In response to numerous requests from our readers, we purpose an enlargement of this journal. Commencing with the issue for January next, the number of pages will be increased from 16 to 28, under white covers. This will afford considerably more space and will, we believe, be much better every way than to make the paper a semi-monthly of its present size. We trust that the TOWER readers in general will coincide with our judgment in the matter of this change.
This additional presswork, paper, composition and postage will necessitate an increase in the price to $1.00 (4/-) a year. This price, it is hoped, will clear the cost of the publication – including those sent gratis to the LORD'S POOR interested in the present truth, who, because of infirmities of age or accident or other causes, are unable to pay for it. These constitute a much more numerous class than most would imagine, as the poor and the infirm are specially drawn to the "good tidings of great joy." Should any surplus remain after the actual cost of the publishing of the TOWER has been met, it will go into the Tract Fund for scattering Old Theology tracts, as the Editor and the Publishing Co. serve the cause gratuitously, from love for the Master and the Truth.
In the VIEW of this issue, we have shown the necessity for supplying large quantities of the O.T. Tracts gratis to interested brethren and sisters who can use them to great advantage for the spread of the Truth. We therefore propose a plan which, if it can be worked out, will, we believe, meet the case fully.
(1) The new price for the TOWER will include a year's subscription for two copies of the OLD THEOLOGY TRACTS, published quarterly. Thus every TOWER subscriber will be also an O.T. Tract subscriber, and will receive two copies of each tract as issued.
(2) Any subscriber (as above – including those accepted on the list of the Lord's poor) will have the privilege of ordering FREE as many extra copies of any of the tracts as he can use judiciously – from No. 1 onward except Nos. 8 and 11. Thus all may become scatterers of the "hail."
(3) It is proposed to meet this immense demand and the great cost which it will entail – even though with our great economy $1.00 will do nearly as much as $2.00 ordinarily – by the FREE WILL OFFERINGS of those whose hearts, touched by the truth, burn with desire to serve it and its Author.
This will be a work of faith; yet seeing the necessity for it, we conclude to adopt the plan, feeling sure that he who declares that all the gold and silver of the mountains are his will send the amount needful for its economical accomplishment. We will not even wait until the first of the year, but invite all TOWER subscribers, who have the heart desire and the ability to engage in the work, to order at once such tracts as they can and will judiciously use.
While passing through London we noticed some very beautiful Motto Cards suitable for the adornment of the walls of Christian homes, and, thinking the prices cheaper than in the United States, we purchased some, purposing to advise the TOWER readers and to supply orders if any desired them. We present herewith a descriptive list. The prices include postage.
MOTTO CARDS. ASSORTED HEAVY MAROON AND GREEN CARDS STAMPED IN SILVER.
No. ---------- EACH.
1. LARGE STARS (6 different Mottoes),............$ .25
2. LONG SHAPED (4 " " ),............ .25
3. SMALLER, Square shaped (4 Mottoes, with Chromo
Illustrations),.............................. .20
4. SMALLER, "REST IN THE LORD" – verses,.......... .15
5. " SHIELDS (6 Mottoes),................. .10
MOTTO CARDS. PRINTED IN GILT AND COLORS, ON HEAVY, FINE, TONED PAPER.
No. ---------- EACH. 6. FAITH & LOVE (Moss Roses) (4 Mottoes),........$ .10 7. GOD'S FAVOR (Floral Wreaths) (6 Mottoes),..... .10 8. LOOKING TO JESUS (Roses) (4 Mottoes),......... .10 9. CHRISTIAN SOLDIER MOTTOES (2 Mottoes),........ .10 10. EASEL MOTTOES FOR MANTEL (6 Mottoes),........ .05 11. CHRISTMAS CARDS (assorted, illuminated), .05 & .10
| VOL. XII. | NOVEMBER, 1891. | NO. 11. |
After all the vicissitudes of our long and rapid journey abroad, which included ten thousand miles by sea and seven thousand miles by land, in and between Europe, Asia, Africa and America, we are glad to greet the readers of the TOWER again from the home office. We arrived just as the last issue of the TOWER was ready for press, and therefore had to delay any account of our travels for this and subsequent issues.
Toward the close of our journey we had the pleasure of greeting about one hundred and fifty of the interested ones at London and about the same number at Liverpool, who came together from various parts of England and Wales. The former company was brought together by the kindness of Sister Horne and others, the latter by Brother and Sister Elam. Both were precious seasons in which we learned to appreciate very highly the depth and earnestness of the fellow-members of the body over there. You will not be surprised to know that the same spirit of the truth (the spirit of love – deep, earnest and active) characterizes the saints there, as it does all who joyfully and devotedly accept the same good tidings on this side the Atlantic. These gatherings reminded us of those which are held every Spring in Allegheny. Love, joy and peace, the fruits of the spirit of the truth, were expressed in the faces and by the hands as well as in the words of all. And fervent and earnest were the prayers of the saints there for their dear brethren and sisters in America, and for the great work in which we are unitedly engaged. In the intervals of the public meetings the personal interviews were constant and very earnest, disclosing a strong under-current of love and devotion to God and a longing for still greater usefulness in his blessed service. Their prayers and parting benedictions will never be forgotten, except in the joys of our glorious reunion in the heavenly kingdom. O may we each so run as to be counted worthy of that blessed consummation of our hopes!
Arriving in New York, we were greatly surprised to find that Brother and Sister Fairchild had arranged for a gathering of interested ones at their home, to bid us welcome to the dear home land – the most favored in the world for the great harvest work. It was a warm welcome indeed, and most beautifully expressed by the floral decorations and elegant repast which loving hearts had planned and loving hands had executed. We greatly enjoyed this privilege of meeting and greeting the saints, about sixty of whom had gathered, some coming fifty and some a hundred miles, a majority of whom awaited our arrival.
Reaching Allegheny early on the following Sunday morning, we were again surprised by the loved ones. Brothers Bryan and Morrow, a delegation of welcome, met us at the depot; and on our arrival home, after worship, while [R1332 : page 146] we breakfasted, a poem of welcome, written for the occasion by Sister Ball, of our household, was read to us.
But our surprises were not yet complete. On our arrival at Bible House chapel, we found the stand and platform banked with potted plants and adorned with flowers, while upon the wall, in the rear of the desk, and beautifully executed, was the word Welcome. A congregation of about two hundred awaited our arrival, and Brother Weimar conducted the meeting, whilst we were shown seats among the congregation. The program consisted of an address of welcome by Sister Tuttle who, on behalf of the congregation, bade us Welcome Home in no uncertain language; and this was preceded and followed by the excellent rendering of two very appropriate hymns, specially prepared for the occasion by Sister Zech.
Then, an opportunity offering, we responded, assuring our dear Brethren and Sisters that we heartily reciprocated all the love and tender interest which they had so forcibly and elegantly expressed toward us. We assured them that we accepted these loving expressions of welcome, not merely as personal matters, but chiefly as expressions of their sympathy and love for the Truth and the Master whom we seek to serve. We then briefly related some items of interest furnished by our journey, and the various evidences we had of the Lord's favor and blessings upon us and upon our mission abroad, promising more anon through the TOWER.
While we realized that dangers beset us on every hand all through the journey, we gratefully remembered the prayers of the saints on our behalf, and the loving favor of God, whose presence was so signally with us all the way, so that every hindrance to the accomplishment of our mission was removed and our way was continually prospered. The seas were smooth and quiet, affording opportunities for letting our light shine among our fellow-passengers, although for a time we had to have a share of the discomforts of sea-sickness, which was doubtless for our good; and we sincerely hope that some lasting impressions were made upon the minds of some to whom we bore witness concerning our Father's plan.
