| VOL. XXXII | MARCH 1 | No. 5 |
'I will stand upon my watch, and set my foot upon the Tower, and will watch to see what He shall say unto me, and what answer I shall make to them that oppose me.' Hab. 2:1
Upon the earth distress of nations with perplexity: the sea and the waves (the restless, discontented) roaring: men's hearts failing them for fear and for looking forward to the things coming upon the earth (society): for the powers of the heavens (ecclestiasticism) shall be shaken. . . .When ye see these things come to pass, then know that the Kingdom of God is nigh at hand. Look up, lift up your heads, rejoice, for your redemption draweth nigh. – Luke 21:25-28, 32.
Our "Berean Lessons" are topical rehearsals or reviews of our Society's published "Studies," most entertainingly arranged, and very helpful to all who would merit the only honorary degree which the Society accords, viz., Verbi Dei Minister (V.D.M.), which translated into English is, Minister of the Divine Word. Our treatment of the International S.S. Lessons is specially for the older Bible Students and Teachers. By some this feature is considered indispensable.
This Journal stands firmly for the defence of the only true foundation of the Christian's hope now being so generally repudiated, – Redemption through the precious blood of "the man Christ Jesus who gave himself a ransom [a corresponding price, a substitute] for all." (I Pet. 1:19; I Tim. 2:6.) Building up on this sure foundation the gold, silver and precious stones (I Cor. 3:11-15; 2 Pet. 1:5-11) of the Word of God, its further mission is to – "Make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery which...has been hid in God,...to the intent that now might be made known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God" – "which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men as it is now revealed." – Eph. 3:5-9,10.
It stands free from all parties, sects and creeds of men, while it seeks more and more to bring its every utterance into fullest subjection to the will of God in Christ, as expressed in the Holy Scriptures. It is thus free to declare boldly whatsoever the Lord hath spoken; – according to the divine wisdom granted unto us, to understand. Its attitude is not dogmatical, but confident; for we know whereof we affirm, treading with implicit faith upon the sure promises of God. It is held as a trust, to be used only in his service; hence our decisions relative to what may and what may not appear in its columns must be according to our judgment of his good pleasure, the teaching of his Word, for the upbuilding of his people in grace and knowledge. And we not only invite but urge our readers to prove all its utterances by the infallible Word to which reference is constantly made, to facilitate such testing.
Foreign Agencies: – British Branch: 24 Eversholt St., London, N.W. German Branch: Unterdorner Str., 76, Barmen. Australasian Branch: Flinders Building, Flinders St., Melbourne.
Terms to the Lord's Poor as Follows: – All Bible Students who, by reason of old age, or other infirmity or adversity, are unable to pay for this Journal, will be supplied Free if they send a Postal Card each May stating their case and requesting its continuance. We are not only willing, but anxious, that all such be on our list continually and in touch with the STUDIES, etc.
INTERNATIONAL BIBLE STUDENTS ASSOCIATION MEETINGS
The interests of the Far West this year will be served by the Convention trip already announced in these columns. Particulars of this will be repeated before the time. It is not possible to add any other points to the itinerary.
Favorable dates for three-day Conventions will probably be fixed for Toronto, Canada, and some point in Nova Scotia – announcements later.
Mountain Lake Park, Md., has been selected as the place for the principal Convention for the year. Its location in the top of the mountains is splendid. The dates there will be September 1 to 11 – not the best, but the best that we can secure, as the association holding the Park property keeps the months of July and August for its own use.
At this season we will not expect as large an attendance as we had last year at Celoron-Chautauqua at the height of the season. Additionally the widely scattered tour and the Toronto point will reduce the attendance. We hope later to announce very desirable excursion rates with full particulars. We announce the date thus early for the convenience of the friends who must arrange for leave of absence to attend.
Sunday afternoon, April 9th, opportunity will be given those desiring to symbolize their Baptism into Christ's Death by water immersion. Robes, etc., will be provided.
| BROOKLYN BETHEL HYMNS FOR APRIL |
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After the close of the hymn the Bethel Family listens to the reading of "My Vow Unto the Lord," then joins in prayer. At the breakfast table the MANNA text is considered. Hymns for April follow: (1) 60; (2) 155; (3) 67; (4) 105; (5) 6; (6) 160; (7) 170; (8) 110; (9) 41; (10) 281; (11) 325; (12) 112; (13) 25; (14) 176; (15) 130; (16) 145; (17) 293; (18) 113; (19) 115; (20) Vow; (21) 46; (22) 4; (23) 259; (24) 145; (25) 264; (26) 88; (27) 233; (28) 47; (29) 179; (30) 230. |
SERIES I., "The Plan of the Ages." gives an outline of the Divine Plan revealed in the Bible, relating to man's redemption and restitution: 384 pages, in embossed cloth, 35c. (1s. 6d.) India paper edition, 75c. (3s. 1½d.)
This volume has been published as a special issue of our journal at the extremely low price of 5c. a copy, in any quantity, postage included (To foreign countries, 9c.) This enables people of slender purse to herald far and wide the good tidings in a most helpful form.
SERIES II., "The Time is at Hand," treats of the manner and time of the Lord's Second Coming, considering the Bible Testimony on this subject: 370 pages, in embossed cloth, 35c. (1s. 6d.) India paper edition, 75c. (3s. 1½d.)
SERIES III., "Thy Kingdom Come," considers prophecies which mark events connected with the "Time of the End," the glorification of the Church and the establishment of the Millennial Kingdom; it also contains a chapter of the Great Pyramid, showing its corroboration of the dates and other teachings of the Bible: 384 pages, in embossed cloth, 35c. (1s. 6d.) India paper edition, 75c. (3s. 1½d.)
SERIES IV., "The Day of Vengeance," shows that the dissolution of the present order of things is in progress, and that all the panaceas offered are valueless to avert the predicted end. It marks in these events the fulfilment of prophecy, noting specially our Lord's great prophecy of Matt. 24 and Zech. 14:1-9: 688 pages, in embossed cloth, 35c. (1s. 6d.) India paper edition, 85c. (3s. 6½d.)
SERIES V., "The Atonement Between God and Man," treats an all-important subject – the hub, the center around which all the features of Divine grace revolve. Its topic deserves the most careful and prayerful consideration on the part of all true Christians: 507 pages, in embossed cloth, 35c. (1s. 6d.) India paper edition, 85c. (3s. 6½d.)
SERIES VI., "The New Creation," deals with the Creative Week (Genesis 1 and 2), and with the Church, God's "New Creation." It examines the personnel, organization, rites, ceremonies, obligations and hopes appertaining to those called and accepted as members of the Body under the Head: 750 pages, in embossed cloth, 35c. (1s. 6d.) India paper edition, 85c. (3s. 6½d.)
The above prices include postage.
As an illustration of this power we note the facts recently set forth in the New York Press respecting the Magazine Trust. This Trust has recently bought up several magazines and put them under one management. And directly and indirectly it is able to dictate the policies of nearly all the others. The Editor of Hampton's Magazine sets forth that, having refused to enter the [R4772 : page 67] combine, his magazine is suffering boycott. Thus the capitalist syndicate, which is said to be headed by J. P. Morgan, the banker and trustifier, says: "Hampton's Magazine is warned to cease 'muck-raking,' to cease attacks upon Wall Street methods, to cease attacks upon the trusts in general." Mr. Hampton says: –
"Constantly increasing pressure has been brought to bear on us to change our policy since Wall Street started its attempt to corner the magazine market and organize the biggest of all trusts. First this took the form of withdrawal of advertising. That failing to be effective we have been threatened in various ways. A few months ago we were notified that if we printed an article relative to a certain great corporation, the president of that corporation would make trouble for us with our stockholders. We printed the article. Within a month various magazines and newspapers and 'news bureaus' began to attack the stock of Hampton's Magazine.
MONEY WIELDS CLUB"About this time we were advised that 'no bank with Wall Street connections' would have anything to do with this corporation as long as it remained under its present management. Also stockholders advised us that they had been approached, apparently by agents of Wall Street brokerage houses, who endeavored to secure their proxies to vote at the meeting.
"The American people are in the grasp of the 'money trust.' In the past the banker's only question has been the character of the business man, his experience and skill, the nature of his business, its conditions and the probable chances of success. Conditions have changed. 'Thou shalt not run counter to Wall Street' is not the eleventh commandment – it is the first in the American business world. The money of the United States is cornered in Wall Street, just as wheat is cornered by a small group of men. No banking institution of whatever size dares to hazard a conflict with this influence.
"As an illustration of what can be done, the current issue of Hampton's Magazine is being held up on the news stands. The Union News Company, because the magazine contains an article that offended Standard Oil, has ordered its agents not to sell it. The magazine lies on the stands, but the agents have their orders not to dispose of it, and when February 20 comes the copies will be returned unsold."
This matter of coercion along financial lines is one of the most powerful methods of warfare ever known. Yet it keeps within the law. The effect will be to keep the surface of things quite smooth, whatever may be the turbulence beneath. The cry of "Peace, peace," where there is much discontent, will apparently be borne out by the facts, so far as the great newspapers and magazines represent them. The excuse will be that the public will get as much information as is good for them. What will happen to personal liberty under such conditions no one can foretell. God's people are to be peacemakers, to "seek peace and pursue it." Nevertheless the Scriptures forewarn us that all of these attempts to control the pressure and growing discontent of our time will prove unavailing, so, ultimately, there will be a great explosion, which will reach to the uttermost corner of the earth – the time when newspapers and banks, politicians and everybody will be lost, and when every man's hand will be against his neighbor. We see it coming.
While we see the storm coming, let us remember the words of the Prophet, "We will not fear though the earth (society) be removed, and though the mountains (kingdoms) be carried into the midst of the sea (anarchy)." – Psa. 46:2.
Because general discontent prevails in this our day, and because God's children, although not of the world, are in it, are influenced by it, therefore it becomes daily more necessary that each child of God shall be on the [R4772 : page 68] alert to keep his body under, to keep his tongue from murmuring, to keep his heart from discontent, to be filled with thankfulness and gratitude to God in appreciation of all his benefits towards us.
Additionally the characters being called and drawn of the Lord during this Gospel Age must all be firm of texture – strong characters. God seeketh such to be of his Son's Bride and joint-heirs. Their firmness, positiveness, is in contrast with the supineness and indifference of others. Their weaknesses through heredity are as great as those of others. Hence when a number of these are brought together, as in a class for Bible study, there is a great need of patient forbearance one with the other. If differences and clashes come, the damage one to another is sure to be greater than with people of less character, of less positive convictions, of less determination. Consequently these find the Apostle's words true, "Ye have need of patience."
With the Truth, therefore, to this class God proposes there shall also go the spirit of the Truth, the spirit of holiness, meekness, patience, long-suffering, brotherly-kindness, love; otherwise serious friction and damage would result.
If in any class of Bible Students, STUDIES IN THE SCRIPTURES be neglected, weakness, worldliness, love of pleasures, lack of zeal in the Lord's service, etc., are sure to manifest themselves. And if STUDIES IN THE SCRIPTURES are prosecuted but not applied to the heart and life the fruits of the Spirit will be deficient – meekness, gentleness, etc. Every item of knowledge should be used as the foundation for soil in which further graces of the Spirit will be developed for the enrichment of the character of the New Creature.
We have had occasion at times to call the attention of the classes to the fact that those chosen to be their servants, ministers, elders, are not to be recognized as their "lords," and are not to be upheld in any attempts to "lord it over God's heritage." (1 Pet. 5:3.) Now, on the other hand, we wish to call special attention to the fact that a hypercritical spirit might be engendered by the class, which might lead some of the members to take a wrong attitude. It would evidently be just as contrary to the Lord's Spirit if the class were to "lord" it over the elders. They are to be loved, to be upheld, to be appreciated; and if they have some imperfections, like other men, they are no less worthy of sympathy and forgiveness and exoneration.
In proportion as the Elders or ministers are faithful, humble, diligent, in the service of the flock, they should have the hearty co-operation of every member of the class. "Honor to whom honor is due; praise to whom praise is due."
Some of God's people, like some of the people of the world, take a hypercritical view of some trifling things, such, for instance, as parliamentary usages in connection with meetings. We are to remember that the Bible lays down no particular parliamentary usages, but gives to God's people the one broad, general law to govern each one of them in all the affairs of the Church. This Law the Master mentioned in few words, saying, "A New Commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another, as I have loved you." – John 13:34.
Let this law of love measure all of our relationships as God's people; whether we be of those chosen to be Elders or not chosen, the law of love should be used to measure our every act, our every word – yea, our very thoughts. If we can all, dear brethren, have this rule continually in mind, it will save a great deal of friction, heart-burnings and heart-achings. It will make us more like our blessed Master, better representatives of him before each other and before the world. It will incline us to be as methodical and careful as possible ourselves in all that we do and then lovingly not to expect quite as much of others until after they shall have learned the beauty of the right way by observing our course. Let us be content whatever the method adopted by the majority, if it expresses the will of the majority, however the conclusion may be reached. If we think the majority less wise than we, let us learn patience and wait, as the Lord does, until they learn the error of their course and amend it. In a word, let us each more and more seek to be peacemakers: "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God." – Matt. 5:9.
The present Pope is taking steps for the elimination of all Higher Critics and other unbelievers in the Bible from the Catholic priesthood. All the clergy and all the clerical students are required to swear their allegiance to the sacred traditions and to oppose what is styled "modernism," higher critical infidelity. The oath includes not merely the teachings of the Bible, but also the teachings of the Church.
If loyalty to the Bible alone had been enjoined we could have wished that all the different Protestant denominations might have followed suit. That would have meant the cutting off of more than half of the ministers, trustees, etc., who freely confess that they have lost all faith in the Bible and are Bible teachers in name only – Bible opposers, in fact.
FEDERATION IN FACT"Few people realize that most of the important Protestant denominations in America are united in a federation that is as real as the federation of States. Even the members of those denominations themselves who are [R4773 : page 68] aware of that fact are, for the most part, probably unaware of its significance. Nothing has so seriously hampered the Church as a moral force, as its sectarian divisions. If the Protestant branch of the Church is undertaking to remove from the field of moral power the hurtful influence of these sectarian differences, its power in shaping the lives of men will be incredibly enhanced. That is just what the Protestant churches of America are doing.
"As our readers know, there assembled in Philadelphia two years ago last December, for the first time, the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America. These churches found their common interest, not in a creed – though they agreed in the assertion of their attitude toward Christ – nor in a common ritual or form of government, but in a common work. On the 24th and 25th of last month, in the city of Washington, the Executive Committee of that Council held their second annual meeting. It is noteworthy that all their discussions pertained to common activities of service. Whatever discussion there was concerning beliefs was the by-product of the consideration of a practical measure, and it was of no effect upon the final action. In all such organizations the crucial question is the financial one. People are ready to gather together for talk; but when they make appropriations, one may be sure that they are to be reckoned with. The denominations constituting the Federal Council are assessed, and most of them have paid their assessments already. Moreover, out of these assessments the Executive Committee have appropriated funds for defraying the cost of the common work. [R4773 : page 69]
"Under authority of this Executive Committee there has been a careful investigation conducted in co-operation with the chief Home Missionary Societies; and the resulting recommendations have been adopted by nearly five-sixths of the home missionaries west of the Mississippi river. Under the authority of the Committee a branch of the Council, the Commission on the Church and Social Service, has made an important report on the relation of the Church to industrial conditions in a center of steel manufacture. The Executive Committee of the Council at its meeting appropriated $5,000 for the use of the Commission on the Church and Social Service.
"Compared with the great mass of people composing the constituency of this Council – about fifteen millions – the sum appropriated seems minute. But the size of the sum is of much less significance than the fact that thirty denominations, including virtually all the larger ones, have formed a Federation that is exercising the power of the purse. By disregarding differences in creed, polity, and traditions, and by federating with the object of engaging in a common work that costs, these thirty denominations have, we believe, followed the course that will lead to real Church Union."
– The Outlook.
