase of blessings and knowledge; but on the contrary faith in the Almighty is decreasing; anchorages of faith are breaking; selfishness, envy, hatred, strife- "every man's hand against his brother"-are increasing. Thus we demonstrate that earthly blessings are really injurious to those out of tune with the Infinite One.
The talents of Mr. Shaw and other able men of humanitarian instinct, or allied with Socialism, are farming the spirit of discontent and slowly, but surely, guiding the less mentally efficient onto the rocks of revolution. They are doing this in all honesty, too-because they do not see the great Divine Plan outlined in the foregoing. The Bible tells all this to those who have learned to read it right. It shows us that a revolution is at hand, short, sharp, terrible- "a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation." (Dan. 12:1) In that revolution according to the Bible, the social earth will melt and disintegrate in the fervency or heat of the strife, and the symbolic heavens (ecclesiasticism) will be involved and pass away with a great commotion.
But then, O joy! God's time will come for human rescue from human passion.
Messiah will interpose and still the storm of human passion, and there shall be a great calm. Thus in God's providence mankind will be permitted to go the full length in demonstrating that only Divine power can rescue them. Then as the Scriptures declare, "The desire of all nations shall come"-Messiah's reign of righteousness, truth, justice, mercy, love.
RELIGIOUS AND SCIENTIFIC GLEANINGS
"So thoroughly entrenched is the doctrine of religious freedom that the public has tolerated practices which have caused the innocent to suffer in many instances.
"An illustration comes from Newton, 111., where an epileptic youth was beaten by so-called Holy Rollers with the hope that the beating might exorcise the devils supposed to be responsible for the condition of the unfortunate lad. A still more striking illustration was the wholesale slaughter by "Adam God" and his crew of fanatics at Kansas City. The Holy Rollers base most of their claims on a portion of the last chapter in Mark, which does not appear in the Vatican and other old manuscripts. They profess power to heal any illness, the ability to speak in an unknown tongue and many other miraculous gifts. In their public services they have various forms of nervous spasms and jump up and down in ecstasy, giving rise to one of their appellations, Holy Jumpers. At other times they roll on the floor and babble. Some occasionally go into trances. They surround the sick and carry on their babbling, singing and shouting, creating a condition that aggravates nervous disorders and could not be beneficial to a patient ill of any malady.
"In dozens of communities the victims of this religious mania allow children to die of ailments that are seldom fatal when treated by physicians. Yet because of the sincerity of parents and the fact that the children might have died, even if given proper attention, jurors are reluctant to return verdicts of guilty in criminal prosecutions. Criminal prosecutions do not stay the mania. When the leaders are committed to jail they compare themselves to Peter, Silas, Paul and other early Christians and count their imprisonment persecution and take glory in it. They hold services in [HG640] jail and impress fellow-prisoners and jail officials with their sincerity. It is useless to argue with them. If a person over whom they hold their prayers and services recovers, it is proof of their divine influence; if the person dies, it is a sign that his appointed time had come. Any event is interpreted as a mark of favor or an indication of the Lord's displeasure. Few of them are impostors and their criminal prosecution would not be just."
St. Louis Globe-Democrat
Information sent out from the Lick Observatory in California is that the particular universe of stars in which we dwell is half again as large in scale as the world has been supposing. Our own sun is still youthful, and keeps travelling northwardly through space at the comparatively leisurely pace of twelve miles per second, or only two-thirds the average speed of stars of its own class. The North Star is not really a single star, but triple, consisting of three suns revolving about a common center.
"The trouble with the church of today is the fact that it has too many pinheads," said the Rev. J. Whitcomb Brougher, of the Temple Baptist Church, Los Angeles, before the National Baptists Association in convention here today. Dr. Brougher's statement caused somewhat of a stir among the delegates. Dr. Brougher said further: "The church is hindered in its progress by a bunch of weazen, hammered-down tightwads, and is the greatest congregating place for downright backwoods people. The only comparison I can emphasize as to its progress is a woman wearing an encumbering hobble skirt." Sacramento Union Mr. Marconi says that he believes the day is not far off when the human voice will cross the Atlantic by wireless telephone; that the results of his recent experiments are conclusive of this prophecy.
This article was republished in Reprints R4846-R4847, July 1, 1911, entitled, "Darwin's Evolution Theory Falling."
By William Hanna Thomson, M. D.
This Article was republished in Reprint 5370, December 15, 1913, entitled, "Blessed Are The Meek."
"I have listened to nearly all the great preachers of the world, but I never heard from any one of them so powerful a sermon as was preached to me in 'Within the Law. 'It was an eye-opener, a soul-rouser, a heartwarmer! It made you feel good; it made you feel bad; it threw you down to the bottom of the abyss, it lifted you to the glorious heights; it made you cry, it made you shout for joy.
"Poor humanity, what a hard time you have had of it down through the long, sad, weary agesl How your saviors have crucified you, how your governments and laws have robbed and oppressed you; how your [HG641] institutions, professions, sanctities have bled you, brutalized you, degraded and damned you! You are still very sad and miserable, after thousands of years of honest struggle for uplift and progress. Squalor, wretchedness, degradation, almost despair, are written very plainly in your looks and still more plainly in your deeds.
"Yes, you have had a hard time of it. It is because the whole fabric of Sociay, the whole machinery of State, of Business, of Politics, of the Law, has been dominated by the spirit of the twin-devils of Hypocrisy and Greed.
"The politicians and statesmen have been talking of reform; the legal gentlemen have been shouting about justice; the preachers have been bombarding their congregations with beautiful platitudes on Heaven and the rapture of the saints; and all the while the canker of Greed and Indifference to the great Natural Law of Right, which should ever prevail between man and man, has been eating away at the heart of human joy and human good.
"If Richard Gilder can but make his millions he does not care a continental what becomes of Mary Turner and Helen Morris.
"If Inspector Burke can only 'convict' somebody, he doesn't care the toss of a copper whether the person convicted is guilty or innocent.
"If you can only get wealth and power, it makes no difference how you get them, they will make you a 'big one, 'and that is the main thing.
"If you are only 'orthodox' in religion, then a fig for such idle questions as 'Is this orthodoxy true or false? Does it emancipate and uplift the mind or enslave and degrade it ? Is it a blessing or a curse ?'
"If the outside of things is all right no matter about the inside. Keep up the Appearances. Make a good bluff. Be a hypocrite, and act your part so damnably fine that no one will be able to 'catch on' to the game.
"It is a wide-reaching, lynx-eyed, all-searching, remorseless inquisition, that drags out into the light of day, and mercilessly flays, the double-dealing, insincerity and cold-blooded selfishness and brutality of institutional society.
"It shows us what a terrible thing it is for a man to forget the right of his fellowmen. It makes us feel how supremely necessary it is that we should all feel a loving interest in one another, and be willing-gladly, joyfully willing-to find our happiness in the happiness of others, if possible, in the happiness of all. It makes us ashamed of the shark-toothed greed which gloats over the gain that involves the misery and ruin of other human beings. It makes us hate with all our heart the suave, oily, decorous hypocrisy that prates of good while it is working evil, and that in its flawless livery of heaven is doing what it can to turn earth into a hell.
"Is it not about time that those 'in authority' had taken off their masks and looked their fellows squarely in the face? Isn't it about time that we had begun to love simple truth, and to love one another more than we love place, and power, and gold? Isn't it high time we had come to the conclusion that there is nothing holier than human love and happiness, just as there is nothing unholier than the brutal selfishness or spic-and-span hypocrisy which would sacrifice these things to their personal upbuilding?" Rev. T. B. Gregory in New York American On the shore of the Sea of Galilee, where Jesus broiled some fish one fine morning upwards of 1900 years ago, a sardine canning factory is planned.
This article can be found in its entirety in the Newspaper Sermons, entitled, "The Dawn of the Golden Age of the Prophets and the Poets. "
Peace, perfect peace! by thronging duties pressed?
To do the will of Jesus, this is rest.
"Else were your children unholy, but now are they holy." 1 Cor. 7:14
This text, which differentiates between holy and unholy infants, was probably the basis for much of the confusion which has prevailed in all denominations on the subject of infant salvation and infant damnation.
Some months ago the Presbyterian General Assembly in the United States took a very advanced theological step on this subject. According to telegraphic dispatches, it has altered the Presbyterian Confession of Faith so as to save the non-elect infants as well as the elect ones.
The thought that God had arranged a Plan by which some infants would go to Heaven at death and other infants would go to eternal torture has for centuries greatly troubled the minds of all Christian people Catholic and Protestant. Some said that the elect infants would be saved and the non-elect infants would be tortured. Others had it that any infant by baptism would be brought into the Church and be saved, while infants not thus baptized or sprinkled would go to eternal torture. Others had it that none could be saved without regeneration, and these were perplexed to know how infants could be said to be regenerated.
Therefore how could they hope that any infants would be saved? The hearts and the heads of all good people have suffered terribly for many centuries because of these confused ideas.
It is gratifying to see that with the Presbyterians, at least, love and sympathy have triumphed, and that, so far as they are concerned, 30,000 infants daily go to Heaven, instead of going to Hell. Certainly this is a missionary project of no mean proportions! At this rate they no doubt believe that Heaven will soon begin to have reasonable proportions as compared with Hell. We regret that the brethren did not take any measures looking toward the relief of the non-elect infants of the past, who now must number thousands of millions. This point is worthy of consideration, and we trust will have their attention.
And since the matter is so easily adjusted, why would it not be the proper thing for all Christian denominations to follow the lead and example of the Presbyterians? We fear that not many of the other denominations will join the Presbyterians in their generous work of helping the infants. They might reason that if all infants dying in infancy are saved, it might be the safest thing that parents could do for their children to insure their eternal salvation by killing them in infancy. Then baby incubators and various devices-medicines, foods, etc. intended for preservation of infants' lives might come to be considered detrimental to the eternal interests of the children!
But how foolish all such theories seem! How beautiful by contrast is the simple teaching of the Bible, that the salvation for all-old and young, of heathen lands as well as of Christian lands-is through the resurrection power of Messiah's Kingdom-through its enlightening and uplifting, or resurrecting influences! Why should we longer trouble ourselves with the errors of the Dark Ages, where God's Message, the Bible, is now opening up for His people, shining as an electric lamp, in contrast with the tallow-candle darkness of the creeds?
We feel great sympathy for the move made by the Presbyterian brethren, but, nevertheless, we are unable to agree with their conclusions, believing that the Bible teaches otherwise. We realize that the Presbyterian view of Election makes it difficult for them to deal with the non-elect, both adults and infants. We find the Scriptures declaring that God is selecting, or electing, the Church from amongst the world. We concede that those not elected would be properly termed non-elect.
But we find nothing in the Bible to indicate that non-election to joint-heirship in Messiah's Kingdom means predestination to an eternity of torture.
We realize, too, that the Presbyterian friends must feel considerable embarrassment in trying to adjust themselves to their changed creed. For if there are no non-elect infants, then all infants are elect; and if elect when infants, how could their predestination change with advancing years? Our advice to Presbyterian brethren is that the entire creed be recast; or, better still, that it and all other creeds be abandoned, and the Bible as a whole be accepted. Then all Bible students could come together without prejudice for mutual assistance and untrammeled growth in grace along Bible lines.
While we mention Presbyterians, our thought includes all Christians. For surely many others than Presbyterians have been consigning adults and infants to the number of at least 90,000 every day, or 32,000,000 every year, to eternal torture, if not because non-elect, then because unregenerate, or unbaptized. Surely all intelligent people are out of accord with such a proposition. Surely all must agree that some great mistake has been made during the Dark Ages, and that under the influence of that [HG643] mistake, as expressed in our creeds, our God has been slandered. Surely today every thinking person will concede that a human being planning such atrocities would be a thousand times more devilish than any one known in history, and surely our great God, our Creator, could not be worse than the worst and most depraved of all His creatures!
On the contrary, God must of necessity be the very personification of all the graces-Justice, Wisdom, Love and Power. Evidently a God who foreknow and determined to send these 32,000,000 human beings per year to an eternity of torture would not only not be a God at all, but would be the most terrible devil that the human could conceivel Bible students are realizing that a great mistake has occurred, and that the Bible teaches nothing of the kind we had supposed. More and more, as the eyes of their understanding open to proper interpretations of God's Word, they are appreciating the Divine character and the Bible as never before.
As we understand it, our Presbyterian friends have changed the statement of the creed, which formerly read, "Elect infants dying in infancy are saved"-taking out the word "elect" and letting it read, "Infants dying in infancy are saved." But is this true? Do our Presbyterian friends believe this?
Come, let us reason together: Are not the children as well as the more matured members of Adam's family born in sin and misshapened in iniquity? Are not all of these by nature "children of wrath?" Did not every member of Adam's family come under his sentence and participate in the penalty, or curse, of his sin- "Dying, thou shalt die"? Is not this the reason that infants die at all? Will not all concede that had there been no sin there would have been no death in the human family? Does not St. Paul distinctly state this, saying, "By one man's disobedience sin entered the world, and death as the result of sin, and thus death passed upon all men, because all are sinners"? Rom. 5:12; Psalm 51:5
Surely all Christian people, Presbyterians especially, will agree that the sentence of death, passed upon Father Adam and inherited by his race, must needs be settled, cancelled, before any of his posterity, old or young, could be released from the penalty. True, we all agree that the death of the Lord Jesus Christ is the redemption price and that He provided it more than eighteen centuries ago. But do we not also agree that Jesus' death, of itself, saves nobody; that His merit becomes applicable even to us of the Church only at such time as we believe in it and accept it, appropriating it to ourselves?