On the east-bound journey were some fifty Congregationalist ministers, bound for a convention of that denomination in London, having for its chief object the closer union of Congregationalists throughout the world; and on our homeward journey was a similar number of Methodist ministers, bound for a Methodist convention to be held in Washington city. On the Black and Mediterranean seas, on board a Russian steamer from Odessa to Jaffa, we had a fair sample of Jewish exiles and also of the Russian hatred of the poor wanderers. But all the individual Russians cannot be judged by the policy of their despotic government, nor by the superstitions of their national religion – the Greek Catholic. Among them we met persons of both head and heart culture and whom we would have reasonable hope of converting to the truth under favorable circumstances for its presentation. To some of these we have promised a copy of THE PLAN OF THE AGES in French as soon as it is published.
On the Mediterranean voyages we also met and made the acquaintance of some fair representatives of the Greeks, Egyptians, French and Italians, and our appreciation of the kindly courtesy of these traveling acquaintances greatly enlarged our sympathy and love for the various peoples whom they represented; and as we exchanged cards on parting and wished each other a safe and happy journey, we promised each a copy of DAWN in German, French or English when they were familiar enough with any of these to read it. Throughout our journeys on the wave the Master's "Peace, be still," seemed to echo and re-echo; for though we heard of disasters abroad by sea and by land, our frail barques were always safely steered to their destination; and though all Europe was suffering from too frequent rains, and in many places damaging floods, we had fair weather and clear sunshine from the day we left home until our return, with the single exception of our last day in London, the rains and storms always being either in advance of us or in our rear. This, together with our continued physical health, notwithstanding the sudden changes of climate and the fatigue of constant travel and sight-seeing, we could not help marking as specially [R1332 : page 147] favorable to our rapid traveling and necessarily hasty observations, for all of which we sincerely thank God and you, dear brethren and sisters, who constantly remembered us before the throne of heavenly grace.
Our travels by land were also blessed by numerous opportunities for making the acquaintance of representatives of various nations, with whom we frequently conversed, sometimes through interpreters, all conversation naturally gravitating toward the truth. The kind faces and cordial hand-shaking and good wishes of these traveling companions will long be remembered as among the interesting events of our journey, as links in the chain of love that binds us to our common humanity and as instrumentalities in causing our hearts to beat with a quicker impulse and a warmer affection for the "whole world," whom God so loved as to give his only begotten Son for their redemption and restitution.
Yes, our sympathies have been greatly enlarged, our love strengthened and our zeal greatly stimulated to do our privileged part in the furtherance of that glorious plan of God which alone is equal to the emergency of our fallen humanity's desperate case. Our reason, as well as the Scriptures, clearly affirms that all efforts not on the lines of God's plan are vain indeed, and we long for the consummation in the blessed restitution of all things. But, as a means to that end, we see that the development and exaltation of the Church is of first importance, calling, therefore, now – in this harvest time – for the concentration of all our efforts here, in order that, under the future leading and government of the perfected and glorified Church, the world may believe. – John 17:21.
We want to tell you all we can about our journey, but it will require time to do so. We would now in a word tell you that the Lord has greatly blessed us in it to the accomplishment of what we contemplated in undertaking it, as explained in the July issue. You will be glad to know this much briefly now and we will endeavor to communicate some particulars in which you will be interested in succeeding issues. While abroad we not only sought to see all that we could for our own sakes, but continually remembered that we were seeing for you also – as eyes for the body: this time seeing earthly things indeed, but seeing these with a view to their relationship with heavenly truths [R1333 : page 147] and interests.
In view of certain leadings indicating that this journey would be the Lord's will, we did not hesitate to use a portion of the Lord's money for this purpose, though we felt impelled to accomplish the work in the most economical way possible, which we did by traveling generally in second class coaches, which also brought us more in contact with the people, as we desired, the first class coaches being very generally forsaken except by civil and ecclesiastical dignitaries and wealthy pleasure-seekers. We also found second class passage on the ocean quite comfortable, though not luxurious, and gladly availed ourselves of these methods of economizing, being pleased also to find that our unseasonable visits to Palestine and Egypt placed the hotel rates there at half the usual prices. Nor did we return home, as is the usual custom of travelers, laden with the luxuries of the old world, with samples of its art works, its rich laces or elegant silks, but we trust with a richer treasure of knowledge and experience valuable to the dear Lord's work. We have said we used the Lord's money, in this way, yet would not be understood to mean that we so appropriated any portion of the funds contributed to the spread of the truth, etc., every cent of which, and more too, is applied directly to the purposes intended. But we count all our private, personal means as the Lord's: hence the expression, "the Lord's money."
When starting out we had specially three objects in view: (1) A study of the social conditions of Europe with a view to an unbiased judgment as to how soon the trouble which God's Word predicts may be expected there. (2) While so far on the journey we wanted to see Palestine and to judge of the fulfilments of prophecy and the prospects for the restitution work beginning among the Jews, and to meet and confer with our Jewish Brother Rabinowitch with reference to that phase of the harvest work which involves the Jewish question, so that these two parts of the work may proceed in yet [R1333 : page 148] closer sympathy. (3) While serving these main objects we proposed meeting and conferring with some of the TOWER readers and workers abroad, and from observation throughout the entire journey we hoped to see perhaps some way of forwarding the spread of the Truth, at least to some extent, in Europe.
But the last and the least of our objects, in going on this mission, has turned out to be the first and uppermost one in our hearts. Therefore this must be the first feature of our report to you, viz., the openings and prospects we found for the spreading of the harvest truth among the Lord's sheep in Europe.
It did not require long to convince us that we had underestimated the intelligence and religious fervor of God's people across the deep, especially in England, Ireland, Scotland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark. As your eyes we soon began to study how those members of the body of Christ, here, who have been so greatly blessed of the Lord by a knowledge of his gracious plans (present and future), could assist and bless and set free into the same glorious light of truth any of the fellow members of the same body in "the old world." The Lord seemed to say to us, "Lift up your eyes and see, for the fields are white for harvesting" – ready for the sickle of present truth.
And now as your eyes we have this report to make as to the ripeness of the fields for your services and ours as co-reapers with the great Reaper in the present gathering of the ripe wheat into the great garner of safety, separate from the world and the tares and out of the fiery troubles which will shortly overwhelm them.
We saw no opening or readiness for the truth in Russia, except on the part of Brother Rabinowitch and the Jews whom he is seeking to reach. We saw nothing to encourage us to hope for any harvest in Italy or Turkey or Austria or Germany. The Germans as a people seem to have had vital godliness and faith in the Bible almost wholly crushed out, and nearly all of the intelligent among them are at best moralists who reject the Scriptures except in so far as they imperfectly express their ideas of right, wrong, etc. The majority of Russians and Austrians seem to be immersed in superstitious formalism, into which intelligent appreciation of God and his Word does not seem to enter. The Italians have been so long under the baneful influence of the Papacy that they, like the French, are rapidly turning to open infidelity, although many still are blinded by gross Romish superstition.
But Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, and especially England, Ireland and Scotland, are fields ready and waiting to be harvested. These fields seem to be crying out, Come over and help us! and we know of no more hopeful parts in which to thrust in the sickle and reap: no, not even in this our favored land of liberty. In all of these countries there are hearts hungry for the truth and many evidently consecrated to the Lord and anxious to prove their devotion to him by engaging in what they severally conceive to be his work.