Turkey has long had the honor of being one of the few countries in which Jews enjoyed all the rights and privileges of preferred citizens. The Turkish Revolution was supposed to mark an era of special favor to the Jews residing in Turkey. It now seems that this is not the case. We quote from the Hebrew Standard: –
"Dr. Israel Auerbach states that the era of good feeling produced by the successful outcome of the revolutionary movement among the young Turks has vanished. Turkish officials were disposed to exhibit an anti-Semitic tendency toward the Jews in the last year. In place of efforts to make the Jews of Turkey an important element of the body politic, an attempt to repress them is noticeable. Unlimited immigration of Jews into the Ottoman empire is likely to prove a chimera; an immigration statute, providing for restrictions more or less severe, is in process of enactment."
"A man's intelligence is the aggregate intelligence of the innumerable cells which form him – just as the intelligence of a community is the aggregate intelligence of the men and women who inhabit it. If you cut your hand, it bleeds. Then you lose cells, and that is quite as if a city lost inhabitants through some tremendous accident."
It will not do for us to claim that Mr. Edison is not a philosopher because he disagrees with philosophers of the past. We must admit that his attainments in science have all been results of the exercise of a naturally philosophical mind, which now for years has been trained in philosophical study, and that for this reason he has his splendid rank as a scientific man. On the contrary, we must admit that many of the philosophers of the past in their reasoning on theological questions were handicapped by dread of thumb-screws, racks and other tortures of the "Dark Ages," as well as by certain ignorance and superstitions, which, thank God, are gradually passing from the minds of all intelligent people. Indeed, we must remember that nearly all the philosophies as respects cosmogony and chemistry have proven themselves fallacious, and the latest researches of science astound us by threatening a revolution of the philosophies respecting astronomy. Perhaps philosophy has made progress in every other direction than along religious lines. And in this particular we note that the great majority of the learned have entirely abandoned the philosophies of their fathers and are known as "Higher Critics," "Evolutionists," etc. Only in the Catholic Church are the theological philosophies of a century ago given the slightest weight amongst the learned, although these theories, embodied in Protestant creeds, still hold a powerful sway in the minds of many Protestants who still like to think that what their fathers believed was infallible on every subject.
Meeting Mr. Edison's statement, above quoted, with such candor as the gentleman's intellectual prowess seems to justify, we must admit that there is a great deal of force and logic in his deduction. Mr. Edison has Apostolic authority for considering man as made up of various members, each intimately related to the welfare and intelligence of the whole. St. Paul uses this argument in illustrating the true Church, "the Body of Christ." He likens one member to the hand; another to the foot; another to the eye, etc., and declares that each is necessary to the completeness and harmony of the whole and adds, So, also, is the Church.
We will not here follow the Apostle's argument to the Church to note particularly how Jesus is the Head of the Church, how every member is united to each other member and interested in each other member. We will take the same example of the human figure. It seems to justify the statement that a man's intelligence is represented in the intelligence of all his members. Human skill is related to human intelligence. Consequently the man who has lost his hands has less intelligence, less opportunity and less skill than previously. If he lose also his feet, his intelligence decreases proportionately. If he lose his sight, his hearing and his sense of smell, each loss diminishes his intelligence. A whole village of people devoid of sight, hearing, taste, the sense of smell and of touch, would be a very unintelligent community. This we understand to be Mr. Edison's argument, expressed in different terms. Mr. Edison's terms seem appropriate if we take a sufficiently broad view of his language. To illustrate: If one [R4774 : page 70] lose a few drops of blood, the loss may make no perceptible impression upon his intelligence. But if he lose a quart of blood, his intelligence will be considerably diminished; faintness, stupor, may be expected. This would seem to prove Mr. Edison's statement correct, and that the loss of a few drops of blood is really a loss, to some extent, of vital power, and hence a loss of intelligence, but in so small a degree as not to be appreciable to one in health.
In olden times we were told, and tried to believe it, that a dead man knew more than a living one. We were puzzled by the fact that a blow on the head might stun one to insensibility, in view of the fact that we were told that a heavier blow, that would kill the man, would enable him to know everything in an instant. The philosophy (?) of this was handed to us thus: The soul is the intelligent being, of which nobody knows very much. It is imprisoned in our mortal bodies and can operate in them only unsatisfactorily. The moment of death is the moment of release to the soul, which then can think and reason more soundly than when obliged to use the brain.
Many of us tried in childhood years to believe such unphilosophical philosophy. We asked for proofs and were told that it was the voice of the Church's philosophers, and if we would doubt it we would be damned to eternal misery. Believing this, and not willing to be doomed to eternal misery, many of us restrained ourselves and that portion of our brain became well-nigh atrophied.
Even the religious found it difficult to believe in so immaterial a soul and inquired, Why, then, a resurrection of the dead? Will the resurrection signify another real imprisonment of the soul and a decrease of intelligence, as this philosophy (?) would seem to imply? Some gave up the quest for knowledge in despair and sought for something more intelligent outside of all the creeds and philosophies of "science falsely so-called." Others of us have held to the Word of God and sought to see its philosophy, its teachings, and to harmonize them.
We are glad to belong to this growing class of Bible students who declare, Let God and his Word be true, though it disprove many of the theories we once believed and almost worshipped. (Rom. 3:4.) We want the Truth!
We are not personally acquainted with Mr. Edison, nor with his religious views, but we believe that his philosophical mind is turning quite into line with the teachings of the Bible respecting man and his future. We do not say that he has attained the Bible viewpoint, but merely that he has taken a good step in that direction. Without discounting good features contained in our own creeds, we must admit that many of them are thoroughly illogical and unscriptural. For instance, the theory that a human soul is an invisible entity specially created by God and full of Divine intelligence and that this intelligent soul is introduced into the new-born child and is the real child – this is no longer reasonable nor logical to us.
We wonder that our forefathers of the darker period, in their wonderful philosophies, did not see the absurdity of such a position. If it were true, would it not make the Almighty Creator a co-laborer with fornicators and adulterers in the bringing into the world of illegitimate children? Still worse, does not this theory charge to the Almighty God of Wisdom, Justice, Love and Power the creation of idiots and mental imbeciles and moral degenerates? If the human parents merely bring human bodies into existence as receptacles for souls which God individually and specifically creates in each instance, then not the parents, but the Almighty is responsible for all the degeneracy we see in the world, for it is the soul that is responsible, as all must admit.
The center of the mistake on this subject, handed to us from the philosophers of the "Dark Ages," is the assumption that the real man is the spirit being, the soul. St. Paul assures us to the contrary of this, saying, "The first man was of the earth, earthy." The Lord through the Prophet David declares the same truth, saying, "What is man that thou art mindful of him?...Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels." (Psa. 8:4,5.) The angels are the lowest in rank on the spirit plane, and man, although in God's image when perfect, was still lower than the angels, in that he was not a spirit being, but a human, an earthly being – "of the earth, earthy."
The Scriptural proposition is not that God made a body for man out of the dust of the earth and put a spirit man into that body, but that God made man of the dust of the earth, breathed into his nostrils the breath of life (an animal life) and "man became a living soul" – an animal or earthly soul. In other words, the entire Adam became a living soul – a living being. That one man was subsequently made twain for the very purpose of propagating living souls in his own likeness. And thus for six thousand years the Divine command has been in process of fulfillment – "Multiply and fill the earth." God created but the one soul originally, divided it, and then, by natural processes, generation after generation of human souls have been born. Man is an earthly soul or earthly animal, as are all the earthly creatures, only that his is a higher nature – an earthly image of his Creator, who is a Spirit Being.
From this standpoint how clearly we can discern the mistakes of the philosophies of the past and the true philosophy revealed to us only in the Bible, although discerning, penetrating, philosophical minds like that of Mr. Edison may reach the same truth from the study of the great Book of Nature.
From this standpoint we see that the entire man is a living soul – that is to say, a sentient being. The formation of Adam was very important, just as today, under the same Divine regulations, the shape of the brain has to do with the character of the man – gentle or vicious, criminal or conscientious, benevolent or stingy, reverential or otherwise. As the Bible declares: "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." (Prov. 23:7.) And a man's thoughts shape themselves according to the structure of his brain. Thus phrenology is a widely-recognized science. Not only so, but physiology tells us that the various portions of the human body are so intimately related to the brain that the quality of the mind can be discerned in the general features, not only in the shape of the nose, the curl of the lip, the glance of the eye, but also in the grasp of the hand and its general shape, even to the particularity of a finger print.
All these outward signs indicate the character of the soul, being – all are identified with it. In a word, a soul is a person. The various districts of the brain representing the various sentiments and passions of the individual, are like so many members, each having its own personality. Amongst these various members of the human mind some are stronger, some weaker, and the stronger ones dominate. There are exceptions, of course, to this rule in what we sometimes term conversion. Conversion [R4774 : page 71] means the establishing of a new rule or order in the individual life. Note the method of its accomplishment: –
(1) Certain matters are brought to the attention of the person or soul which seem to indicate a wiser course than the one pursued in the past. The various districts of the brain, like so many members of a council, consider the proposition, weigh its pros and cons, advantages and disadvantages, and then reach a decision. That decision we call will. Sometimes there is desperate struggle in the brain, the various members of the council of thought battling and struggling against each other. The will may be strong or may be weak, just as a party in Congress may be strong or weak while in power. But the will rules with more or less vacillation or strength, according to the number and power of the members supporting it. Thus we have found some possessed of strong characters; others who are weak, vacillating – "double-minded."
Some of the qualities of the mind may be styled the "flesh" – this term represents the lower and more animal qualities of the person, the soul. To the contrary of these are the higher organs of the mind – reverence, spirituality, conscientiousness, sublimity, ideality, etc., and these are called the heart, because they include the affections and qualities of the mind to which God appeals, saying, "My son, give me thine heart."
Thus seen, we are daily making soul-character, influenced by our environment and the lessons and experiences which come to us through our senses. The character develops either upward or downward – toward God or toward sin. But there is no such thing as total depravity, except in idiocy, for, by Divine providence, some features of the original Divine likeness in which father Adam was created still persist in all of his children who have reason. The effort of all reformers is to appeal to the mind, either through fear or love or selfishness, to effect an organization of the mental qualities favoring the things of righteousness and opposed to sin. The permanent conversion which produces the saintly character is the appeal of love – "The love of Christ constraineth us." The love of the Father is potent in the hearts of all who receive it. It can effect changes in conduct, in language and in thought, which can be accomplished by nothing else.
A Methodist Bishop is credited with the following definition of a soul: "It is without interior or exterior, without body, shape or parts, and you could put a million of them into a nut-shell." Mr. Edison does not believe in such a soul. In repudiating such a view he places [R4775 : page 71] himself in accord with the Divine teachings.
The word immortality is rarely used in its strict, academic sense, as signifying deathlessness or that which is proof against death – inherency of life, requiring no sustenance. Immortality in this sense of the word is, of course, a quality which belongs to God alone. As the Scriptures declare of him, "He alone hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto, whom no man hath seen nor can see." Immortality in this sense of the word, possessed by the Heavenly Father and his only begotten Son, the world's Redeemer, is promised as a special reward (not possessed by angels or any other creature) to the elect, saintly few, called, chosen and faithful during this Gospel Age. These are styled the Bride, the Lamb's Wife, and the promise to them is that they shall receive this great reward of glory, honor and immortality when the Redeemer shall appear in his glory in the end of this Age to grant to them a share in the First or Chief Resurrection from the dead. With this attainment of immortality they are promised also new bodies, no longer flesh, but spirit, no longer in the likeness of the first man – "As they bore the image of the earthly, they shall also bear the image of the heavenly." – I Cor. 15:49.
Mr. Edison is in full agreement with the Bible in his conclusion that human soul or personality is always identified with an organism or body. We must also agree with the Bible and with Mr. Edison that all souls die. The Bible declares, "The wages of sin is death," and again, "The soul that sinneth, it shall die." The Bible explains that Adam, as a living soul, might have continued his existence perpetually had he not transgressed the Divine Law and that the transgression brought to him the penalty of death. Mr. Edison agrees with this conclusion without, perhaps, admitting original sin or anything else connected with the Scriptures.
Where, then, is human immortality? We answer that there is no human immortality, in the same sense that there is a Divine immortality – in the sense that God is death-proof. He alone has immortality in that sense. When we speak of immortality in respect to mankind, we use the word, not in an academic sense, but in a relative way. We mean that death does not end all for Adam and his children – that a future life is arranged for them in Divine providence – when, where and how the Bible clearly tells.
We wish that Mr. Edison and many thinkers who have no confidence in the Bible might see the beauties and harmonies of its presentations. The Bible declares that the eternal life lost by father Adam has been redeemed for him by the death of Jesus Christ, "the Just for the unjust." It tells us further that as all of Adam's race share by heredity in his death penalty, so they all shall be permitted to share in his recovery from the power of the tomb, from sin and death. Thus the Scriptures declare, As by a man comes death, by a man also comes the resurrection of the dead; for as all in Adam die, even so shall all in Christ be made alive, every man in his own order or company. – I Cor. 15:21-23.
The great Apostle Paul declares that there shall be a "resurrection of the dead, both of the just and of the unjust." The Hebrew Prophet declares, "Many that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake." The awakening time will be the morning, as the present is the night-time of sin and darkness. The glorious morning nears, as the night of sorrow and tears passes. There will be a glorious dawn to that great day of a thousand years, whose light is already fore-gleamed in the wonderful inventions of our time, in which Mr. Edison has been used of the Almighty to assist. Shortly the Sun of Righteousness shall shine forth, scattering the darkness, ignorance, superstition, sin, death. Shortly the reign of the Divine righteousness and love, co-ordinated, will bring blessings to our race, now resting under the sentence or curse of death. Shortly all will have the opportunity of recovery from the fallen condition of weakness and degradation, being uplifted or resurrected gradually to the full perfection of human nature, earthly nature, in the image and likeness of the Creator, in the midst of a world-wide Paradise.
Cardinal Gibbons gave an interview to a reporter of the Columbian Magazine in answer to Philosopher Edison. Noting with interest the Cardinal's defense of the [R4775 : page 72] doctrine of immortality, we have clipped and below produce the essence, the kernel, of his argument on the subject as based upon the Scriptures. We are pleased to see that, like ourself, the Cardinal finds the Scriptural proof of a future life, not in the philosophies of a darker past, but in the resurrection promise of the holy Scriptures, as follows: –
"Christ brings to humanity the certainty of eternal life. He proved it by his own resurrection; and if anyone thinks the evidence for Christ's resurrection is weak, I ask him to study and think deeply over the fifteenth chapter of First Corinthians. No sane scholar, remember, denies that we have the testimony of St. Paul himself; nor that St. Paul is honestly setting down the testimony of those who claim to have seen our Lord after death. If so many sane men, Apostles and disciples of Christ, are mistaken, if they cannot believe the testimony of their own eyes, if such a delusion can keep so firm a hold on so many different characters for so many years and become the basis of all their beliefs and the transforming power of their lives, then no human testimony is of any value; then let us close our courts of justice, for no case is proven by so many trustworthy witnesses. No!" the Cardinal said, in the tone of deepest conviction, "Christ is risen; and his resurrection is the plainest evidence of man's immortality."
"'You talk about the wonderful hold the Roman Catholic Church has upon its people. You ask, how does it do it? I will tell you how it does it. They instruct their children. It is borne in upon the consciousness of every child in every good Roman Catholic home, as soon as it comes to any sort of understanding, that the Church is the instrument of his salvation, and he is held right to that idea. They establish their catechetical classes, they run their parochial schools with a religious purpose, and they lay an enormous emphasis upon taking care of their children. "'I say to you, if the Roman Catholic Church is willing to pay that price for holding its own, and the Methodist Episcopal Church is not willing to pay that price for holding its own – then I say the Roman Catholic Church deserves to be the coming Church.
"'The Protestant Church that does not see that its future is inevitably bound up with the religious instruction is just as certainly doomed to failure as I am standing here tonight. If the members of the Roman Catholic Church are more willing, under the instructions of their priests, to obey the laws of God with reference to the children of the Church than our people are, under our instruction, then I say that the Roman Catholic Church is entitled to the credit of the whole business. "'When God Almighty puts into the arms of any earthly parents a new life, then I say that God Almighty pays those parents the biggest compliment that he can possibly pay. That child is God's child ere he is our child, and he is to be held as a member of the Kingdom of God. We of the Methodist Church hold that all children, by virtue of the unconditional benefits of the atonement, are members of the Kingdom of God. If this is so, then the biggest task we have is to keep them members of that Kingdom. I believe the greatest church on earth is the Christian home; the finest sanctuary to be found anywhere is the Christian home.'"
