Glasgow, Scotland, April 19. A three-days' Convention of Bible Students closed its session today. Pastor C. T. Russell, of Pittsburg, U.S.A., delivered the afternoon discourse to an immense concourse of people at Victoria Hall, our largest auditorium. Nearly five thousand heard, and of this number nearly one thousand from all parts of the Kingdom were attendants at the three-days' Convention. The speaker's discourse was heard with rapt attention, and was based upon the Savior's words, "Thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the Just." (Luke 14:14)
He said: With the use of the word Easter we have little sympathy. We regret that our ancestors, during the "dark ages," considered it expedient to adopt the name of a heathen goddess and a heathen festival for one of the most sacred and inspiring memorials of the Christian faith. It does not seem a sufficient excuse that it was hoped thus to gain an influence over the heathen worshippers of Estera.
Far better would it have been to retain the original word Passover used in the Scriptures and mistranslated Easter. It was undoubtedly a wrong thought that to get away from the influence of Judaism it was desirable to ignore the word Passover, a word which, anti-typically considered, has such profound significance to those who are in Christ Jesus, to the "Passed-over-ones," to those who have passed from death unto life and who have come into relationship to God through Christ.
But let us not stop to quarrel with the name of the Festival which in itself is so full of beauty and meaning to every Christian. We memorialize the event which this day celebrates, and not the name attached to the day; and to whatever extent we are able to forget the heathen origin of the word Easter and to attach to it the signification of joyful awakening to newness of life, to that extent the name will be sweet to us. Cast the mind backward to the 4,100 years that had elapsed from the time of Adam's creation to the time of our Lord's birth and note how dark that period was.
The sentence of death which came upon our first parents because of disobedience and which resulted in ejection from Eden, causing to come upon them the various blighting influences incidental to the fall and to the execution of the sentence of death upon them – these have been in operation for that long period of 4,000 years. When half of the period had elapsed God made known to Abraham the first outlines of the divine plan for human salvation, saying, "In thy Seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed." [Gen. 22:18]
Still the blessing did not come and two thousand years more rolled by, with merely a partial blessing upon the one little nation of Israel and that blessing an unsatisfactory one, for as the Apostle declares, "The Law made nothing perfect;" and again, "By the deeds of the Law shall no flesh be justified in God's sight." (Heb. 7:19; Rom. 3:20)
The whole world lay under condemnation of sin and death and the only rays of light and hope on all the horizon came from the promise to Abraham, which God reiterated through the prophets. That was a dark night of hopeless despair for the world in general, of whom the Apostle says that they were "without God, having no hope in the world." Eph. 2:12
Our Lord's first advent as the man Christ Jesus was intended, we are informed, to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself, and to "bring in everlasting righteousness." (Dan. 9:24)
We are all conversant with the beginning of our Lord's consecration of himself to do his Father's will when he had reached manhood's estate and symbolized that consecration by baptism. We are all aware that his consecrated life was laid down throughout the three and a half years of His ministry and that this sacrifice was finished at Calvary; but in order for our Redeemer to be our deliverer it was necessary that He should not remain dead, it was necessary that the Father should raise him from the dead by his own power and most explicitly do the Scriptures explain that the Lord's promised resurrection was accomplished, and that he rose again on the third day. The Master himself referred to the matter before his death, telling that he would rise on the third day; and he has referred to it since saying, "I am he that was dead, and behold I am alive forevermore." (Rev. 1:18)
And the Apostle, referring to the same thing, declares the object of our Lord's death saying, "For this purpose Christ both died and revived and rose that he might be the Lord (controller) both of the dead and the living." (Rom. 14:9)
We perceive, then, that the two most important events of all past history were the death of our Lord and his resurrection from the dead on the third day. No wonder that all Christian doctrine centers in those two great events! No wonder we celebrate the day of the resurrection of our Lord – but, indeed we celebrate this weekly by our observance of the first day of the week, a weekly memorial that our Redeemer liveth. Everything in nature seems to be so regulated as to constitute a picture or illustration of something in grace, and thus Easter, the Passover season, arranged by divine providence for the spring time, represents the [NS534] springing up of new hopes, new life, new knowledge, where before there was death. Believers in Jesus recognize the fact that he is the Life-Giver, and that their hopes of eternal life center in the Lord – not merely in the work that he accomplished at Calvary, but especially in him whom the Father raised from the dead and has made the Lord of all, the Life-Giver to the Church and ultimately to be the Life-Giver to the world of mankind – so many of them as will receive this grace of God at his hands when it shall be offered to them in due time. The Apostle says, "To us who believe he is precious." (1 Pet. 2:7)
We do not need to wait until his second coming and until the actual resurrection which shall then take place, but by faith we already recognize the divine plan and consider ourselves as though we had already passed from death unto life. What joyful experiences belong to those who are thus able to accept the divine Word by faith!