Is not this the proclamation of the Gospel Age- "Believe!" "Believe!" Do we not remember the Bible declaration that we are justified by faith, not by being infants? And do we not all agree that faith cannot be exercised except by a more or less developed mind? Hence all should agree that the Scriptural proposition is, that all infants shared in Adam's sentence of death, and have provision also in the redemptive work of Jesus. Nevertheless, they can be saved only by coming to a knowledge of God and of Jesus, and by then exercising faith and obedience to the extent of ability. We believe this to be an undebatable proposition.
If this be so, then our Presbyterian brethren overstate the matter when they declare that all infants dying in infancy are saved. They might very properly say, All infants dying in infancy, and everybody else, come under the provision of Divine grace in Christ, and must all be brought to a knowledge of the Truth, that they may be saved; and then when thus brought to know the Lord and the terms of salvation, the results will depend upon themselves. If they accept, they may have the everlasting life provided; if they reject, they will experience the Second Death.
We have already intimated the teaching of the Bible. All mankind came under the Divine curse, or sentence of death not eternal torment. "In due time Christ died for the ungodly"-for every one of them-for all those who lived before His crucifixion, and for all born since-for white and black, old and young-of every nation. Because of this general redemption, co-extensive with the curse, or sentence of death, there is to be a recovery from the curse of death. All mankind are thus to be made amenable to the release from the death penalty to have the opportunity of a resurrection out of sin and death conditions back to perfect life conditions. Only those who willfully and intelligently reject this grace of God will die the Second Death-be blotted out as though they had never been-perish like natural brute beasts. 2 Pet. 2:12 From this standpoint we see that nobody is saved yet. All both infant and adults, heathen and Christians go to Sheol, Hades, the tomb, the state of death. All are said to sleep in Sheol, Hades, the tomb, until the glorious Morning of the New Dispensation, Messiah's Kingdom of glory. Then the Church will constitute the First Resurrection class, to Heavenly glories and honors and Divine nature.
Following this, the Church with her Lord will reign as kings and [HG644] priests, for the blessing of the entire human family, of all ages, nationalities and colors.
In other words, according to the Bible none has gone to Heaven. As Jesus said, "No man hath ascended into Heaven." John 3:13) Hence there are no infants in Heaven. All infants who have died have gone to the Bible Hell, the tomb, and "know not anything." They merely await the time when the Kingdom shall be in power, and the awakening processes shall begin to operate; and they shall come forth from death each in his own band, or company. 1 Cor. 15:23; John 5:28, 29 R. V.
There is another theological theory, which has no Scriptural foundation, but which claims that every infant is immortal, and that the present life, long or short, favorable or unfavorable, constitutes the only opportunity ever to be enjoyed for reforming character and becoming fit for a happy eternity. Hence, according to this unscriptural theory, the children of unbelievers conceived and born in sin and depravity as are all mankind, more or less-are unprepared for an eternity of bliss, and consequently must spend that eternity in pain and horror.
But let us rid the mind of this false theory, and go by Scripture alone. As the Word of God declares, "God only hath immortality." Therefore no infants are immortal. When God said, "The soul that sinneth it shall die." He meant it. When He declared, "All the wicked will I destroy," He meant it. The penalty upon Adam and his race is death; and therefore children and all others die because of Adam's sin. The worst that can befall the children of unbelievers would be death.
What, then, is the Scriptural hope for the children of unbelievers? It is exactly the same as for the children of saints; namely, that Christ Jesus our Lord tasted death for every man when he tasted death for Adam; for all are under Adam's sentence of condemnation to death. One man's sin brought the death penalty upon all; therefore the one man's Ransom was the Ransom for all. The children of the unbelievers were redeemed in the most absolute sense from the entire condemnation of death. Indeed, none but sinners were redeemed. "Christ died for the ungodly." All are ungodly; all are sinners. Hence, all die; and all need to be redeemed, else they would have no hope of a resurrection.
In the Messianic Kingdom, the Resurrection Age, children of believers will have a little advantage over the children of unbelievers, in that they will have less depraved organisms when awakened. But under the grand resurrection processes then at work such disadvantages will soon be overcome. All who are willing and obedient shall be brought to a full knowledge of the Truth and full opportunities for complete Restitution, back to all that was lost to Adam, for himself and his posterity. In that day it will no more be said, "The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children's teeth are set on edge." "Every one shall die for his own iniquity." "The soul that sinneth it shall die." Jer. 31:29, 30; Eze. 18:2-4 How reasonable are the ways of God? How plainly are they stated in the Word!
Those who have the eye and the ear of faith, who are harkening to the Word of the living God rather than to the dead creeds of the Dark Ages, have a joy and peace of mind which is a source of strength unknown to others.
According to the Divine arrangement, parents are responsible in respect to their children. The conscientious parent has a wonderful opportunity to train his children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. The Christian parent should earnestly seek for the wisdom from above, that he may be able to rightly discharge his duties under all circumstances, even the most trying.
The Apostle clearly distinguishes between the children of believers and the children of unbelievers. His argument is that the children of unbelievers are without any relationship to God, and without any supervision from Him; while the children of believers, because of parental relationship, are subjects of Divine supervision and care. For these, as for their parents, all things work together for good-for their welfare. this Divine supervision on account of their parents will, of course, terminate when the individual child comes to years of discretion and responsibility. Then he must enter into personal relationship with God, or, like the remainder of the world, be outside of any relationship with Him, until the Day of Christ, a thousand years long. Then whosoever will may come.
This article was republished in Reprint 5327, October 1, 1913, entitled, "Oblivion Not Annihilation."
"Verily I say unto thee this day, thou shalt be untie Me in Paradise." Luke 23:43
Few of the Master's words have been so misunderstood as has this text, and few have produced so terrible a fruitage of sin. The influence of the text is greatly increased by the unscriptural thought that the dying sinner passes into everlasting torture. Those under the spell of that false doctrine cannot be reproved for wishing to escape from its terrifying influence. As the drowning man grasps at a straw, so those whose hopes for their dead are being held up by this error, grasp at the narrative of the thief, and hope that their departed experienced a momentary repentance, said, "Jesus, forgive me," and straightway was carried to Paradise.
The absurdity of the proposition is crowded out by the mingling of the hope with their love for the deceased.
Well do we remember conducting a funeral service which was interrupted by the wails of the widow. The husband had been shot by an assassin's bullet in a distant mining region. He had died not being a member of a church, and by no means a saint. The poor widow's wails, we afterward learned, were caused by the thought that not having had a moment's warning, the murdered had failed to say, "God forgive me," and thus to gain Paradise.
Who can blame the poor woman for the absurdity of her reasoning? Had she not been taught so to think by all the great creeds of Christendom? Had not her husband and she been taking that very chance of having a moment for repentance before expiring? It is a shame that this wrong thought has been so long allowed to keep people back from making their peace with God in earlier life.
Let us not be misunderstood. We would not discourage a death-bed repentance, or any other. We would, however, have all to recognize that there are fixed rules of Divine Justice which forbid us to think that there is a hell full of unfortunates who died suddenly, with no opportunity for repentance; that there is a Heaven full of lucky murderers, thieves and vagabonds, who were carried to glory without any real change of heart or character, but merely as a reward for momentary prayer.
"Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." Whoever sows a life of sin and self-indulgence will not reap glory, honor, immortality, but a more depraved disposition than that with which he was born.
The supposition that the dying thief asked to go to Heaven with Jesus as a reward for a few kindly words is a mistake. The supposition that Jesus promised that he would go to Heaven that same day is also a mistake. Jesus did not go to Heaven that day. Instead, He went to the Bible Hell-Hades, Sheol, the tomb. He remained dead, St. Peter tells us, until the third day, when God raised Him from the dead by Divine Power. It was after His resurrection on the third day that He appeared to Mary and said, "I have not yet ascended to My Father and your Father, to My God and your God." John 20:17
The Bible tells that Paradise was lost through Adam's sin, six thousand years ago; that it is to be restored as a result of Jesus' death; and the time of its restoration will be during the thousand years of Messiah's Kingdom. Since there was no Paradise when Jesus died, He could not have meant that the thief would be there with Him that day. The claim made by Jesus was that He was to be a King. The thieves had heard Pilate's question, "Art Thou a King, then?" They had heard Jesus' reply, that to this end was He born. But He added, "My Kingdom is not of this Age."
The thief caught the thought that the grand, kingly Character beside him was probably the Messiah, the King of Israel. How to explain the circumstances of that dark hour he knew not, but he defended Jesus. Then with a measure of hope he said, "Lord, when Thou comest into Thy Kingdom remember me." In other words, I believe that you are a King, and that somehow you will yet have a Kingdom. I have sufficient faith to ask you to grant a poor thief a blessing when you reach that Kingdom.
Jesus' reply should be carefully studied. In substance it was, Poor thief, I appreciate your words; and when My Kingdom shall be established, I will remember your kindness and will reward it. Notwithstanding this dark day with its unfavorable setting, I am really a King, and these experiences are necessary for Me, that I may enter into My Kingdom. ThusJesus said, Be it as you have asked-I will remember you when I come into possession of My Kingdom. "Verily I say unto thee this day, thou shalt be with Me in Paradise."
The difficulty has been with the wrong thought of the translators, and the misplacement of the comma. [HG646] Punctuation is a modern convenience in all languages. there is none in the original Scriptures. The translators put the comma where they thought it should be, but evidently they made a great mistake. It would be thoroughly inconsistent to say that Jesus went to Paradise, when He had not yet ascended to the Father, and when the promised Paradise is to be established in the earth after the Second Coming of Christ, as a result of His Millennial Reign. Rev. 21:3-5 Placing the comma where we have done leaves the passage thoroughly in accord with all the Bible. That passage, properly understood, leaves not a shadow of Scriptural support to the thought that a prayer a moment before death would change the eternal destiny of anybody.
Let us get back to the Bible. Let us get rid of the foolishness of the creeds. Let us remember that a dead man is dead, as the Bible declares. "His sons come to honor, and he knoweth it not; they come to dishonor, but he perceiveth it not of them." "There is neither device nor knowledge nor wisdom in Sheol [Hades, the tomb], whither thou goest"-whither all go.
But nothing in the Bible suggests that man dies in the same sense as the brute.
There is no hope for a future life for the brute, but God's Word stands pledged for a future life for humanity. "There shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and of the unjust." "All that are in their graves shall hear the voice of the Son of Man and come forth."
The Bible tells that unless Christ had redeemed the life of mankind by the sacrifice of His own life, there would have been no resurrection of the dead. But from the foundation of the world God purposed a resurrection; and that Jesus should eventually be the Lamb of God, to take away the sin of the world. "As by a man [Adam] came death, by a man [Jesus] comes the resurrection of the dead; for as all in Adam die, even so all in Christ shall be made alive"- "every man in his own order." 1 Cor. 15:21-23
Jesus Himself, we read, was the first to rise from the dead to be fully released from the power of death. Lazarus, Jairus' daughter, etc., were not resurrected in full, but merely awakened temporarily. They fell asleep in death again, and will have in their own due time the Divinely appointed opportunity for a resurrection.
According to the Bible, the Church will be the next in order, and will have a resurrection to spirit nature, similar to that of Jesus; hence the Apostle's desire to share in Christ's resurrection by having a share in His sacrificial death. "For if we be dead with Him, we shall also live with Him." 2 Tim. 2:11 Next after the Church will come the resurrection of the Ancient Worthies, of whom John the Baptist was the last. Their resurrection was referred to by St. Paul in Hebrews 11, where he declares that "God has reserved some better thing for us [the Church], that they without us should not be made perfect."
St. Paul declares that in the resurrection every man will come forth in his own order, or band, or company. When the due time shall come for the awakening of the generation which crucified Jesus, quite probably both the thieves will come forth from death at or about the same time. Both thieves will receive the blessing purchased for them by the Redeemer's death-to be brought to a knowledge of the Truth, to be helped up out of ignorance, superstition, blindness by rewards, stripes, punishments-if they will, to human perfection, lost in Adam, redeemed by Jesus.
But there will be a difference between the conditions of the two thieves. Both will be in Paradise; for the whole earth is to be a Paradise. The hardened thief may have had a less favorable birth, or a less favorable environment in life. Only the Lord, the great Judge, is able to know how much excuse should be made for him and how much penalty should attach to him.
The penitent thief will be much more favorably conditioned, not merely because he spoke some kindly words to the Master in His hour of tribulation, but especially because those words indicate that his heart was in a more just and tender condition. Additionally we are to remember that the Lord has especially promised that every good deed done to Himself, or any of His followers, shall receive a special reward. Any such sympathy or kindness would imply a condition of heart not far from the Kingdom; hence the promise of a special blessing for such good deeds bespeaks Divine recognition of principle and character.