The Bishop used the above words in connection with an address on Sunday School Work. His words endorse our presentations of the subject. In STUDIES IN THE SCRIPTURES, Vol. VI., we call attention to the fact that Sunday Schools are an innovation little more than one century old. We point out that they are the expression of human wisdom merely – that neither to the Jews nor to Christians did God give directions respecting Sunday School organizations. The Divine arrangement is that each family should complete a unit and that the parents should be the instructors of the children in religious things. In disregarding this Divine arrangement two evils have ensued: –
(1) The parents have felt relieved of the responsibility of teaching their children and thus have lost a great blessing and source of personal instruction. [R4776 : page 72]
(2) The children have been taught to look elsewhere for the highest information, and correspondingly to disrespect their parents as unqualified to be their instructors. As a result, disrespect and disobedience to parents have increased and parental interest in and control over their children have diminished.
We urge upon all parents everywhere within the range of our influence to weigh the responsibility resting upon them in respect to their children. Whoever brings into the world a child, should feel the responsibility toward it for food and raiment and reasonable comfort, and particularly for moral and religious instruction. Regardless of what others do or do not, all of the Lord's consecrated people should be faithful to this great trust. No service to the Lord could possibly be acceptable as a sacrifice if it meant the neglect of duty to one's children.
We are glad to note that Bishop Hughes recognizes the unconditional benefits of the Atonement in respect to all children. His reference to the Kingdom of God, however, clearly shows that his understanding respecting it is quite vague. There are at this moment at least eight hundred millions of children under ten years of age. If these all be members of the Kingdom of God, our Savior was quite in error when he declared: "Fear not, little flock, it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom." Eight hundred millions could hardly be called a little flock. And besides, Jesus said the Kingdom had not yet been given. On the contrary, did he not teach us to pray, "Thy Kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is done in Heaven"?
We ask the Bishop, and as many as this article shall reach, to consider the improbability of the Bishop's view of matters being true – the incorrectness of the Methodist view. If earthly parents have a responsibility for their children, how about the heavenly Creator or Parent, "In whom all live and move and have their being?" Has God no responsibility for all the children born into the world? Would he neglect his duty, if earthly parents [R4776 : page 73] did neglect theirs? Are the thousands of millions of heathendom and Christendom going to a burning hell because of neglect of their education by the great Life-Giver or Father?
Let us reason a little on the Bishop's statement of Methodist views. If Christ made an atonement for the sins of all mankind, of what purpose or value has it been as yet to any but the handful, the "little flock," whom our Lord declares will receive the Kingdom of God by and by – the Kingdom prayed for?
We look all about us for God's Kingdom quite in vain. The heathen three-fourths of humanity are surely not God's Kingdom, nor any credit to any Kingdom or government. The one-fourth of humanity known as Christendom (Christ's Kingdom) does not appear to be the genuine article. It is full of jarring creeds, selfish antagonisms, bitterness, envy, hatred, strife, "works of the flesh and of the Devil." Its most civilized nations are spending thousands of millions of dollars on war preparations – and this after more than eighteen hundred years of the reign of Messiah, as Bishop Hughes and the Methodist friends think.
Our Methodist friends and many others have, according to the Bible, made a great mistake in their theology on this point. God's Kingdom is not here. It has not yet come. We are still, in the language of the Apostle, "waiting for the Kingdom of God's dear Son." The promise is still more sure that the faithful, saintly overcomers of this Gospel Age will sit with Messiah in his Throne of spirit control during his Messianic Kingdom. We are still waiting for it. Neither the heathen children nor the heathen parents, nor the Christian children, nor the Christian parents are yet in the Kingdom which has not yet come.
We are glad that the Bishop sees that the Atonement of Christ is universal – for all mankind. We ask him to look again at the subject and to note that in the present Age, during the past eighteen centuries, God has been merely selecting the saintly followers of Jesus to constitute with him the Kingdom or ruling class. These are the little children, or humble children of God. "Beloved, now are we the sons (children) of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is."
God has not only arranged that the Atonement work of the Savior shall be for the sins of the whole world, but he has also provided that there shall be a time and an opportunity in which the Redeemer will make his atonement work available to all mankind – heathen and Christian, old and young. To them he will give the opportunity of Restitution to all that was lost in Adam and provided for at Calvary. This will be at the Second Coming of Christ, as St. Peter explains in Acts 3:19-23.
Then Messiah will set up, establish, his Kingdom – a thousand years' reign of righteousness. Satan will then be bound and the darkness which belongs to his reign of sin and death will give place to the glorious light of the knowledge of God. Under those favorable conditions humanity will not have an opportunity of becoming kings and priests unto God, members of the "little flock"; but they will all have the opportunity of becoming identified with the Kingdom, not as kings, but as subjects. They will all have the opportunity of attaining everlasting life as human beings in this world, which will then gradually be transformed – Paradise regained. Meantime the unwilling, rebellious, disobedient, as St. Peter says, will be "destroyed from amongst the people" – Second Death.
The fact that God has not neglected his responsibilities, but is working out his glorious purposes to fulfil them, must not make Christian parents negligent. On the contrary, the example should make them all the more careful by showing them a parent's obligations. Some of the children may so respond as to become eligible to a share in the Kingdom proper, as members of the Royal Priesthood, who shall sit upon the Throne; but to the others, parents also have a duty. Such should be taught, not that all transgressions will be punished alike, in eternal torment, but that every transgression, great and small, will receive eventually a just recompense of reward. They should be taught that whatsoever is sown will be reaped, and that advancements under the blessings of the Kingdom may be promoted or retarded by their present conduct, by obedience or disobedience to the Divine law. Such rational teaching will appeal much more quickly to the children than will any amount of falsification and misrepresentation concerning eternal torment, fire, etc., in which no reasonable person longer believes, and which came not from the Bible, but from the "Dark Ages."
"Blessed are they that keep his testimony, and that seek him with the whole heart." – Psalm 119:2.
In line with all this we remember that the Divine command to all Jews was that they should not intermarry with other nationalities. Every deviation from the Divine Law seems to have brought with it serious penalties. This is strictly in harmony with God's arrangement with that one nation alone, that they should be his people in a peculiar sense, that other nations were not his people and that obedience to his laws would bring them blessings and disobedience bring them adversities. That Law is still upon the Jews, but it is not upon others.
A proper recognition of the antitype, or spiritual significance of that item of Jewish Law, should be observed by all; it is applicable to Christians, who constitute, from the Divine standpoint, "a holy nation, a peculiar people." Christians are not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers. Christians are to come out from the world and be [R4777 : page 74] separate. This, however, does not apply to nominal Christians, but only to the spirit-begotten class, who have made a full consecration of themselves to the Lord. These are counselled to marry "only in the Lord" – only the consecrated. Those who disregard this Divine injunction endanger their own spiritual development, as well as their own happiness and the happiness of the worldly person with whom they become yoked.
When King Ahaziah was slain by Jehu, his mother, the Queen Dowager, realized instantly that this meant her loss of rank and power – the power and honor and riches which her selfish, proud heart so loved. She realized that the moment her grandson ascended the throne she must vacate her position in favor of her daughter-in-law. Her selfish, proud heart resolved that on no account should this be. Rather, she would be a murderess. Forthwith she caused her grandchildren to be slain, except one, an infant, who was hidden by his aunt in a room used for the storage of sleeping mats, and, in our lesson, styled a bed-chamber. Subsequently, he was nursed until his seventh year, in one of the rooms connected with the old temple, which was in disuse during Queen Athaliah's reign, as she favored and upheld the worship of Baal.
One lesson for us here is the power of pride. We may well hope that many could not be influenced to become murderers, even with such inducements. But not many of us will ever have such a temptation either to grasp a throne or to retain hold on one already possessed. Other illustrations of the power of pride leading to murder, in the interest of a throne, are mentioned in history. For instance, King Herod's murder of all the infants of Bethlehem of two years and under was to preserve to himself and his heirs the throne of Israel. History tells us of how Laodice poisoned her six sons, one by one, that she might be Empress of Constantinople. Another mother named Irene, which name signifies peace, gouged out the eyes of her own son that he might be incapable of ruling the Empire over which she sought to reign alone.
No wonder the Bible declares that the heart of man in his fallen condition is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked! No wonder the Bible tells us that the blessing of the New Covenant which God will establish with the world through Israel, during Messiah's reign, will operate to the taking away of the stoniness of the heart and to the return to mankind of a heart of flesh – a proper human sympathy such as the perfect man had when he was created in the image and likeness of God! How glad we are that Messiah's Kingdom will not merely restrain sin and sinners, but, by restitution processes, take away the stoniness of heart and bring as many as are willing of mankind back to tender-heartedness and into harmony with the Divine Law of Love for God and for the neighbor!
Since we are not kings and queens and have not their temptations, let us note that the same principle of hard-heartedness operates in the business world, in the social world and in the family. In the business world, it operates to the destruction of a rival concern. In the social world, it cuts rivals, prompts to misrepresentation, slander, etc. In the home, as between parents and children, brothers and sisters, it frequently means injustice. The correction for all this is a love of righteousness which will lead each to love and to obey the Golden Rule and, as nearly as possible, to comply with the Divine will, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and all thy mind and all thy being and all thy strength, and thy neighbor as thyself."
The young King was named Joash. He was kept in hiding six years and, in his seventh year, was crowned. Jehoiada, the High Priest, whose daughter had rescued Joash, superintended the inauguration ceremonies. With great wisdom he called together the chiefs of the nation at a festival time, when their coming would not be thought strange. Likewise the guards were so disposed as to give every protection to the young King and leave the palace without protection. The ceremony passed off successfully. The Queen Dowager, hearing the shouts, "Long live the King!" came forth from the palace to the temple to investigate and, realizing the situation, cried, "Treason, treason!"
So it is that injustice sometimes becomes intrenched and fortified in human minds so that an attempt to establish righteousness is considered treason, rebellion, outrage. The lesson to all the Lord's consecrated children is, "Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life." – Prov. 4:23.
When the crown was put upon the young King's head, on top of it was laid the Testimony, the parchment scroll of the ten commandments. Thus was indicated that the Divine Law was superior to the crown. Such should be the estimation of the matter in every well-balanced mind. Divine Law comes first; human laws second. And human laws are usually up to as high standards as the people who make them are worthy.
Judah must have been considerably sunken in the qualities of patriotism and manhood to allow the Dowager Queen to usurp the throne by murder for six years. Similarly states and cities, permitting and recognizing the domination of frauds and combines against the public interests, are usually getting as good treatment as they deserve. It is the heart, the intellect, the mind that is to be educated up to the higher standards – then those high standards will be attained by the body politic.
It is the custom of WATCH TOWER readers all over the world to celebrate our Redeemer's death on its anniversary. We trust that the celebration this year will be a very general one. The significance of the Memorial is described in our issue of February 1 and also in SCRIPTURE STUDIES, Series VI.
On the evening of April 11 at 7:30 the New York City Church will assemble in the Brooklyn Tabernacle, 17 Hicks street, for the celebration of the Memorial. All Christians in fellowship of heart with the Lord are cordially invited to be present. We do not, however, specially invite or urge brethren from other congregations meeting [R4778 : page 75] similarly for this celebration on the same evening. We believe the instructions of the Lord's Word on the subject imply that each congregation or family of the Lord's children should meet together for this celebration.
There will be a baptism service on the Sunday preceding the Memorial – April 9 – in the Brooklyn Tabernacle at 3 p.m. The subject of baptism is also discussed in SCRIPTURE STUDIES, Volume VI. All thinking of participation in this symbol are requested to make a very thorough study of the subject, that they may act with proper intelligence.
We recommend that all gatherings of Bible students, if possible, provide an opportunity for immersion preceding the Memorial. The Memorial celebration should be esteemed a great privilege. If any one is out of heart fellowship with the Lord, his first work should be to get right with him. And the Lord directs that any coming to his altar, should, as far as possible, before coming, get into heart harmony with all of the "household of faith." This should, therefore, be a time of heart searching and purifying. This, in the Jewish Passover type, was prefigured by the search made for leaven of every description – leaven being a symbol of corruption, sin, contrariness to purity, righteousness and love.
Whoever finds himself out of harmony with the Lord at this season and avails himself of the privileges above suggested and seeks a return to Divine favor will surely experience a great blessing. And whoever passes by the opportunity will lose a blessing which none can afford to lose. A realization of our own imperfections at such time must not discourage us or make us faint. Rather we should remember God's provision for our reconciliation through our great Advocate, whose death the Memorial celebrates. Let us also remember our Covenant of sacrifice, by which we become members of the Body of Christ.
It may not be amiss that we remind our readers that for some reason which we cannot explain it has for years appeared to us that Satan is granted special power to tempt the Lord's consecrated people at this Passover season, as he had special power at this season when our Lord was crucified. Then Judas entirely succumbed. St. Peter stumbled badly, and all of the Apostles temporarily forsook the Master and fled and were in deep perplexity until Pentecost. The Master's advice then is good still, "Watch and pray lest ye enter into temptation."
"Then the people rejoiced for they offered willingly." – 1 Chron. 29:9.
King Joash found that allowing the priests to collect the money wherewith to repair the temple showed no results. Not every good-hearted man has executive ability. The record does not tell that the priests were dishonest in the use of the money collected for their affairs. Nor does it say that they spent the money unwisely. Possibly the people did not have confidence in the priests and did not give so freely on that account. However, the King noted the fact that the temple continued to be dilapidated and called for the priests and said to them, Why repair ye not the breaches of the temple? The answer of the priests is not given, but the King's mandate was, "Now, therefore, take no more money from your acquaintances." The King passed over the matter as lightly and courteously as possible, without charging the priests with embezzlement or neglect.
A new procedure was to have a specially prepared money-chest inside the temple court, convenient to the worshipers who passed in and out, and under the care of the priest, who served as doorkeeper. This method proved successful. The money speedily accumulated. Ere long there was a sufficiency to make the repairs and more. Further donations for this purpose were refused. The temple was put into good order and a general blessing followed the experience.
There is a lesson in this matter for us. The people like to see results. (1) They want to know that monies that are donated for benevolent purposes are not all absorbed for office expenses. (2) Voluntary offerings have the approval of both God and men, rather than offerings that are importuned, coaxed, begged, wheedled from saints and sinners. Everybody who gives to the Lord's cause is advantaged thereby; he not only forwards a benevolent cause, but cultivates generosity in his own heart. Our Lord said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive" – where the giving is willing and voluntary.
Church begging is undoubtedly doing great harm. The remark has been made that the chief item of religion in some churches is begging for money – private solicitation, and also public solicitation, by the passing around of the collection box. Church fairs, church suppers, grab-bags, etc., are still more reprehensible than the collection box and private solicitation. Some one has called such efforts the "milking of the goats." The Lord's people are supposed to be sheep; the world's people, goats.
The proper thought seems to be what the Scriptures inculcate, namely, that each Christian should give according to his ability and interest in the work and that non-worshipers should not be expected to give nor requested so to do. But who does not know that a large proportion of the money collected for church purposes is unwillingly given by people who not only are not directly interested [R4778 : page 75] in the projects, but sometimes even opposed thereto! Thus Protestant business men often give to Catholic charities, rather than offend good customers. Likewise Catholic business men donate to Protestant enterprises with which they have no sympathy.
It is a good time to return to the Gospel admonition, Let each one of you lay by in reserve on the first day of the week according as God has prospered you – for religious and charitable objects. Only such voluntary giving has any merit whatever in the sight of God or in the sight of good men. Only such will receive the Divine blessing upon it, whether it be the widow's mite or the rich man's munificence. [R4778 : page 76]
Viewing the spiritual temple we perceive that, outwardly, as represented by the magnificent churches of metropolitan cities, nothing more could be desired than what is now enjoyed. Describing the church conditions of our day, the Scriptures portray our condition under the figure of the Laodicean Church, thus: "I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot; I would thou wert hot or cold. So, then, because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked, I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich, and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see." – Rev. 3:15-18.