Verily, as the Apostle says, they can rejoice with joy unspeakable; they can rejoice even in tribulation. By faith in these, old things have passed away, all things have become new. And let us not forget that these who have the hearing ear of faith and the seeing eye of faith are the ones and the only ones whom the Father is now drawing from amongst men to be joint-heirs with their Lord in his glorious Kingdom which is to bless the world of mankind with opportunities for knowledge and deliverance from sin and death. Blessed are their eyes for they see, blessed are their ears for they hear. Blessed are their hearts if they respond, for to such now come the great and wonderful opportunity of becoming the "Bride of Christ," of becoming "members in particular of the Body of Christ" – of suffering with their Lord and by and by reigning with him.
The Apostle, speaking for himself and for all who have the hearing ear and seeing eye of faith and the obedience of heart, declares that our grand hope is that we may share with our Lord in his resurrection. The Apostle's words are, "I do count all things but loss and dross that I might win Christ ... that I might know him and the power of his resurrection by being made conformable to his death." (Philip. 3:8)
What does this mean and in what sense can the Apostle and we share in Christ's resurrection? We answer that Christ's resurrection is what is described in the Scriptures as the First Resurrection or chief resurrection in that it is a resurrection of perfection of being on the highest of all planes, the divine plane. As we read our Lord was put to death in the flesh but quickened in the spirit; and the Apostle's description of the resurrection of the Church is to the same effect, that "flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of Heaven," and hence that we must all be changed in our resurrection, as Jesus was changed in his resurrection from earthly to heavenly nature. (1 Pet. 3:18; 1 Cor. 15:50)
Describing this chief resurrection the Apostle says, "It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown an animal body, it is raised a spiritual body." (1 Cor. 15:43, 44)
This is not the description of the general resurrection of the world, but a description of the First Resurrection, which is God's provision for the Church alone, for the Christ, the Anointed of God, of which our Lord Jesus is the Head and the Church, figuratively, members in particular of his Body. (1 Cor. 12:27)
So, then, the Apostle's hope of a share in Christ's resurrection was that he might make his calling election sure to a place amongst the Very Elect, the Church in glory – joint-heirs with their Lord. The same, dear friends, is your hope and mine and should be the hope of all those who have ears to hear and hearts to appreciate the glorious invitation extended during this Gospel Age to a little flock out of all nations, peoples, kindreds and tongues. Concerning this chief resurrection we read, Blessed and holy are all they who have part in the Chief Resurrection, over such the Second Death has no power. They shall be priests of God and of Christ and shall reign with him a thousand years. Rev. 20:6
We are deeply interested in this matter, dear friends, for the Apostle divides the human family into two classes, the just and the unjust. He declares that there is a resurrection provided for both; and it is for you and me to determine in which of these resurrections we prefer to have our portion. Our Lord, the greatest of theologians, similarly divides mankind into two classes and shows that there are two resurrections. He says, "Marvel not: the hour is coming in the which all that are in their graves shall hear the voice of the Son of Man and shall come forth; they that have done good unto the resurrection of life, they that have done evil unto the resurrection of judgment" – mistranslated damnation in the common version. John 5:28,29)
We do not wish to be understood as holding or teaching that there are no gradations amongst men, some more saintly and some less so, some are more wicked and some less so, and we understand our Lord and the Apostles to teach that there will be a difference of reward amongst those who will share in the First Resurrection, as well as differences of punishment for those who will share in the second resurrection, and that these will be regulated according to the amount of knowledge and consequent responsibility and according to the zeal of our right doing or wilfulness of our wrong doing – a just recompense [NS535] of reward to each. We are here calling attention to the fact that there is a general division line between the just and unjust, those who please God and those who please him not, the First Resurrection class and the latter resurrection class, the Chief Resurrection class and the less desirable resurrection class. Who are the "just" referred to in the Apostle's statement? Who are the "good" of our Lord's statement? We are to remember that by nature no one is just, no one is good, that all are fallen, all are imperfect, all are unworthy of divine favor, all have forfeited divine favor, all are "children of wrath." [Eph. 2:3]
Hence, the word "just" and the word "good" must here be used in a relative sense, as referring to those justified by faith and those good and acceptable to God through faith in Christ. But we find that it is not sufficient that we should merely believe, but that the Lord has laid certain tests upon those who are now being called. They are called to walk in his steps, they are called to be his disciples, they are called to take up their cross and follow him they are assured that only those who do so shall share with him in the great honor, glory and immortality which God hath in reservation for those who love him.
