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VOL. XXXIV NOVEMBER 15. No. 22
A. D. 1913—A. M. 6042
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CONTENTS
Because We Love the Brethren . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339
Principles of Church Government . . . . . . . 340
The Ecclesia Superior to its Servants . . . . 340
What Course Should We Take? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .341
A Clearer View of Prophecy . . . . . . . . . .342
The Image of the Beast . . . . . . . . . . . .342
Important Step Toward Federation . . . . . . .343
Electing Elders and Deacons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .344
The Sin of Covetousness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .345
Covetousness in the Consecrated . . . . . . . 345
The Logos Made Flesh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 346
“The Light of the World” . . . . . . . . . . .347
Christ in the Heart (Poem) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347
“Choose Ye This Day” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348
“Testified in Due Time . . . . . . . . . . . .348
Marriage is Honorable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .349
Some Interesting Letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349
Evil Spirits and the Editor’s Comment . . . . 349
“The Tower” Grows Deeper and Sweeter . . . . .350
Berean Questions in Scripture Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351
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PUBLISHED BY
WATCH TOWER BIBLE AND TRACT SOCIETY
CHARLES T. RUSSELL, PRESIDENT
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“HANDWRITING ON THE WALL”
We have on hand a large quantity of the BIBLE STUDENTS MONTHLY, the foremost article of which is entitled, “The Handwriting on the Wall.” It is very opportune literature, we believe. We printed more than we needed apparently and have more than a million on hand. Undoubtedly there are many places where they have not been distributed. Here is an opportunity for some to preach the Gospel. The papers will be sent free, charges prepaid, in whatever quantities you can use. In estimating quantities, remember that census reports include children; hence the census figures should be divided by six to allow one paper for each family. Order accordingly.
We also have a considerable quantity of the “Creed Smashing” and “Fire and Brimstone” issues. These we also offer free, prepaid.
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FREE LITERATURE IN THIRTY LANGUAGES
We can supply literature on Present Truth in any of the following languages: English, German, French, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish, Welsh, Polish, Hungarian, Hollandish, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Greek, Russian, Armenian, Arabic, Tamil, Malayalam, Zulu, Esperanto, Maori, Gujarati, Marathi, Telugu, Urdu, Chinese (Wenli and Mandarin), Korean and Japanese.
Also literature for the English-reading blind in American Braille, English Braille and New York Point; likewise literature for German, French, Swedish and Danish-reading blind people.
We do not always have all of these in stock at Brooklyn, but usually have the main supply nearest the point of demand. However, communicate with us if you are in the vicinity of any of the above mentioned peoples and we shall be pleased to co-operate with you by supplying the desired literature as quickly as possible.
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BETHEL HYMNS FOR DECEMBER
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 December follow: (1) 165; (2) 18; (3) 160; (4) 145; (5) 303; (6) 44; (7) 14; (8) 229; (9) 186; (10) 315; (11) 168; (12) 235; (13) 230; (14) 327; (15) 119; (16) 233; (17) 60; (18) 12; (19) 53; (20) 7; (21) 166; (22) 197; (23) 54; (24) 163; (25) 180; (26) 221; (27) 103; (28) 273; (29) 26; (30) 38; (31) 307.
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“BECAUSE WE LOVE THE BRETHREN”
“We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren.”—1 John 3:14.
WE are glad to testify that both from personal contact and through correspondence we have every reason to believe that the Bible Students, who constitute the large majority of our readers, have been growing in grace lately—during the past few years. Contrasting the present with three, six or ten years ago, we notice a great increase in spirituality—the Spirit of the Lord—the Holy Spirit of Love.
Not only is this manifested in activities in the service of the Truth, but also in broader sympathies one for another and for all Christians—and, indeed, for the entire groaning creation. This is just what it should be every year; every week, indeed, should mark progress in Christ-likeness, as we remember that, “If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His,” and therefore will have no part in the Kingdom—whatever inferior blessing he may obtain under stripes and disciplines necessary to the development of the proper character.