It seems difficult to many to think of God's having a provision for the majority of our race in the future. Somehow the impression has gone abroad that everlasting destinies are fixed at death. The only text ever quoted in support of this thought is a statement that "where a tree falleth there shall it lie." (Eccl. 11:3) Sure enough the fallen tree cannot raise itself. And sure enough man, fallen into death, is [HG647] equally powerless. There he would be forever were it not for the Divine arrangement for his awakening by the Lord Jesus Christ.
Many of us have been too free to believe that the penalty for sin may be entirely escaped by a simple word of prayer, and yet reversely have believed that there could be no forgiveness of sins after death. The only explanation of this persistent thought in the minds of the masses is that they were taught that destinies were fixed at death by the taking of the dying one over to a fiery Hell, or to a blazing Purgatory, or to a blissful Heaven.
After all, in confusion did we not once say that everybody, for a time at least, would be brought out of Heaven, Purgatory and Hell to attend a Judgment scene-quite contrary to reason and the Bible-a Judgment to determine whether any mistake had been made in regard to who had Heaven, who had Hell and who had Purgatory? How foolish we have been-how stupid, how inconsistent, how unscriptural!
Now we see that the dead are simply sleeping until the Morning, when all the sleepers will be awakened by Him who died for all. Now we see that no changes take place in the moral status of the dead, nor in the Divine standards. He who forgave us our sins when we confessed them and forsook them is "the same yesterday, today and forever," and will be just as ready to forgive the world of mankind, when in due time He shall send them light and they shall believe and repent.
Surely there is no more reason why a sinner could not be forgiven in the future than that a sinner could not be forgiven in the present. When sinners are forgiven now, it does not mean that they obtain full release from some proper penalty for their sins sickness, sorrow, pain. Nor will the forgiveness of sins in the future Age mean that no stripes will be put upon the transgressors. Jesus distinctly tells us respecting that future Age that then those who have sinned against knowledge, light, will be punished with many stripes, while those who have sinned with less light will be punished with few stripes. Luke 12:47, 48
Take for example the son of the widow of Nain, or others of those awakened by our Lord. We know little respecting their relationship to God. This widow's son may have been a good man or a wicked man; but the fact that he had been awakened from the sleep of death by the Master would certainly work no injury to him afterward in the matter of forgiving sins for which he might repent.
God's entire object in providing the Kingdom of Messiah and in restraining Satan and causing the knowledge of God's glory to fill the earth is to give mankind a better opportunity than is now generally enjoyed for repentance and reconciliation with Himself. Now, only the favored few can see, can hear, can understand. Then, all, from the least to the greatest, shall be brought to a knowledge of the Lord and His goodness, and unto Him "every knee shall bow and every tongue confess."
Now we see by the light of the Bible that good and bad, civilized and heathen, all go, at death, to the Bible hell to Sheol, Hades, the tomb. Now we see that all are waiting for the glorious Morning, to be ushered in by the Second Coming of Jesus. Now we see that only the few have yet had the light and blessing which determines their everlasting destiny; that the overcomers of this Gospel Age will be associated with Jesus as spirit beings in the Kingdom, while the overcomers of previous times will be associated with the same Kingdom as its earthly representatives. In their cases only will the Divine judgment have been settled.
The remainder of mankind, dying in more or less ignorance of God and His terms of acceptance of sinners, are to have their judgment, or trial, during the thousand years of Messiah's Kingdom. The willing and obedient shall be blessed and enter into life eternal. The disobedient, wilful sinner will die the Second Death.
Jesus, in speaking of that coming Judgment Day of the world, declared that the Sodomites will be there, as well as the people to whom He preached. And significantly He stated that it would be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the Day of Judgment than for Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum; for if the Sodomites had been privileged to enjoy the preaching of Jesus they would have repented in sackcloth and ashes.
From the Master's words we thus perceive how serious might be our misjudgments of the hearts of men. The people of Bethsaida, Chorazin and Capernaum were regular attendants of the synagogues-decent people, having a form of godliness, but knowing little or nothing of its power. They will have an opportunity also during the thousand-year Judgment Day of Messiah's Kingdom.
If they will, they may then learn the lessons necessary and eventually attain everlasting life. But because of their greater privileges, the blessings they will enjoy in the future will be correspondingly curtailed; and it will be more tolerable for Sodom than for them.
This article was republished in Reprint R5372, December 15, 1913, entitled, "Salvation -Universal And Limited."
"Judged by human standards man is far better prepared to write a Bible now than when our Bible was written. The characters whose words and deeds are recorded in the Bible were members of a single race; they lived among the hills of Palestine in a territory scarcely larger than one of our counties. They did not have printing presses and they lacked the learning of our schools; they had not great libraries to consult, no steamboats to carry them around the world and make them acquainted with the various centers of civilization; they had no telegraph wires to bring them news from the ends of the earth and no newspapers to spread before them each morning the doings of the day before. From what a scantily supplied storehouse of knowledge they had to draw, compared with the unlimited wealth of information at man's command today! And yet, these Bible characters grapple with every problem that confronts mankind from the creation of the world to eternal life beyond the grave.
"None but divinely appointed men, with their limited opportunities and facilities and the lack of knowledge of other people, could have written a work that all the philosophers of the world today, with millions of books to cultivate their minds and telegraph wires that keep them in touch with the pulse of all mankind, could not approach in logic, reasoning, example and precept."
William J. Bryan
A heart, stomach and kidneys, transferred from the casement of flesh to glass jars in his laboratory by Dr. Alexis Carrel, of the Rockefeller Institute, are now performing their normal functions. This startling announcement was made by Dr. Carrel himself to a group of scientists who listened breathlessly to his account of his latest achievement.
Dr. Carrel has kept a heart, taken from its body, alive for 104 days. His success with this experiment strengthened his belief, he said, that the stomach and other vital organs of animals could be transferred from one body to another without cessation of their normal functions. He experimented with a heart, stomach and kidneys and told the scientists:
"The heart is beating, the stomach is digesting and the kidneys performing their functions as well as ever, while the body that contained them is long since dead."
New York American
At an inter-denominational meeting in New York City recently, the Rev. Charles Jefferson gave expression to these fitting words: "In every capital of Europe you see the gleam of the bayonet and hear the tramp of armed men getting ready for the battle that is coming," said Dr. Jefferson. "In the air you see a fleet of ships in which men are practicing with bombs that they may send cities to destruction.
"We preachers have not done much, but we must do something. We can denounce the present system of maintaining great engines of war. We can insist that our diplomats be men of peace. We can insist that our government work for peace.
We ought to make the idea of war incredible. When we cease believing in war we will have peace."
Scientists of Denver are making a study of the three year-old son of an Italian washerwoman and a Spanish laborer. The boy is regarded as an infant prodigy.
He not only knows his alphabet and can write it, but speaks English, Italian and Spanish. He sings remarkably well, dances and plays on four stringed instruments.
The physicians declare that the child is normal, but possesses the most wonderful intelligence they have ever encountered in one so young.
The Jews are preparing to restore the temple of Solomon. The whole world is being stirred by a startling movement of the Jews toward their homeland. Ten years ago there were only 1,000 Jews in the city of Jerusalem; there are now 100,000. More than 200,000 Jews are found in the colonies recently established in Palestine. These are proving successful; good crops are being raised.
More than $20,000,000 is being invested in railroads. Within the next few months Jerusalem will have become a city of electricity; rails are being laid for electric cars. The Jews have $5,000,000 in a Jerusalem bank. They have purchased a large amount of land.
Until forty years ago the land of Palestine was arid. There were few inhabitants.
There is a prophecy which reads, "In the last days I will pour out upon you again the latter rains." Rain has come in abundance in the last few years; Palestine again blossoms; 10,000 olive trees have been planted in Samaria.
It is believed that Jerusalem will become as of old as the market-place of the Orient, and that Palestine will again "flow with milk and honey." Philadelphia Evening Times
"One of the greatest demonstrations in the history of organized labor was held recently in Hyde Park, London. Fifty thousand sympathizers rallied in support of the nine labor leaders deported from Africa, while the merely curious swelled the crowd to more than 100,000.
"It was a scene of the utmost picturesqueness and impressiveness as, with splendid teamwork, the deported nine rose simultaneously on their respective platforms and a thousand brightly colored banners were raised aloft and shaken, as if in defiance of Botha and the South African Government, while the huge assemblage sang 'The Red Flag' and gave the exiles a tremendous welcome.
"Commenting upon the Hyde Park demonstration, "The Daily News says: 'It is certain that none of the political parties has any idea of the magnitude of the storm brewing. This is not an ordinary labor agitation. What the man in the crowd feels, perhaps, rather than thinks or says, is that in their dealings with the deported nine Gen. Smuts and his colleagues struck a blow, not at trades unionism only, but at the very heart of civilized democracy.
"'The popular instinct is right, as it is apt to be on these matters of life and death. It remains to be seen whether it has the steadiness to make its irresistible weight felt or whether it will dissipate itself for lack of direction, in futile, inarticulate mutterings.'"
New York Times
An average man of 150 pound contains the constituents found in 1,200 eggs.
There is enough gas in him to fill a gasometer of 3,649 cubic feet. He contains enough iron to make four tenpenny nails. His fat would make 75 candles and a good-sized cake of soap. His phosphate contents would make 8,064 boxes of matches. There is enough hydrogen in him in combination to fill a balloon and carry him above the clouds. The remaining constituents of a man would yield, if utilized, six teaspoonfuls of salt, a bowl of sugar and ten gallons of water.
A man has 500 muscles, 1,000,000,000 cells, 200 different bones, four gallons of blood, several hundred feet of arteries and veins, more than 25 feet of inrestines and millions of pores. His heart weighs from 8 to 12 ounces, its capacity from 4 to 6 ounces in each ventricle, and its size is 5 by 3 by 2 inches. It is a hollow, muscular organ, and pumps 22 pounds of blood every minute. In 24 hours the heart pumps 16 tons. It beats about 72 times a minute. In one year an average man's heart pumps 1,680,000 pounds of blood. The heart is a willing slave, but it sometimes strikes-and it always wins. Practical Druggist
LIVING for Jesus day by day, Following just as He leads the way, Never a choice in great or small Doing His will, and that is all.
"I was shapen in Iniquity; and in son did my mother conceive me." Psa. 51:5
Diagnosis is valuable in the attempted cure of any malady. This is as true of sin-sickness, depravity, as of any other ailment of humanity. The better we understand the origin of sin and the methods of its operation in ourselves and in others, the more successful we shall be in combating it. We must know what helps to feed the ailment and what tends to destroy it.
Our forefathers erred, evidently, in their declaration of total depravity. None of us ever met a human being entirely depraved-entirely devoid of sympathy for righteousness and truth-dead to all good influences. Experience, however, does corroborate the Bible statement that "there is none righteous, no, not one"-all are sinners. Moreover, the Bible goes to the root of the matter; and experience corroborates its statement in our text that we and all humanity were born in a state of sin, with the predilection or inclination toward sin.
We are not, however, to conclude that God made us sinners; for the Bible contradicts this thought, and assures us that "all His work is perfect."
According to the Bible, we received our lives from our parents; and they theirs from their parents; and so on back to Father Adam. The Bible tells us that our first parents sinned, and came under the Divine sentence of death; and that this meant mental and moral, as well as physical, degeneracy. The Apostle declares, "By one man's disobedience sin entered into the world, and death by sin." Rom. 5:12
This curse of death which came upon the race, and which affects us from the moment of birth, is a terrible blight. Even though it is much more reasonable than the curse declared by our mistaken creeds the curse of eternal torment nevertheless the curse of God is sufficiently terrible, and world-wide. The penalty, "Dying, thou shalt die," is, however, much less horrible than if it had read, "Living, thou shalt live in eternal torment."
When, therefore, we find in ourselves and others wayward, sinful tendencies, we reflect that these are evidences of the fall, the curse, and that all who are under such influences are to be pitied. True pity, however, must not be in sympathy with sin, but with the sinner, who is handicapped by the predisposition to sin. Sin calls for radical measures for its extermination for the release of the sinner; but our best efforts for them and for others will be attained through a knowledge of the facts, and through the exercise of proper sympathy. There are probably more people injured through lack of sympathetic help than are helped by the administration of cold-blooded justice without tenderness or sympathy. We have been slow to learn this lesson.
Undoubtedly as human sympathy expands through a knowledge of the facts, both parents and children will be blessed by that increase of knowledge. Parents need to learn that their own mental moods and sympathies with right or wrong serve to stamp, to birth-mark their children, either favorably or unfavorably. The parents of a vicious child should reflect that they had much to do with that viciousness.
Properly informed and right-willed, they might have produced the child with a much more favorable organism. It requires a great deal of training to work out of the child's disposition that which was inbred at its birth. Indeed, the probability is that only a small portion of it will ever be eradicated in this life.
We are not forgetting the Scripture which says, "Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?" We remember this, and merely suggest that the imperfect sinner-child, shapen in iniquity and conceived in sin, may have more or less of sinful disposition. We are suggesting that a weighty responsibility rests upon parents in respect to the prenatal influences exercised, as well as to their parental obligations after their children are born.