Hence plainly enough the "good," the "just," those who please God in the present time are only a little flock, who, according to their ability, are walking not after the flesh but after the spirit. In these reckonedly the law of God is fulfilled and whatever they are short of full perfection is compensated or made up to them by the Redeemer, whose precious sacrifice is available to them for this purpose. Thus we see that the "Very Elect," those whom God will pass upon as good, as just, as acceptable to him, those whom he will decree worthy of life, eternal, will be a "little flock."
Nor can we find fault with the divine justice and love which has thus determined. However, when we considered how small is the number of these in the world, how few are walking, living not after the flesh but after the spirit we are assured that the majority of our neighbors and friends, the majority of Church members as well as all the heathen, will have their portion in the resurrection of the unjust, in the resurrection of those whose lives have not pleased God – for "this is the will of God, even your sanctification" – all the unsanctified, therefore, are in an attitude that is not pleasing to God, in an attitude that will hinder their share in the Chief Resurrection.
Those justified before God are counted worthy of eternal life, their trials and testings all being in the past in the present life. Hence, they all come forth to a life resurrection, perfected in life in the very moment of their coming forth from death. But it is not so with the majority of mankind, they have had no trial at all, for although all were condemned in Adam and all were redeemed in Christ, yet the only way to get the blessing in Christ is through the knowledge of the only name given under heaven and amongst men; and since only a small proportion of the heathen have ever heard of that only name, it follows that the vast majority have had no testing or trial at all, have had no opportunity as yet.
So whether our minds dwell chiefly upon those who have had no opportunity or chiefly upon the smaller number who have had some knowledge, some opportunity, we perceive that all belong to a class that will not be counted worthy of a life resurrection, but who, as our Redeemer says, will come forth unto a resurrection of judgment, come forth from the tomb, come forth from the blindness of the Adversary, come forth from the dominion of sin and death that they may have a glorious opportunity of being raised up gradually step by step, inch by inch, out of the degradation and sin into which they were plunged through heredity as Children of Adam.
God has provided the thousand years or Millennium for their uplifting, mentally, morally and physically, out of sin and death conditions that they may be brought back eventually to the glorious estate of perfect manhood, to all that was lost in Adam and all that was redeemed by the precious blood of Christ. Hence their resurrection will be a gradual work, lasting a thousand years and provided with tests all along the way. The declaration is that if they will not be obedient to the tests and opportunities then granted to them, when full light and knowledge will fill the earth and when Satan will be bound that he shall deceive the nations no more – if they will not avail themselves of these privileges and blessings and opportunities for raising-up out of sin and death conditions, they shall be judged worthy of the Second Death, from which there is to be no redemption, no recovery – eternal death, extinction, as with brute beasts.
How glad we are that the heavenly Father's gracious plans are so high and so deep and so broad that they extend to every member of Adam's race; that while we may rejoice in our glorious prospect of a share in the First Resurrection, a resurrection to a new nature, which the Apostle Peter calls the "divine nature" (2 Pet. 1:4), how glad we are that the world also is to have a glorious opportunity of resurrection, of being raised up to human perfection! How glad we are that we have the promise of the Lord that their eternal home, the earth, shall again be the Paradise of God; that God's Tabernacle shall again be with men, that he will dwell with them, that he will pour out his Spirit upon all flesh, that every knee shall bow and every tongue confess, and that God, through his various agencies and provinces, will wipe away all tears from off all faces, and that the inhabitants of the land shall [NS536] no more say, I am sick; and that there shall be no more pain, no more sighing, no more crying, no more dying, because all the former things shall have passed away. for all those, unworthy of eternal life, shall then have been destroyed in the Second Death, everlasting destruction. Rev. 2:7; Eze. 37:27; Joel 2:28, 29; Rom. 14:11; Rev. 21:4; Isa. 33:24; Acts 3:23.
But notice our context: our Lord accepted an invitation to dinner from a prominent Pharisee, and the words of our text were addressed to this Pharisee and his friends. The special point of the lesson, therefore, was not to the Lord's disciples, but to people in general, as shown when our Lord said, When thou makest a dinner or supper, call not thy friends nor thy brethren nor thy kinsmen nor thy rich neighbors, lest they also bid thee again and a recompense be made thee. But when thou makest a feast call the poor, the lame, the maimed, the blind, and thou shalt be blessed, because they cannot recompense thee; for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just. Luke 14:13, 14 Several matters here deserve consideration:
(1) No recompensing is suggested as taking place at death;
(2) those to be recompensed are to get their reward or blessing for good works, not for faith and not because they were disciples of Jesus and took up their cross to follow him;
(3) the reward of such good works will not be a share in the resurrection of the just, but when the just are resurrected and when God's Kingdom shall then have been established amongst men and the new order of things inaugurated, a blessing will accrue to these for having done kindness to the poor, the lame, the blind who could not return the kindness. In other words, in God's great counting, every act of kindness is a credit and every act of unkindness is a debit as respects the world and signifies either blessings or adversities proportionately when their judgment day shall come, when they shall be on trial during the Millennial Age.