We remember further the Apostle’s statement that the Divine predestination respecting the Church is that we must each individually in character become copies of our Lord. (Romans 8:29.) Surely such clear statements of the Divine will and of the terms upon which we may make our calling and election sure should be stimulating.
Nevertheless, notwithstanding all the progress noted, many of the little classes are experiencing friction, which causes more or less concern and unhappiness. As the Truth makes us free and opens the eyes of our understanding, it enables us to see our own imperfections and the imperfections of the brethren and of the world more clearly than ever. Unless there be a large amount of love, this will mean a disposition to find fault, to criticize.
We may safely give ourselves considerable liberty along these lines in dealing with our own character. We may find fault with ourselves and criticize ourselves often to advantage. Yet even this should not be carried so far that we forget the Lord’s gracious promise that He will judge us according to our heart intentions and not according to our imperfect attainments. We are, perhaps, better able to appreciate our own shortcomings, and how they were unintentional; but when the shortcomings are those of others, it tests our love, patience, brotherly-kindness, meekness, gentleness, etc. Yet such testings are very profitable. We pray that the Lord will assist us in growing in the graces of the Holy Spirit. Let us remember that the only way to assist us would be by giving us testings along these very lines. Our strength of character, our development in these graces, will be in proportion as we receive these testings in the proper spirit.
PROOF OF RELATIONSHIP AS NEW CREATURES
Our text seems to imply that the love of the brethren is one of the most beautiful experiences of the Christian. Whoever finds that he has full love for all the brethren, full sympathy for them, therein has a specially strong Scriptural proof that he himself is a New Creature—that he has passed from death unto life. And whoever has any other sentiment than love to any of the brethren surely lacks proof, or demonstration, along this line of his relationship to God as a New Creature.
If we keep this always in mind, how valuable an assistance it will be to us! Do we not frequently desire to reassure ourselves of the Lord’s favor and of our continued relationship to Him as New Creatures, passed from death unto life? If we do, here is the text, the application of which, if we are in the right condition, should bring peace and joy. And if we are in the wrong condition, it should bring alarm for our personal safety as New Creatures.
One of the points of friction in many of the classes is the relationship between the class and its servants. So far as we can judge, the fault is sometimes with the one and sometimes with the other. We are frequently asked in respect to the duties of the Elders, the responsibility of the classes, etc. In general, we prefer to refer all such inquiries to our very full discussion of the subject in the sixth volume of STUDIES IN THE SCRIPTURES. We know not how to improve on the suggestions there made. We believe that if what we have written were thoroughly studied, the recommendations there given would be found ample for every case.
On doctrinal matters we prefer not to write personal letters; for in a few cases we have found that the persons receiving the letters have either misunderstood them, or only partially communicated their contents to others when discussing the matter. Again, some have said, “Brother Russell wrote thus and so in STUDIES IN THE SCRIPTURES, but we have a later letter which intimates
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that he has changed his mind.” We wish the dear friends to feel assured that if our judgment changes respecting any important truths we will put the change before all THE WATCH TOWER readers as speedily as possible. Until you see such changes mentioned in THE WATCH TOWER give no credit to them; esteem the statements of the STUDIES IN THE SCRIPTURES just as though they were written yesterday and direct to yourself.
PRINCIPLES OF CHURCH GOVERNMENT
Briefly summarizing the principles governing the Church of Christ, let us say: There are two views prevalent amongst Christians respecting Church government:
(1) The Episcopal view, which holds that the Church is to be ruled and governed by bishops, because of the claim that these are Apostolic bishops; that is, that they are successors to the Apostles, and invested with Apostolic wisdom and inspiration and authority for the regulation of the Church and its affairs. This view is held by Roman Catholics, Greek Catholics and Episcopalians.
(2) The other view is the Congregationalist, and holds that each congregation of the Lord’s people is a unit, and has the right to govern itself and to make its own regulations for its own welfare, subject to Divine guidance. Congregationalists, Baptists and some others claim to be governed by this view. Other denominations, with more or less confusion and indecision, divide authority between the ministers and the laity.