The Salvation Army is engaging the services of many of these, and is indeed doing a great work in its special line. By self-sacrificing methods they are continually planning and laboring to lift up the fallen and the degraded, and encouraging and assisting them to lead a better life. This, like every other humanitarian scheme, is a good work; and were we not aware of the better plans and ways and means which God has arranged for the lifting up and blessing of the world, such humanitarian works would have a large claim upon us. But we bear in mind that the harvest of the age is come and that the harvest work of thrusting in the sickle of present truth and gathering the elect from the four winds (from every quarter of the field) and from one end of heaven (the nominal Christian Church) to the other (Matt. 24:31) is the seasonable work of the truly enlightened now – the Lord's work and hence the work of his co-laborers.
In Great Britain many earnest souls are preaching Christ on the street corners without waiting for the laying on of clerical hands. True, their zeal is coupled with very little knowledge of the truth, but their disposition to serve the Master is very manifest; and the attentive and respectful crowds of orderly, thoughtful looking people that gather about them indicate a desire on the part of the multitudes for the true bread of life. Among thinking Christians [R1333 : page 149] there is, too, a growing dissatisfaction with the sectarian forms of godliness which so lack its vital power, and there is a longing and a reaching out for something better.
In Norway and Sweden there is also a great awakening and a growing revulsion against the established (Lutheran) church. The Swedes and Norwegians are serious, reverent, thoughtful people, and many among them are coming to realize that it is one thing to be born into the nominal Church and quite another to be a true Christian, a member of the one true Church whose names are written in heaven. But while many there are out and coming out of the old so-called orthodox ruts and systems and searching the Scriptures independently, without sectarian names, calling their meetings "Missions," the adversary is even there busily seeking to infuse pernicious doctrines of error, so that a general sifting process is going on among them as among us. And there, as here, chief among these false doctrines are those which in a very subtle manner deny the rock foundation of all true faith, viz.: the Ransom – that we were bought with a price, even the precious blood of Christ. A Mr. Waldstrom is one of the most active teachers on this line among them, while others strenuously oppose the error and are seeking for the old paths of the Lord and the apostles. The Danes, too, are in a similar attitude.
While other parts of Europe have their claims upon the gospel, and while the Lord has in all probability some precious saints scattered here and there all over the world, we surely have reason to hope for a larger ingathering from these portions of the foreign field than from any other.
And now the question forces itself upon us – What can we, who have been so highly favored, do for the precious saints abroad? How shall we thrust the sickle into these ripened fields? How can we bind up the broken-hearted and pour in the oil and wine of the Truth? What privileges of labor and self-denial will the dear Master be pleased to accord to us and to bless, for the gathering of his sheep to the green pastures and still, refreshing waters of his Word, away from the befouled streams of human tradition and speculation?
In the first place, we see the great necessity for the translation of these harvest truths into the various European languages. The French translation of MILLENNIAL DAWN, now under way, will serve a good purpose all over Europe, as French is very generally understood and spoken everywhere, even among many of the common people. The German translation already completed for Volumes I. and II. is available for Germans wherever an interest can be awakened, though we can have little hope to find any considerable number of the elect in the midst of a nation so given up to pleasure seeking, beer drinking, military zeal and ambition, and where vital godliness has been almost crushed out by a cold, formal, state religion. The English edition will of course answer for England, Ireland, Scotland and for many in Wales, as well as for the United States and Canada, and for English speaking people scattered throughout the world. But there is a great need for a Swedish translation and also a translation which would serve both the Danes and the Norwegians, not only in their native [R1334 : page 149] lands, but here in the United States also; for, as perhaps few realize, these nationalities have millions of representatives here in our midst.
As yet we see no way open for this part of the work, but it is at least our privilege to pray the Lord of the harvest not only to send more laborers into his vineyard, but also to provide what he may deem the necessary equipment for the work. We are, however, looking for and arranging with persons competent to do the work of translating, so that when it shall please the Lord to indicate the way or to supply the means this work may be expedited accordingly; for the Swedish tract is already stirring up considerable interest.
Observation and conference with the saints in England, Ireland and Scotland indicate that one hindrance to a more rapid spread of the truth there is the inability of the interested to purchase as many tracts as could be circulated to advantage. In all the large cities great freedom and often protection from the police is granted for holding open air meetings; and on Sunday evenings especially, crowds gather and discuss religious and socialistic subjects from [R1334 : page 150] various standpoints – many evidently being dissatisfied and truth-hungry. Besides these there are Mission and Salvation Army meetings in progress, in perhaps twenty places at once, in each large city. These afford excellent opportunities for the Truth – superior indeed to anything of the same sort in this land. The Brethren and Sisters there realize these to be excellent fields for tracts explanatory of the truth, and could judiciously circulate thousands more than they have the means to purchase; for there, as here, the deeply interested number few of the great and rich.
We left them with the assurance that we saw this need and would do what we could to overcome the difficulty as the Lord would lead and grant the means for us to supply their need.
We found a number of the friends anxious, too, to use their time and energy in the colporteur work – selling DAWN. They had learned how God has been greatly blessing and using this method for reaching many here with the truth, and they were anxious to be sharers in a similar work of self-denial for the sake of the Lord, his truth and his people around them.
They pointed out that a depot for DAWN in London was almost a necessity to the work, as at present it required nearly a month to get a supply of books after they had taken the orders. Some, too, assured us that they longed to give themselves in this work, but that family obligations hindered them, as by it they could not earn enough to support their dependent ones, even though our recent allowance is admittedly liberal. This same difficulty has been encountered, too, by many here in America where money is less scarce and the sales and incomes consequently larger proportionately.
To overcome the first of these difficulties, we made arrangements for a London edition of MILLENNIAL DAWN, which, as soon as ready, will be duly announced in these columns. And regarding the second difficulty we will hope and pray that the way may yet open wide enough to permit all those to go into the service who are now hindered by financial necessities only, and whose hearts are filled to overflowing with an earnest desire to go forth and reap.
Among other things we realized the necessity for some tracts still different from those already published – for The Skeptical Christian, for The Consecrated Christian, and one showing plainly The One True Church. These ideas we will endeavor to put into shape during the coming year, as issues of our Old Theology Quarterly. We will also get out a new small tract corresponding somewhat to the present Arp-slip. The latter will be much less costly than the others, and may be given away more promiscuously, whilst the larger tracts should be given only where there is some reason to suppose that they will be appreciated.
Every opportunity for serving the Lord by the spread of his Truth means (during this age when evil abounds) an opportunity for self-sacrifice on the part of his consecrated ones. Our Master intends it to be so, because he would prove both to himself and to us the sincerity of our love. We may think that we love him and his Word more than we really do; and these opportunities, as they come, serve to show us our real attitude – the real depth of our love. And those whose hearts are really and fully consecrated, if they find a wincing of the flesh when an opportunity for sacrifice offers, will be put on guard thereby to see that their human will, pride, love of self and ease, etc., are more fully crucified – to the death.
Ah! says some one, I have consecrated all to the Lord, and would gladly give both time and means in his service, but the necessities of this life absorb almost all of both, in caring for those dependent on me. I wish that I could see some way of attesting my love. The "servants" under the Law were commanded to give a tenth of their increase in the Lord's service, and I, a "son" made free from Law, and shown the realities of the divine plan, which the "servants" saw only dimly in types, feel a desire to do more and not less than they. But how to do it I find not: there are so many demands for every spare hour and every spare dollar.