If any one be disposed to differ with us in this interpretation let him reflect that to make a dinner or supper to the poor who could not recompense it, would be a very cheap way indeed of attaining a place in the First Resurrection, a place in the Kingdom. And if this is the condition upon which the Kingdom is to be gained our Lord and his apostles and the majority of his followers would have little opportunity of gaining it, for most of them are poor in this world's goods and unable to make feasts for the poor, the blind and the lame.
Manifestly, therefore, our interpretation is the only one who fits the case. And how much more reasonable is this view than the other one which has been sanctioned since the "dark ages," namely that any who failed to get into the Kingdom of God as members of the Church would be consigned to an eternity of torment! Where would be the opportunity for rewarding the gift of a cup of cold water to a disciple? Where would be the opportunity for rewarding mentioned in our context?
But with the Scriptural presentation in our minds, that there is neither wisdom, knowledge nor device in the grave, all is simple and clear! When the First, the Chief Resurrection shall give God's rewards to the Church, the Body of Christ, the Bride of Christ, the "little flock" when the Kingdom shall be established then the awakening of the world of mankind in general will take place, and then will be the time when every good deed or every evil deed will be a credit or debit. Nor are we to suppose that little, trifling acts of kindness or of unkindness will be read from the great book and literal stripes laid on and literal blessings bestowed. Rather we may suppose that every act of kindness which any one may now do for those who are more distressed than themselves will have its effect upon their own hearts and minds not only blessing them for the life than now is, but preparing their hearts through a greater nobility for a higher relative position in the future during the Millennium.
Similarly those who now do unkindness are responsible in proportion as they have light and knowledge, and the unkind deeds react upon their own hearts and lives, more or less hardening them and toughening them, and this hardness and toughness of conscience and character will be theirs in the awakening of the resurrection time and they will have that much the more to contend against when during the Millennium they shall be required to make progress out of the sin and death conditions back to harmony with the divine law of love.
Let us, therefore, in the world and in our families and amongst those who are not of the consecrated class, encourage large benevolence, kindness, generosity, knowing that these will be beneficial to our friends. Let us help them in any tendencies they may have to greatness of heart, knowing that they will be the better prepared for the trials and disciplines which will come to them through the Millennium. In conclusion, I exhort so many of you as have been begotten of the holy Spirit and are New Creatures in Christ; so many of you as are risen with him to walk in newness of life, that you more and more seek to put away all things that belong to the sin and death conditions and that you seek to put on all the glorious characteristics of our Redeemer, the fruits of his holy Spirit – meekness, patience, humility, kindness, love. I exhort you that you think more and more of the Master's resurrection and of the privilege granted to us of [NS537] being sharers in that Chief Resurrection, and that you think of this as not only the spring time of your own precious hopes in the Lord, but that the completion of this First Resurrection will mean the glorious spring time of divine favor to the whole world, when we shall have entered into the joys of the Lord.
It is of this glorious restitution spring time that the Apostle Peter speaks saying, "Times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord: and he shall send Jesus Christ (his second advent), whom the heavens must retain until the times of restitution of all things which God hath spoken by the mouth of all the holy prophets since the world began" – the time of the world's rejuvenation and restoration to human perfection, the time of the earth's rejuvenation, when it shall be brought to its paradisiacal splendor and completeness. For these things, dear brethren and sisters, let us seek, looking longingly in our hearts to this glorious consummation of the divine plan and in our daily lives seeking to perfect holiness, that we may be sharers in those things which God hath in reservation for them that love him.
Manchester, England, April 26. Pastor C. T. Russell, of Pittsburgh, U.S.A., preached here today to a deeply interested audience of nearly 4,000 people in our largest auditorium. He rather scored the "New Theology" recently brought into prominence here by the noted preacher of the London City Temple.
He made clear that he sympathized with the adherents to the New Theology to the extent of sharing their shame and repugnance to the theology of the "dark ages" with its millions in Eternal Torment at the hands of fire-proof devils, but he denounced the New Theology as merely another name for infidelity, an utter repudiation of the Bible.