With what care, what loyalty to God and righteousness, what desire to maintain purity of heart and loveliness of character, the procreative powers should be exercised! With what care the father should surround the mother with every good influence helpful to her mental serenity, joy, peace, justice, reverence, love, during the period of gestation! What noble characters might thus be born into the world, even though still imperfect, sin-stained! What a different world in many respects we might be living in today if parents had recognized these principles and felt their responsibilities and lived up to them! Thank God, death does not end all! and the lessons now being learned through disappointments and tears will, we believe, in many instances prove profitable in the great Hereafter.
This was the question asked of the Apostle Peter by those who heard him preach and learned that we were sinners under condemnation. We should discern that the question is not, What shall we do to escape [HG651] damnation, or condemnation ? We were born in damnation, condemned to death as unworthy of life. The Divine decree is that no sinner may have everlasting life.
It is a gift of God, designed, not for sinners, but for those who are perfect, sinless.
Adam was condemned to death as soon as he became a transgressor; and all of his children were born in the same condemned condition. Condemnation passed upon all men because all are sinners. All are imperfect, fallen. Our text tells us that they were born in this fallen, disapproved or condemned condition.
The question with us, then, is not, What shall we do to escape coming under condemnation? for the whole world is condemned already. (John 3:18) The question is, How shall we, who are already condemned of God as unworthy of everlasting life, get free from that condition in which we were born and get back into that condition of perfection which God will approve, in which we shall be accounted worthy of everlasting life?
The Bible answers our question. It tells us that God has had compassion upon our race and has provided the Savior. It explains that for God to be just and yet grant forgiveness to the sinner requires that One shall pay substitutionally the penalty originally pronounced against Father Adam. This being effected, the Redeemer will have the right to restore to perfection Adam and all his posterity desirous of returning to God.
The Message respecting this merciful arrangement is called the Gospel-the Good Tidings that there is a way of return from sin to holiness and from condemnation to death back to justification of life.
As we have seen, the thing needful for all who desire to return to God's favor is that they may be restored to that condition of physical perfection in which Adam was before he sinned. When thus restored, they will have the same opportunity of demonstrating loyalty to God that Adam had at first. If they, when recovered, stand the tests of loyalty and obedience, they shall receive God's gift of everlasting life. And they shall receive it through Jesus Christ; for the way was opened up by His sacrificial death, "the Just for the unjust," and their salvation accomplished by His work of Restitution. 1 Pet. 3:18 Not until recently have Bible students discerned how far our forefathers have been confused in respect to the Divine Plan through neglect of the Bible for 1,400 years. They now see that Jesus and the Apostles and Prophets taught that God's great time for dealing with the world is yet future-under Messiah's Kingdom. The thousand years in which that Kingdom shall rule the world, restraining sin, chastising sinners and helping the willing and obedient back to perfection, is called by St. Peter "Times of Restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by all His holy Prophets." Acts 3:21
The restitutionary work of those thousand years will be accomplished by the power of Messiah's Kingdom, and the Elect Church of this Gospel Age will be associated with the Redeemer in His Throne and in the great work of restoring the obedient of mankind to perfection. This thousand years is also called the time of the world's resurrection or raising up-anastasis. Bible students now discern that the word resurrection in the Greek signifies more than merely the awakening from death. It signifies the lifting up of the individuals to human perfection to that which was lost by Adam and redeemed by Jesus' death.
During those Times of Restitution Satan is to be bound, that he may no longer deceive humanity as he has been doing with false doctrines, putting light for darkness and darkness for light. On the contrary, the time when he, the Prince of Darkness, is cast down from influence amongst men will be the time when Christ and His Bride, the Church, will become the Sun of Righteousness to the world and scatter all its ignorance and superstition. (Matt. 13:43) Respecting that time the Bible assures us that all the sin-blinded eyes shall be opened, and all the sin-deaf ears shall be unstopped, and the true Message of God's Love shall be made known, and "the knowledge of the glory of the Lord shall fill the whole earth."
God has a special plan and a special salvation for the Church. He desires that the Church shall consist of a very special class. He has issued a special call therefore, and has prescribed special terms or conditions for members of this class.
All who will be accepted as members of the Bride, the Lamb's Wife, must have the same spirit, mind or disposition that Jesus had. Did He delight to do the Father's will? So must these. Was He willing to be obedient to the Father's will to the extent of sacrificing earthly pleasures and advantages? and to the extent of death? So must His followers walk in His steps, as He has set them an example, looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of their faith. The invitation to those is that if they suffer with Christ they may also reign with Him, share His nature and glory and honor. They are advised from the first that the footsteps of Jesus are the way of the Cross. [HG652] These disciples of Jesus in the present Age are figuratively styled "soldiers of the Cross," and Jesus is declared to be the Captain of their salvation, leading them through victories to glory. Their battle in some respects is the same as the world will have in the next Age, only more intense, more concentrated. The world will have a thousand years in which to fight and win. The battle of the Church as a whole is more than eighteen centuries long, but each individual share is much shorter. The coming Age will be the world's time for gaining a victory and escaping from the condemnation, the imperfection, that came upon all the race through Adam's sin.
We are not to think of those whom God accepts as the Church as being different by nature from the remainder of mankind. On the contrary, we are particularly informed that we were born "children of wrath, even as others." But this special class get free from the condemnation, or damnation, that came upon the race through Adam in a different way from that of the world in the next Age. They first exercise faith in God's promises and in Jesus as the Redeemer. They realize bySaith that the merit of His death is the basis of deliverance from the damnation, or condemnation, passed upon all and of reconciliation with God and restitution to perfection and attainment of everlasting life.
The Kingdom of Messiah, through which these blessings are to be extended to mankind, having not yet been established, these believers cannot get these blessings. However, to them comes a special message or invitation to become members of the Kingdom class- "heirs of God and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ" their Lord; "if so be that they will suffer with Him, that they may be also glorified together" and share the Kingdom. Rom. 8:17; 2 Tim. 2:12
Charmed with the prospect, these are not daunted by the trials and difficulties of the way, especially when they hear the Redeemer's Word encouraging them, saying, "Fear not, I have overcome the world." "Greater is He that is on your part than all they that be against you." "My strength is made perfect in your weakness." "All things shall work together for good to them that love God-to the called according to His purpose .
Thus encouraged, these believers make a full consecration of themselves to God and His service, realizing and confessing their own imperfection and insufficiency, and pledging themselves to fight a good fight against sin in every form under the captaincy of Jesus. Jesus becomes the Advocate of all who come unto the Father through Him during this Age. He supplements their sacrifice in such a manner as to make it perfect holy and acceptable to God. (Rom. 12:1)
They give their wills, and resign all earthly interests and rights. He adds to their sacrifice all those Restitution qualities which would be theirs in due time under the Kingdom. Thus they stand complete in Him.
When the Father accepts these by the begetting of His Holy Spirit they become His children, His saints, "heirs of God and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ" to "the inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, reserved in Heaven" for them. 1 Pet. 1:3, 5
Every battle against sin is a good fight'whether it be the battling of the world during the Times of Restitution or the battling of the Church during this Age. But because God designs to give the Church a higher nature, a greater salvation, therefore He requires of every member of it a special demonstration of love and loyalty. And who will say that this is not a reasonable requirement of these sons?
These spirit-begotten sons are all alike in the sense that they have one mind, one spirit, one disposition-the Spirit of Christ, the spirit of holiness, the spirit of loyalty to God. But these are all distinctly different as respects their flesh. All are imperfect, but some more and some less so. Some are more and some less educated; some more and some less wise; some more and some less talented. But the tests are all under Divine supervision. The Lord sees to it that each shall be thoroughly tested. Each must have trials, difficulties, and besetments, from the world, the Adversary and his own flesh. Each must personally demonstrate his loyalty to the principles for which Christ died-the principles of righteousness.
The chief lessons for all of these sons of God to learn are:
(1) Faith in God-full trust in Him and His providences.
(2) Loyalty to Him to the principles of His Government, and to all those whom He has accepted as sons.
(3) They must all possess in large degree God's own Spirit of love, kindness, as of the Truth.
They will not, however, be judged holy according to the flesh. Rather, judgment, or decision, in their cases will be rendered according to the spirit, the intention, the will. They will be rewarded for what they have endeavored to do and have striven to do in harmony with the Divine will rather than according to the success they have attained.
"In due time Christ died for the ungodly." Rom. 5:6
While the Bible everywhere declares the importance of the death of Jesus, Christian people in recent times seem to be perplexed upon the subject. Some dispute the Bible statement of the necessity for Jesus' death, and claim that His life was no different from that of other men, and His death was no different from that of others. Some claim that Jesus came into the world, and passed through various trying experiences, not in order to redeem mankind from anything, but in order to show His followers how they should live and die for a good cause. Others in bewilderment declare that they see no relationship between Jesus' death and what they have been taught is the penalty for sin; namely, eternal Torment.
In general, there is confusion upon the subject, and only those who get the proper Scriptural focus on the question of why Christ died can be mentally at rest, and able to enter sympathetically into the various features of the great Plan of God, of which the death of Jesus for human redemption is a part.
We protest against the too common practice of accepting a portion of the Bible, and rejecting the remainder. Any man wise enough to criticize the inspired Word should be accepted as an inspired authority capable of writing a better statement of the Divine Plan. For our part, we believe that the Holy Scriptures, as St. Paul declares, were written aforetime by holy men for the admonition of the Church.
We believe that this was done because God wished His people to understand His Divine purposes and arrangements, and sympathetically to enjoy them and co-operate in their fulfillment. We should hold fast "the faith once delivered to the saints," and should not allow our own wisdom or the wisdom of other men to make the Word of God of none effect. We remind our readers how Jesus reproved the Pharisees for neglect of God's Word and for taking instead of it the traditions of men. Mark 7:6-8
However, our English Bible does not profess to be the Word of God, but merely a translation of it. If, therefore, we find some passages of Scripture which have been mistranslated, and thus misrepresent the original Scriptures, we should make haste to correct these, and to admit that the translations were not inspired. Additionally, we remind that all old manuscripts show that during the long period of eighteen centuries errors crept in-additions to the words of Jesus and the Apostles. At the time of the preparation of our Common Version English Bible the number of Greek manuscripts was only seven, whereas now there are several hundreds.
Three of them in particular are very old-the Sinaitic, the Vatican 1209, and the Alexandrian.
The people of God are to so hunger and thirst for their Heavenly Father's words that they will spare no pains to know exactly what He said to them and what He did not say, and to base their faith upon the living Word, which surely will abide forever. So doing, the Bible becomes more beautiful and more reverenced by Bible students every day.
There is no dispute among the various orthodox creeds that there was a penalty against mankind which needed td be met, before the Divine blessing could come to any of our race. These creeds all agree that Adam, the father of the race, was created perfect, in the image, in the moral likeness, of his Maker, but that he sinned, and came under a penalty, or curse, on account of sin. Hence all of his race, inheriting life from him, shared his weaknesses and his condemnation to death.
God, having sentenced man to death as unworthy of life, could not consistently have any dealings with him, while still condemned. Hence God's provision that Jesus as the Son of God should recover Adam and his race from the sentence of death-in order that all might have an opportunity to return to harmony with God, and thus to everlasting life.
This is clearly set forth in both the Old Testament and the New. If we would forget our creeds and rid our minds of the false theories which they inculcate, these Scriptures would now "rude us without difficulty. Christendom is handicapped by the creeds of the Dark Ages, which confuse us. On this subject, for instance, of Christ's redeeming work, we are met with the proposition of the creeds that the curse of God against our race is eternal torture in some far-off place, we know not where-possibly within the earth.
The misconceptions of our forefathers on the subject of punishment for sin were built upon mistranslations or statements meant to be understood symbolically. For instance, we read of our Lord, "He opened His mouth in parables and dark sayings." When our Lord illustrated the utter destruction of the finally incorrigible by the destruction of the offal of Jerusalem, cast into the Gehenna fire outside of the city wall, it was not torment that He taught, but annihilation. Nothing was tormented in the fire of the valley of Hinnom. In the Book of Revelation, wholly symbolical, the plain statement is made that the lake of fire represents the Second Death. [HG654]
Most emphatically the Bible declares the wages of sin to be death-not torment.
And lest any one should think of this as merely meaning the death of the body, while the soul continues to live, the Scriptures expressly state more than once that the death of the soul is meant. "The soul that sinneth it shall die." "God is able to destroy both soul and body" in Gehenna, the Second Death. The penalty against Adam, "Dying, thou shalt die," signifies the death of his soul, his entire being.
Under that sentence, unless redeemed, Adam and his race would have no future life.
But God from the very beginning purposed to redeem man from this death sentence. In due time He sent forth His Son to pay man's redemption price. Jesus' redemptive work will restore man's soul from the power of the tomb, by a resurrection of the dead. Therefore, even before Jesus had died for our sins, He said to some of the people, "Fear not them which can kill the body," and thus take from you all that remains of the present Adamic life. Fear God, with whom are the issues of the future life, for He is able to destroy not merely the temporary life of the present time, but also your prospective life, which He purposes to secure for you through the Redeemer's sacrifice, and by the resurrection from the dead.