We hold that the Bible arrangement combines the Episcopal and the Congregational views. Thus the Scriptures teach that the twelve Apostles were and still are the Episcopate—the only inspired and authoritative Apostolic Bishops. Whatsoever these declared to be binding on earth is binding amongst the Lord’s people. Whatsoever they declared loosed, or not binding, would not be obligatory upon the Church in the sight of Heaven. From this viewpoint, the words of Jesus respecting all other so-called apostolic bishops are quite pointed. He declares that they are “false apostles and do lie”—they are not apostles in any sense of the word. (Revelation 2:2; 2 Corinthians 11:13.) Hence we are not to give heed nor to in any manner recognize the claims of these bishops, whom Satan has deluded into thinking that they have Apostolic power—Apostolic succession.
As the people of God have the original Episcopacy, the twelve Apostles of the Lamb, for authority and direction, they are thus organized under an Episcopal government, or government of the Apostolic Bishops—nevertheless their organization is properly congregational. Each company of the Lord’s consecrated people is entirely free, and should have its own faith in the Bible and all the precious truths of the Bible. No congregation and no individual can properly be bound by the vows of other congregations or other individuals.
The Congregation, Ecclesia, Church, coming together to act as one, to worship together, to serve God’s Cause together, should do so because of their mutual appreciation of the Divine character and Plan. They are not under anybody’s government, or rule, except that of the Bible Episcopate—the Apostolic teachings. As for the Elders and Deacons of each Congregation, they are to be chosen by the Congregation from their own number, in accordance with the instructions of the Bible. No earthly power has a right to intervene between the instructions of the Divinely-appointed twelve Apostles and the companies of the Lord’s people who choose to assemble themselves in harmony with the Apostolic instructions. This at one stroke wipes out all papal authority and the authority of all apostolic bishops falsely so-called.
Since the Deacons and Elders, Pastors and Teachers, are lifted to their places of service and honor by the votes of the brethren, it places the Congregation in greater authority than its servants. But the Congregation, in turn, is bound not to force its preferences, but merely to act loyally in harmony with the Divine direction given by the Apostles in the Bible. Thus we see that the truth on the subject from the Divine standpoint has been measurably lost sight of for centuries, to the disadvantage of the Church—some taking one part of the Truth and some another—few, if any, recognizing the whole. Indeed, this is what we find to have been the case in respect to nearly every doctrine.
While particulars have been set forth in STUDIES IN THE SCRIPTURES, Volume VI, yet in what we have above stated lie the principles involved. Whoever thoroughly grasps the principles should be able to appreciate the details. And it would be only a question of thought and patient deliberation to settle all the details of the affairs of any little Class, in accordance with the Scriptures. Thus while the Class gives certain authority and service into the hands of those chosen to be its Elders, and appoints others to assist them in the work as Deacons, or servants, nevertheless, both Elders and Deacons are answerable to the Congregation, to the ecclesia.
THE ECCLESIA SUPERIOR TO ITS SERVANTS
In case of any dispute, the judgment, or decision, of the Congregation should stand as the right thing for the time being. If it prove later to have been unwise, the Lord is able to overrule the error of judgment for good—for instruction. To illustrate: Should the judgment of the Class at any time differ from the judgment of the Elder or Elders, the proper course would be for the Elders to submit to the higher authority, which is the Class, the Church, the Ecclesia; for he who appoints is superior to him who is appointed. Our Lord’s arrangement for the Classes, or Ecclesias, is, “Wherever two or three of you are met in My name, there am I.” The Lord has promised to be with the Class. He has not said, Wherever there is an Elder, there am I, and to him shall the Class gather; but, Wherever there is a Class there am I; and it may appoint an Elder, whom I will recognize and bless as its representative and for its good, in proportion as he shall strive to be a suitable vessel to be My servant in blessing that Class.