He claimed that the Bible had been vilified and misrepresented in the house of its friends, and that this course is driving multitudes of the wisest heads and best hearts into passive infidelity or into the more active form of the same, known as Higher Criticism and New Theology. He declared that the Bible should be studied free from the bias and coloring of sectarianism and that thus viewed no noble heart or logical mind need be ashamed of it. He took his stand with that great reasoner and master and theologian, the Apostle Paul, and fully endorsed his statement which constituted the text of the afternoon, namely, "I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ." (Rom. 1:16)
Pastor Russell said: Those who have studied the masterful writings of the Apostle Paul, constituting so large a portion of the New Testament, must surely have been impressed with the reasonableness and logic of his mental positions as therein stated. While it is true that not many understand the Bible at all, yet even those who do not grasp the full import of the Apostle's words can see enough therein to convince them of his soundness of logic; and the comparatively few, begotten of the holy Spirit, who really understand the depths of his writings, unanimously accord his epistles the first place amongst the writings of the Bible as well as in general literature. And now we ask of all who recognize his ability at all and his sterling honesty of expression, Is it possible to suppose that when the Apostle wrote the words of our text he had in mind anything akin to the gross travesty upon justice and love which in the "dark ages" was branded the Gospel of Christ and has been handed down to us?
Could we suppose that he had in mind a race not only born in sin and shapen in iniquity but condemned by its Creator to an eternity of torture since the time of Adam's disobedience; could we suppose that he had in mind for such a race a message that Christ had died and that the net result of his sacrifice for sin and all of the results of that sacrifice would effect only about one in a thousand or one in ten thousand of earth's teaming millions – to open their eyes of understanding and to lead them from darkness to light, from sin to righteousness, from enmity to God to loving obedience as saints with a reward of heavenly glory?
Can we suppose that he had in mind the Gospel as preached by Jonathan Edwards which declared that the handful of the saved would look over the battlements of heaven into an abyss containing the thousands of millions of their fellow-creatures including their own parents and children and friends, and that they would turn around and praise God the louder for the sight, rejoicing that they were saved from such a fate "so changed" that they would have no sympathy or sorrow or compassion for the tormented ones?
We care not which view of the matter is taken, whether it be held that God fore-ordained that only one out of ten thousand should be called and sanctified and glorified, or whether, as our Methodist friends claim, he did not fore-ordain us but, doing his best to the contrary, these results were inevitable. We hold that the shame which is growing prevalent throughout "Christendom" as respects this Gospel of the "dark [NS538] ages" is a most hopeful sign of our return to sanity and reason! We hold that the ascribing of such a program to the Almighty is a slander upon the whole race!
We hold that it was this very "doctrine of devils," gradually foisted upon the Church by Satan, which led men during the "dark ages" to torture one another on the rack, and to burn one another at the stake, and to think that in so doing they were manifesting the Spirit of God and working the works of the Father and of the Son!
A devilish doctrine is sure to have a blighting influence upon the heart and head and conduct. We first learned to be ashamed of the conduct of our forbears as manifested in their persecutions; we are now learning to be ashamed of the creeds by which they were deceived into their unrighteous course, and we rightly charge it to the great Adversary, who has always sought to put darkness for light.
Even in the Apostle's day he noted the tendency of the Adversary to bring in false doctrines and to put another Gospel instead of the true one. He was not only ashamed of the false Gospel but denounced it and forewarned the Church to be on guard against the wiles of the Adversary, telling us that he would attempt to present himself as an angel of light on purpose to deceive the followers of Christ. To what extent he has been successful as a theologist and teacher in the Church, let all the creeds of the "dark ages" and since bear witness! Do not think for one moment that I am stating anything new.
For years, especially within the last forty years, thinking people and particularly ministers of the Gospel. have been perplexed and fretted in soul in respect to the creeds. Both heart and head told them that they were wrong; that such a plan, so far from being a heavenly one, is earthly, sensual, devilish, far beneath the standard of moral honesty and decency amongst men – not to speak of love for our neighbor as for ourselves, which should do for others as we would that they should do for us.
This false Gospel contradicts entirely the Lord's statement, that as the heavens are higher than the earth so are his ways higher than man s ways. There are many of our fallen race, alas, who are very mean and moved by very wicked and malicious influences at times, but we have yet to find a man or woman so wretchedly degraded, so unjust, so unsympathetic, unloving, so fierce, so venomous, so deficient that he or she would purposely, knowingly, intentionally, bring into being any creature, human or brute, and then take continual pleasure, century after century, in torturing those creatures, in witnessing their sufferings, their groans and their agonizing cries. What awful things have we done?
By following Satan's delusion, foisted upon us as a race during the "dark ages," we have unwittingly, stupidly ascribed to the God of wisdom, justice, love and power a plan which in proportion as we really believe it slanders him and makes him more detestable to the eyes of our understanding than any of his creatures in the universe. Alas! For such a slander our heavenly Father, for such blasphemy of his holy name, we might well mourn in sackcloth and ashes for the remainder of our earthly life.
But he is gracious unto us, not imputing our transgressions to us. He remembers that we are dust, fallen dust, and that as a race we have come largely under the deceptive influence of our Adversary, who has blinded us with ignorance and superstition. It is high time that we all awake, that we learn to use our God-given reasoning faculties on religious matters as well as upon the affairs of our natural lives.