We see, then, that God rested every feature of His Plan for mankind upon the great work which from the beginning He intended Jesus should accomplish for our race. St. Paul expresses this in a few words, saying, "As by a man came death [not eternal torment], by a man also comes the resurrection of the dead. For as all in Adam die, even so all in Christ shall be made alive, every man in his own order." The first order, or resurrection, is that of The Christ, Head and Body, to glory, honor, immortality, on the Divine plane of being. Search carefully the Old Testament Scriptures-every word of God through Moses and the Prophets-and we find not a hint of any other penalty for sin than this death penalty.
Many fail to grasp the full import of the death penalty. It includes not only the final act of dying, but all the steps leading thereto. Had there been no sin and no sin penalty, there would have been no dying process-no aches, no pain, no sighing nor crying, nor dying.
Man lived in Eden as happily as angels live in their Heavenly home on the spirit plane, for he is an earthly being, adapted only to earthly conditions. Besides, had it not been for sin, God would not have permitted the curse, nor brought thorns, thistles, storms, cyclones, drought and deluges, which in death-dealing power have been permitted to come to man, because he is a convict. He is already under sentence of death.
The favors that God has promised to him through Christ will come in their due season. They will make earth a Paradise Garden, with nothing to hurt or destroy.
The Divine blessing will bring to all mankind the opportunity to return to the image and likeness of God, and to everlasting life, under the New Covenant.
An additional difficulty under which we labored as Bible students in the past is that we confused the special work of this Gospel Age with the general work of the next Age. God's provision, through the death of Christ, for rolling away the curse of sin and death from mankind applies to the next Age, and not to the present Age. When His due time shall arrive, everything will be in readiness for the great work which He has promised shall be satisfactorily consummated. Divine Wisdom, backed by Divine power, will establish Messiah's Kingdom in power and great glory, bind Satan, break the shackles of ignorance, error and sin, and set humanity free from the slavery of sin and death, under which it has rested for six thousand years.
This great work is spoken of in two different ways;
(1) It will be a time for overthrowing and breaking down the powers of sin, darkness and evil.
(2) It will be a time for uplifting mankind to the original Divine image in which Adam was created.
As the entire reign of sin and death came, through Adam's disobedience, upon the whole world, so the entire release from the curse will come to every member of the race, through Jesus. The broad basis for this work has already been laid in the death of Jesus. "Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures." (1 Cor. 15:3) Jesus Christ, by the grace of God, tasted death for every man.
"He is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world." 1 John 2:2 As all the race were involved in the death sentence, the one redemptive work was necessary for the releasing of all. In God's arrangement He has divided the redeemed into two great classes, both of which will attain everlasting life. But one class will receive it on the spiritual, or Heavenly, plane, while the other will get it on the earthly plane. This does not signify universalism, for while these two classes are to be saved, the Bible distinctly tells of some who will receive the grace of God in vain, and die the Second Death. Revelation 21:8 From this viewpoint, note the force of the Apostle's words: "The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Rom. 6:23) The death sentence passed upon all through one man, Adam. The gift of God is to come to all humanity through the second Adam, the Lord.
Our Great Creator is rich in grace, the Apostle tells us. He not only purposed to recover mankind from the disadvantages of the fall, but additionally took advantage of the circumstances connected with the permission of sin to give an especial opportunity to any of the sinners to manifest, if they would, special loyalty to Himself. God might have placed a different penalty against sin. He might have excluded our first parents from Eden for a year and then have returned them, or He might have simply banished the race from Eden, and have allowed all to live without sentence of death against us. Had He done so, Jesus would not have needed to die for man's redemption. Because the sentence of death had been imposed, however, it must be canceled before the race could be restored to perfection and to God's favor.
It is evident, then, that God wished to have the death penalty upon our race, so as to make necessary the death of His Son. This, in turn, meant that the Father invited the Son to become man's Redeemer, and that the Son accepted the offer, and came into this world for that very purpose. This implied that the Father would reward Him with a high exaltation, in recognition of His loyalty and obedience unto death, even the death of the cross. Thus Jesus suffered for our sins, and entered into His glory.
This article can be found in its entirety in the Newspaper Sermons, entitled, "Hear ye, Therefore, The Parable of the Sower."
"If our Gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, in whom the god of This world hath blinded the mends of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them." 2 Cor. 4:3, 4
We do not charge our forefathers with evil intent in the making of the creeds. We cheerfully admit that every creed contains an element of Divine Truth. Our contention is that Satan, the great Adversary of God, substituted the creeds for the Bible; and into the creeds, through human weakness, he injected a sufficiency of nonsense and "doctrines of devils" to render them unhealthful for the saints, and absolutely poisonous to others.
The truthfulness of our text is manifest on every hand. The word Gospel signifies the good Message, it was the Message of the angels at the birth of Jesus: "Behold, we bring you (the Gospel) good tidings of great joy, which shall be unto all people!" This Gospel of joy and blessing, of Divine Love and Mercy toward our race, is completely hidden from the world. Even matured Christians discern but little of it, because the creeds of human tradition have so misrepresented God and His purposes as to make of them bad tidings-not good tidings.
St. Paul, as well as the other Apostles, foretold the falling away of the Church from "the faith once delivered to the saints"; and he particularly pointed out that this would be the result of giving heed to "seducing spirits" and "doctrines of demons"-the fallen angels. (1 Tim. 4:1; Jude 6) In a thousand ways, through mediums, planchettes, visions and dreams, etc., these fallen, seducing spirits have intruded their demon doctrines upon the Church of Christ. And the whole purport of their evil work seems to be to deceive mankind in respect to God's real purposes toward them, and His real character.
How wonderfully successful Satan and his fallen angels, the demons, have been!
While persuading men that they were far off, stoking fires for humanity's future torture, they have really been hobnobbing with ecclesiastics and assisting in misrepresentation of the Bible-especially its parables and symbolic statements. To such an extent is this true that the glory of God manifested in Jesus for human salvation is completely confused and unintelligible to the world.
Unbelievers can reason, and do reason. Those who reside in civilized lands instructed along the lines of the creeds, inquire, Why did God make us sinners, [HG656] with depraved appetites and sentence us to eternal torment, and then send Jesus to be the Savior of merely such as become saints, believers in certain doctrines which they themselves call mysterious? Intelligent heathens similarly ask, Why should God make such a plan as the missionaries relate? Why should He condemn us all to eternal torment and then make provision for only the few who hear of Jesus, and believe the mysteries and monstrous inconsistencies of some of the creeds?
Do not the facts today, after eighteen centuries of creed-blinded Christianity, corroborate the Apostle's statement that the "god of this world," Satan, "hash blinded the minds of them that believe not?" Otherwise surely the glorious Gospel of Christ, now becoming more and more clear to Bible students, would long ago have shone into many hearts, carrying joy and peace through reconciliation with God.
The statement of our text, "If our Gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost," does not mean that they are lost because they cannot see the Gospel. The Bible distinctly tells us that all of Adam's race are lost through disobedience. The Apostle evidently means that the masses of the lost world cannot see the Gospel light. It is hidden from them. Only the comparatively few see it, and they only as they are guided by the Holy Spirit and their eyes of understanding open.
We may well thank God that the time in which Satan will be thus privileged to put darkness for light to deceive the world is limited. The Bible prophesies that soon Christ will take His great power. His first work will be the binding of Satan that he may no longer deceive men. And then the Redeemer will begin His great work of blessing mankind, in the thousand years of His appointed reign.
In all modern prisons statistics are kept which show the religious instruction received by the prisoners earlier in life. In almost every instance the prisoners guilty of the most serious offenses were from infancy trained to think of the Almighty as the great Enemy of His creatures, who foreknew and fore-arranged for the eternal torture of all but a handful. Did these creeds better those who confessed them? Did they inspire in the parents of these criminals heart-devotion to God? Nay, in almost every case where the false, horrible creed-idol was worshipped fear prevailed instead of love, bedlam instead of holiness. Is not this the case even today in the majority of homes of so-called Christendom?
Little have we realized the foolishness of such reasoning. The influence of the creeds of the Dark Ages has been the very reverse of what has been expected of them. Man naturally has a reverence for God. This may be seen in the shape of his head by those who can read phrenologically. It is seen also in the fact that in heathen lands worship is practiced. The true knowledge of God would incline men to come to Him. The highest qualities of their being would find expression in worship, praise, adoration. With the enlightenment of the Bible man would indeed learn that all are sinners, that all come short of that glorious perfection which God originally created and which alone He can approve. Guided by Bible instruction, these would realize that "the wages of sin is death" not eternal torment. Rom. 3:10-12; 6:23 The desire for life everlasting persists in every creature; and man's attitude would have been to approach his Creator to ascertain if it would not be possible for him to return to relationship with God and to regain the gift of life everlasting. Then would have come the answer that no fallen creature is able to recover himself, but that God has provided through Jesus' death a recovery.
As the repentant one would strive to live up to the Divine standard and find it impossible because of inherited imperfections, he would be drawn to the merciful Father in Heaven, to learn how to attain to the condition which his heart coveted.
Then he would hear the answer through the Scriptures that while God has provided for the world in general a thousand years of Restitution, yet He is willing now to receive q few choice characters, on special terms. These must have their Master's spirit, a love for righteousness and a hatred for iniquity, a loyalty to God, ready to lay down life and every other thing in His service.
Such would be inducted by faith into the elect Church, would be begotten of the Holy Spirit, to be trained by trials, difficulties, testings and polishings, and eventually, if faithful, be accorded a change of nature from earthly to Heavenly, participation with Christ in His great work of blessing and restoring humanity during His thousand-year Reign.
Doubt not this firm foundation, true and tried; Fear not the gathering tempest's angry shock; It harms not those that on this Rock abide. [HG657]
Our wily foe, Satan, well knew all this, and has worked in opposition to it. By hiding from men the true Gospel light, he has driven them in dread away from their best Friend-Almighty God. From infancy they hoped to escape eternal torture, but as the weaknesses of their fallen nature yielded to the temptations on every hand, they prayed forgiveness. As sins multiplied, doubts and fears gained control, and in dread of God and in fear of the unjust and unmerciful arrangements of the future taught them from infancy, they plunged headlong into sin, striving to forget God. Some were led to one excess, some to another-gambling, drunkenness, frivolity, pleasure seeking.
One merchant told us of his own experience. He said, "My good Methodist wife told me I would surely go to hell. I replied, 'Mary, I know it, I know itl And when I get there, there will be one sinner who will deserve something. 'I held the ordinary view-that all except the saintly were sure to spend eternity in torture.
That seemed to me most unjust-that the Almighty had taken advantage of His power to create us under unfavorable conditions, with the foreknowledge that we should spend eternity in torment. I concluded that one person at least should deserve some of it."
A lady of wealth and refinement told us that secretly she had always feared the future, believing implicitly the teachings of the creeds. She said, "I went into society deliberately, with a view to drowning my thoughts on religious subjects."
She did not feel drawn to the God presented in the creeds. She merely granted Him His Power and sought to forget Him; yet all the while, as she herself said, she was unhappy. Her soul found no rest.
Both of these people have since found the true God-have come to know Him in His true character, as presented to us in the Bible, when rightly understood. They are both happy, both zealous, seeking to lay down their lives in His service, and taking pleasure in everything which, in His providence, they are permitted to experience, knowing that "all things are working together for good to those who love God, the called according to His purpose."
Thank God, the morning of Immanuel's Day is dawning! It is bringing light upon every subject. The chains of error and superstition, statecraft and priestcraft, are breaking. True, some may thus be led to extremes and, mistaken, revolt against all religions and all authority and all laws of God and man. That is but a natural mistake. The pendulum swings naturally to an opposite extreme and requires some little time to steady itself upon a true center.
The proper thought for us all is the one which the Bible gives, namely, that our delusions and bandages, our superstitions and errors, although by men, were not of men. Satan has been our great Adversary. He it is against whom we are to feel the special indignation. Like ourselves, others of humanity were blinded.
Illustrations of this blindness were frequent during the Dark Ages. Men and women, misunderstanding the character and the Plan of God, were just as sincere as ourselves when they sought to copy what they supposed to be the Creator's methods by torturing each other, burning one another at the stake, etc.
These mistakes were not made wholly by one denomination, even as the errors which led to these mistakes were not held merely by one denomination.
Presbyterians were persecuted and in turn persecuted others; so did Episcopalians, Methodists, Baptists, Catholics, etc. Mistakes so common in the past are not to be blamed either against denominations or against individuals. In harmony with our text, we should charge them up to "the god of this world"-Satan.
Instead of feeling anger and hatred and charging others with having kept us in ignorance and superstition, let us rather rejoice together and give thanks to God that our chains at last are breaking. Let us remember Saul of Tarsus as an illustration of how a good man, misled of the Adversary, became a persecutor of the Church of Christ. As he was freely forgiven of God, and showed himself a loyal servant of the King of kings, so let us regard others of our day as equally loyal, and let us trust that they will become equally faithful as they come under the influence of the great light from Heaven, now shining.