This appreciation of the true relationship between the Elder and the Class should help the Elders to cultivate those fruits and graces of the Holy Spirit described by St. Paul as meekness, gentleness, patience, brotherly kindness, long-suffering, love. But, on the other hand, the Congregation, Ecclesia, having chosen one of its number to serve it as an Elder Brother and to look out for its interests, should hope that they had wisely chosen in harmony with the Lord’s Word and providences. So hoping, they should be prepared to give support and encouragement to the Elder, in proportion as they see him striving to know and to do the Lord’s will and faithfully to lay down his time and talents in the service of the Class. Should they subsequently find that apparently they had not fully discerned and followed the Apostolic instructions respecting the selection of the Elder, they should still be kind and gentle toward him, remembering that the fault was theirs in electing him—a fault to be rectified at the next election—and trusting and praying
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that they may know the will of the Lord more perfectly and be wiser in their selection.
DUTIES OF THE ECCLESIA
From this viewpoint the Congregation has everything to say in respect to the number of meetings to be held, where they are to be held, by whom they are to be conducted, the character of the lessons or studies, etc. Nothing of this kind is for the Elder to decide, though as a member of the Congregation he has the same right to be heard that the others have. In proportion as he is esteemed highly, his opinion will have weight with the Ecclesia, Class, or Congregation. Nevertheless, the Class should never forget the thought that however highly the Elder may be esteemed, he is not their guide. The Elders and all others are to be heeded in proportion as they are seen to wisely interpret the teachings of the Holy Scriptures.
We believe that with these principles seen, approved and looked up to, there will be less and less friction in the Classes. The Elders, in just their proper sphere and conscientiously seeking to serve in harmony therewith, will be restrained from doing and saying many things out of their province and likely to stir up difficulties among the members of the Classes.
A POTENT FACTOR IN ALL DISPUTES
It will generally be found, we believe, that pride is a potent factor in all Church disputes. Sometimes the Elder undertakes to do for the Class more than it wishes him to do and more than it has authorized him to do. Or, misguided by the sentiments prevalent among all denominations of Christendom, he thinks of his Eldership as an office of authority over the Church, and not as an honorable service, the authority being vested in the Class. Sometimes the difficulty is with some member of the Class, who, seeking to preserve the rights and authority of the Class, goes to an extreme, and unnecessarily harries the Elder, criticizing him for doing the right thing, but not doing it exactly the way this well-intentioned brother thinks he should do.
Love should apply the Golden Rule. We should be willing to give the Elder as much reasonable liberty of action as we would like to enjoy if we were in his place—provided, of course, that this liberty should be in full harmony with the Word of God. Furthermore, we should remember that the Elder is the servant of the whole Class, and not the servant specially of any one member of it. Any criticism, therefore, of his conduct should come from the Class and not merely from an
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individual member of it. If an individual member has an important thought which the Elder ignores he should be at liberty to ask the judgment of the Class on the subject for his own instruction and for the instruction of the Elder; but no individual member should undertake to criticize the Elder or to find fault with his procedure.
If the Class approves of the Elder, the individuals thinking differently are at liberty still to think as they please, but should yield to the majority. In other words, peace and order in a class are items of great value in respect to all progress in Bible study. Nothing should be done to disturb the peace and order unless there be something positively wrong, unscriptural, connected with the matter. Then the brother or the sister calling attention to the matters which he considers unscriptural, should say little about his own opinion and deal chiefly with the Scriptural injunctions which he believes are being violated.
“LET BROTHERLY LOVE CONTINUE”
These suggestions are intended to increase and promote peace and unity amongst the Lord’s brethren wherever this journal goes. We have confidence that all who are begotten of the one Spirit, the Holy Spirit, are desirous of knowing and doing that which is right—that which is pleasing and acceptable to God and for the best interests of His Cause. “By one Spirit we were all baptized into one Body.” “If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His.” Our thought is that all being one with the Lord—of one heart, of one will—our difficulties lie almost entirely in our heads, in our misapprehension of some of the principles governing the Divine arrangement. And these principles, we may be sure, are perfect, right. In proportion as we can come into harmony with these principles, we shall be at peace one with another, joyfully assisting each other toward the Kingdom, in which we shall have a share with our Lord.