To such we believe that the Lord would have us deliver the following message which others will please not read: –
Your difficulty lies in trying to do too much – more than you have ability to do – and in [R1334 : page 151] overlooking the little things which are within your ability. You would love to preach the truth to great audiences with a thrilling "silver tongue," but have you such a talent? If not you had better begin humbly at home, and in a simple, quiet way tell the story of redeeming love to such of your family and neighbors as are "meek" and have "an ear to hear." It is to him who uses faithfully the talents which he has that the Lord promises to give greater talents and opportunities. Or perhaps, more humbly, you aspire to be the most successful colporteur or tract distributor – to sell and distribute thousands over vast extents – but cannot. Then turn and see how faithful you have been or can be in the use of opportunities which lie just at your hand on a smaller, humbler scale – humility may be one of your most needed lessons. Or perhaps you are saying, Would that I had thousands or millions of dollars, how gladly would I spend them in spreading the truth.
You perhaps forget for the moment the great Master's remark (Luke 21:2-4), that the poor widow's two mites were more in his sight than the large bequests made by those who merely gave out of their abundance. "The Lord your God doth prove you," whether ye do love him and his truth supremely; and therefore he permits his work often to seem to lag for want of means, that the seeming necessity may give us the opportunity to deny ourselves in his service – for our benefit, our development, our blessing. (2 Cor. 8:1-15; 9:5-12.) Many who find the spirit willing but the flesh weak forget that God's Word takes cognizance of this, and marks out a straight path for our weak feet by admonishing those who would show their love in this way not to tempt themselves, but to adopt a regular habit of laying aside, on the first day of each week, whatever amount they feel disposed to give – according as the Lord hath prospered them during the preceding week. (1 Cor. 16:2.) How carefully God has provided for our guidance upon every subject: The Word of God is profitable that the man of God may be thoroughly furnished unto all good works." – 2 Tim. 3:17.
Every day may be said to furnish fresh disclosures proving the lack of sincerity of ministers prominent in various denominations – lack of honesty upon questions of doctrine. Their hearts are larger than their heads, but their love of popularity and a good living proves stronger than their conscientiousness toward either God or their denominations.
The following dispatch to the public press explains itself:
NEW YORK, Oct. 17. – "There is some agitation in store for President Patton, of Princeton, growing out of a speech he delivered to the Philadelphia society of Princeton college, on March 31, 1887.
"During that year the controversy at Andover, on the question of future probation, was agitating the whole religious world. Dr. Patton, then professor of ethics in the college, as well as in the seminary, was invited by the students of the former institution to give an address on the subject in Murray hall, Philadelphia. A large audience listened to him with the deepest interest, his views being supposed to be safe and final. Two members of the staff of the Philadelphia Magazine, one of them a stenographer, reported the speech with care. At the request of a member of the faculty, the venerable Dr. Duffield, who deemed the address 'very broad,' one of these students waited upon Dr. Patton the following morning, gave him the proof of his address and requested his permission to insert it in the magazine. To his surprise the professor emphatically forbade using it, saying that 'he had spoken as Dr. Patton and not for the seminary,' and that 'to publish his remarks would injure the seminary.'
"Here is an extract from the Philadelphia address: 'We continually see men going into the other world imperfect; they must be imperfect when they reach there, and need some time for restoration or change. [R1335 : page 151]
"'I am pretty sure that there is no doctrine that is put in jeopardy by the simple affirmation of this belief,' i.e., future probation.
"The Presbyterian situation has been curiously complicated the last two days, first, by the discovery that Prof. Patton, president, of Princeton [R1335 : page 152] college, the rival of the Union Theological Seminary, and the leader of the anti-Briggs forces in the church, privately holds very much the same views as Briggs himself in regard to the doctrine of probation for the wicked after death. The second is that Dr. Hall, a celebrated Presbyterian divine of New York, and a trustee of the Union seminary, has resigned, because, while he did not fear being prosecuted, he was afraid to oppose the general sentiment."
At the time of its proposal we pointed out sundry incongruities between the portions of the Presbyterian Confession of Faith proposed to be retained and the amended or altered words and sections. We showed that the parts of the same Confession thus amended would contradict each other. It seems that Presbyterian ministers are gradually reaching this conclusion, and present prospects are that the revision suggested will be rejected. However, all are more than ever dissatisfied with the old Confession and the result will probably be an entirely new Confession. The end is not yet.
Recent dispatches state that a conservative estimate of the number of persons in need of relief in the famished districts of Russia would be 13,000,000; and that diseases superinduced by the scantiness of food and by the wretched substitute called "hunger-bread," composed largely of straw, bran, sweepings, etc., are becoming epidemic in some districts. Notwithstanding this deplorable condition and the laws prohibiting the exportation of grain, thirty-five millions more pounds of rye have been exported than last year – the attraction being the higher prices offered elsewhere. To add to the trouble, an unusually severe winter is threatened.
The New York Times published, Oct. 25th, the following dark outlook, written by its London correspondent. We hope, nay, we believe, that this picture is far too dark – that the facts fall far short of the suggestion. It nevertheless gives an idea of what is possible. When the great trouble does come, we believe it will generally be introduced by famine. This at least points out possibilities not only for Russia but for the world. Starvation will awaken and energize people whom nothing else would arouse. The article runs as follows:
"Winter began in Russia on Thursday with the first sharp frost. Living men cannot remember [R1335 : page 153] any other year in which this simple announcement meant what it does now. There are literally millions of human beings, at the farthest within a six-days' journey of London, to whom this frost comes as a sentence of death by starvation. Although the censors have forbidden the Russian papers to discuss the famine, the Novosti ventures the declaration that 20,000,000 creatures are already without food, and that a sum four times greater than the recent loan extracted from France is needed to keep them alive.
"Needless to say, no such sum is forthcoming. Indeed, in the matter of intelligent relief, nothing is forthcoming. Vague figures are given of money raised for the sufferers, quite often by eccentric emotional devices of self-denial, which show the warm-hearted childishness of the Slav, but nobody is able to tell how this money has been applied. The only intelligence which reaches us from the doomed districts is of the famine prices put everywhere upon food by the Russian merchants, and of Russian usurers and small traders who are going about trading on the misery of the peasants, buying hair from the heads of poor girls for a few shillings and stripping houses of every portable article, old icons and picturesque costumes handed down from mother to daughter, and the like, for next to nothing.
RIOTS AGAINST THE JEWS."In two or three cases the ferment of disorder which is seething under this terrible surface has broken out in riots directed against the Jews. Doubtless there will be more than melancholy aggravations of Israel's miseries during the winter in localities where a few bad Jews, or the even rarer rich Jews, have given the race an evil repute. But I risk nothing in predicting that if real and widespread violence results from the present famine; its force will be almost wholly directed against the native Russian officials, landlords, traders and village usurers, or Kulaks, to whom the peasants, as a rule, understand very well that they owe their sufferings.
"Russian exiles here in London are greatly excited by the news they have been getting in the recent few weeks from subterranean sources inside the empire and from their associates in Switzerland and other Continental places of refuge. They decline to divulge this information, and the few things which have been told to me may not be printed, but it can at least be said that they expect little less than civil war spreading over vast tracts and whole regions of their native land. They say frankly that we outsiders exaggerate the good nature of the Moujik, or, rather, that side by side with that amiability in his nature exist possibilities of awful brute-like ferocity when the utmost limit of patience under provocation is exhausted. They think this has been reached, and they say the condition of seven-eighths of rural Russia is now infinitely worse than that of rustic France on the eve of the revolution. They look to see a Muscovite reign of terror begun this winter which will well-nigh efface from human memory the excesses and horrors begun by the fall of the Bastile. There are not lacking signs that this may be ushered in by striking personal events."