St. Paul urges us, as children of the light, to walk in the light. Jesus bids us to let our light so shine before others that we may thus glorify the Father in Heaven. St. Peter says that we should show forth the praises of Him who has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. The light that is now shining upon the pathway of God's faithful people is not a new light. It is the same light which Jesus and the Apostles held forth and rejoiced in. For the time being, it has been lost, buried under the rubbish and superstition and error of eighteen centuries. Now, in God's providence, these obstructions are being seen. We are coming out from under their influence into the sunlight, the true light, which shall yet lighten every man, as God's Word has promised. [HG658] The question with each and all of us who now perceive the source of the darkness in which we have been and the source of the light into which we have come is, What shall we render unto the Lord for all His benefits? How shall we best show to our gracious Lord our appreciation of His gracious character, of His true Plan of Salvation? The Scriptures assure us that we can best show our love and loyalty by improving the opportunities which the Lord affords us for witnessing for Him and His Truth, which represents Him.
Our time, our talents, our privileges, our opportunities, are limited. At very most we can do but little. How earnest we should be to demonstrate to the Lord our love and appreciation! How faithful we should be to others in carrying them the light, even as we ourselves appreciate the channels which God used in bringing the blessings to us! How wise we should be, realizing that our opponent is Satan himself and not being ignorant of his devices!
We are not to show forth our own praises, for we have nothing praiseworthy.
What have we that we have not received? We did not make the Divine Plan. We merely learned of it by the grace of God. In telling it to others, therefore, this fact should be remembered, that it is not ours, but His. As we compare the Divine Plan of Salvation presented in the Bible with all the different plans of salvation represented in the various creeds of Christendom, we see how wonderfully different it is from them all.
In the light of our day all are ashamed of the things set forth by the great and the wise of centuries ago. We might indeed have reason to be proud if we had manufactured the Divine Plan of the Ages, if it were our conception. But no, it is of the Father and by the Son and we are merely privileged to be ministers or servants of the Father, of the Son and of the Truth-honored servants, truly, but servants still.
And evidently, when the Master shall say to the faithful ones, "Well done, good and faithful servants," He will add, "I will make you rulers over many things, because ye have been faithful over a few things." More and more we realize that our talents, our opportunities of the present time, are few and small. Only of God's grace may they become worthy of anything, and only by His blessing may they be powerful to the pulling down of the strongholds of error and to the building up of His people in the Most Holy Faith.
This article was republished in Reprint 5284, August 1, 1913, entitled, "Why There is Diversity Amongst God's People."
Very Rev. Henry Waco, dean of Canterbury, and a leader in the Broad Church party, has raised the cry that the English Church is in danger from Romanizing tendencies. He told the Convocation of Westminster that the present was the most critical period in the history of the Church of England since the Reformation. The deep controversies that ever divided the church are now in progress.
The dean declared that there is an active, earnest and powerful body among the clergy which is avowedly aiming to bring the ceremonial and doctrine of the English Church in harmony with those of the Church of Rome. They have advocated, he said, the reintroduction of the invocation of the saints and the worship of the Virgin. Those on this (the evangelical) side of the church would exert every power they possess, parliamentary or otherwise, to prevent such changes.
The dean said a continuance of the present line was certain to bring civil war within the church, and this would entail its national ruin. Rochester Times [HG659]
"We talk of the Elizabethan age, the Victorian age, the Golden age," Rear Admiral Peary said at the dinner of the Delaware Valley Society recently, and he reminded the guests that those who shall live a year longer will have seen in five short years the north and south poles discovered and the Atlantic and Pacific united. They will have seen, too, great extensions of wireless telegraphy and of the use of the stabilized flying machine, with perhaps a record of some man's flying across the Atlantic. Prof. Soddy, who with Sr. William Ramsay found that radium is a transmuting element, told the British Association last fall that the world must soon prepare for the announcement that a method of accelerating the outgo of energy from radium has been devised, together with the means of transmuting all the other elements, that would tap supplies of atomic energy that are inexhaustible, of which steam and electricity are secondary and insignificant offshoots.
If half the promise of this age is fulfilled, it should compare well with the other ages of human history. Thus far they have recorded great material discoveries and literary activities, as in the age of Queen Elizabeth; profound changes in religious belief, as in the age of Luther, or periods of conquest like those of Julius Caesar and Napoleon. This is the Age of the scientists. They, too, make material discoveries of vast moment and the sidelights they throw on the psychology of man and his earthly existence have deeply changed the currents of the world's thinking. New York Times
"A remarkable demonstration was given recently near Berlin of a new fabric designed to make clothing so buoyant that it will keep its wearer afloat in the water. The composition of the invention which brings about this result is a well-guarded secret. To don a garment lined with it is to become unsinkable.
"On the occasion mentioned, infantrymen, in full marching kit, clad in uniforms lined with the material, which rendered the clothing neither heavier nor thicker than usual, threw themselves into the water, and not only did not sink, but were able to 'march' in the water and to fire. At the same time, coffee was served to a party in the water, waiter and guests being clad in the special fabric.
"It is reported that recently the inventor, wearing his suit, jumped into the water before the Kaiser's steamer to demonstrate the value of his device, and that the police arrested him for impropriety."
Exchange
The Jews are preparing to restore the temple of Solomon. The whole world is being stirred by a startling movement of the Jews toward their homeland. Ten years ago there were only 1,000 Jews in the city of Jerusalem, there are now 100,000. More than 200,000 Jews are found in the colonies recently established in Palestine. These are proving successful; good crops are being raised.
More than $20,000,000 is being invested in railroads. Within the next few months Jerusalem will have become a city of electricity; rails are being laid for electric cars. The Jews have $5,000,000 in a Jerusalem bank. They have purchased a large amount of land.
Until forty years ago the land of Palestine was arid. There were few inhabitants.
There is a prophecy which reads, "In the last days I will pour out upon you again the latter rains." Rain has come in abundance in the last few years; Palestine again blossoms. Ten thousand olive trees have been planted in Samaria.
It is believed that Jerusalem will become as of old the market-place of the Orient, and that Palestine will again "flow with milk and honey." Philadelphia Evening Times
Speaking on militarism, Alfred Noyes, the poet, said that indications pointed to an end of what he called the preposterous position of Europe in this day of heavy armament.
"The end," said Mr. Noyes, "may be catastrophic and thrones may shake before it comes, but come it must. The signs, however, indicate that Europe may prefer not to wait for the catastrophic end."
Mr. Noyes spoke of the English Government, consigning a $250,000 ship to destruction as a target for practice at the very time she reported herself unable to afford the slight relief needed to keep Charles Dickens's children out of humiliating [HG660] dependency. He also mentioned an English statesman who instructed his attorneys to bring suit against a firm of armament manufacturers for commissions due him on business received through his influence.
"We are moving in a vicious and narrow circle," said Mr. Noyes. "We in England are agreed that we are strengthening our armaments because the other nations of Europe are strengthening theirs, and they say they are doing so because we are. So it goes. Think of how much disease, how much poverty could be alleviated if we utilized properly the natural resources of our countries instead of spending millions of dollars in armaments. Is it to remain a fact that after two thousand years of civilization statesmen holding opposite views cannot meet and come to a business agreement like other men?" New York Times
The following description of how it feels to be struck by lightning is interesting: Several years ago I was working in the garden of a public institution and got caught in a terrific thunder storm. The building sits upon a knoll, and as I was hurrying along I saw the upper half of a big locust tree sliced off by a glittering flash, and fall, and instantly a blinding cloud of fire wrapped me about like a scorching sheet, blotting out sight and hearing in one awful roar. I was choked by the smothering hot fire, and smell of sulphur, and felt every nerve and muscle strain until my joints cracked. I felt myself lifted up, and swept backward, and cried out something, but could hardly hear my voice. I was lying on the wet gravel, hatless, ten feet further down the road; and the gardener coming towards me. He had been watching, and declared he thought he saw the lightning hit me on the head. I felt sore and dull, and that night when I went to bed I found a scorched stripe half an inch wide down all my underclothes, a hole in my sock, and my shoe sole half off.
"To us there is one God, the Father. . . and one Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Cor. 8:6
The confusion which has rent the Church of God into hundreds of sects has come through neglect of the Bible. The confusion is recognized by all Christian people everywhere, but the cause is not generally discerned. Church creeds are admitted to be defective, notwithstanding the truth which they all contain. Creed clashings are the direct result of the serious errors in all creeds.
Realizing this, why should not all Christians abandon and demolish their creeds?
They purport to be pen pictures of the Almighty God, and His attitude toward men and His resultant plans. No heathen idol is so grotesque, so terrible, so horrible, as that which the most intelligent Christian people have portrayed with the pen. We are all ashamed of having misrepresented our Creator as worse in His purposes toward men than the vilest of humanity-as bad as we knew how to picture Satan himself and his attitude. Why delay longer? If Jehovah be God, let us worship Him. If the horrible Baal of the Dark Ages be no longer our God, let us destroy his creed images and endeavor to forget them.
After the Christian Church had forgotten that the Master declared that His Twelve Apostles would constitute the chief foundation stones of the New Jerusalem, they began to recognize their bishops as successors to The Twelve- "apostolic bishops."
They overlooked the fact that while God had prophetically told that the place of Judas would be filled by another, this particularity itself intimated that there would be no successors to The Twelve.
The real successor to Judas, Bible Students recognize in St. Paul. Through him God has given us the major portion of the New Testament, and special light upon the Church's path, which is to "shine more and more unto the perfect Day." We now see that the eleven Apostles, before they had been confirmed in Apostleship by the Pentecostal blessing, erred in choosing Matthias, whom God merely ignored.
Under these circumstances the bishops rose gradually to power and influence as inspired oracles of God. And proportionately, The Twelve chosen as the Lord's mouthpieces to His Church lost their influence. It was easier to take the word of the bishops than to [HG661] search the Scriptures at a time when copies of the Bible were very expensive, and few were able to read.
Thus Bible study greatly declined during the second and third centuries, and disputes between Christians and Greek philosophers led some of the bishops to extremes. Not only did they maintain the Bible teaching that Jesus was the Son of God, and that He left His Heavenly condition and became a man that He might redeem Adam and his race; but, not content with this, some went further, and in their zeal claimed that He was the Heavenly Father Himself, who came down to earth and took man's nature and died, the Just for the unjust. In their anxiety to overwhelm the Greek skeptics, these Christian teachers involved themselves in absurdities, without realizing it. Those making the most absurd claims appear to have had the greatest influence with the illiterate.
Gradually the trinitarian theory was advanced; and the mystification of saying that the Heavenly Father was His own Son, and that the Lord Jesus was His own Father, and that the Holy Spirit was another person and yet the same person, appealed to people who delight to reverence most those things which they do not understand. Thus today when questions are asked respecting the trinity-how one could be three, and how three could be one-the answer which is given, and which satisfies the ignorant, is Mystery, Mystery!
But the Bible makes no mystery of the matter. It never mentions trinity at all, nor anything that would give such a suggestion. The one text (1 John 5:7) which seems to give a color of support to the thought is now admitted by all scholars to be an interpolation dating from about the seventh century; for it is not found in manuscripts written at an earlier date. The Revised Version shows quite distinctly how the passage reads in the old manuscripts, and how the forgery to support the trinitarian theory was adroitly accomplished.
The Old Testament Scriptures represent the Divine Message of four thousand years, and say not a word respecting the trinity. On the contrary, they declare, "Hear, O Israel, Jehovah thy God is one God"; "Thou shalt have no other gods."
To keep in line with this definite statement, the trinitarian theory claims that this one God has three persons, although others claim that there are three Gods but only one person. It seems impossible to get a trinitarian to decide what he really believes; he hedges with the word "Mystery."
The New Testament is as explicit as the Old in its statement that there is but one supreme God. Jesus testified to this, declaring, "My Father is greater than I" -greater than all. (John 14:28)
Jesus declared that of Himself He could do nothing; that He was merely the Mouthpiece of God in His teachings, and the Finger of God in His working of miracles. He directed that His followers should worship the Father, and declared, when leaving, "I ascend to My Father and to your Father, to my God and to your God." John 20:17
Our Lord did indeed declare the oneness, or harmony, between Himself and the Father, but He explained that this was because He ignored any will of His own, coming not to do His own will, but the will of the Father who sent Him. He exhorted His disciples similarly to have the same mind, the same will, the same spirit, which actuated Him-the Holy Spirit, the mind or disposition to do the will of the Father in Heaven. His prayer for His disciples was to the same effect, "That they all may be one"-even as Thou, Father, and I are-one in heart, mind, will, disposition, or holiness of spirit, harmony with God. John 17:20, 21
What could be more explicit than our text, "To us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things"; additionally, "To us there is one Lord [or Master], Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by Him"? The Apostle here not only shows the relationship between the Father and Son, but he ignores and thus disowns entirely the Holy Spirit as another God. Clearly and plainly enough he sets forth time and again that the Holy Spirit is the spirit, will, mind, power, disposition, etc., in fullest conformity to that of the Father. There is no mystery about the matter, none whatever.
Our Lord Jesus declared Himself to be the Alpha and the Omega of the Divine direct creation. (Rev. 1:8) He was its Beginning and its End, according to John 1:1-5.
Our Redeemer, known before He became a man as the Logos, was the Beginning of the Divine creation and the End of it in that, ever after the creation of the Logos, Jehovah operated in and through Him in respect to all the stupendous works of creation. His name, the Logos, indicates all this; it signifies the Divine Message, or Messenger, the One through whom Jehovah's utterances and decrees went forth.