It is from the spiritual standpoint, therefore, that the temple of today needs to have repairs. Outwardly, the church is rich; spiritually, she is poor. The majority of her educated, including ministers, have abandoned all faith in the Bible as the Word of God. Yet they are not known as infidels, but by the less harsh term, "Higher Critics," "Evolutionists." With many the faith in a personal God even, is shaking and they incline to wonder if, somehow or other, we have not an unintelligent God – nature – and mankind and all other intelligencies merely evolutionary products. The cause and foundation of this disastrous condition is not far off.
The absurdities of the creeds formulated during the "Dark Ages" are so great that intelligent people can no longer accept them. We have made the mistake of supposing that these absurdities are based upon the Scriptures and well supported thereby. The Truth is that our creeds of the past not only contradict each other, but also contradict the Bible. To learn this, to believe it, signifies a return to Bible study with the colored spectacles of our fathers removed and with our hearts uplifted to God that he may give us the light promised to his faithful people in the end of this Age, of which we read that we should "give heed to the sure word of prophecy as to a light shining in a dark place until the day dawn and the day star arise." – 2 Pet. 1:19.
Noting the spiritual impairment of the House of God, the Church, all who love the Lord and who worship him should do their part, make their contribution, toward the improvement of these spiritual conditions. It is not to be left wholly in the hands of the clerical or priestly class. The people in general are to appreciate the situation and each delight to do his part in the rebuilding of the spiritual walls of Zion. Those spiritual walls consist of "the faith once delivered to the saints."
Each Christian should ask himself, What am I doing toward these repairs? How am I manifesting to the Lord my zeal for Truth and righteousness and my hatred of sin and untruth? And as an answer to this question each should redouble his efforts to understand the Truth and to help others to an understanding of it, whatever may be the cost to the creeds and systems of the "Dark Ages."
Your calculation of the Jubilee Cycles (as published in September issue of Overland Monthly, 1910) beginning the count from the time Israel entered the land of Canaan, is so remarkably simple that I am surprised it did not come to my attention sooner; as it is with this added new viewpoint that certain questions which have somewhat puzzled me before have now been thoroughly cleared up in my mind, I am noting them for your consideration. They are as follows:
1. Why did not Israel celebrate 20 instead of only 19 Jubilees in the land before the great Cycle of 50 Jubilees began their count, so that the entire 70 Jubilees would be complete?
2. Why did the Jews remain in their land 19 years after the celebration of their last typical Jubilee? Why did they not immediately go into captivity?
3. Did the 70 years of desolation typify anything? If so, what?
As a result of your article in the Overland Monthly I have been helped to a solving of these questions, and I am sending you herewith my calculations and conclusions for any comments or added thoughts you may have or can suggest.
This is my understanding of your reckoning as presented in Overland Monthly:
"To fulfil the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah until the land had enjoyed her Sabbaths: for [R4779 : page 76] as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfill three score and ten years." – 2 Chron. 36:17-21.
In the above quotation we find the entire number of Jubilee years the Lord purposed for Israel to be 70, which mark 70 cycles or periods of time. Each cycle was 49 years and its Jubilee the 50th year.
70 times this number (50 years) would be.......... 3,500 yrs.
And this period, measured from the time Israel
entered Canaan, which occurred before the date
known as A.D. 1.................................. 1,575 "
-----
Hence the years since A.D. 1, to complete above
period of 3,500 years, are....................... 1,925 "
Or 1925 A.D. marks the date when the full number of Israel's Jubilees would have been accomplished as indicated by the Lord through Jeremiah the prophet.
This calculation is based on the Jubilees from the standpoint of the Law which was given to Israel as a nation and to which they bound themselves, and which has been and is now being fulfilled with regard to the Jews. – Lev. 26.
This calculation in no way antagonizes the view as expressed in SCRIPTURE STUDIES, Vol. 2, chapter 6, paragraph 2, page 180; also page 181; but is considering it only with regard to the Jewish nation and their land and not with regard to the restitution or antitypical Jubilee as set forth in S.S., Vol. 2.
The multiplying of the Sabbath or 7th day by 7 (7 x 7 = 49) pointed out Pentecost, the 50th day, or Jubilee day, which followed.
The multiplying of the Sabbath or 7th year by 7 (7 x 7 = 49) made the cycle which pointed out and led to the 50th year or Jubilee year.
The multiplying of the Sabbath or 50th year by 50 (50 x 50 = 2,500) made the cycle which pointed out and led to the 51st cycle or Jubilee cycle.
As the Jubilee day was not celebrated on the last or 49th day, but on the following or 50th day, and the Jubilee year was not celebrated on the last or 49th year, but on the following or 50th year, so the Jubilee cycle (of 50 years) was not celebrated on the last or 50th cycle, but on the following or 51st cycle.
The Law required that where the typical system ended, the antitypical counting should begin. [R4779 : page 77]
Total number of years in Great Cycle.............. 2,500 yrs.
From the celebration of the last Jubilee by Israel to
the year A.D. 1.................................. 625 "
-----
The number of years since A.D. 1 necessary to
complete the cycle of 2,500 years................ 1,875 "
If the year 1875 A.D. marks the end of the Great Cycle of 50 x 50 years, then the following 50 years, or from 1875 A.D. to 1925 A.D., will be the Jubilee Cycle or period of time during which the Jews will be returned to their possessions. (This date, 1925 A.D., as we have seen, is the date originally intended by Jehovah as marking Israel's full number of Jubilees.) And how harmoniously does this agree with the ending of the Times of the Gentiles, which terminate during this Jubilee period; their lease of power departing from them allows the Law to be fulfilled toward the Jew, who can now come into his possessions.
Here we get the key to the matter regarding the celebration of only 19 and not 20 cycles before the Great Cycle (of 50 x 50 years = 2,500 years) began to count. The last or 20th Cycle of 50 years was reserved for the Jubilee Cycle to follow the Great Cycle.
Jubilees celebrated in the land by Jews........... 19
Jubilees represented in Great Cycle............... 50
Jubilee period representing the time in which the Jew,
according to Jubilee celebration, should return to his
possessions...................................... 1
––
70
"And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof; it shall be a Jubilee unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family.
"A Jubilee shall that fiftieth year be unto you: ye shall not sow, neither reap that which groweth of itself in it, nor gather the grapes in it of thy vine undressed." – Lev. 25:10,11.
Here we have two statements made respecting the Jubilee year:
1. The RETURN of every person to his possession; and
"Then shall the land enjoy her sabbaths, as long as it lieth desolate, and ye be in your enemies' land; even then shall the land REST and enjoy her sabbaths. As long as it lieth desolate it shall REST; because it did not REST in your sabbaths when ye dwelt upon it." – Lev. 26:34,35.
Here again we find that while Israel celebrated the Jubilee when they dwelt in the land, and each man may have returned to his possession and family at the Jubilee period, nevertheless the Lord declares that the land "did not REST" in its Sabbaths when they dwelt upon it.
So the Lord provided the REST feature of the Jubilee for the land when Israel went into captivity for 70 years, and here the 70 Jubilees of REST were accomplished for the land, but during that time the other feature of the Jubilee was neglected (the RETURN of each man to his possession and family), for we find the very reverse of this condition to be true. The Jews, instead of returning to their possessions during that time, were in captivity to and serving the King of Babylon.
How, then, and when will this returning feature of the Jubilees be accomplished?
As shown in SCRIPTURE STUDIES, Vol. II., chap. 6, Israel celebrated 19 Jubilees before going into captivity, and we have no reason to doubt that at each of these celebrations the RETURNING of the people to their possessions was accomplished to the best of their ability.
Now, as 70 was the number of Jubilee Sabbaths or years of REST celebrated for the land (during the captivity), but only 19 Jubilees or years with the RETURNING feature were celebrated, when will the other 51 Jubilees or years with the RETURNING feature be fulfilled? We answer: –
70 – Full number of Jubilee Cycles ordained of God.
19 – Cycles (with Jubilees) celebrated (50 years
each)........................................ 950 yrs.
----
51 – Cycles remaining (without Jubilees) celebrated
(49 years each).............................. 2,499 "
-----
Total years............. 3,449
Number of years Israel entered Canaan before the
date known as A.D. 1............................. 1,575 "
-----
Total number of years since date known as A.D. 1
to complete above period of 3,449................ 1,874 "
Or the year 1874 A.D. completes the above period as was actually fulfilled. This date, 1874, is just 51 years prior to the year 1925 A.D., which, in the first calculation, was found to be the date originally intended by Jehovah as completing the Jubilees for Israel.
Here we have the 51 Jubilees or years to be celebrated all at one time and not individually as were the first 19. What wisdom on the part of our Heavenly Father! The land has already enjoyed the REST feature of the Jubilees (while the Jews were serving in captivity to Babylon) and now Israel, being deprived of the privileges of the RETURNING feature of the Jubilees for 51 Cycles (of 49 years each), can celebrate the 51 Jubilees with RETURNING feature from 1874 A.D. to 1925 A.D. And this we find fully corroborated, for in 1874 the first Jewish colony was founded in Palestine. (Overland Monthly, September, 1910, page 324, 7th line from top of page.) And we see every year the increase of Jews RETURNING to their land and fulfilling the purpose of these 51 Jubilees.
The further question as to why Israel remained in the land 19 years after the celebration of the last Jubilee, is answered, to my mind, as follows: –
If a day symbolically represents a year in Scripture, and 7 days mark to Israel the Sabbath which was carried out in the larger or 7-year system, would not the year symbolically represent the next greater time measure, or the Cycle period? If so, then, after the typical feature had ceased and the Great Antitypical Cycle began to count, Israel's 19 years in the land and 70 years captivity would fitly represent, or typify, the 19 Jubilee Cycles which Israel celebrated in their promised land, and 70 Cycles or (70 x 50 years = 3,500 years) 3,500 years of captivity before they would be permitted to FULLY POSSESS again their land. [R4780 : page 77]
Number of years in 70 cycles...................... 3,500 yrs.
Number of years Israel celebrated their last Jubilee
before the date known as A.D. 1.................. 625 "
-----
Number of years after date known as A.D. 1. when
the 70 cycles end................................ 2,875 "
The year 2,875 A.D. is just 1,000 years from 1875, the time the Jews began to return to their possessions. At that time, we trust, according to the sure promises of the Lord, the Jews, as well as all mankind, will not only be established in their land but be capable of POSSESSING it and WILL POSSESS it; and it shall be for Abraham and his seed for an everlasting POSSESSION.
Your Brother, sincerely for truth, in love,
"Choose ye this day whom ye will serve; as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." – Joshua 24:15.
So, dear friends, we who realize that the Lord has been blessing, guiding and sustaining us in the past, should come to a full, positive decision as respects our course of life. The very fact of coming to a positive decision is a great blessing and a great help in the formation of character. Every time we come to a wise decision on any question, it strengthens mind and character, and makes us much more ready for another test – along some other line, perhaps.
We well recognize the fact that the entire consecration which the Christian makes, leaves nothing out; but we need to have some touchstone, something which will enable the mind to reach a decision quickly, and this touchstone should be God's will, so that to perceive the Lord's will on any subject would be to settle it without any temporizing. Again, it is highly proper that we should reiterate our consecration, and thus make it prominent before others.
For instance, if this were New Year's Day, and we were at a testimony meeting, there would be nothing wrong in saying, "Whatever any one else may do, I acknowledge God and will serve him!" – not as a new vow, but as a fresh acknowledgment of the consecration Vow we have already taken.
We are to recognize the difference between making a new covenant every day, and the daily renewing of our covenant; the one would be an impropriety; the other would be proper. If we have made a binding covenant for life, we should no more think of breaking it than would a man who had leased a house or sold it.
Every day we should renew our covenant with the Lord – renew it and make it fresh in our minds, thus showing that there has been no change on our part; that we are still in the same attitude. This is the same thought as was in the making of our consecration; we are dead with Christ – "Ye are not your own, ye are bought with a price." We are exhorted to make this review of our lives and renewal of our consecration daily; to continue to keep this before our minds and hearts; to render our sacrifice to the Lord. Thus we are baptized by baptism into his death; and this baptism continues just as it was with our Lord. He had made his consecration and so it had to be completed; so it is with us; our vow, our covenant is unto death.
If the Lord's consecrated people could be brought to the point where the chief aim in life, the burden of all their prayers, would be that they might have a larger measure of the Spirit of the Lord, the spirit of holiness, the spirit of the Truth, the spirit of Christ, the spirit of a sound mind, what a blessing it would mean! If then they should wrestle with him until the breaking of day, their hold upon him would be sure to bring the desired blessing. The Lord reveals himself for the purpose of giving this blessing; but he withholds it until we learn to appreciate and desire it.
"Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins and then for the people's; for this he did once, when he offered up himself." – Heb. 7:27.
To get the Apostle's thought we are compelled to take one of two views; either that the High Priest in this case meant our Lord Jesus alone, separate and distinct from his Body, or else that it did not mean our Lord Jesus alone, separate and apart from his Body.
In another place the Apostle tells us that God foreknew the Church; therefore, in the Divine Plan it was a foreknowledge that there would be a Church selected from among sinners, even as it was predestinated of Jesus himself that he should be the Head: "He [the Father] hath chosen us in him [Christ] before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love; having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ unto himself." (Eph. 1:4,5.) Consequently, to take any other view would indicate blindness respecting the Scriptures. For this reason, we think that Paul referred, in the text under discussion, to the High Priest as a whole – Head and Body.
Although this feature of the Plan was not revealed until the end of the Gospel Age, we see, nevertheless, that the Apostle was discussing the change of dispensation, and that everything pertaining to the Tabernacle and the "Most Holy" passed away to give place to the "better sacrifices" of the Gospel Age – all these things coming in instead of those things. And this is what the Apostle is reasoning out. When, therefore, he speaks of the High Priest, saying, "And this he did once," he is referring to the one sacrifice of two parts. He does not mean to say that the Priest offered merely one sacrifice of one part, but that the Priest made first the offering of the antitypical bullock, and afterwards the offering of the antitypical goat.
In the type these things were done year by year; but in the antitype, which must be greater than the type, and which must really put away sin – "this he did once." Instead of doing this year after year, as represented in the typical atonement day sacrifices, the Great High Priest first offered the sacrifice of the antitypical bullock on behalf of those who are accepted as members of his Body, and afterwards the sacrifice of the antitypical goat on behalf of all the world of mankind.
We also see that this second part has not yet been accomplished; after it shall have been finished, then will begin to follow the long-promised glory – "The sufferings of Christ and the glory that shall follow." (I Pet. 1:11.) And again, "the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us." – Rom. 8:18.
Question. – Kindly explain the following text, especially the forepart of it: "The Man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all." – I Tim. 2:5,6.
Answer. – Our Lord gave himself a corresponding price for all – a ransom. The application of this price will be made in due time. It has been, at the present time, appropriated to the Church, imputatively, on account of their turning from sin and walking in the footsteps of Jesus. The next step in its application will be, not the imputation, but the actual giving of this to the world, bringing them up out of their imperfection, during the thousand years of the Mediatorial reign; bringing them back into that condition in which they shall be in harmony with God, even as Adam was in harmony with him before the fall.
Regarding the expression, "The Man Christ Jesus," we would say that the Man who gave himself seems to be the particular point. That Man who gave himself, the anointed Jesus, who finished the giving of himself at Calvary, is the "Mediator between God and men," between [R4781 : page 79] God and the world of mankind. In harmony with the Divine Plan, during this Age, before his work of uplifting mankind is due to begin, he is doing another work that the Father has ordained; namely, the selection of brethren over whom he is placed as the "Captain of their salvation." These are counted in as members of the Body of the Messiah, he being Head over them – "the Church which is his Body."