To awaken as a race from our long sleep, from our stupid, dreamy condition as respects religious matters – yea, to awaken from our nightmare and "nocturnal hallucinations," it is surely high time! But let us remember that our first steps upon awakening are apt to be more or less uncertain and our course of reasoning more or less faulty.
Added to this let us remember that our Adversary, Satan, still anxious to hold us in the chains of ignorance and to prevent us from seeing the Lord in his true character and from coming into close touch with him, is very apt to appear as an angel of light and to guide our footsteps, if possible, still farther away from the right path, our heads and hearts still further away from their proper relationship to God and his Word.
We have a prominent illustration of this matter in the course of one of the brightest ministers in this great metropolis. Awakening from his troubled sleep, he has discovered that the doctrine of eternal torment was but a nightmare which he properly rejected and of which he was glad to be rid. But in the excitement of the moment he has rejected the Bible and its many precious instructions as being part and parcel of his nightmare. He has leaped over the traces and become one of the shining lights of the so-called "New Theology," which so far as the Bible and its teachings are concerned, might more truthfully be termed the new infidelity. Alas, that a blinded mind should be turned to another Gospel! And the end is not yet; there are hundreds, yea, thousands in this and in other lands who wait for a leader and who are now committing themselves in opposition to the Bible and its true message – the Gospel of Christ, of which the Apostle Paul was not ashamed. Moreover, as these men cry out thousands of slumbering Christians are awakened, and in their bewilderment [NS539] they are as apt not to follow the pernicious ways of this pseudo Gospel, this "New Theology," this new infidelity.
Thank God not all of his people are asleep! And not all of those who have awakened from the nocturnal hallucinations have followed the lead of the Adversary, searching for new light, with their faces toward nature and the west and their backs toward God and his Word! God has not left himself without witnesses at any time, although at no time have these been a majority either in numbers or in influence. But it is these who are now called upon, "Blow ye the trumpet in Zion! Sound an alarm in my holy mountain!" But the Lord through the prophet forewarns us that we must not expect that many will have the hearing ear as respects the truth; the declaration is, "None of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand." (Dan. 12:10)
Neither is the term wicked here used in respect to murderers and thieves and the world in general, but in respect to the Lord's professed people who have made a covenant with him and who are esteemed wicked, wrong, in comparison as they fail to live in harmony with that covenant. The wise toward God who shall understand in this time are the faithful ones who hearken to the Word of the Lord and who may hope to be of his jewels in the gathering time near at hand. It is respecting these that we read, "The meek will he guide in judgment: and the meek will he teach his way" and again "The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him and he will show them his covenant" – his purposes. (Psa. 25:9, 14)
The Apostle declares that "Ye, brethren, are not left in darkness," in ignorance with the remainder of the world, and our Lord pointing down to our day declared that the Adversary would deceive, "if it were possible, the very Elect." (1 Thess. 5:4; Matt. 24:24)
This implies the widespread and deceitful character of the delusions which already prevail and which, we understand the Scriptures to teach, will increase until "a thousand shall fall at thy side and ten thousand at thy right hand," implying a great falling away from the Truth from the Bible and from the Lord himself. The Apostle Paul, pointing down to our day, implies that the Lord will permit Satan to have special power now for the purpose of sifting and separating and approving the faithful and the unfaithful in the Nominal Church. He puts it strongly, saying that God will send strong delusions that they may believe a lie, that they all may be condemned who had not pleasure in the truth but in untruth. Let us, then, be very firm, very courageous to stand for the truth, to stand for the Lord, to stand for his Word, whatever the course of others may be.
We are aware that many will be inclined to say that the difference between those who hold to the Bible and those who hold to the New Theology and reject the Bible are merely differences of opinion which are not vital as respects the Christian life of our relationship to God. We dispute this and call attention to the Scriptural presentation that our salvation must be recognized as of either faith or works. If it be of faith there must be a vital point to the faith, something in particular that is necessary to be believed; but if it be of works, then of course faith is ignored and the heathen, without any faith in Christ and an unfounded faith in God and his plan, would have the same opportunity of salvation by works as the Christian who has heard the Gospel of the Son of God and the only name given under heaven and amongst men whereby we must be saved. (Acts 4:12)
The battle on this question has waged ever since the days of the Apostle, but there is no question as to what was their stand. It is plainly declared that no man can be saved by works of the law, works of righteousness, and that our justification and salvation are through faith in the blood of Christ. If then the old theology of Jesus and the apostles shall stand the teachers of the New Theology are convicted out of their own mouths with being false apostles, false teachers, not Christian, not only in their tendencies leading away from the Word of God, but in all their theories denying salvation through faith, which is the only salvation the Bible proclaims to mankind this side of the Millennium, the only terms on which any can be accepted of the Lord to the present high calling to membership in the "Little Flock," the Bride of Christ, the Very Elect. Let the fight be squarely drawn and clearly seen.