So we read in the Greek, "In the beginning was the Logos, and the Logos was with the God, and the Logos was u god. The same was in the beginning with the God. By Him were all things made that were made, and without Him was not one thing made. And the Logos was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory as the glory of the Only Begotten of [HG662] the Father, full of grace and Truth."
The Roman Emperor Constantine saw a vision-probably when wide awake-a vision of greater prosperity for himself and his Empire, by a recognition of Christianity as the religion of his Empire instead of paganism, which had previously been recognized. For that moment a certain portion of the Church of Christ had long labored. Abandoning the thought of the Second Coming of Jesus to establish His Kingdom, they desired marriage, or union, with earthly empire, thus to be set as a queen upon the throne of earthly dominion and honor.
Constantine's influence in Church affairs became great. He proposed the calling of a council of all the bishops, numbering about one thousand. He wanted to know why these apostolic bishops, all inspired with the same Spirit of God, taught so differently. He offered to pay the expenses of all the bishops to the Council of Nice; but the majority, fearing that the Emperor would be under the control of the Roman bishop (not yet claiming to be pope), declined to attend.
Only 384 came. But even they were unable to agree, the great point of dispute being the one we are discussing. Many held to the Bible teaching that Jehovah is the One Supreme God; that the Lord Jesus Christ was His Son and honored Agent in all His creative work; and that He, having manifested faith and loyalty to the Father to the extent of leaving the Heavenly glory, becoming a man and dying, the Just for the unjust, has been exalted by the Father to His own right hand of majesty and power.
But the mystification thought of trinity had gained a hold on some of the bishops, amongst others the Bishop of Rome. The questions at issue were argued for months. With all his powerful influence, the Bishop of Rome could not bring the majority of the Council to acknowledge the doctrine of the trinity. Thereupon Constantine decided the matter; and the Nicene Creed, backed by the Emperor's authority and power, was declared to be the Christian faith, and anything contrary to it, heresy.
Yet be it remembered that only about one-third of the bishops were present at the Council; and that they could not be coerced into substituting "mystery" for the Word of God, until the Emperor lent his influence. His decree was that Christian doctrine as thus defined in the Nicene Creed should have the prestige of the support of the Emperor and of all his subordinate officers throughout the Roman Empire. All believing contrary to this creed would be heretics, and be considered in opposition to the Emperor, and such had the privilege of leaving the Empire.
Thus was the mystery of trinity enshrined by a heathen emperor, not baptized-not even sprinkled.
The history of the persecution of all who would not worship the trinitarian mystery would fill volumes. One sad illustration is familiar to all-the burning of Servetus, by good Brother Calvin's signature to the death warrant.
Is it any wonder that with such conditions prevailing for centuries, the Bible ignored and the creeds worshiped, the true teachings of the Bible on many subjects were completely lost sight of? Is it any wonder that, when in the sixteenth century God began to bring the Bible back to the attention of the world, it was burned by the bishops in front of St. Paul's Cathedral in London? Is it any wonder that the Christians of that time were persecuted for studying it, and could meet only in secret?
It seems sad indeed that now, in the dawning of the New Era, and its clearer light on the Bible as well as upon all things, so few Christian people should be prepared to profit by these clearer views. Only in our day is thorough Bible study possible to the majority in civilized lands; for only of late is there a sufficiency of education to admit of intelligent Bible study. What is the explanation of the failure to make privileges and opportunities for Bible study? It is loss of faith; as Jesus said:" When the Son of Man cometh, shall He find the faith on the earth?," It would appear that with more advantages than any previous generation, ours has less faith in God and less trust in the Bible as His Word.
The cause of this can readily be traced, and it appalls us! Our great institutions of learning, founded by our Bible-loving, God -fearing forefathers, have become worldly-wise. They have followed the course of leaning to human understanding, against which we were forewarned by God-that the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God and will perish.
Following the guidance of so-called Higher Critics, the rank and file of professors of colleges have lost their faith, and at the present time, all over Christendom, are engaged in destroying the faith of the most intelligent young men and women of the world. Having lost faith in the Bible themselves, they think they are doing a real service in destroying the faith of others.
With college graduates sneering at the Bible, and ignoring Divine worship, except in the sense of drawing nigh with their lips, is it any wonder that the spirit of this infidelity is gradually extending to the masses-the less educated? Is it any wonder that these [HG663] who have nothing in particular to gain from religion except comfort and hope, bereft of these, care nothing for Bible study or for church attendance, except to hear the music or a brilliant address or to renew acquaintanceships?
The only remedy which can hinder the world from rapidly rushing on toward socialism and anarchy, in utter disregard of God and His Divine arrangements, is a return to Bible study. Nor need the people be invited back to study the Bible along the lines of the creeds. Indeed, in order to attract attention to the Word of God, it is necessary that Christians should unite in smashing their creeds and in telling the people plainly that these creeds thoroughly misrepresent the Divine Character and the Divine Plan.
"A certain Nobleman went into a far country to receive for Himself a Kingdom, and to return." Luke 19:12
With remarkable perversity many of the Lord's dear people in studying the Bible have read into it the very reverse of what it plainly declares. Our text is an illustration along this line. Our Lord is here presented as a Nobleman, the heir of the Kingdom, going to Heaven, there to be invested with the real authority and power of Divine sanction, and then to return again to establish his authority among men, to put down all unrighteousness and sin, to lift up the poor and the needy and to grant the blessings of a reign of righteousness to all the families of the earth.
The statement of the parable that the Nobleman went into a far country was evidently intended to show that His return should not be looked for speedily, and that He will not take possession of His Kingdom until His return. How strange, then, that it should have become a generally accepted view among the Lord's followers that He set up His Kingdom at His First Advent; that He has been reigning ever since; that ultimately His Kingdom will conquer the world by converting it to loyalty to Him, and that His Second Advent will not be for the purpose of setting up His Kingdom, but to see how well that Kingdom has prospered during "His absence, and to wind up matters and burn up" the earth!
When we compare this general view with the statement of this parable, how inconsistent it seems!
More than this, it is contrary to all the facts as we know them! Our Lord did not set up His Kingdom at His First Advent. At that time, however, He declared that ultimately He would be the King, and that when He would set up the Throne of His glory His faithful followers would be sitting with Him on His Throne. (Rev. 3:21) Again He says, "When the Son of man shall come in His glory, and all His holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the Throne of His glory." (Matt. 25:31) But who will say that this has been accomplished? Where is the Throne of Glory? What evidence have we of its establishment? Where is the reign of righteousness? What conquering of the world has been accomplished in eighteen centuries?
We are not disputing that all who are the Lord's consecrated people recognize the Lord Jesus as their King; what we are disputing is that He is the King of the world, "King of kings and Lord of lords." He is yet to occupy that position, and to Him ultimately every knee must bow and every tongue confess. (Philip. 2:9-11) But no sane person surely would contend that this is true at the present time, or that it has ever been true in the past. Let us not deceive ourselves. These erroneous views have never come to pass. The Divine purpose will be accomplished, and the more clearly and truthfully we discern this fact the greater will be our blessing, and our growth in knowledge and in the fruit of accompanying obedience.
He must be mentally blind who cannot see that the god or ruler of this world, this present Age, is the Adversary, and not Immanuel. Indeed, whoever believes in the ultimate conversion of the world after noting that the number of the heathen without a knowledge of God is twice as great as a century ago, notwithstanding the fact that that was a century of intense missionary zeal, must be very obtuse!
Who would suppose that the converting even of 1,200,000,000 of humanity to the mental, moral and physical condition of the 400,000,000 of so-called Christians would signify that God's will would then be done on earth as it is done in Heavens
The context of this parable should be read also. In the preceding verse we are told that one object in [HG664] giving the parable was to correct a misapprehension in the minds of the disciples and the public, "Because He was nigh to Jerusalem and because many thought that the Kingdom of God would be immediately manifested." The object of the parable was to show that the Kingdom of God would not be manifested immediately, but that a long time would intervene during which the King would be in the "far country," receiving His investiture of office. The parable was not written to indicate that our Lord's Kingdom would be merely a spiritual reign of grace in the hearts of His people; in fact, no thought of this kind is contained in it.
On the contrary, the Kingdom thought is in it to the fullest degree, with the other thought that there would be a long interim between that time and the Kingdom's establishment, and that during the interim the Lord and His Kingdom would be represented amongst men by those who were faithful to Him, "His own servants."
It should also be noted that to these servants were committed some of their Master's treasures; and that they were to occupy until He should come, meantime showing their loyalty as His servants by the degree of their activity in His interests. In this there is no suggestion that when the servants should die they would go to that "far country" to be with their King, and there receive their reward for well-doing or ill-doing. The very opposite is taught; namely, that there would be no rewarding of any of the servants until the return of the King. Then He will call for His own servants and reckon with them, rewarding some and reproving others, according to their faithfulness. We should note that this is in accord with the entire teaching of the Bible. It was our Master Himself who said, "No man hath ascended to heaven, save He who came down from heaven, even the Son of Man." John 3:13 It was the Apostle Peter who incidentally remarked, "David is not ascended to the heavens," but that "his sepulcher is with us." (Acts 2:29-34) Again, when speaking of His going away, our Lord said to the Jews, "Whither I go, ye cannot come." John 7:34) Again, He said to his disciples, "A little while, and ye shall not see Me; and again, a little while, and ye shall see Me, because I go to the Father." John 16:16) And so all the Scriptures point to the fact that our Lord's rewards are to be dispensed at His Second Coming, but not before. We read, "Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that Day; and not unto me only, but unto all those who love His appearing." (2 Tim. 4:8) Again, "Behold, I come quickly; and My reward is with Me, to give every man according as his works shall be." (Rev. 22:12) And again our Lord's words to His followers when He was leaving them, "Now ye are fearful, because I said unto you I go unto My Father." (John 16:5, 6, paraphrased) "And if I go, I will come again and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." John 14:3 Error has so beclouded this clear statement that many have received the impression that Jesus comes again every time one of His faithful followers dies.
According to this theory, the Second Coming of Christ would be a very indefinite matter; indeed, if His followers died but one a day, it would signify that His Second Advent would occur all the time, every day; and thus the enor makes the whole teaching of the Scriptures on this subject worse than meaningless-confusion. And such is the very effect; for we notice everywhere amongst Christian people that instead of knowing what they believe and why they believe it, and resting their hearts upon the precious promises of God's Word, confusion prevails. Then "higher criticism" steps in and persuades the confused ones that the Bible is not the Word of God, but they have been hoaxed for centuries. Thus it overthrows their faith and stumbles them into a more refined form of infidelity than that which had prevailed, but which is nevertheless unbelief, a condition in which they are without God and have no hope in the world, no "Anchor to their souls, sure and steadfast within the veil." Eph. 2:12 Heb. 6:19, 20
Notice the order of procedure in the parable: The first work of the King on coming into His dominion is not to deal with the public in general, or even with His enemies; but as we read He will call first for His own servants and reckon with them. This makes evident the fact that at first the Kingdom of Christ will not be generally recognized by mankind. Its power and great glory will be present, but will be hidden from them because it will be spiritual-not visible to mortal eyes except as revealed through human channels and agencies. Our Lord Himself, a glorious spirit Being, and His holy angels with Him, also spirit beings, will be invisible to mankind; even as He declared to the Pharisees, "The Kingdom of God cometh not with observation [outward show, display]. Neither shall ye say Lo, beret or, lo, there! for the Kingdom of God shall be in the midst of you" (Luke 17:20, 21); everywhere present though nowhere seen; present in power, though hidden from view, revealed by its operations and through its servants, but not to natural sight.
In our understanding of things we have now (for nearly forty years) been living in the days of the [HG665] presence of the Son of Man, in the time when He is calling for His servants and reckoning with them, preparatory to His dealing with the world in general. The thought is Scripturally based, although this is not the proper time for discussing the proofs that this is so. Many of you have these Scriptural proofs; others can obtain them if desirous to do so. This thought is properly a very impressive one to all who receive it-very stimulating and very energizing, one well calculated to awaken us from slothfulness and slumber, and to stimulate us to activity. Some, we understand, have already rendered their accounts and passed beyond the veil.
The remainder of us should feel deeply in earnest to use present opportunities for the increase of the Master's goods committed to our care.
It will be noted that each one of the servants in this parable received the same amount of money. Each was to be a steward and do his best with the amount at his disposal. In seeking the significance of the "pound" we must bear these facts in mind; for this parable differs, in this respect, from the parable of the talents, in which the division was unequal- "To every man according to his several ability." (Matt. 25:16) The pound, therefore, must signify something which is common to all alike, yet which all will not be able to use to the same advantage; for it will be noticed that the Lord gave similar words to approval to the one whose pound increased to five, and the one whose pound increased to ten. Both were called good servants. They evidently had different talents, different abilities for the successful use of the money intrusted to their care.
We cannot say that the pound represents the Holy Spirit; for though the latter is given to every consecrated one, we remember the Apostle's word that a measure of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal (1 Cor. 12:7); but not the same measure, for all do not have the same capacity. Our Lord received the Holy Spirit without measure; because of His perfection He had the full capacity.