Let us continually remember that love for all the brethren is a sure indication that we love as New Creatures. And love for the brethren means that we will do them no injury, that we will speak no evil respecting them unless of absolute necessity; and, finally, that we will not even surmise evil in respect to their words and deeds. “Love is the fulfilling of the Law.” “He that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God (by His Spirit dwelleth) in him.” For though we should give all our goods to feed the poor, and though we should even sacrifice our bodies to be burned in the interests of righteousness, yet if we have not love—the Spirit of love—we are nothing in God’s sight.—Romans 13:10; I John 4:16; I Cor. 13:3.
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WHAT COURSE SHOULD WE TAKE?
WE HAVE received two letters inquiring about the practical bearing of our October, 1914, hopes on the affairs of this life. It occurs to us that others who have not written may have the same thought; so we give to you all a digest of our answers.
The Brother who wrote us suggested that he is a farmer, and that if sure that the Church would be gathered before October, 1914, or that the great Time of Trouble would there begin, he would in either case be inclined to quit farming and to spend the year in the Colporteur work, as he would have sufficient money to do this if he were to mortgage his farm or sell it.
In our reply we advised the Brother that if he had a wife or family dependent upon him for support, we thought that this suggestion would not be a wise one at all, but that if he were unincumbered, we would consider the thought a very good one. He would be merely giving a year to the Lord’s work, and at the close of the year might hope in any event to be in reasonable health and as capable as ever of earning a living.
We believe that a year spent in the Colporteur work would prove an excellent schooling in perseverance and self-denial, in service of others, and in thinking upon and handling holy things. Yet even in this case we believe that some allowance should be made for temperament and capability for Colporteur service. While few, if any, have no talent whatever for such work, there are some who have so little talent that they might merely discourage themselves without accomplishing much in the interest of others. We must use all wisdom in respect to what we
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attempt to do, that our time and strength—mental and physical—shall render us as good results as possible to the Lord’s praise. Each should seek wisdom from on High to guide him in such matters.
Another letter received inquired respecting the proper treatment to be given to a member of the Class who insisted on opposing the chronology and denouncing all faith in October, 1914, either as respects the gathering of the Church or the inauguration of the world’s great Time of Trouble. Our reply may be applicable in other cases. It is to the effect that nobody should be specially encouraged in such an opposition; for a bad spirit is always objectionable, injurious. However, we should not denounce those who in a proper spirit express their dissent in respect to the date mentioned and what may be there expected; nor should we feel aggrieved toward them. We should recognize the individual rights of all, and treat everybody according to the Golden Rule. Nor should we feel at liberty to express our views more dogmatically than we would think right for others to do in expressing their views.
THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES
The fact is that, notwithstanding the strength of our position and our hope that it may be true, it is nevertheless of faith and not of knowledge. To some, faith in the matter may become almost as strong and convincing as knowledge. Nevertheless, it is not knowledge, it is faith. We must admit that there are possibilities of our having made a mistake in respect to the chronology, even though we do not see where any mistake has been made in calculating the Seven Times of the Gentiles as expiring about October 1, 1914.
If others feel equally convinced respecting some other date which does not appeal to us, we should not on that account reject them as members of the Body of Christ. Rather, we should say, Whether you or we have the date correct, we must all agree that the signs of the times as we read them indicate clearly that the Master is nigh, even at the door; and that His Kingdom is soon due to begin to take control. This means that, whether within one year or within ten or twenty years, the things which we are expecting will surely be accomplished. The Church will be gathered, the Messianic Reign of Righteousness will begin, preceded, as foretold, by the great Time of Trouble.