If the New Theology is right the Bible is entirely wrong; if man's existence on earth began on a plane one removed from a monkey, and he has been gradually evolving to his present condition and position, and if he is to save himself by his own works without a redemption and without divine interposition, then the Bible is wholly wrong, for it teaches the reverse of this in every particular. The Bible teaches that man was created in God's image, upright, and that he fell into sin and that, as the Apostle declares, the degradation of the heathen was because they were not willing, not desirous of retaining God in their mind, and that God gave them over to a reprobate mind and to doing evil things which have intensified the degradation of the race, some more and some less.
The Gospel of which the Apostle was not ashamed represents that the penalty of all this sin and degradation is extinction; but that God in mercy provided Jesus as our Redeemer. It shows us that no member of the race could redeem it because [NS540] each member himself was under the divine sentence of death. It shows us that Christ's death was the offset or redemption price to Father Adam's sentence, and that as the whole race suffered through Adam's disobedience and sentence so likewise God could with equal justice permit that the redemptive work of Christ should apply not only to Adam but to all of his race. This Gospel of which St. Paul was not ashamed he clearly sets forth in Rom. 5:12-19.
He does not say that the penalty upon Adam was eternal torment, but that it was death. He does not say that our penalty is eternal torment, but death. He does not say that Christ went to eternal torment to pay our penalty but that he died for our sins. He does not say that we are to be recovered from eternal torment, but that we are to be justified and delivered from our condemnation from sin and from the death penalty which was upon all, and that, therefore, there is to be a resurrection both of the just and of the unjust. Delineating further the Gospel of which he was not ashamed the Apostle Paul explains to us that during this Gospel Age God is gathering out of the world of mankind a special Elect class to be the Bride, the Lamb's wife, to suffer with him that they may also reign with him, to die with him that we may also live with him. (Rom. 8:17)
He declares that there is a mystery connected with the matter which is not generally discerned and only intended of God to be understood by the Spirit-begotten ones, the faithful. He tells us that this mystery was hidden from us previously and that it consists in the fact that the heavenly Father fore-knew and predestinated that the great Messiah, the Seed of Abraham through whom all the families of the earth should be blessed, would be composed not only of our Lord Jesus but also of the Elect Church, which symbolically he calls his Body, saying, "God gave Christ to be the Head over the Church, which is his Body (Eph. 1:22,23); and again he declares we are members in particular of the Body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:27), and again that "Jesus, the Redeemer, the Lord and Head of the Church and the Seed of Abraham per se, shall have associated with himself the Church as members of the Seed of Abraham through whom the world is to be blessed. (Gal. 3:29)
The false doctrine of the "dark ages," of which we are ashamed, declares that when the Elect Church shall have been gathered all the families of the earth shall forever be condemned and eternally tormented, but the Gospel which the Apostle Paul preached declares to the contrary, that when the Church is complete as the Seed of Abraham its mission as the glorified Kingdom of Christ, the Millennial Kingdom under the whole heavens, shall be to bless all the families of the earth, to convert them, to lift them up out of sin and death conditions and to give so many as will a full opportunity to return to divine favor as Adam first enjoyed it and the blessing of an earthly Paradise restored. The Apostle also declares that the blessing of the world waits until the Church, as a part of the Seed of Abraham, shall be completed and inherit that glorious promise and in fulfillment of it scatter divine blessings world-wide. Note how particularly he emphasizes this relationship of the Elect Church of this Gospel Age with Christ and with the promised Seed of Abraham through whom the blessing of the world is to come, he says: "If ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's Seed and heirs according to the promise." Gal. 3:29
The Gospel which the Apostle preached and of which he was not ashamed invited those who have the hearing ears to consecrate their lives that they might be of the Elect Church. It gave assurance that the cross of the present time would end in bringing not only everlasting life in the future but also glory, honor and immortality, a share with Christ in his Kingdom and in its glorious work. In view of this believers were urged to present their bodies living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God through Christ, and to suffer with him now, be sharers of his ignominy and death that they might in due time be sharers with him in his Kingdom and honor and work of blessing all the families of the earth. In all of his teachings the Lord kept before the minds of the Church that the cross and the crown were inseparably united in the divine program – "If we suffer with him we shall also reign with him," is his plea. The faithful were at the second advent of Christ to receive a crown of glory which fadeth not away. (1 Pet. 5:4)
In their glorified condition they were to be the exalted Seed of Abraham with the glorious mission of blessing Israel after the flesh and all the families of the earth. (Rom. 11:25-32)