We each receive the Holy Spirit according to our capacity; and the capacity may be increased as we grow in grace, knowledge and loving zeal. Neither could the pound represent faith, for the Lord's people, differently constituted, are not all able to exercise the same degree of faith at the beginning and subsequently.
Neither could it represent money, for the Lord's people do not each have the same amount of money committed to their care.
The one gift of God which suggests itself to us as being represented by the pound is our justification, which is full, free, complete to every man. The one who has the fewest talents and who is the most degraded, being justified by faith, is reckoned as perfect. The one having more talents, more abilities, and few imperfections still needs the justification, and by it is merely reckoned perfect.
This justification was given to us when we first became the Lord's servants, when we first fled from sin and laid hold upon His righteousness and forgiveness. This justification became the basis of our sacrifice; through it we had something to offer to the Lord-our justified selves, our bodies. These the Lord accepted and constituted us new creatures by the begetting of His Holy Spirit.
Our justification, however, did not cease when we were begotten of the Holy Spirit, but still persists. We still need the covering or merit of our Lord's imputed righteousness to make acceptable to Him anything that we may do in His service.
Hence, in the parable it is represented that when taking His journey afar, the "nobleman" committed a pound to each of his servants, saying, "Occupy till I come." The fulfillment of this seems to be that our Lord says to us, whoever we are and whenever we become His disciples: Take that which My blood has justified and made acceptable, and which you have in sacrifice presented to Me-your mortal bodies-take these and use them in My service until I come and reckon with you. According to your use of these mortal bodies and their various talents and powers in My service will be My approval at My coming, and your reward shall be proportionate.
At His Second Coming all these are to have their reward. The parable is merely illustrative, mentioning the one who made no increase, the one who multiplied his talent five times and the one who multiplied his ten times. But in actual experience we understand the matter will be different, to the extent that some will multiply their talents eight or nine, seven or six, four or three times, or twice, and still be approved by the Master, if they have done what they could, if they have used their talents to their best judgment of what would be honoring to Him. St. Paul we may suppose to have been one of the most faithful of all the Lord's followers. Perhaps he would be represented by the one who increased his pounds to ten. St. John and St. Peter were evidently not much behind in their activities and zeal, but it is not for us to judge who have been the most faithful of all the Lord's followers. The Lord, who knoweth the heart, will decide the matter in due time, and all who have the proper spirit will rejoice with those who do rejoice and mourn with those who mourn. [HG666]
One of the servants returned to his Master the pound exactly as he had received it.
He had carefully laid it away, too much afraid to use it; in fact, he did not have zeal enough to use it. The King was displeased with him, and we fear that he represented quite a large class of the Lord's servants who, having been justified through faith, have made a consecration of their all to the Lord and to His service and who are seeking to live merely in a justified condition and are not striving to use the time, influence and opportunity in the service of the Truth.
This servant had more fear than love, and the fear hindered his usefulness.
Perhaps he represents a class whose love for the Lord has been greatly marred by reason of the false teachings and "doctrines of devils," which so egregiously misrepresent Him. He was reproved by his Master and dismissed from being a servant with the others, and his pound was taken from him. Not having sacrificed his humanity, his earthly interest, he would now henceforth find no opportunity for sacrificing. The additional opportunities, favors, privileges, would be granted to the one who had most thoroughly demonstrated his love and zeal. But what was done to this servant who hid the Lord's money in a napkin, and kept it instead of using it? Are we told that he was sent into eternal torment? Not a word of itl His loss was a heavy one, however; he failed to enter into the privileges and blessings of the faithful servants; that failure would be punishment enough for him.
Let us notice the rewards given to the faithful servants: To the one of ten talents it was said, "Have thou dominion over ten cities"; to the one of five talents it was said, "Have thou dominion over five cities." What does this mean? Is such a reward at all in harmony with the ordinary expectation of Christendom that at our Lord's Second Coming the world will be burned up? If so, what is meant by these five cities and ten cities? Most evidently Christendom is astray and this record is quite right. The thought is consistent with the entire parable. The Lord of the parable returns, invested with Kingly authority, to take possession of His dominion, to rule it, to bless it by a reign of righteousness, to uplift all who will manifest their loyalty to Him and to righteous principles, and to chasten and correct all who have sympathy with wrong principles, and who are His enemies, and ultimately to destroy them if they continue in their wrong attitude.
These "servants" represent the Apostles and those who have believed on the Lord through them throughout this Gospel Age. To all of these the promise was made, "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me in My throne" (Revelation 3:21) All of this sanctified class, therefore, shall be granted a share with the King of kings and Lord of lords in His putting down sin and overthrowing death and raising up humanity out of this condition to harmony with God and eternal life-to the extent that they are willing to avail themselves of these privileges.
"Yea doubtless I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord . . . that I may win Christ . . ."Philip. 3:8
Even saintly Christians seem but imperfectly to grasp the plain teachings of the New Testament respecting membership in the Body of Christ. Some assume that it is to be had on some basis of favoritism, and trust that they will be of the Elect.
Others think that the Apostle is using figures of speech in an extreme fashion, and vaguely hope that they belong to the right Church and will attain whatever others get, as in the success of a party in which all the victors share the spoils.
No doubt the errors of the Dark Ages absorbed in childhood have been more or less responsible for these vagaries and for our general neglect of proper Bible study. It seems hard for the people of God to realize that the Wisdom from Above is the noblest science and the best instruction; and that it needs intelligent and systematic study as much as do earthly sciences. But we are learning, and, thank God! progress is being made in unsectarian Bible study classes, which are springing up all over the world.
What is ordinarily termed conversion is not what St. Paul refers to in our text as "winning Christ." The word conversion signifies "to turn about." It implies that a wrong course has been pursued, that the error of the way has been detected, and that a change to the proper one has been made. The wrong course is the sinful course, which brings injury and injustice on others. We never had a right to take that course; yet to [HG667] some extent we are excusable; for we were born with downward tendencies, an inherited predisposition to sin.
We inherited these depraved appetites and tendencies from our forefathers under the general laws of heredity. A realization that sin always brings sorrow is a sufficient reason for a change of course. Conversion, therefore, is merely the operation of a sane mind in turning about from things recognized to be injurious.
Every sensible person should be converted from sin to righteousness.
Conversion may have Christ connected with it, or it may not. Many are converted without any real knowledge of the Gospel of Christ. They merely knew that they were going in a wrong direction, and turned about to take the proper course. But this we can say, that only strong characters can successfully pursue a right course, and strong characters are in the minority. Whether strong or weak in character, great aid will surely be experienced by those who, at the time of their conversion, have a knowledge of Christ and an appreciation of His work and His teachings.
Nothing else gives such fortitude as the hope set before us in the Gospel, and the realization that there is a future life provided through Christ for all mankind, and that our course in the present life will have much to do with the stripes, or punishments, we shall receive here or in the future life-necessary to fit us for Divine favor and everlasting life.
One might reform his life, and have a knowledge of Jesus and of the life to come secured through His death, and of the fact that "whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap," and yet, with all that conversion, belief and reformation of life, he might not be a Christian at all, in the Bible sense of that term. We would not by this discourage anybody from taking the reformatory steps already outlined. We would, on the contrary, encourage them so to do.
As already stated, reformation and righteous living commend themselves to all intelligent minds as right and advantageous, beneficial to the individual himself as well as to the world of mankind. Let us discuss Christianity, not from the ordinary standpoint, which classes every civilized person as a Christian, but from the Bible standpoint, which assures us that if any man is a Christian he is a New Creature- "old things have passed away; all things have become new."
To understand our text we must first appreciate the general outline of the Gospel-the Divine Plan of Love for human recovery from sin and death. That Plan was first of all declared to Abraham-that God would eventually bless all the families of the earth and that the blessing would come through his posterity. "In thee and in thy Seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." Gal. 3:8, 16, 23
Later on, God revealed that Abraham's Seed would constitute a special Kingdom class, which would rule all nations for their uplift. When Israel, by failing to keep the Law, failed to prove itself the holy nation fit for the Divine service, God revealed that He would send a special Messenger of the Covenant; and that through Him, as Prophet, Priest and King, the holy nation would be established; and later on it would be given the glory and honor, the rule of the world.
Our Lord Jesus at His First Advent began the work of selecting this Kingdom class. First of all, He laid the broad foundation by dying for the sins of the whole world. Then from amongst the redeemed ones He began to select the members of the Kingdom. And this has been the work of this entire Gospel Age.
Soon the selective, or elective, work will be finished. Soon it will be determined who will be of the Kingdom class. God's determination will be manifested in the fact that the overcomers will all be sharers in the First or Chief Resurrection, to be priests unto God and unto Christ and to reign with Him on the earth. Rev. 20:6
All who will be of that select Kingdom class will be members of the foretold Seed of Abraham. Jesus was of Abrahamic stock through His miraculous birth; and after He had laid down His life sacrificially and was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, no more a man, but a New Creature of the Divine nature, He then was Abraham's Seed on the spirit plane. His Church, called to be of the Kingdom class, are to be Abraham's Seed on the same spirit plane.
We are not ignoring the fact that Abraham has an earthly seed as well, and that to it belong certain earthly promises. We are merely pointing out that the Scriptures clearly teach that the earthly seed cannot have its share in the work of blessing others until first the Heavenly Seed, the Spiritual Seed of Abraham, shall have been perfected in the First Resurrection. God showed the two seeds in the statement to Abraham, "I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven [the spiritual, the Church] and as the sand which is upon the seashore [the earthly]." Gen. 22:17
St. Paul tells us that this Seed of Abraham, Jesus and the Church, spirit-begotten, are unitedly the Church. Using a human body as an illustration, he speaks of the anointed Jesus as the Head, and of each one of the Church as a member of the Body of Christ. Thus we read, "If ye be Christ's, then are ye [HG668] Abraham's Seed, and heirs according to the promise?" (Gal. 3:16, 29) Thus we see that St. Paul was anxious to win a membership in the Body of Christ, the Church.
The Apostle, of course, was a member of the Church from the time of his begetting of the Holy Spirit. But there are two bodies of Christ, if we may so express the matter. One is the probationary Body of the present time; the other the actual Body of the future. All fully consecrated believers are members of the probationary Church, or Body of Christ, from the moment they receive the begetting of the Holy Spirit. Thenceforth they are to fight a good fight, to run a successful race, that they may win the glorious position which God has invited them to fill.
We well know the objection that many have to the doctrine of Election. We know how opposed to it we were until we saw how different is the Bible Election from the Election which brother Calvin taught. In the Bible Election God does the nominating, and each nominated person either makes his calling and election sure, or fails to do so. The responsibility lies with the individual favored with a knowledge of God's Truth, which knowledge constitutes a call.
Furthermore, the Bible Election works no injury to the non-elect. Quite the contrary. The Election of the Kingdom class, along the lines of character development, obedience to God and self-sacrifice, is for the very purpose of qualifying these elect ones for the great work to which they are called. The elect Seed of Abraham is called for the purpose of blessing all the families of the earth.
In the light of this view of Election, how reasonable are the Bible presentational And how trials, difficulties and sacrifices-to which the Church is subjected-are evidently necessary for our testing and development in the character-likeness of the Lord! and thus they are a preparation for a share with Him in His future work.
A knowledge of the Divine Plan is very valuable to all who seek to run the race. If we knew not the object of our trials and difficulties, how could we so well learn to endure them patiently! But if we know that God is thus giving us lessons to prepare us for His service in Messiah's Kingdom, how it changes the aspect of the entire matter!
As St. Paul declared, we may even come to the place where we shall rejoice in tribulation, knowing that tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience, and experience hope, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts, and because we realize the developing of the fruits and graces of the Holy Spirit is a preparation; and that thus, as St. Peter says, "An entrance shall be ministered unto us abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Savior."
The Scriptures clearly show that two classes will fail to win the prize, even after having been begotten of the Holy Spirit. One of these classes the Scriptures liken to the sow who returns to her wallowing in the mire, losing the Spirit of the Lord, the Spirit of the Truth, and abandoning their consecration altogether. (2 Pet. 2:22) These will die the Second Death. Whether their number is large or small is not for us to judge. We may reasonably hope that such unfaithful characters do not predominate.
Then comes another class that the Scriptures declare will fail to get the Kingdom prize. Although members of the Body of Christ now in the present life, they will not be amongst the "more than conquerors" who will be members of the Body beyond the veil. These are represented as a "great company." How great their number is, in proportion to the number who win Christ, the Scriptures do not tell; therefore we may safely withhold judgment in the matter.
The Scriptures tell us that while these love the Truth, appreciate their Covenant of Sacrifice, yet they fail to complete the sacrifice they had agreed to make; and the hindrance is their lack of sufficient love for the Lord and His work. Their lack of zeal leads them to hold back from sacrifice, although they do not draw back to wilful sin, as do the other class. They hold back through fear of death, writes the Apostle: "Who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage," restrained from going on in the footsteps of Jesus and the Apostles to make their election sure.
"I, the Lord, am with thee, be thou not afraid; I will help and strengthen, be thou not dismayed.
Yea, I will uphold thee with Mine own right hand; Thou art called and chosen in My sight to stand."
Onward, then, and fear not, children of the day; For His Word shall never, never pass away.