So, then, the Man Christ Jesus is the Redeemer of the world. But in the interim – as noted above – before the application of his merit shall be made for the world, the testimony is given to a few – as many as have ears to hear and are joint-sacrificers with him. These will be associated with him as Prophet, Priest, Mediator, King and Judge between God and men during the Millennial Kingdom.
Question. – After Adam sinned, could God have made with him such a Law Covenant as he made with the Jews – a Covenant offering him life upon condition of fulfilment of the Law?
Answer. – We think it would not be reasonable to suppose that it would be consistent with the Divine principles, after Adam had had a full and complete trial, and after he had failed in that trial, and after he had been sentenced to death, that God should belittle his Government and his decision by making another proposition to him, after he had gotten into a more or less fallen condition. It would seem that even the suggestion of a trial would have been inconsistent with Divine principles, unless full satisfaction had first been made for the transgression already committed. We see quite a difference between Adam and the children of Adam, who were born in imperfection and who have never willingly and wilfully and intelligently sinned against God and who have never been given an offer or opportunity to see whether they would be able to keep that Divine Law.
God gave Israel certain surroundings of typical justification and typical sanctification, etc., for the purpose of imparting general instruction foreshadowing the great blessing which he ultimately will bestow upon all mankind – giving them the opportunity of coming back into Divine favor and eternal life.
(1) When will the organization of the New Creation be complete, and how is it illustrated in the Scriptures? P. 195.
(2) In view of the foregoing, what shall we say about a temporary organization of the New Creation? P. 196, par. 1, first part.
(3) What is the character of the Divine arrangement with respect to this preparatory work, and why is the granting of liberty the best plan? P. 196, par. 1, last part, and par. 2, first part.
(4) Why has the simplicity of the organization of the Church by the Lord and the Apostles been regarded by many good persons as unsatisfactory and inadequate? P. 197, top.
(5) Taking Natural Israel as a type, should we expect to find a nominal as well as a real New Creation? P. 197, par. 1, first sentence.
(6) What judgment is permitted the New Creation as to the "wheat" and "tares," and has any "branch" in "the True Vine" the right to criticise, rebuke or otherwise prune any other "branch"? P. 197, par. 1; P. 198.
(7) How differently are such matters dealt with in human organizations? P. 198, par. 1.
(8) Explain what is signified by the "Mystery of God." P. 199, par. 1, first part.
(9) Describe its counterfeit, the "Mystery of Iniquity." P. 199, par. 1, last part; P. 200, par. 1.
(10) What course toward these "tares," or imitation New Creatures, has the Lord pursued and instructed his people to follow? P. 200, par. 2.
(11) When did the Mystery of Iniquity begin to work, and why did it not make much headway in the Early Church? P. 201, par. 1.
(12) What spirit led gradually to the organization of the great Anti-Christ? P. 201, par. 2.
(13) How has our great Adversary thwarted every fresh effort to reach the Truth since the Reformation period? P. 202, par. 1.
(14) Cite certain facts which prove conclusively that the Scriptures have been preserved in comparative purity, and that the systems claiming to have been organized by the Lord and his Apostles are totally different from the Church which they did organize. P. 202, par. 2, to P. 204, par. 2.
(15) Why has God permitted the world of mankind in general to exercise their mental and moral qualities according to their own inclinations? P. 204, par. 3.
(16) How has the Lord been dealing with "Christendom?" and how and when will he bring order out of confusion? P. 205, par. 1.
(17) What special feature of the Divine Plan characterizes "the ends of the Ages?" (1 Cor. 10:11.) P. 205, par. 2.
(18) As originally instituted, who was the Head of the true Church? P. 206, par. 1, first part.
(19) What is meant by the "True Vine" and the "Vine of the Earth," and what are their respective fruits? P. 207, top.
(20) Did the Lord and the Apostles recognize any division in the Church, or were the various names applied to the Church as a whole, and even the smallest gatherings, intended as proper names? P. 207, par. 1.
(21) What spirit led to the use of various unscriptural names during the Dark Ages? P. 207, par. 2.
(22) How many Apostles were chosen, and what were their names? P. 208, par. 1.
(23) Who was chosen by the Lord to succeed Judas, and what are the Scriptural proofs? P. 208, par. 2.
(24) What Scriptural evidence have we against "Apostolic Succession?" P. 209, par. 1.
(25) Why has the Church no reasonable need for more Apostles? P. 209, par. 2.
(26) How were the twelve Apostles selected by our Lord? P. 210, par. 1.
(27) What were doubtless some characteristics of the Apostles, and why were they chosen so early in our Lord's ministry? P. 210, par. 2.
page 81
March 1st
| VOL. XXXII | MARCH 15 | No. 6 |
'I will stand upon my watch, and set my foot upon the Tower, and will watch to see what He shall say unto me, and what answer I shall make to them that oppose me.' Hab. 2:1
Upon the earth distress of nations with perplexity: the sea and the waves (the restless, discontented) roaring: men's hearts failing them for fear and for looking forward to the things coming upon the earth (society): for the powers of the heavens (ecclestiasticism) shall be shaken. . . .When ye see these things come to pass, then know that the Kingdom of God is nigh at hand. Look up, lift up your heads, rejoice, for your redemption draweth nigh. – Luke 21:25-28, 32.
Our "Berean Lessons" are topical rehearsals or reviews of our Society's published "Studies," most entertainingly arranged, and very helpful to all who would merit the only honorary degree which the Society accords, viz., Verbi Dei Minister (V.D.M.), which translated into English is, Minister of the Divine Word. Our treatment of the International S.S. Lessons is specially for the older Bible Students and Teachers. By some this feature is considered indispensable.
This Journal stands firmly for the defence of the only true foundation of the Christian's hope now being so generally repudiated, – Redemption through the precious blood of "the man Christ Jesus who gave himself a ransom [a corresponding price, a substitute] for all." (I Pet. 1:19; I Tim. 2:6.) Building up on this sure foundation the gold, silver and precious stones (I Cor. 3:11-15; 2 Pet. 1:5-11) of the Word of God, its further mission is to – "Make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery which...has been hid in God,...to the intent that now might be made known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God" – "which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men as it is now revealed." – Eph. 3:5-9,10.
It stands free from all parties, sects and creeds of men, while it seeks more and more to bring its every utterance into fullest subjection to the will of God in Christ, as expressed in the Holy Scriptures. It is thus free to declare boldly whatsoever the Lord hath spoken; – according to the divine wisdom granted unto us, to understand. Its attitude is not dogmatical, but confident; for we know whereof we affirm, treading with implicit faith upon the sure promises of God. It is held as a trust, to be used only in his service; hence our decisions relative to what may and what may not appear in its columns must be according to our judgment of his good pleasure, the teaching of his Word, for the upbuilding of his people in grace and knowledge. And we not only invite but urge our readers to prove all its utterances by the infallible Word to which reference is constantly made, to facilitate such testing.
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"And David saith, Let their table become a snare and a trap, and a stumbling-block, and a recompense unto them; let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see." – Rom. 11:9,10.
We reasoned that the recovery of a man's great-great-great-grand-children could never compensate for his own loss, if he went to eternal misery. And although trained in Presbyterian thought it seemed terrible to read the calm, cold assertion, "What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the elect hath obtained it, and THE REST WERE BLINDED" – "STUMBLED," "SNARED," "TRAPPED."
But, thank God, our own blindness was removed and the breaking of the Millennial dawn, revealing the Divine Plan, set our ideas right, enabled us to rightly divide and apply the Scriptures and brought the grandest order out of our confusion. We found that the hell to which Israel went was the grave – hades; that there is no consciousness in hell (Heb., sheol; Greek, hades – Ezek. 37:12; Psa. 6:5); that blinded, stumbled Israel is still there, and that not merely their grand-children, centuries after, will have their blindness removed and their sins forgiven, but all of them will individually enjoy these favors.
They all were included in the unbelief and blindness and stumbling, that God might have mercy upon all and recover every one of them from that blindness and bring every one of them to that full, clear knowledge which will render every man without excuse and fully responsible for his choice of life through obedience to Christ, or of the "second death" through disobedience. See verses 27-32; John 5:28; Ezek. 37:12,13; John 1:9.
To see the matter thus clearly was a great relief; but still our heart cried out to God for an explanation and a just reason for the blinding, stumbling and entrapping of all but an elect few of a nation to which, as a whole, he had made many gracious promises and for whom he had already done so much, for eighteen centuries – a nation which alone of all the nations of earth recognized him as its Ruler and were under covenant relations to him and his Law.
The answer of God's Word is that, while he had called Israel by his promises to a great and noble part in his Plan of Salvation, he did not call them to the place of chief favor and honor. His promises to them were earthly, not heavenly. And although all of the sons of Jacob were called or invited, it was a conditional call which the nation as a whole never complied with. Only the few ever kept his Laws (or were reckoned to have kept them by proper intention) and hence, all along, it was true that some children of Jacob, professedly children of God, were really of their father the Devil (John 8:44), because they were not all Israelites that were of the nation of Israel. – Rom. 9:6.
When God's due time came for the great Atonement for sin to be made by our Redeemer's sacrifice of himself (Heb. 7:27), that also was his due time for beginning the selection of his spiritual Israel, to whom he extends heavenly promises and for whom he has reserved the very highest place in his great Plan – next to himself.
Christ himself became the Head and Chief of this spiritual or heavenly Israel, of which fleshly Israel with its precious but earthly promises had so long been a type or shadow. And as soon as Christ's sacrifice was completed the work of selecting the spiritual Israel as his "Bride" or "Body" or "brethren" and "joint-heirs" was due to begin.
It was not God's purpose that the two Israels should continue side by side; hence, as soon as the spiritual was begun the earthly was set aside; not set aside forever, but merely until the spiritual Israel had been selected. But although the fleshly House of Israel was set aside at the time of Christ's crucifixion (Matt. 23:38), yet the first opportunity for membership in spiritual Israel was given to that people.
It is not surprising that only a handful, a "remnant," of fleshly Israel was able to stand the tests of faith and sacrifice exacted of the spiritual Israelites. Those "hypocrites" to whom it was said, "Ye are of your father the Devil," would surely not be in condition to be attracted by the Truth and its spirit into fellowship in the [R4781 : page 84] new spiritual Israel. And even of those who were Israelites indeed, who trusted in the promises of God, we cannot suppose that many would be without guile, pure in heart, and just ready for faith and obedience under the Gospel Age call. By the Divine arrangement, therefore, the preaching of the Gospel of the Cross skimmed off, as it were, into the Gospel Church the cream class of that people – "and the rest were blinded"; and God was agreeable to their being blinded.
God would allow "a great gulf" to be fixed by their prejudices between them and the spiritual Israel; he would make of them a spectacle before the world, and although outcasts from his favor for a time they should, as a dead nation, be witnesses to his Word throughout the world; and, finally, when he shall have selected and polished and glorified his spiritual Israel, he will destroy the "great gulf," turn away their blindness as a people, and receive back to favor all of them who then will come – showing mercy upon them through the glorified spiritual Israel – vss. 31,32.
"O, the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God"! How grandly systematic and reasonable [R4782 : page 84] and just is the Divine Plan of the Ages! – Romans 11:33.
But now another point deserves consideration: In what way was their table their snare and trap and cause of stumbling?
Their "table" signifies their food; and the table or food spread before fleshly Israel, God's fleshly children, consisted of those special favors and promises of God to them as his Chosen People. (Matt. 15:26,27.) Thus seen, it was God's goodness and favor toward them that stumbled and entrapped them and prejudiced their unconsecrated hearts. They presumed upon God's favor. They said within themselves, "We have Abraham to our father." (Matt. 3:9.) They concluded that God must keep his promises to Abraham and that they, being his children, the Kingdom to bless the world must sooner or later be themselves. They trusted in themselves and despised others; they became arrogant, haughty and self-confident, and hence that much the less the humble-spirited, that the Lord sought, for his spiritual Israel.
Their pride led them to look only at the promises of glory and honor and power to accompany the exaltation of Israel, and led them to ignore the passages which tell that Messiah must first be rejected and "led as a lamb to the slaughter" and "pour out his soul unto death," being smitten for our sins, "the chastisement of our peace being laid upon him."
For the same reason they overlooked the statements of God's prophets that they should first be scattered amongst all nations, where God would show them no favor; and that their later blessing would be in connection with their regathering out of all nations (Jer. 16:13-17; Deut. 4:26-28; 28:36,37,63-65), and that when the Lord shall deliver them "they shall look upon him whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him as for an only son." – Zech. 12:10.
Thus their "table" became their "trap," which still holds them tightly – their pride of heart, built upon those promises, still blinds them. But we should notice carefully that their stumbling was not because of any wrong done them by God. No; "his way is perfect." "Every good and perfect gift cometh down from our Father." "He is not a God of confusion" and "he is the same yesterday, today and forever." The "table" which he provided was good. The entire difficulty was that Israel's consecration was incomplete; hence the majority of them were not of the class whom the Lord intended should know the Truth before the Messianic Age, when the eyes of all shall be opened and all shall come to an accurate knowledge of the Truth.
But now we come to the most important feature of this subject. These things were written for our learning, upon whom the ends of the Ages are come. (I Cor. 10:11.) As fleshly Israel was a shadow or type of spiritual Israel, so the stumbling, trapping, snaring in the Harvest of their Age foreshadowed a similar sifting out of all except a faithful "remnant" here.
Here, as there, many in nominal spiritual Israel are not Israelites, but "hypocrites," and of their father the Devil. Here, as there, all who are really of Israel and before whom the "table" of God's bounties has been spread with Providential care – "exceeding great and precious promises" – all of these do not digest and appropriate God's promises to the upbuilding of characters pleasing to God and fit for the Kingdom; and hence, even while feeding at his "table," such receive the grace of God in vain. To these, as well as to their prototypes, the "table" of Truth which they delight in is sure to become a snare, a trap, a stumbling-block. And it is specially for the sake of such that we now write to put them on guard as to how they use the "food" now so abundantly supplied to us. – Luke 12:37.
Only those who have at least some hunger and thirst after righteousness [Truth] are at all welcomed at this "table"; it is the children's table and others than God's true children may gather and eat only the crumbs that fall from it.
It is the table of the consecrated believers at which others "have no right to eat." (Heb. 13:10.) The truly consecrated are the antitypical or Royal Priesthood, whose "table" was typified in the Tabernacle and in the Temple by the table of shew-bread, of which it was not lawful for any except the priests to eat. If, therefore, you have "tasted that the Lord is gracious"; if you have "tasted of the good Word of God"; if you have had "meat [food] to eat that the world knoweth not of"; if you have tasted the "present truth" – "meat in due season" – it implies either that you are one of the consecrated ones, one of the Royal Priests, or else that you are in contact with them and receiving crumbs from their "table."
The giving of all Truth, and especially "present truth," implies an object. That object is the sanctifying or setting apart to God and to his holy service. The crumbs of Truth are to awaken a desire for and to lead to the act of consecration or sanctification. The full table of bounties is for those who have taken the step of fully consecrating themselves, their wills and their all to the Lord – and the bountiful supply of exceeding great and precious promises then granted to them is that by these they might be strengthened and enabled to carry out fully, [R4782 : page 85] step by step, the full consecration they have made – even unto death.
The object of our consecration and subsequent disciplining under the guidance and power of the Truth is for the formation of character, for "perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord." The Apostle clearly shows the object of our precious promises, our spiritual food, saying, "Having, therefore, these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit; perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord." (2 Cor. 7:1.) He assures us that knowledge may be received and used for a different purpose and produce a bad, instead of good effect and puff up or make proud and self-willed.
It becomes each of us to ask himself the questions, Have not I received considerable knowledge of the Truth – of God's Character and Plan? Has it had the bad effect of puffing me up and making me feel that I am somebody? Has it caused a self-satisfied feeling, which ignores my own weaknesses and failings and merely relies on God's mercy and seeks to exaggerate that mercy and to ignore Scripture texts which clearly show that "God is angry with the wicked every day"; that "the wrath of God is revealed against all unrighteousness," for "all unrighteousness is sin"; that whosoever committeth sin [wilfully] is [a child] of the Devil," and that "all the [intelligently and wilfully] wicked will God destroy"? Or has it caused me to feel more humble and dependent on the giver of all good? And has it, properly, caused me to feel Divine approval and rest and security, only under the merit of the precious blood when I am using my best endeavors for righteousness, godliness, purity and Truth?