Even the casting away of Natural Israel from divine favor upon the rejection of Messiah, the Apostle assures us, will be overruled eventually, so that Natural Israel will receive mercy at the hands of the spiritual Seed of Abraham. In his letter to the Ephesians the Apostle indicates that the glories of the Church are not to be expected in the present time, which is a time of sacrifice and suffering with Christ. The glory is to follow and is to last not only during the thousand years in which the world will receive a blessing, but during the ages to come, through all eternity, the Elect Church, proved and tested by present disciplines, will be forever blessed of the Lord and sharers with their Redeemer and Head in the grace of God. Of this the apostle specifically says, "In the ages to come he (God) will show the exceeding [NS541] riches of his grace and loving kindness toward us in Chris Jesus." (Eph. 2:7)
He also urges us not to cast away our confidence, our trust in God's promises, for in due time we shall reap if we faint not. He calls to our mind the fact that during this present time of suffering and trial, the oath-bound promise made to Abraham is to be to us who believe God's Word and oath an anchor to our souls sure and steadfast entering into that which is beyond the vail, whither our forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, who has already been glorified as the great High Priest, who during the Millennial Age shall exercise his office for the blessing of the world, and in line with this is the assurance that all the faithful of the Church of Christ, the "Little Flock," shall be in due time members of the Royal Priesthood, who as enthroned priests and associated with their enthroned High Priest Jesus shall share with him the blessed privilege of both ruling and instructing and assisting the world of mankind. Who, we ask, needs to be ashamed of such a Gospel?
This is not the Gospel of the "dark ages," but it is, we see, the Gospel of the Apostles, and the only Gospel which fits and dovetails with their various expressions on the subject. The Apostle Peter also has much to say respecting these same matters – the blessing of the world at the second coming of Christ and intermediately the trials and testings of the Church – that the overcomers thereof may be proven and made ready for a share with their Redeemer in the glorious work of the Millennium. Hearken to his words when preaching under the influence of the holy Spirit at Pentecost. He declared, pointing down to the future and the blessings that would come to mankind in general at the second coming of Christ, "Times of refreshing (literally in the Greek, springtime) shall come from the presence of the Lord: and he shall send Jesus Christ (his second advent), whom the heavens must retain until the times of restitution of all things which God hath spoken by the mouth of all the holy Prophets since the world began." (Acts 3:19-21)
How could the Apostle emphasize the glorious outcome of the divine plan more distinctly than he has done? How could he more particularly tell us that at the second advent of Christ, instead of the destruction of the world, as all our creeds teach, there shall be indeed restitution times, times of refreshing, times of returning things back to a pristine glory and dignity and beauty! And the grandest of all restitution will be the raising of mankind to the perfection enjoyed originally by father Adam before he fell into sin, degradation and death. St. Peter not only declares this matter, but he calls us to witness that every prophet who could properly be called a holy prophet has directly or indirectly declared respecting this coming time of the world's blessing. In harmony also with this and with the Apostle Paul's declaration are St. Peter's appeals to the Church that they make preparation, that they add to the graces and fruits of the Spirit continually, that they make progress in the good way of Christ-likeness, which the Apostle Paul denominates "putting on the whole armor of God." (Eph. 6:11)
St. Peter says, "If ye do these things, ye shall never fall, for so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." (2 Pet. 1:10, 11)
No one will claim that the Apostle in these words was referring to any Kingdom established in his day. Undoubtedly he was pointing our hearts and minds forward to the Millennial Kingdom and to the promise of our dear Redeemer that his faithful would sit with him in his throne and share his glories and honors and work. (Rev. 3:2 1)
Undoubtedly his words are and were intended to be in full accord with those of our dear Master, who assured us of his willingness to bless the faithful at the end of this age saying, "Fear not, Little Flock, it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom." [Luke 12:32]
The same Kingdom for which we pray, "Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as it is done in heaven." [Matt. 6:10]
Let us then, dear friends, cast away our fear and shame when we cast away the creeds of the "dark ages," but let us hold fast to the Bible and its exceeding great and precious promises, the like of which are to be found in no other religion and, when rightly appreciated and understood, are nobler, better far than any human creed or condition ever penned! Let God be true though it make every creed a lie, as the Apostle would say! And believing in the living and true God, whose character is shown by this his wonderful plan for man's salvation, let us render him the homage of our lips, confessing him in all our ways, not only with our tongues but with our lives and so far as possible, also exalting him in the very thoughts of our minds! Let us bow before him, and let the joyful recognition of his goodness sanctify our hearts more and more for him and his service!
"Life's heavenly secret was revealed –
In Christ all riches are concealed.
We try and fail; we ask, He gives,
And in His rest our spirit lives."