A reader writes us objecting to Bro. Wright's statement with reference to the Farmers' Alliance and to a circular issued by them and sent throughout the country advising all to hold on to their grain for higher prices, etc. This brother advises us that he is a member of the Alliance, and assures us that nothing of the kind was done officially; that although such a circular as Bro. Wright described had been sent out to some extent, it was not an official document, and was not circulated by the Alliance itself, but by private parties; that no evil is premeditated by the Alliance; that its members merely desire to secure their own rights and to prevent the wealth of the country from being absorbed by the few. He says that the unofficial circulars were sent out by certain well-meaning parties to check the enormous rush of wheat and to get farmers to hold their grain until prices advance more nearly to what they will undoubtedly be in the near future. He says in conclusion, "While I have been a reader of your writings for the last seven or eight years, and believe the universal revolution is no great way off, yet I fail to see in this farmers' movement, to which Bro. Wright refers, much evidence of the great trouble."
In reply we would say that we do not understand Bro. Wright's article to be specially intended as a reflection against the Farmers' Alliance, but merely a calling of attention to this as one of the signs of our times. That the [R1337 : page 154] farmers are not actuated by any bad motives in their combination we do not question, nor do we think that other persons who combine, either capitalists or mechanics, have bad motives in so doing. Each class organizes because it considers organization a necessity to preserve what it considers to be its rights and best interests. The speculator who creates a corner in wheat, corn or pork has no ill-will toward the rest of humanity – no desire to run up the prices of the necessities of life upon the poor – but merely desires to conserve the interests of himself, his business partners and his family. And so with most people who make combines: it is not that they hate or desire to injure their fellow-men, but that they love themselves and their own interests more.
We do not even say that it is wrong for the Farmers' Alliance to suggest to its members that they be not in haste to sell their crops for too small a sum, but that they seek to hold them for a period of greater demand and higher prices. We consider this to be entirely their privilege, and that in not crowding the market with more grain than it is ready to absorb at the present time, they would be merely taking the proper steps for getting a good market value for the produce of their labor. The point to be noticed, however, and the one which we presume Bro. Wright wished to impress, is that the farmers of the country, having organized themselves, are beginning to realize what a power they have in their hands, and in proportion as they come to a realization of this power they will be a more formidable party to deal with, and under the impression which seems to affect so many people of all classes, that "might makes right," they will be very apt, sooner or later, to come to an extreme in using their power, and then the Lord's consecrated people among them will surely have trouble to keep their conscience clear on the one hand, and to remain in the society on the other.
Certain it is that the work of binding in bundles is progressing very rapidly throughout Christendom in general, and by-and-by the fire of social trouble which our Lord predicted will surely be seen. Our advice to all who are fully consecrated is, "So far as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men." If possible, "Be not entangled again in any yoke of bondage." "If the Son make you free, ye shall be free indeed."
"For we have not a High Priest unable to sympathize with our weaknesses; but one having been tried in all respects like ourselves, apart from sin." – Heb. 4:15 – Diaglott.
The Apostle Paul here brings clearly to view the effect of the Lord's suffering, the just for the unjust (1 Pet. 3:18), in qualifying him for his work as Mediator, High Priest and Leader. (Heb. 2:10; 5:9; 3:1; 5:5,3; 2:17; 6:20; 8:1; 9:11; 10:21; 8:6; 9:15; 12:24; 1 Tim. 2:5.) Having met trials and temptations of all kinds, apart from those arising through sin, he is able, as well as willing, to succor those who are tried, but who are not in affiliation with sin, and who come in meekness, and yet in boldness, to him. (Heb. 2:18; 4:16.) What a source of comfort and joy it is to realize that our Master knows the power of evil by experience, and so can fully sympathize through knowledge in all our temptations. And what added security we feel when we realize that he who is our strength was able to, and did resist unto blood (Heb. 12:4), laying down his life, shedding his blood – dying – rather than to partake of sin. What love of righteousness and hatred of wickedness! – Psa. 45:6,7; Heb. 1:8,9.
In these last days, when evil men and seducers are waxing worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived (2 Tim. 3:1,13), those who are not ignorant of Satan's ways expect, and find, more subtle snares than ever before laid to entrap them; and, as ever, the Arch Enemy, and his servants – whether wilful or ignorant – in this work are presenting themselves as angels of light (2 Cor. 11:1-15). Of course, the main attack is on the ransom, by which "the man Christ Jesus" bought us with his own precious [R1335 : page 155] blood, shed on Calvary, as "of a lamb without blemish and without spot." (1 Pet. 1:19; 1 Tim. 2:5.) So we find Peter's prophecy of false teachers mingling among the saints and privately introducing destructive heresies, even "the having bought them Sovereign Lord denying" (2 Pet. 2:1. – Diaglott), fulfilled. And doubtless the work will continue and grow. We recently saw an article claiming that as "The blood is the life" (Lev. 17:11-14), "so, as a rule, where the blood of Christ is mentioned (in the Scriptures) it should be understood as meaning life, not death." Let us examine this statement in the light of the Scriptures, and not accept it on a mere assertion. If it is proven true, be thankful for more light, and walk in it; but if untrue, partake of the strong meat presented in demonstrating its fallacy and be strengthened thereby to resist further attacks of the enemy.
We find the Lord's blood first mentioned by the Master himself, in Matthew 26:28, where he says, "This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for remission of sins." Next, in Matthew 27:4, Judas says, "I have sinned in that I have betrayed innocent blood." Through him "innocent blood" was betrayed to death. After Judas had suicided, having first thrown the price of the betrayal into the temple, the chief priests could not put the money in the treasury, as it was the "price of blood" shed, or death. (Matt. 27:6.) Pilate proclaimed himself "innocent of the blood" (shed) or death "of this just person," which the people then called down on them and their children. (Matt. 27:24,25.) The "blood of the new testament...shed for many" (Mark 14:24; Luke 22:20) plainly presents Christ's death as the means through which he gained ability to benefit many. [R1336 : page 155]
The blood mentioned in Acts 5:28, and which the Sanhedrin feared, was blood shed, as evidenced by verse 30 of the same chapter; and Paul's reference to Christ's blood in Acts 20:28 clearly points to his death, as that was the price given for the "Church of God," and also for the whole world. (See also 1 John 2:2.) Paul says in Rom. 3:24-25 that justification is given "freely by his [God's] grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation [satisfaction] through faith in his blood, to declare his [Jehovah's] righteousness for the remission of sins that are past." (See also Eph. 1:7.) The Scriptural explanation of the "redemption that is in Christ" will explain what signification attaches to "blood" in this text. In Matt. 20:28, the Lord himself settles this by saying that the "Son of man came...to give his life a ransom [the redemptive price] for many." Here again, then, "blood" means blood given, blood shed, or death. In Rom. 5:9, the statement is made that "being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him;" and the preceding verse explains that "while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Thus again "blood" refers to blood shed as the evidence of death. The "communion of the blood of Christ" (1 Cor. 10:16) is explained in Matt. 26:28 as "the blood of the new testament [covenant], which is shed for many for the remission of sins," and 1 Cor. 11:25,26 shows that in drinking this cup of the new covenant we show forth the Lord's death till he come; and the context clearly shows that those eating and drinking unworthily are guilty of the body broken and the blood shed, viz., the death of the Lord. The "blood of Christ," bringing the Gentiles near to God and his promises, mentioned in Eph. 2:13, is explained in verses 15 and 16, same chapter, to be the blood of "the cross" – shed blood – death. The "blood" mentioned in Col. 1:14, being redemptive blood, is also explained by Matt. 20:28, and in Col. 1:20 it is emphasised as the "blood of his cross" – death. In Heb. 9:14, we learn that the "blood of Christ," who offered himself "without spot to God," will purge our consciences from "dead works to serve the living God," and verses 11,12 and 13, same chapter, show that this offering of Christ to God was by the shedding of his own blood – death – typed for centuries in the Tabernacle services of the Jews, by the sacrifice of bulls and goats.