The latter is the only legitimate and proper use of the Truth. If the true view of God's character, seen in his Plan and the exceeding great and precious promises held out to the overcomers, reaching our ears and our hearts, fails to awaken there a responsive adoration of things that are true, things that are honest, things that are just, things that are pure and things that are lovely, and a desire to be more and more transformed to that God-likeness and accordingly to cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit and to become more and more perfected in holiness – if these are not the effects of the Truth upon our flesh and our spirits (minds, dispositions) we are receiving the grace of God in VAIN; for it was given for no other purpose. And if we receive God's grace and Truth in vain, we may be sure it will be but a little while until it will slip from us and be replaced by misconceptions.
Let us, therefore, take heed to the illustration given us in God's typical people, lest our table, so bountifully spread and served by the Master himself, become to us a snare, a trap and a stumbling-block into blindness – the "outer darkness" of the world, because of a failure to properly use its blessings already received.
"Let us fear lest a promise being left us of entering into his rest [by full consecration and perfecting holiness [R4783 : page 85] in our hearts and conduct and thus developing our characters and being changed from glory to glory into the likeness of God's dear Son] any of us should seem to come short of it." – Heb. 4:1.
How different this view of the Divine character and Plan from the one which once terrorized us – when we thought of God as almighty in power and knowledge, but destitute of love and sympathy; when we thought of him according to the universally accepted false teachings as having, with cold indifference, sat in the councils of eternity, before the creation of the earth or our race, and there planned our creation and everlasting destiny; that he there deliberately arranged ("according to the council of his own will," as the catechism expresses it) that he would place us as a race under such unfavorable conditions that only a mere handful, comparatively, would ever attain to a life of bliss, either in the present world or in that which is to come. Deciding also that the vast majority, ignorant (whom the God of this world hath blinded), steeped in inherited sin and degradation, born in sin and shapen in iniquity, should, nevertheless, be so constituted and preserved that they could never end their miserable existences; and, withal, providing, we were told, a great place for their eternal torture, from which would ascend for ever and ever, alike futile and unheeded, their prayers, their curses and their groans.
What a relief do we experience as finally we awake to a better knowledge of God and of his precious Word, to find that all these teachings of the Dark Ages were but a horrible nightmare, as unreal as they were cruel and unjust – as unscriptural as they are contrary to every reasonable conception of every reasonable mind, of the proper exercise of Justice, Wisdom, Love and Power – the Divine attributes. We are reminded of the nursery tales of childhood, told to children by parents and nurses who, with grossly mistaken ideas of wisdom and propriety, used them as a lash of terror with which to secure a frightened obedience. As the bugaboos of infancy faded from memory, or at least ceased to inspire terror, as we grew older and began to take note of the deceptions which had been practiced; so as children of a larger growth we have learned that many of the "terrors of the Lord" – which, however severe, are reasonable and just – have been distorted by theologians and others who would fain exercise a terrorizing influence upon the world, to restrain from evil. We have learned, in the language of Scripture, that "their fear toward me is taught by the precepts of men," and not by any of the Divine precepts. – Isa. 29:13.
Oh, what a relief it has brought to our hearts to know God as really and truly a God of love, who is not only willing to save unto the uttermost, but able to save unto the uttermost all who put their trust in him! and who is so willing thus to save that he has made abundant [R4783 : page 86] provision that every member of Adam's race must come to a clear knowledge of his grace and to a full opportunity – by obedience to the extent of his ability – to attain eternal life through Christ Jesus.
It does us good at times to look back and view, not only the horrible pit and miry clay of sin out of which Jehovah lifted us when he placed our feet upon the Rock, Christ Jesus, but also to remember his mercy toward us in the anointing of our eyes, now in the end of the Age, that we may see wonderful things in his Word; that we may realize how he has graciously brought us "out of darkness into his marvelous light," in permitting us to brush away the veil of superstition, misunderstanding and mistranslation which has befogged his Word, beclouded our understanding and bedimmed our view and appreciation of the great Father of lights, from whom cometh every good and every perfect gift. – James 1:17.
But our text deals specially with another part of this great love story of the Scriptures. Our loving Father, having provided a redemption for all our race through Christ Jesus, did more: he highly honored and glorified our dear Redeemer as a reward for those things he endured faithfully through obedience to the Father (Phil. 2:8-11), and in addition to this arranged to select a Bride and joint-heir in glory for his Son, our Lord Jesus. It was not an individual that was chosen to be the Bride, but many individuals, and yet in all, compared with the world, a "little flock," the "elect Church," called and in process of selection and perfection, to be "the Bride, the Lamb's Wife."
Of all the plots and peculiarities of love stories which have been conjured up by human brains, none will compare with this story of how Christ loved the Church and gave himself for her – redeeming her with his own life; and how, being rewarded with excellent glory by the Father, these who would be his companions, are invited to share his cross, his suffering, his death, and to be received up into glory with him, to share his love and his throne and the Father's favor. We will not go into details here; we have done this before and our readers are familiar with every feature – so, instead, we pass on to consider some of the conditions of acceptance with the Bridegroom, and how we may make our calling and our election sure to this position of honor and blessing to which he has invited us.
Our text briefly, yet very pointedly, states the entire matter. (1) "I am my Beloved's."
There is no possibility for any one to get into this special elect class, "the Bride, the Lamb's Wife," without knowing it. There is therefore no possibility that heathen philosophers or others who lived and who died without a personal knowledge of Christ as their personal Savior, can ever be members of the elect Church, the Bride; all who are of it will be able to say, "I am my Beloved's." Very manifestly also, for the same reason, many who are Church members "in good and regular standing," have neither part nor lot in this matter; for only a few can say, from the heart, truly, "I am my Beloved's." This union with the Beloved (Christ) implies that the step of justification through repentance and faith in the precious blood has first taken place; because only the justified are "called." (2) It is implied that the one who can say, "I am my Beloved's," has not only heard of Christ but has made a definite, positive compact or contract with him. And this contract – to be his in every thought and word and deed, to the extent of our ability, if he will accept us and be our Bridegroom, is our marriage vow or covenant.
The Scriptures assure us that in the present time, while evil prevails and the God of this world blinds the minds of the vast majority, none can come to the Lord Jesus, except as the Father draws them. (John 6:44.) The Father is not drawing all mankind now, but only believers. He is leaving the general work of drawing the worldly for the next Age, the Messianic Age, when Christ and the Church glorified shall, as God's agents, cause the whole earth to be filled with the knowledge of the Truth. Whenever the Truth reaches the heart and understanding its influence is to draw, although the drawing may be resisted not only in the present Age, but also in the Age to come. (Acts. 3:23.) But, it is only the few who are being drawn to Christ by a knowledge of the Truth now, because only a few have a knowledge of the Truth. And while many resist the truth and refuse the opportunity of union with the great Bridegroom, some have gladly accepted and given themselves wholly to the Lord, thus sealing the covenant binding themselves to him and by his grace binding him to them.
It is proper that each one should decide for himself positively, whether or not he has ever accepted the Divine invitation to give himself (Prov. 23:26; Rom. 12:1) [R4784 : page 86] to the Lord, to be ultimately accepted as a member of his Bride if he continue faithful to his engagement to the end. If we are faithful, and so long as we continue to be faithful, it is our privilege to look up with confidence and be assured of the second part of our text, "My Beloved is mine." And if we will, it is possible for us to continue in this attitude, "faithful unto death"; and so doing we may know that in the resurrection we shall be with our Lord, and be like him, and share his glory and his throne. – Rev. 3:21.
How much is implied in this statement, "My Beloved is mine"! We are reminded of the Scripture which declares, "He that hath the Son hath life" – eternal life. More than this, the Apostle assures us that those who have Christ, who can truly, Scripturally say, "My Beloved is mine," are really possessors of "all things." For since Christ is the heir of all things, if we have become associates with him, then, indeed, "all things are yours (things present and things to come) for ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's." (I Cor. 3:22,23.) If it lifted from us a great load to know that our sins were graciously forgiven through the merit of the precious blood, how much more of a load of care does it lift from us to know that we are vitally united with the illustrious Son of the great King of the Universe – the Son in whom the Father is well pleased and whom he has made his sole associate in the glory and dominion of the Universe.
Nor does this promise of blessings in Christ apply merely to the future. The glories and honors truly are not now, but by and by to be revealed; but the Bridegroom's care, protection, provision and comfort belong to his betrothed even now, while we are in this tabernacle; so that while we are passing through the "valley of the shadow of death," we need fear no evil, for he is with us, and his rod and staff comfort us.
All who abide faithful to him, all who truthfully can say, "I am my Beloved's, and my Beloved is mine," have not only the promise of the life that is to come, but also [R4784 : page 87] the promise of this present life. They hear the Master's voice saying, "Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the Age," and in the end of the Age he is to be specially near, specially precious, and is to reveal himself to his faithful in an especial manner, even before she is so changed as to behold him in his glory.
It is the privilege of these to apply to themselves, and to realize as properly theirs, all the "exceeding, great and precious promises" of the Divine Word. These may hear the voice of the Lord, saying, I will be with thee in six troubles and in the seventh I will not forsake thee. "My grace is sufficient for thee." "Call upon me in the day of trouble and I will deliver thee." Indeed, we are assured and "know that all things shall work together for good to them that love God, to the called ones according to his purpose [to be the Bride, the Lamb's Wife]." – Job 5:19; 2 Cor. 12:9; Psa. 50:15; Rom. 8:28.
These promises of the Lord have been well summed up in the expression of the poet: –
What a blessing of peace, quietness of spirit, ability to endure hardness as a good soldier of Christ, and sustenance and strength in time of trial, lies behind these precious assurances of the Bridegroom to those who can see and realize unquestionably, "I am my Beloved's, and my Beloved is mine," no tongue can express. It has in the past permitted his faithful ones to pass through many dark and trying experiences with a fortitude that has surprised the world, which has seen them in the fiery furnace, but has not seen that there is with them the form of the Son of God. (Dan. 3:25.) They have endured as seeing him who is invisible. (Heb. 11:27.) The poor world who know not this invisible Friend above all others, and are unacquainted with this Heavenly Bridegroom, and know not his sustaining grace in every hour of trial are, indeed, to be greatly pitied. They must largely bear alone those burdens which the Lord's people, his betrothed, are privileged to lay at the feet of the great Burden Bearer, whose invitation is, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."
But, if the case of the world is a sad one, because it knows not our Bridegroom, how much worse is the case of those who having once known him, and having once experienced his tender care and helpfulness in all of life's affairs as a Counselor and Guide, have wandered off, having lost their first love; having forgotten that they were purged from their old sins, and become deaf to the "exceeding great and precious promises" pertaining to the present as well as to the future life; and are now striving merely for the things which perish, and which at most are but for a moment. (2 Cor. 4:17,18.) These are in a much worse condition than the world.
As the Apostle declares, "It had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment." – 2 Pet. 2:21.
Let us who have named the name of Christ, who have assumed his name, abide in him – by continuing in faith, in love and in zeal, to walk in his footsteps and thus make our calling and our election sure.
"Other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold and one Shepherd." – John 10:16.
The "other sheep" evidently refer to others who will become the Lord's followers under different conditions and under a different call from that which has gone forth during the Gospel Age. The present flock are called upon to sacrifice the earthly nature and become partakers, with the Master and Shepherd, of the divine nature. (Rom. 12:1,2; 2 Tim. 2:11,12; 2 Pet. 1:3,4.) The Lord's flock of the future will not be invited to sacrifice and to a change of nature, but will, on the contrary, be privileged to maintain and retain the human nature; and by obedience will gradually, step by step, experience Restitution to perfection of mind and body and morals, lost through sin in Eden and redeemed by the great Sacrifice at Calvary. These are not now of the "flock," for they are not invited to the divine nature and a heavenly mansion, but will be invited to earthly nature and Paradise restored during the reign of Messiah.
These other sheep are particularly mentioned by our Master in Matt. 25:31-46. This parable of "the sheep and the goats" belongs, not to this Age – the Gospel Age – but to the coming Age – during the Messianic reign. The introduction of the parable (vs. 31) shows this, saying, "When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy messengers with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory, and before him shall be gathered all nations; and he shall separate them one from another as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats."
The Savior has not yet appeared in his glory, and the promise is that "When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye [the Church, the sheep of the present Age] also appear with him in glory." (Col. 3:4.) In a word, the overcoming "sheep" of the Gospel Age will be associated with the Great Shepherd in his work of dealing with the world of mankind during his reign. [R4785 : page 87] Then all mankind will be on judgment or trial, to be tested with a view to proving who will develop the sheep-like disposition, and who will develop the goat-like disposition.
During that thousand years all who develop the spirit of obedience will be accepted as members of the [R4785 : page 88] Shepherd's flock, on the right hand of favor, as worthy of eternal life; and at the close of that Dispensation will hear his words, "Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." – Vs. 34.
Those of the contrary spirit who, under the favorable conditions of that glorious time, will fail to develop the characteristics of the Lord's sheep – gentleness, meekness, love – will be accounted unworthy of eternal life, unworthy of being considered among the Lord's sheep. By that time these will have taken their places on his left hand of disfavor. Then will they be rejected. The sheep class will abide in the Lord's favor and be granted an abundant entrance into everlasting life; while the goat class will be rejected as unworthy of eternal life and will be sent away to experience his disfavor of everlasting punishment.
That punishment, however, will not be everlasting torture, but everlasting death – a death which will last through all eternity; for the Lord will not again become a sacrifice, nor will he offer further opportunity to those rejecting the Divine arrangement during that glorious reign. As in the parable a goat is used to symbolize those who are contrary to the Lord, so fire is used as a symbol of the destruction which will come upon the goat class. Fire is the most destructive agency known and is fitly used to symbolize destruction. Verse 46 of this parable might very properly be read, "These shall go away into everlasting cutting off (Greek, kolasin), [from life], but the righteous into life eternal,"
"Go, ye, therefore, and teach all nations." – Matt. 28:19.
So far as we know, Jonah's case was the only one in which anyone spent parts of three days and nights in the belly of a fish. True, the throats of the majority of whales seem too small to admit a man. We remember, however, that they are quite elastic. The great sulphur variety is of enormous size and is said to have a throat capable of swallowing a skiff (much larger than a man) and less flexible. Besides, the Bible description of the matter tells us specifically that God prepared a great fish. No one who has a proper appreciation of the powers of the Almighty would question for an instant the ability of God to prepare a special fish, either at the moment or, foreknowing Jonah's course, long in advance. The exceptional character of Jonah's experience constituted him a type of Jesus, who, in death, was swallowed up of the earth, as was Jonah by the fish; and as our Lord was liberated from his prison-house, so was Jonah.
Our special lesson, however, is connected with Jonah's preaching to the Ninevites. Nineveh was a great city outside the pale of Judaism and therefore at that time outside the lines of Divine favor; for from the giving of the Law until three and a half years after the Cross, God's favors were exclusively confined to the Jewish nation under the terms of the Law Covenant – Cornelius, the centurion, being the first Gentile to receive evidence of Divine favor at the close of the period of Israel's exclusive favor.
In the cases of the Sodomites, Ninevites and Amalekites, Divine Justice decreed that their iniquity had come to the full, and that for them to live longer would be unwise, and for them to be cut off in death would not only hinder them from further degradation, but also furnish to mankind a general lesson, to the effect that there is a limit to the Divine permission of evil. The fact that these people were thus condemned and overthrown did not signify that they had ever enjoyed salvation, or even an offer of salvation. Like all of Adam's children, these people were under the sentence of death, "Dying thou shalt die"; "As all in Adam die." They were merely cut off from further life under present conditions. Their opportunity for future life by resurrection from the dead was not interfered with. Neither they nor others had yet been redeemed.
Hence the future life, secured by the redemptive work of Jesus, was in no sense interfered with by the sentence of death issued against them en masse. Indeed, the Jews were not saved either. The offer of salvation made to them under the Law Covenant did not give them eternal life; as St. Paul declares, "By the deeds of the Law shall no flesh be justified in God's sight." If the Jews were justified by the Law, then Christ died in vain.