The general facts are much more valuable and important than merely the day or the year respecting these facts. “Let brotherly love continue!” Suffer not any dispute over a day or a year to break the most precious bond of love which binds us to the Lord and to all who are truly His. Be specially careful on this point when the subject of discussion is one respecting which we have no positive knowledge. The rupture of fellowship may sometimes be necessary, when we “contend earnestly for the faith once delivered unto the saints”—faith in the Divine Plan, in the Redeemer, in the efficacy of His death, etc. These matters are positively stated in the Bible—not left to deduction, as in the case of chronology and all matters based upon chronology.
A CLEARER VIEW OF PROPHECY
From time to time the Editor has assured the friends that as features of the Truth become more and more distinct to him he would surely give THE WATCH TOWER readers the benefit of this clearer view; in other words, he would keep nothing back.
We have presented in THE WATCH TOWER, for thirty-three years past, the fact that great Babylon will receive her judgment before the nations receive theirs. The statement, “Judgment must begin at the House of God,” while applying especially to the real, or consecrated Church, we believe has also a bearing upon the nominal systems. It will be after the fall of Babylon, her casting as a great millstone into the sea, that the great distress of nations will come, apparently.
Nevertheless, we have all probably been inclined to think more particularly of the world’s Time of Trouble—to look for it, to expect it daily, or by October, 1914, as one result of the closing of the Gentile Times, or years. Perhaps we have neglected to some extent the fact that great Babylon apparently is dealt with before that world-trouble comes. The thought has been borne in upon the Editor very forcefully during the past two weeks that to expect the world’s great trouble to begin on or before October 1, 1914, would be to expect astounding things during the intervening months.
St. Peter describes the great Day of Wrath, intimating that it will begin with the nominal church class—the heavens. “The Day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat; the earth also, and the works that are therein, shall be burned up.” (2 Peter 3:10.) Understanding the earth here to represent the present social order, and the heavens to represent the ecclesiastical order of affairs, we find that the ecclesiastical heavens are to pass away with
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a great noise, a great commotion, a great confusion, and their elements or component parts will be melted in the fervency of the heat and strife of that time; and that then the earth, or social order, will follow it in the combustion or consumption of the trouble of that Day—destroying the present social fabric—overthrowing all law and order in anarchy. If, then, we should expect that the trouble would reach society in general within a year, this would seem to mean that before that time the present religious institutions would collapse. Will they?
THE IMAGE OF THE BEAST
Revelation, 13 th Chapter, we interpreted in THE WATCH TOWER as far back as 1880. We there suggested that in symbolic language a beast represents a government—that the ten-horned beast represented the Papal government, which for a time ruled over all Europe, then the Roman Empire. Although Papacy has no such political influence now, it still claims that it has the right, or authority, to rule all nations, as the representative or vicegerent of Messiah.
We pointed out the two-horned beast as represented in the Church-nation of Great Britain and Ireland; for it also is a government which combines Christianity and civil power. The Bishops sit in Parliament and the King is officially the head of the Church of England. The symbol tells us that as an ecclesiastical power this is a harmless one, “its two horns being like those of a lamb”—not intended to do injury. “But it spake as a dragon.” The dragon represents purely civil power and the Government of Great Britain, though nominally religious, speaks, or governs as a dragon, or purely civil power.
We also called attention to the fact that “the Image of the (Papal) Beast” was formed in 1846 A.D. In that year the Protestant denominations, especially in the United States, allied themselves as the “Evangelical Alliance.” Their alliance ostensibly was for peace and harmony and noble objects of co-operation; but really the organization would appear to have been intended as an attempt to give dignity and authority to all of the various Protestant sects, and as far as possible to hinder the formation of any new sects by excluding them as unorthodox.
The Alliance endeavored to establish a standard of orthodoxy and to give a mutual support and backing to all the different creeds identified with it—Baptists, Methodists,
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Lutherans, Presbyterians, etc. This attempted authority, or power, constituted it an Image of the Papal Beast, or Government. They saw the power of the Papal argument, that it is the Church, and that all others are heretical. So the Evangelical Alliance undertakes to say for its constituent members of all denominations: “All these are orthodox; all others are heretical.” In this sense it was a copy, or image, of the Papal institution. It has been merely an Image without life or power for now more than sixty years.