The 9th and 10th chapters of Hebrews bear unwavering testimony to the efficacy of Christ's shed blood – death – as man's substitute, to bear the sins of many – the world – as a careful reading [R1336 : page 156] of them will plainly show. Again, Hebrews 13:11,12 says, "The bodies of those beasts whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priests for sin are burned without the camp. Wherefore, Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his blood, suffered without the gate;" on the cross, shedding his blood – entering death. The "blood of the everlasting covenant," mentioned in verse 20, this chapter, is the same shed blood, causing death, from which God brought the "Great Shepherd." The "blood of sprinkling," mentioned in 1 Pet. 1:2 and Heb. 12:24, is clearly the blood of "Jesus, the Mediator of the New Covenant," explained fully in Matt. 26:28, as "shed for many;" in other words, the evidenced death. "The precious blood of Christ" mentioned in 1 Pet. 1:18-21 as redeeming, was blood shed as that of a "lamb without spot," as typed throughout the Jewish age. And the beloved disciple John joins in the grand song testifying that "the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son [the blood shed on Calvary], cleanseth us from all sin." (1 John 1:7.) The real, literal thing having existed and having been shed for many, the Lord explains to us in John 6:53-55 that to appropriate it and its merits to ourselves, we must acknowledge our own helpless and hopeless condition, and rely wholly on him and his work for us, thus appropriating or figuratively eating his body and drinking his blood, or there will be no life in us. As fleshly Israel gained a standing before God through the typical broken body and shed blood of bullocks and lambs, so we obtain "liberty to become sons of God" (John 1:12) in the merit of the sacrifice of our Redeemer.
These texts include all places in the New Testament, exclusive of Revelation, where Christ's blood is mentioned; and thus we learn that in every instance it refers directly to the blood shed, which was given "upon the altar [shed] to make an atonement for...souls." (Lev. 17:10-14.) Hence we find that the statement that, "as a rule, where the blood of Christ is mentioned in the Scriptures it should be understood as meaning life, not death," is wholly without Bible support, being simply the baseless assumption of a theorist, which, as we proceed, we will see is made to do service to set forth Christ's blood as a common, unholy or unclean thing. And all who would be true to the Lord will beware of any sophistry which leads to this fearful apostasy of counting the blood of the Covenant wherewith they were sanctified an unholy thing – of no more value than the blood of any member of the condemned race. – Heb. 10:29.
By comparing spiritual things with spiritual (1 Cor. 2:13), we gain a true understanding both of type and antitype, and learn that those not understanding the Lord's work, and those understanding but perverting it, cannot appropriate it, but remain in their sins. Yet, thank God, the former will have a "due time" to learn of and appropriate the good tidings in Jesus, and escape all evil, if they will. So Christ, the Redeemer and hence the proper ruler or "head of every man," will in the times of restitution give each man full knowledge and ability to come unto him, and only those who will "not have this man rule over them," who will not obey him, shall be cut off – die the second death. We also know from Heb. 6:4-8 and 10:26-31 that during the Gospel age God will "judge his people," and that only those who "wilfully sin" after they "have received the knowledge of the truth" can "tread under foot the Son of God," and "count the blood of the covenant wherewith" they "are sanctified an unholy thing," and thereby "fall into the hands of the living God," who is a consuming fire to any who claim his gift of life, outside of his appointed way – through Christ the Redeemer.
The death of Jesus – his shed blood – was paid to God's exact justice for the debt incurred by Adam in his wilful sin, and now Adam and all in his loins when he sinned – the entire human race – belong to him who redeemed them; and when the work of "taking out a people for his name" is ended, the highway of holiness will be opened up and the redeemed of the Lord will walk in it, until all shall know the Lord from the least even unto the greatest.
Pending this time those who understand Christ's mission and its various phases can consecrate [R1336 : page 157] to God in him, and become Christians – Christ's followers – learn the "fellowship of his suffering" and become "conformable unto his death." Others may make claims and criticise unsparingly the saints who refuse to fellowship as Christians with those denying "the having-bought-them Sovereign Lord," but the injunction to have "no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them" (Eph. 5:11) is plain. Besides, the loyal bond-servant, who willingly and gladly enters the service of the one having bought him, has no basis for fellowship with one who denies that the price paid – the ransom, the blood shed, or death – has any merit, and who counts the "blood of the Covenant" an ordinary or "unholy thing." We find ourselves out of harmony with such teachings and without basis for fellowship with the teachers and holders of such false doctrine.
A few moments study of the Bible, with a Concordance as a guide, will convince any one that the animal used as a typical sacrifice represented the man Christ Jesus, who redeemed us with his "precious blood...as of a lamb without blemish and without spot," by the sacrifice of himself and not by having a sinful nature and overcoming it – which could not in any sense redeem Adam or any of his condemned posterity. To support this false theory and to offset the scores of plain Scriptural statements to the contrary, the poor translation of Rom. 8:3 is made to do service. A literal translation would read, "God, sending his own son in the likeness of the flesh of sin [by a sacrifice for sin], condemned sin in the flesh." Then again, by artful adulteration, 2 Cor. 5:21 is made to represent a sinner, instead of a sin-offering. Read the Diaglott rendition and foot note, for full explanation. Besides, the text and context in the king James version (especially verses 14 and 15) show plainly that Jesus was made a sin-offering for us, and not a sinner or sin.
Trusting in him who "knew no sin" and who as our substitute suffered death, the "just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God" (1 Pet. 3:18), and in his precious blood shed for many for the remission of sins, we will surely escape the "snare of the fowler," and continue to abide in "the secret place of the Most High." – Psa. 91.
In justice, our place was in unending death, the wages of sin. But for our substitute, "the man Christ Jesus," there could have been no escape: to be our Redeemer, this and no less was the price; yet it pleased God to lay on him the iniquity of us all (Isa. 53:4-10), and he obediently consented to the plan. (John 10:17,18.) He does not, and never again will, exist as the man Christ Jesus (2 Cor. 5:16,17): he is now the "express image" of the Father's "person," being "made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they." (Heb. 1:3,4; 2:6,7.) Having laid aside the glory which he had with the Father before the world began, where he existed in the form of a God (a mighty [R1337 : page 157] one), and having taken the form of a servant (an inferior one) in which he suffered death, it pleased the Father to raise him from the dead and give him that grand name (nature) which is above every name. (Phil. 2:6-11. See also Heb. 10:5 regarding the inferior one). Thus the human nature remains forever dead, and mankind, having a substitute in death, can justly be brought forth from death, and will be, in due time – the Millennial or Restitution Age; and only those who then fail to obey the Great Prophet, then ruling, shall be cut off from among the people. (Acts 3:19-23.) Owning by purchase the issues or escapes from death, he will daily load the obedient with benefits, only wounding the head of his enemies – those who still go on in their trespasses. – Psa. 68:20,19,21.