The offer of life given to the Jew was merely to prove to him, and ultimately to all, the impossibility of any obtaining life under the Divine Law without Divine assistance – without the Savior and his work at Calvary and additionally his work for the world as the Mediator of the New Covenant, during his Messianic reign of a thousand years. In harmony with this the Apostle declares, "Christ brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel." And again, "There is none other name given under heaven whereby we must be saved." And again, "This great salvation began to be preached by our Lord." – Hebrews 2:3.
Jonah's preaching was that within forty days God would destroy Nineveh. But the people, impressed by his message, repented of their sinful course and sought Divine forgiveness. The King's proclamation was that "neither man nor beast, herd nor flock taste anything; let them not feed nor drink water, but let them be covered with sackcloth, both man and beast, and let them cry mightily to God; yea, let them turn every man from his evil way and from the violence that is in their hands." The Lord hearkened to the Ninevites, accepted their repentance, and permitted their national life to continue for a time.
We are, of course, to understand that God knew the end from the beginning – that he knew that the Ninevites [R4785 : page 89] would repent and that he would not blot them out within forty days, in accordance with Jonah's preaching. Nineveh did pass away utterly, great city as it was, but not within forty literal days. Possibly the time meant by the Almighty was what is sometimes termed prophetic or symbolical time, a day for a year – forty days, forty years.
The lesson shows us how much greater is the compassion of the Almighty than that of his imperfect servants of human kind. God was pleased to have the Ninevites turn from their sins to hearty repentance. He was pleased to grant them an extension of earthly life. But Jonah was displeased. His argument was, There, God did make a fool of me. He told me that this great city would be destroyed within forty days and I preached it. But all the while he must have known that it would not be destroyed within forty days. God has brought discredit upon me and I am now to be regarded as a false prophet.
Jonah was more interested in himself and his own reputation than in the Ninevites and their interests. The Lord's servants must not be so! Self should be lost sight of; as the great Apostle Paul advises, "Love seeketh not her own"; and again, "Christ pleased not himself." – I Cor. 13:5; Rom. 15:3.
The query arises in some minds, How can God repent and change his mind if he knows the end from the beginning? The answer is that the word repent has a wider meaning than is generally appreciated. Humanity uses it only in respect to a change of purpose. But, as modern dictionaries show, the word may mean either a change of action or a change of purpose, or both. God's purposes do not change. He never repents of them. But he does change his conduct. [R4786 : page 89]
Thus Israel, his favored people for centuries, were cut off and God's dealing towards them changed. But God's purposes never changed toward Israel. He foreknew and foretold their rejection of Jesus and his rejection of them, and how later on they would be re-gathered to their own land and be forgiven and be blessed by Messiah when he assumed his Messianic Office as King of kings and Lord of lords – "the Prince of the kings of the earth."
The Lord taught Jonah a lesson respecting his sympathy for a gourd, an inanimate thing, and his lack of sympathy for the Ninevites. So it is with many preachers and others. They have sympathy for the flowers, for the birds, for the lower animals, for children and, to some extent, for all mankind under the distresses of the present time. Nevertheless such people sometimes become angry at the bare suggestion that God does not intend to roast the Ninevites, Sodomites, Amalekites, or anybody else, to all eternity and that his gracious purposes for the world in general will be manifested in giving all an opportunity to attain to human perfection, a world-wide Eden and everlasting life, if they will hear and obey the Great Messiah – whose Head is Jesus and whose members, the elect Church, have been in process of selection and preparation throughout this Gospel Age.
Our Lord declared that the Gospel was to be preached no longer to the Jews only, but to all nations. The preaching was not intended to convert all nations, and has not done so. It was intended to gather a saintly few from all nations, and this it will soon have accomplished.
"Pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall." – Proverbs 16:18.
Israel's kings were anointed by Divine commission and authority, as were no other kings, and they were said to "sit upon the Throne of the Kingdom of the Lord," as no other kings before or since have held dominion. Theirs was not, however, the Kingdom of God for which we pray, "Thy Kingdom come; thy will be done on earth," but merely a preparatory arrangement with the typical Israelites. God's Kingdom will really come to earth after Messiah shall establish it. For a thousand years he shall reign to uplift the humble and to bless all who seek righteousness and to punish and correct all others and finally to destroy the incorrigible in the Second Death. It was, therefore, quite in line with the arrangements of that time that the kings of Israel and Judah should fortify and strengthen themselves and defend the land which the Almighty had specially given to their nation.
The truthfulness of our text was illustrated in King Uzziah when his fame had spread abroad and he began to feel his greatness. Pride came in; he forgot that he was merely the Lord's representative in the kingdom, and that his first duty as a loyal subject of the Almighty was to hearken to and obey the Divine commands.
Having accomplished great things from a political and military standpoint, Uzziah essayed to a religious distinction. He evidently felt that God was proud of him and of his success and would be very pleased to have him enter the temple after the manner of the priests and offer incense at the Golden Altar. He knew of the rules and regulations governing the temple and its service, but considered himself above them. He would go direct to God and not recognize the priest.
Many successful people fall into the same error of supposing that their success in business or in politics, their brilliancy of mind, or their polish of education are the only requisites in the sight of Jehovah. They feel that if they should go to Church and acknowledge God, God should be very proud to have them and, of course, should give them the first place in everything. This is a mistake. The great King Eternal, "the Lofty One that inhabiteth Eternity," has rules and regulations governing all attempts to approach him. There is just the one way of approach and no other.
"Oh!" says one – "I see. You wish us to understand that the laity have no access to God, that they must come through the clergy, even as King Uzziah should have approached God through Israel's High Priest! But I deny that the clergy are any more than other mortals. I claim that many of them are less brilliant of mind than myself; that many of them are less educated, and others [R4786 : page 90] totally devoid of business sense. I admit that it may be well enough for the common people to approach God through the clergy, but whenever I approach I do so on the strength of my own personal intelligence and with the realization that the Almighty is glad to have me come to him. When I pray I often say, 'Oh, Lord, I thank thee that I am not as other men, nor even as this publican.'" – Luke 18:11.
No, friend, that is not our thought – not the Bible thought, not the lesson we should draw from the Scriptures under consideration. We must admit that there is no Scriptural authority for a clerical class in the Church of Christ – unless it be the twelve Apostles, St. Paul taking the place of Judas. Those twelve Scripturally rank as a hierarchy – the special mouthpieces of the Great Teacher. We are not intimating that the soul desirous of approaching God must come through the clergy of any denomination; we do emphasize, nevertheless, that there is but the one way of approaching God and that is by and through the Great Advocate whom he has appointed for us – "Jesus Christ the Righteous" – "a Priest for the Age, after the order of Melchisedek" (Heb. 5:6); "No man cometh unto the Father but by me," was his message; "There is none other name given under heaven or amongst men whereby we must be saved" (Acts 4:12), is the Apostle's message.
Those whose eyes of understanding have never been opened to a realization that Jesus is the Divine Appointee for the reconciliation of the world to God may be excused if they approach God in prayer aside from him. Their prayers may be answered to a limited extent, if offered in sincerity, from the heart, and because, as the Apostle intimates, God "winked at" their ignorance of his arrangements.
But as King Uzziah knew of the Divine arrangement, that his prayers as incense could be offered to the Almighty on the "Golden Altar" only by the priest, so those who now have come to a realization of the fact that Jesus is the great antitypical Priest through whom communication with the Father has been opened up would come under condemnation should they intrude into the Divine presence in prayer, otherwise than as provided in the Divine arrangement, as King Uzziah was smitten with leprosy for his presumption and pride.
Leprosy, Scripturally considered, is a type of sin. Uzziah's experiences, therefore, signify, typically, that whoever would approach God aside from his ordained Priest, having a knowledge of the impropriety, would come under Divine sentence as a wilful sinner. The penalty would be in proportion to the degree of enlightenment previously enjoyed.
When the king entered the holy of the temple to offer incense at the golden altar the High Priest and eighty of the under-priests followed him, protesting against his sacrifice. Although this was only their duty, it nevertheless marked them as valiant, courageous men, for in ancient times a king had great power. And King Uzziah was feeling his own greatness, and proud of it, and was likely to resent any interference with his kingly prerogatives.
Their words of protest voiced what the king already knew respecting the restrictions attaching to the services of the temple, but they added, "Go out, for thou hast trespassed; neither shall it be for thine honor from Jehovah God." True honor, true blessing, true prosperity, cannot be found in opposition to the Divine arrangements. The king's course, therefore, must bring him dishonor. Had he hastened to glorify God, he would have received a blessing, no doubt. But, instead, violation of the Divine Law brought him the curse.
The lesson is a plain one, exemplified by our text and by St. Paul's words, "He that humbleth himself shall be exalted; he that exalteth himself shall be abased." (Luke 14:11.) It was not enough, even if the king had good intentions, instead of pride, backing him up. Good intentions should have guided him to a study of the Divine arrangements and promises. Ignorance of the Law is not an excuse. Hence the Apostle's exhortation, "Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of Truth." – 2 Tim. 2:15.
The lesson seems to be one of humility, both for the Church and the world. Some are born humble-minded and others self-conceited. The latter, therefore, are [R4787 : page 90] handicapped as respects this grace, though Scripturally advantaged in respect to courage to battle against present adversities. On the whole our handicaps through imperfections of the flesh are not so unequal as to make it easier for one than for another to enter into the Kingdom under the call of this Gospel Age, for where much is given much is required; and the judgment of the Lord will be according to the heart, the will, the intention, the endeavor, and not according to the flesh and its weaknesses and failures.
Humility is important, not only on its own account, but also because the other graces of the holy Spirit cannot be cultivated without it. The Apostle begins the list of these spiritual graces with meekness. How could one be gentle or make good progress in the cultivation of these graces if he were not meek? How could one be patient and submissive in the trials and difficulties of life if not meek? How could one be kind toward opponents and in all things if he were not meek? How could one be patient toward all if he were not meek? How could one have brotherly kindness except through meekness? How could one be Godlike except he possessed meekness? How could one be loving in the Scriptural sense without meekness? Along these lines all who will be of the Church will be tested. And meekness and humility must be cultivated and must abound in the heart, in order to enable the cultivation of the other fruits of the Spirit.
The signification of this vision we draw from the words of Jesus. He refers us directly to this vision. (John 12:41.) In fulfilment of the Divine promise Jesus appeared at his first advent and tentatively offered himself to Israel as their great King of Glory, the great Mediator of the New Covenant, promised them by Jehovah. (Jer. 31:31.) God knew that Jesus would be rejected; nevertheless the offer was made. Had he been received and had he then taken to himself his Messianic glory and power it would have meant that a sufficient number of the Jewish nation had received him with their whole heart, so as to constitute the complete number of the Bride class, to be associates in the spiritual Kingdom. In that event there would have been no offer made to the Gentiles of joint-heirship with Messiah in his glorious Kingdom – Israel would have gotten the entire blessing. The Kingdom would have been established forthwith and the nation of Israel, accepting Messiah, would at once have become the channel of Divine blessing to all nations.
But when the voice declared, Let the whole earth be full of the Lord's glory, the unreadiness of the world to receive the message was indicated by the shaking of the door-posts and the darkness beclouding the glorious scene. The fulfilment of this we see in the fact that the Jewish nation, which is the doorway to this glory, was not in proper condition. A new doorway must be provided through which the glories of the King of kings will issue forth to the world. St. Paul declares that the shaking of anything, in a typical sense, represents its instability, its removal – that something superior may be established in its stead. The Jewish nation was removed from its favored position and a new nation, a new doorway, a new channel of access between God and men has since been in process of establishment.
No other nation in the world was found more worthy than Israel of the honored position. Consequently, God proceeded to make a new nation composed exclusively of saints. As St. Peter explains, "Ye are a royal priesthood, a holy nation." (I Pet. 2:9.) First of all, the saintly Jews were taken, to be the nucleus of the new Nation, spirit-begotten, heavenly. Subsequently, the selective processes having continued throughout this Gospel Age, with its close the Holy Nation will be completed by the power of the First Resurrection. Then everything will be in proper readiness, and the command, Let the whole earth be filled with the glory of Jehovah God, will go forth and the world will be blessed – natural Israel being promised a prominent share in connection with this grand work.
In the vision Isaiah recognized that the shaking of the door-posts and the obscuring mist signified an unpreparedness somewhere for the glory of the Lord and he cried out, recognizing his own imperfection and the imperfection of those with whom he dwelt. A glimpse of the Lord's glory showed his own defects and those of his neighbors.
This was the effect of Jesus' teaching upon all those who received his message. The Law shone out more resplendently than ever and they found that they violated it more than they had supposed – not only in deeds, but also in words and thoughts. The holy ones, as represented in Isaiah, took the matter to heart and humbled themselves before the Lord and acknowledged that they were not fit to be the teachers of men, but that the whole Jewish nation and all others were imperfect, and that any message which their lips could carry would be imperfect.
As Isaiah's lips were touched with a live coal from the altar, it illustrated how the saintly ones of Israel and from all nations during this Gospel Age have had the required blessing upon their lips and have proclaimed the Divine invitation, "Present your bodies living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God." (Rom. 12:1.) This message, enkindled by the live coal from God's altar of sacrifice, has gone hither and thither throughout the world for eighteen centuries. It has not only taught a cleansing from sin, but a service to God.
Isaiah continued to be the type of the holy people. God has desired to send his message of grace and the invitation to sacrifice to all who would have the ear to hear. And the sanctified, whom Isaiah typified, have throughout this Age said, "Lord, here am I; send me."
Our lesson further shows that the message of this Isaiah class would be unpopular. Few would hear; few would see; few would receive the blessing of forgiveness and begetting of the holy Spirit. The Master and his Apostles began this proclamation. It has continued the same to this day.
But we are not in this to be discouraged. Only the "little flock," the pure in heart, the followers in the footsteps of Jesus, will get this blessing and be prepared to constitute the Kingdom class, the new doorway or threshold connecting the Divine Holy with the world of mankind.
Israel's experiences are used as the measuring line to show when the completion of the Church will be accomplished and the glory of the Lord shine forth upon Israel, and through Israel to all nations, peoples, kindreds and tongues, for a thousand years. That measuring line [R4788 : page 91] tells of the desolation of Israel's land, of its becoming utterly waste and of their removal from the land. The last verse of the lesson tells of how in the end there will come a sprout out of the roots – a holy Seed, a holy people, under Divine providence, will be raised up. These holy ones of Israel, on this side the veil, will be the Ancient Worthies, who will be resurrected and enter into their reward as the earthly representatives of Messiah's Kingdom. (Heb. 11:38-40; Psa. 148:11.) To these Princes will be gathered the faithful, loyal, holy of the Jews, the nucleus, the beginning of the earthly phase of the Messianic Kingdom.
"And Peter, calling to remembrance, saith unto him, Master, behold the fig tree which thou cursedst is withered away." – Mark 11:21.
The Lord did not attempt to heal all the sick he saw when on earth. We recall the case where the impotent man was lying on the porch at the pool of Bethesda. Jesus went to that one man and said, "How is it that you are here?" He said, "When the time comes for the moving of the water, others step down before me." Then Jesus merely said to him, "Arise, take up thy bed." He said nothing to the others. He did not pretend to heal all the sick. He was merely demonstrating his mighty power, which will be fully expanded when the glorious Kingdom is established.
Therefore, we think we are taking the proper view of matters when we suppose that even the little things, every little act of the Lord Jesus, was in some degree prophetic, significant of the great things to come. Take, for instance, his coming into the boat at night. There was a great storm; but as soon as Jesus came into the boat, they were at the shore where they were going.
Now in the instance under consideration, we read that Jesus came unto a certain place and there was a fig tree and he declared something about gathering of figs; "for the time of figs was not yet," our common version reads; more properly it would read, "for the time of figs was not over," was not past. It would be strange for Jesus to come before the proper time to look for figs.
And he cursed the fig tree and said, "Let no more figs grow on thee to the age." Then later St. Peter called attention to the fact that the fig tree was beginning to wither, and Jesus said, "Have faith in God." What is the reason?