Praise God for such a full and free salvation, which in due time shall be witnessed to every individual, to equip them for a full escape from death. To the overcoming saints of the Gospel age, who follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth, are given the exceeding great and precious promises, whereby they may, in their due time, become partakers in full of the divine nature. – 1 Tim. 2:4-6; 4:10; 2 Pet. 1:4.
[The strength of the error lies in the fact that many who trust in the "precious blood" have never philosophized on the subject sufficiently to see that blood (shed) always represents death, a life given up. – EDITOR.]
Among the interesting letters in the TOWER this month, we insert a few of the many received while abroad and since our return to America, expressing the interest of the scattered household of faith in the object and results of our journey. And as time will not permit a personal answer to the many kind congratulations on our safe return and expressions of interest in, and prayer for, the prosperity of our mission, we take this opportunity to thank you all and to assure you of our appreciation of your love and fellowship of spirit.
During all the journey the interests of the great work were our constant theme and study, and we believe much to our profiting, while the expressions of interest in our personal welfare proved to us the deep appreciation among the saints of the truths which it has been our privilege to proclaim and the firmness of that bond of love which makes us all one in Christ Jesus and in the glorious hope set before us in the Gospel.
DEAR BRO. and SISTER RUSSELL: – When I first heard of your presence in Europe from our Brother Carey, it almost took my breath away with surprise and joy, although we are told nothing is so likely to happen as the unexpected.
I hastened at once to write to the Poste Restante, Berlin, hoping to intercept you before your return to London, to offer our house in my husband's and my own name, as a resting place while in this great town. Then on the 17th inst. I received a visit from Brother Babbitt, who gave me your letter, which graciously entrusts me with the arrangements of meetings, etc. May the Lord endow me with all needful wisdom for this and every other work, as also I ask Him to bless you both and your travels, feeding you for both your own and our benefit. To-day I have received the ZION'S WATCH TOWER for July, explaining the motive of your journey, which I sincerely trust may be realized. Brother Babbitt [whose acquaintance we made on our eastward ocean voyage] took away three copies of Vol. I. I felt so overflowing with the news of your approach, that I fear I gave him too strong a dose of my heart about the truth. The result is in the Master's hands.
Now let me once more request you both in the name of my husband and self to make this house your home for the four days you are in London. Indeed, I have taken it for granted that you will, and by general consultation with brothers and sisters have therefore decided it best to hold the meetings in a hall close by here. I need not assure you that we will esteem it a great privilege and delight to minister in any way to your comfort as a small token of gratitude for all the spiritual benefits derived through you. I am told that the poorest brother or sister among us will gladly make holiday and come a distance to greet you, and the fresh air of this neighborhood will make a change for them, and they can have a walk and refreshment between the discourses.
I often think it will be too wonderful should the Lord select me as a member of his body; for it seems as if every one of you were more worthy than myself, yet I do unfalteringly uphold my Father and His beloved Son in my heart of hearts as the supreme objects of my love and reverence. May they keep me faithful to the end and remedy all that is lacking in me. The bare thought of living with them makes me entirely confused with tears of joy and humility at such immense condescension and kindness.
We are all longing to see you, and I for one keep conjuring up to my fancy your dear faces.
Hoping this may reach you safely and wishing you every blessing, with Christian love, Your sincere sister and servant to the Master, Jesus Christ,
You will be at home by this time, and I do trust that you are all the better, both in mind and body, for your visit to this country, and I pray God to spare your life for many years to come and to make you both a great blessing to many of our fellows, in guiding them into the truth. So far God is using your writings to open the blind eyes of very many people. These two last Sundays have given me proof of it in that so many are asking for the books. The other day I could have sold over twenty, but had only two with me. Sister Horne and myself are being used mightily in the parks. The people are taking a great interest in our teaching, not opposing us as at first. A week ago last Sunday Sister Horne spoke for three hours with good effect. You will be glad to know that we now have Sister Swartz to help us in the work. She took part last Sunday with us in the park.
Oh! how precious to think that we are counted worthy to be co-workers with him and his dear son, Jesus Christ, and may our light so shine [R1338 : page 159] among our fellow men that they with us may say, Deliverance is come, and may all who are loyal and true to our living Head be ambitious in doing all we can to let people recognize and accept the finished work of our Lord Jesus Christ, to the glory of God the Father.
My wife and daughter join with me in Christian love and best wishes to you both. Believe me ever yours in Christ Jesus and his work,
DEAR BROTHER AND SISTER RUSSELL: – Your letter of the 11th inst. to hand from Queenstown, from which we were pleased to learn that you were on your way to Palestine. Had I known a month earlier I should have been strongly tempted to join you.
We shall be pleased to entertain you while in Liverpool, and if you can arrange to prolong your stay another week with us we would be glad. As to the all-day meeting on the 15th Sept., if agreeable to you we will undertake all the arrangements and write the friends we know in Liverpool and neighborhood, also Manchester, Nottingham and Sheffield. Our Mission Hall attached to our house, which seats 200 people, will be convenient, and we think large enough, as you know that those who take an interest in the King and coming Kingdom are but a little flock. We shall be glad to carry out any other suggestions you may offer in order to make the meetings a success.
I have just read through Vol. III. of DAWN with deep interest and pleasure, and thank you very much for the most beautiful unfolding of truth which it contains and which the Holy Spirit has revealed through you. I have for many years taken an interest in the Pyramid. I have read something of what has been written on the subject by Prof. Piazzi Smyth and others.
Wishing you and Sister Russell a pleasant and profitable journey with a safe home-coming, with our united Christian love, ever yours in the Lord,
MR. C. T. RUSSELL – On board incoming steamer, City of New York, Quarantine Station, New York Bay.
DEAR BROTHER AND SISTER RUSSELL – Greeting. I intend to meet you at the steamer pier on your arrival in New York. We shall expect you to come directly to our home and stay with us while you are in the city. We have arranged to give a reception in your honor on the afternoon and evening of Wednesday, the 23rd. Invitations have been sent to all the TOWER subscribers within one hundred and fifty miles of New York, and we have invited, in addition, a number of our personal friends. A number of letters received indicates that many will be present.
Trusting that we shall see you soon, we remain, yours very truly,
DEAR BRO. RUSSELL: – We are so pleased that you are safely back. We are all well and rejoicing in the truth. We know how you will be pressed with work now, and will not be disappointed if you leave us or any communication to us until others, weaker in faith, have been attended to. Hoping you will be continually prospered in your grand "gospeling" work, we remain, Yours in Him,
DEAR BRO. RUSSELL: – Yours of 30th ult. received and read with much pleasure. It seems good to know you are among us again, and I thank our kind Heavenly Father for his mercies to you and us, in returning you to your post of service. May your fruitfulness in all things abound more and more. In all this, I include your esteemed and beloved help-meet, Sister Russell. Your thoughtfulness in all your pressing cares to write me is especially gratifying, but do not again do so until every dragging thing is brought up. My heart is all in the service, and I pray that the great Husbandman may continue to prune me, that my fruitfulness may increase. Sister Page grows in favor and knowledge, and her mother, who is with us and convalescing, is listening attentively and seemingly with increasing interest to our new things, becoming thereby more firmly established in her trust in the ransom, which she accepts.