It is our understanding that the fig tree was a type or picture of the Jewish nation, to whom Jesus came when it was proper to expect fruitage. But coming to the Jews, he did not find the nation bearing fruit. The great ones of the nation were cast off; and only the publicans and sinners were ready to accept his message – the very ones the others would not recognize at all.
It is remembered that the nation had a blight upon it. At the end of his ministry, Jesus, riding to the brow of the hill overlooking Jerusalem, said, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate." (Luke 13:34,35.) A very short time afterwards it began to lose its power; and the Jewish nation lost its identity completely as a nation in the year 70 – 37 years after.
While the Jewish nation has thus been in hades, in the tomb, so to speak, it is as a nation that they are referred to thus. Of course, they go into the tomb as individuals, as every one else; but as a nation also they have gone into the tomb. But according to the Scriptures there will be a resurrection of the Jewish nation, and a picture of that raising up is given where it says, "the bones came together, bone to his bone," etc. (Ezek. 37:7.) Those bones represent the whole house of Israel, which is referred to as saying, "Our hope is dead" (Vs. 11); our ambitions are all gone or are asleep!
So God is telling them that all the Kingdom hopes of that nation are to be revived. As Jesus said to his disciples in one of his discourses – When ye see the fig tree beginning to put forth its tender leaves, ye know that summer is nigh. We see the fig tree putting forth its leaves today (see Matt. 24:32; Mark 13:28); we see the Jews looking back to Jerusalem, and we thus see the fig tree putting forth its leaves, or giving signs of life, looking forward to the re-establishment of the Jewish nation. God says there will be such a Jewish nation again.
ROUTE. – Stops will be made and Brother Russell will speak at Conventions of the International Bible Students Association at Indianapolis, St. Louis, Kansas City, Wichita, Pueblo, Colorado Springs, Denver, Salt Lake City, Los Angeles, Pasadena, Santa Cruz, San Francisco, Oakland, Sacramento, Portland, Tacoma, Seattle, Victoria, Vancouver, Calgary, Winnipeg and Duluth.
ITINERARY. – All the details for the movement of the party are in the hands of Brother L. W. Jones, M.D., 3003 Walnut street, Chicago, Ill. We are just in receipt from him of a beautiful Itinerary, giving full particulars regarding the various features and arrangements of the trip, route, Convention stops, rates, etc.
SPECIAL TRAIN. – It is proposed to use an entire SPECIAL TRAIN, consisting of several cars, in which the party will travel as one large family, eating and sleeping on the train for practically the entire journey of over a month, beginning June 9th, the date Brother Russell leaves Brooklyn. The train will consist of Compartment, Standard Pullman and Tourist Cars, providing for seven different grades of accommodations, according to the needs, desires and pocket-books of those participating.
MEALS. – Each price includes 64 meals for each. A refund will be made if less than 64 meals are eaten on the train. Other meals may be had at the various places where Conventions are held. The several grades follow: –
One entire compartment for one person, with 64 meals, $237.
One entire compartment for two people, 64 meals each, rate each, $141.
One entire compartment for three people, 64 meals each, rate each, $109.
One section in Pullman for one, 64 meals, rate, $157.
One section in Pullman for two people, 64 meals each, rate each, $93.
Half section in Pullman for one person, 64 meals, rate, $93. [R4788 : page 93]
One section in Tourist for one person, 64 meals, rate, $109.
One section in Tourist for two people, 64 meals each, rate each, $69.
Half section in Tourist for one person, 64 meals, rate, $69.
RAILROAD FARE. – The railroad fare is additional to the above prices. The round-trip rate from Chicago and return to Chicago is $77.50.
DEPOSIT. – As large contracts must be made in advance for the cars, supplies, etc., a deposit of $50 will be required from each.
EARLY ACTION. – The magnitude of such a movement is little appreciated by those unaccustomed to arrange for such things, and in order to know what contracts to make and how to provide the best possible service at a minimum of cost for each and every one, it is essential that it be known as soon as possible how many will take advantage of this special service. Another reason why early reservations should be made on this Special Train is that quite a number are desirous of joining en route for [R4789 : page 93] a portion of the journey, but it is difficult to give them very definite information until there is some idea as to the size of the main party who will take the entire trip. It will, therefore, be rendering a favor and service to those dear brethren who can go only a portion of the way, if those who can go all the way will make reservations IMMEDIATELY.
Brother Jones URGENTLY REQUESTS those who contemplate going that they get into communication WITH HIM AT ONCE. He will be pleased to take up the matter with such in detail.
We publish above the information in full so that all who may not only desire to be of the party, in spirit, but who also find themselves so circumstanced that they can participate personally in the trip, may fully know of its financial cost to them and be better able to determine whether it will be pleasing to the Lord for them to join the party. We urge that all who take this trip should do so filled with the spirit of Truth – meekness, gentleness, patience, long-suffering, brotherly kindness, love.
"Jealousy is cruel as the grave; the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame." – Song of Sol. 8:6.
The jealousy mentioned in our text is the most vicious kind of cruelty, committed in the name of love, or through envy; it is one of the great foes which confront every Christian and is closely allied to hatred, malice, envy, strife, and should be slain on sight as an enemy of God and man, and of every good principle; and to the extent that its presence has defiled the heart even for a moment, a cleansing by the spirit of holiness and love should be invoked. It is not only a cruel monster of itself, but its poisonous fangs are almost certain to inflict pain and trouble upon others. The mind which is once poisoned with jealousy so rapidly brings everything within its environment to its own color and character that it is with great difficulty that it can be entirely cleansed from it.
Nevertheless, love, wisdom, hatred, jealousy, are attributed to God and should all be in us. We read, "I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous God." If man could have his hatred and his jealousies along the same lines as God, it would be all right. We, as God does, should hate sin, but not the sinner. God's jealousy is just and is sure to bring to the sinner a just punishment. He tells us that when we have other gods, we must consider him jealous; but the impropriety of jealousy is when it leads to bitterness and other like qualities to which the fallen human mind is subject and liable. When the Lord announces himself as a jealous God, he means us to understand that he wants all of our affections, all of our confidence, our entire trust. He wants that we should be so fully in accord with him that his will shall be supreme in all the affairs of life.
This is not to be considered selfishness on the part of the Almighty; because this, under his overruling providences, means to his creatures the largest amount of happiness, the largest amount of success in the duties and affairs of the present life, and the fullest preparation for the blessings which God has prepared for, and promised to, those who love him.
When St. Paul wrote, "I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy" (2 Cor. 11:2), we cannot understand that he was actuated by a mean jealousy, but that he was jealous for, or in the interest of, the Corinthians; he was jealous also for the things that were right and that they should be in accord with them. His jealousy, therefore, was an earnest, anxious solicitude and vigilant watchfulness, a godly jealousy for the best interests of the Lord's precious Truth. This, of course, is a jealousy such as we all should feel in the Church. If we see a condition such as that to which the Apostle refers, a departure from the simplicity and purity which is in Christ, we should feel, "This is all wrong," and should do all in our power and in reason to correct this difficulty. So, if we see anything in one member of the Church that would be likely to cast a reflection upon the Lord's cause, we should feel it proper to put forth efforts to correct that one, lest harm be done.
When we have that jealousy in the Lord's cause, it is different from a jealousy in our own interest. Very few get too jealous in the Lord's cause; however, it would be well, even in his cause, to scrutinize our words, deeds, etc., properly; and while we should be very zealous, very jealous in the Lord's cause, yet we must be very sure that it is not a private matter; and should consider whether or not we are "busybodies." Then, too, we should consider whether it may be a proper thing for the elders to deal with, and whether or not it would be our duty to go to the elders. We should all have a great deal of jealousy for the Lord's cause and the Lord's work, but be very careful that it is not the bitter kind mentioned in the text; in other words, we should be very sure that it is not jealousy of another, but jealousy for another, for his interests and best welfare.
"He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls." – Prov. 25:28.
For a like purpose God, in creating man, gave him a will. It is one of the strong elements of man's likeness to his Creator. We may have a will, however weak our bodies, or, however strong our passions. That will may be strong whether we are brought into outward subjection to others or not. Our bodies may be enslaved, but our wills cannot be enslaved without our permission. Our will is something which cannot be taken from us; but it needs to be defended; it needs to be repaired; it needs to be made strong in weak places.
Those who do not attend to this and do not strengthen the will where they find special liability to assaults, are sure to have it much broken down so that, by and by, they reach a place where they have no will, no self-control. Just as in a devastated city the protecting walls have been destroyed and the enemy finds easy access, so the human being who yields to sin and various weaknesses and assaults of the Adversary has lost his real manhood and is in danger of losing everything.
It is a part of our duty as Christians and as New Creatures to withstand all assaults of the Adversary; and these assaults come, not from visible forces alone, but from evil spirits; from those who seek to obtain possession of us – as is the case with those who come under the control of these evil spirits. Their wills are subdued, broken down, and they are in the hands of their enemies, exactly as pictured in our text. Let such strive to cast out the enemy, to resist him, to strengthen the walls of their minds and to make an alliance at once with the Lord Jesus. Let them give their hearts fully and completely to him and accept his will, his Word, his guidance, in every matter.
True, when thus released from the bondage of sin and of Satan, they become bond-slaves of righteousness and of Christ; but when it is realized that to be the bond-servants of Christ means to serve that which is good and true and right, and to be in harmony with the Father, all should rejoice to place themselves fully and unreservedly under the control of him who hath so loved the entire race of mankind as to purchase them with his own precious blood. Surely all are safe in his hands! [R4790 : page 94]
But it is not sufficient that any of us merely place ourselves in the hands of the Lord. The Psalmist counsels us, "Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him, and he shall bring to pass; and he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light." (Psa. 37:5.) The Apostle Paul tells us that "It is God who worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." (Phil. 2:13.) He works by means of the promises in his Word; by means of the various experiences of life, its disciplines and humbling processes, and it is well that we take heed to each lesson as it comes if we desire to have a character developed in the likeness of our Head.
We are not to lose sight of the fact that we are to be "workers together with God" in the accomplishment of the great transforming work to be wrought in us by the renewing of our minds. Our battle with self is our greatest battle, and we have the Lord's Word for it that he that "ruleth his own spirit [his own mind, will] is better than he that taketh a city," because he has to that extent learned to exercise the combativeness of a true character in the right direction – that of self-control.
But, lest we become discouraged with the slowness of our progress, we should ever remember that the attainment of the control of our own spirits, our own minds, the bringing of these into full accord, full harmony, with the Lord and, so far as possible, into accord with all of the Lord's people who are in accord with him, is attained "finally," as the Apostle informs us; it is gradually reached by "patient continuance in well doing," relying upon the Divine assurance of grace to help in every time of need.
Let us all strain every energy toward this final and grand development. We are to have it continually before us as the standard, the ideal, the aim, and although we may fail time after time, if we are rightly exercised in the matter we shall be stronger as the result of each failure; for each failure will show us, more clearly than we previously discerned, the weak points of our characters, naturally resulting from the fall. And if each weak point be carefully noted and guarded against as respects the future, we shall come, by and by, by the grace of God and under the direction of our great Teacher, by his Word and example and providential leadings, to that subdued condition, that harmonized condition, which will fully accord with the will of God.
To such, looking back, even the failures which, subsequently recognized, led to greater fortification against the wiles of the Adversary and the weaknesses of the flesh, may be seen to have been overruled by the Lord for our blessing, according to his promise that "all things shall work together for good to them that love God." – Rom. 8:28.
"In that day shall there be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar at the border thereof to the Lord; and it shall be for a sign and a witness unto the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt." – Isaiah 19:19,20.
Furthermore, our inventions are usually the product of several minds, the suggestions from one proving seed-thoughts for another. The printing press and mail service have been great factors in the distribution of the knowledge of truth throughout the world, enabling one to profit by the thoughts of another. The Bible explains the progress of these days and informs us that it is because we are in the day of God's Preparation – preparation for the Messianic Kingdom and the world-wide blessings which will then prevail.
As a matter of fact, statistics show that our race in most civilized lands is steadily deteriorating. Announcement has recently been made that the hat manufacturers of Great Britain notice that the demand for smaller hats has been increasing and the demand for larger hats decreasing, as shown by their records for years back. The Evolution theory, which is directly opposed to the Bible teaching of man's creation, has helped to give the impression that the wonderful inventions of our day are the result of evolution – that a little way back our forefathers were in a class akin to the monkey.
What are the facts? If we look for poets, where shall we find them? Have we today, in this so-called "Brain Age," any one to match with the poet Shakespeare? or the Psalmist? or Job? According to the Evolution theory, one who lived 3,500 years ago should have been merely an intelligent ape; yet who can read the Law of Moses and not be struck with his intelligence, justice, wisdom and generosity? Well would it be if we, in our civilized times, should copy some of Moses' regulations; that, for instance, of the Jubilee year, in which all property rights reverted to the original owner.
The Great Pyramid of Egypt is one of the evidences of the skill of the ancients, which those of Evolution fame would have us think were mere uneducated monkeys. Today, with our latest machinery, we might possibly duplicate everything in the Great Pyramid, even down to the fine joints between the immense stones. But every thoughtful person examining the Great Pyramid, or reading accounts thereof, must be impressed with the wonderful precision exercised by its builders – a precision supposed to have been impossible for any living prior to our day.
The Pyramid, however, is but another evidence in contradiction of the Evolution theory. No doubt all of our readers have read STUDIES IN THE SCRIPTURES, Vol. III., the last chapter of which describes the Pyramid and sets forth much of the wonderful symbolic teachings shown in its construction. It shows the Pyramid to be in exact harmony with the Bible. Indeed, some, after reading this volume, have referred to the Great Pyramid as "The Bible in Stone."
(28) Is there any suggestion in Scripture that the Apostles were to be lords over the Church, or especially different in any respect from the other members of the Body? P. 211, par. 1.
(29) What was the character of their commission? P. 212, par. 1.
(30) What was the difference between the position of the Apostles previous to Pentecost, and their special powers of the Holy Spirit subsequent to that time? P. 212, par. 2.
(31) Did these "gifts" take the place of the "fruits" of the Spirit? P. 213, top.
(32) What was the purpose of the Lord's selection and instruction of the Apostles. P. 213, par. 1.
(33) Were the Apostles strong characters, naturally? and what special privileges more than compensated for their lack of worldly wisdom and education? P. 213, par. 2; P. 214, par. 1,2.
(34) Why did the Lord specially reveal himself to the Apostles after his resurrection? P. 214, par. 3.
(35) Why was it necessary for the Apostle Paul to see the risen Lord, "as one born out of due time"? P. 215, par. 1, first half.
(36) For what reason may we suppose the Apostle Paul was granted such peculiar experiences, visions, etc.? P. 215, par. 1,2,3.
(37) Quote Paul's own testimony as to his Apostleship. P. 216, top.
(38) Was it the Lord's intention that the Apostles confine their efforts to the Jewish nation? P. 216, par. 1.
(39) Were the characters of the Apostles such as to inspire confidence in their testimonies? P. 217, par. 1, first part.
(40) In addition, what further Scriptural evidence should increase our confidence in their writings? P. 217, par. 1, last part.
(41) What was the three-fold character of the Apostolic inspiration as promised by the Lord in John 14:26; 16:13? P. 217, par. 2.
(42) What internal evidence in the Apostolic writings would contradict the thought of verbal inspiration? and how may we harmonize the different statements of the writers? P. 218, par. 1.
(43) How has the Lord's promise to guide the Church "into all truth" been fulfilled? P. 219, par. 1.
(44) What was the distinction between the Apostolic guidance and the experience of the prophets of olden times? P. 219, par. 2.
(45) How do we understand the Apostolic commission with respect to "binding and loosing"? (Matt. 18:18.) P. 220, par. 1.
(46) How shall we interpret Matt. 16:15-18, "Upon this Rock will I build my Church"? P. 220, par. 2.
(47) Explain how Peter used "the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven." P. 221.
(48) What Scriptural evidence that the Apostles were to be not only teachers, but also prophets or seers? Pp. 222, 223.