I enclose an order for DAWNS and Tracts on a separate sheet, also a check for the amount. Hurriedly, in Christian love,
DEAR BROTHER AND SISTER RUSSELL: – No doubt you are in receipt of many letters of congratulation from the brethren on your safe arrival from your long and tedious, but, it is to be hoped, pleasant and instructive journey, throughout which you have been followed with sincere prayers for divine protection and for your safe return to the scenes of your labors amongst us, and that your lives may be spared to expound the mysteries of inspired revelation. I never can express the gratitude I feel that ever MILLENNIAL DAWN came under my page 160 notice. It has unfolded and made plain to my misinformed mind (for the first time) the glorious contents of that Book of books, the author of which is God.
I have read Vols. I. and II. through seven times, Vol. III. four times, and I am about to start again. "O the depths of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God."
Owing to family afflictions, I feel grieved at not being in a position to strike out, sickle in hand, into the harvest field. Yet I am endeavoring within my limited sphere to do a little work. Since my return from England I have sold a few volumes of DAWN, and have published several letters in our local paper on the great subjects therein contained.
It is now between two and three years since I first introduced DAWN to this little town, and, I am thankful to say, not without some visible fruit. Here, as elsewhere, the opposition comes chiefly from interested "Babylon;" but it is a great consolation to know that her deleterious power has forever passed away, and that she has fallen to rise no more, a prophetic fact of which she seems to be in sublimed ignorance.
My own affectionate congratulations for the safe return of our dear Brother and Sister to their home.
DEAR BRO. AND SR. RUSSELL: – We are glad to welcome you again, giving thanks, also, that the things for which you went abroad prospered, the Lord giving you to rejoice in the work assigned to your stewardship.
We have remembered you in your journey, and rejoice in the hope of the near reunion of all saints to be forever with the Lord. We know that when the "topstone" is fitted to its place the glory of the Lord will fill his temple and the nations shall walk in the light of it. O! how very near that day is, and what a grand contrast it will be to the darkness and tempestuous gloom of the storm now threatening, and that will surely overwhelm the earth. Accept our heart's welcome, with a hand greeting, which we extend to clasp your own, over the mountains and rivers between. Your fellow-servants in the cross and hope of glory,
DEAR BROTHER RUSSELL: – I am one of the little company which met you and Mrs. Russell, upon your return from Europe, at Brother and Sister Fairchild's residence in New York. I have thought many times of the pleasant and profitable time we experienced upon that occasion, and I wish personally to thank you for the very helpful words of cheer and encouragement given at that time. They have been to me, at least, "meat in due season." The other brethren who were present from this city also enjoyed the meeting very much.
It has been my purpose, if the Lord wills it so, to be present at the Anniversary Meeting in Allegheny next April, and now my desire to be there is stronger than ever. I remain yours, in faith and fellowship,
DEAR BROTHER AND SISTER IN CHRIST: – I have placed the evening I met you both on record as one of the happiest events in my life. While you were speaking to us of love my mind was carried back to a period, I think about eight years ago, while I was home in England, when a much-worn copy of "Food for Thinking Christians" came into my possession. I read and re-read that book and gave it a special place upon my bookshelf next the Bible. It has since been my companion in all my travels. While reading it my heart went out towards the writer with a warm love because I found that he not only loved his Creator and Redeemer but his fellow-brethren also. Love naturally begets love, so last night, while you were speaking, the text came vividly before my mind, "Whom, not having seen, ye love." I have been loving you all these years for the testimony in that pamphlet.
Little did I think when I first read your little pamphlet that I should ever have the privilege and great pleasure of personally meeting you; and indeed it was not until I came down here from Montreal, Canada, about eighteen months ago, that I learned from a fellow-workman that you had written other works, and where they could be obtained.
What a blessed thing is personal communion! How it strengthens and binds together the hearts of those who are kindred spirits! And now, dear Brother and Sister in the Lord, may the Lord of glory bless you with his fondest, sweetest love. Yours in Christ,
MR. C. T. RUSSELL – DEAR FRIEND: – Please find inclosed Post-office money order for four dollars and fifty cents. Will you be kind enough to send me three sets, of three volumes each, of the MILLENNIAL DAWN. I have enjoyed each of your books, but the last overwhelmingly. Your description of the Great Pyramid was a revelation to me. How gracious our Father was to confirm his written Word in this wonderful manner. I hope you will pray for me that the few remaining years of my life may be spent acceptably to him, being made white with the blood of the Lamb, our Savior. Yours in the truth,
[R1361 : inside back cover]
To MRS. C. T. RUSSELL, SECRETARY TOWER TRACT SOCIETY:
DEAR SISTER: – I have read with interest the account of the openings for the TRACT and DAWN work in foreign lands and here at home. I need not tell you that I am deeply interested in the spread of the Glad Tidings of the lengths and breadths, the heights and depths of redeeming love expressed for us in God's great Plan of the Ages.
I am anxious to use myself – every power, every talent, voice, time, money, influence, all – to spread to others this knowledge which has so greatly blessed, cheered and comforted my own heart and placed my feet firmly upon the Rock of Ages.
I have been considering carefully and praying to be instructed how to use my various talents more to my Redeemer's glory and for the service of his people – those blinded by human tradition who are, nevertheless, hungering for "the good Word of God," and those, also, who are naked, not having on the wedding garment of Christ's imputed righteousness, the unjustified who stand at best in the filthy rags of their own righteousness. I have decided that so far as my "money talent" goes, I will follow the rule so clearly laid down for us by the great Apostle Paul (1 Cor. 16:2), and will lay aside on the first day of each week, according to my thankful appreciation of the Lord's blessings during the preceding week. Out of this fund I wish to contribute to the several parts of the Lord's work specified on the back of this letter. Of course I cannot in advance judge of or state particularly what the Lord's bounty may enable me to set apart weekly, and hence you will understand the sums put down to each object to be merely my conjecture or hope, based upon present prospects. I will endeavor to contribute more than I here specify; and should I not succeed in doing so well, the Lord will know my heart and you will also know of my endeavors.
My only object in specifying in advance what I hope to be able to do in this cause, is to enable those in charge of the work of publishing and circulating the TRACTS, etc., to form estimates, lay plans, make contracts, etc., with some idea of what I will at least try to do in the exercise of this my highly appreciated privilege.
(Should you approve of the plan suggested above, please cut out and sign one of these letters and forward as per directions on the other side, keeping the other for your own remembrance.)
SHOULD YOU APPROVE OF THE PLAN SUGGESTED ON THE OTHER SIDE, ONE OF THESE SLIPS, WHEN FILLED OUT, SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO
My present judgment is that during the year 1892, by denying myself and taking up my cross, I shall be able to lay aside on the first day of each week for HOME and FOREIGN MISSION work (to assist in putting MILLENNIAL DAWN into other languages, and to assist fully consecrated Colporteurs who, by reason of family and other encumbrances, would otherwise be unable to meet their necessary expenses – in home or in foreign fields of labor), for publishing the series of OLD THEOLOGY TRACTS quarterly, and reprinting old ones, in various languages, and to enable large quantities of them to be circulated gratuitously (through the mails as sample copies and by the hands of brethren who have the heart and the opportunity so to use them), __________dollars__________cents per week.
That the work be not hindered, I will endeavor to send you what I shall have laid aside for this cause, at the close of each quarter. I will secure a Bank Draft, Express Order, Postal Note or Money Order, as I may find most convenient, and will address the letter to the TOWER TRACT SOCIETY, at above address.