However, the Lord’s symbolic prophecy, which we are now considering (Revelation 13), tells us that in the close of this Age the Image will receive life, vitality, energy, power. No longer will it stand as a mere Image. It will become as active as the Beast. Moreover, it will not be antagonistic to the Beast, but sympathetic, and cause that all shall either worship the Beast or the Image—all must be in harmony either with Catholicism, or with the Protestant system, of which the Evangelical Alliance was the primary organization or Image. The Protestant Church Federation will be the outcome as soon as it receives the vitalizing breath.
AN IMPORTANT STEP TOWARD FEDERATION
The vitality of the Image is to come from the two-horned Beast; that is, the Church of England. We have been waiting for this consummation more than thirty years, and have seen it draw nearer and nearer. A few years ago the Episcopal Church took an important step toward vitalizing the Church Federation movement, which it is favoring and backing. That important step was the recognition of the ministers of the denominations represented in the Evangelical Alliance. Previously no minister not ordained by the laying on of hands of a Catholic or an Episcopalian bishop was allowed to preach from an Episcopalian pulpit.
Perhaps this recognition of the Image is all the vitalization the Image needs, but we are inclined to expect more. For years the Episcopalians have proffered reordination to the ministers of the different denominations represented in the Evangelical Alliance. And they still proffer it. We have been inclined to expect that the ministers would finally concede the point and accept a reordination at the hands of an Episcopal bishop. But we are not sure of this. It is possible that, to meet the requirements of the case, some other way will be found by which the Episcopal Church will recognize the Church Federation without obligating the ministers to be reordained. We are waiting for this.
As, we understand this Chapter of Revelation, the Image, as soon as vitalized, will very promptly use its influence, prestige, power, in every way to “make fire come down from heaven” (Rev. 13:13); that is, to punish in the name of the Lord those who in any sense of the word it shall consider to be its opponents. Speedily none will be allowed to buy or sell, in the spiritual marts, except those who have either the mark or the number of the Beast, or of the Image, either in the right hand of co-operation or in the forehead of public confession.
This will mean that the INTERNATIONAL BIBLE STUDENTS ASSOCIATION and all others not in affiliation with the Alliance will be subjected to radically coercive measures. Truth shall fall in the streets. Righteousness will be unable to enter under the stress of the new order of things. For a time it will appear as though a great Christian victory had been won, shared equally by Papacy and federated—Protestantism—no longer protesting. Already we see these two divisions of the heavens rolling together, approaching one another, sympathizing with each other—rolling together for mutual protection.
But the triumph of that new order of things will be short. The masses of the people, no longer ignorantly stupid as during the Dark Ages, will awaken to the true situation, and will execute upon Babylon the Great—already repudiated by the Lord—the judgment foretold. She shall be cast like a great millstone into the sea, never to rise again. The sea represents the masses of the people, especially a restless opposition class. The two-horned Beast apparently loses its personality when it gives life to the Image by becoming a member of the Federation.
THE PRESENT OUTLOOK
Now the question arises: Can all these things take place within a year? We answer, Yes; it would be possible. A second question is, Is it likely? Is it probable? And the answer is, No; it seems scarcely probable that so much would be accomplished in one year. Now, there we have the question—each must exercise his own judgment in respect to the matter. We certainly see a very rank spirit of anger, malice, hatred and strife developing in many quarters, amongst the very ones who constitute the members of the federation. And these slanderous oppositions come usually from the ministers of these denominations.
If they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry? (Luke 23:31.) If such bigotry and bitter falsification are practised and such hatred is manifested before the Evangelical Alliance has any life, how arrogant might we suppose the same persons to become after the Image would receive life? And how quickly might the spirit of rancorous persecution be developed?
Let us make the matter clear. According to the old, but erroneous, thought handed down for centuries, the bishops of the Church of England and of the Church of Rome are “apostolic bishops,” or successors to the Apostles, according to the old theory of apostolic succession. According to that same theory, no one on earth has one particle of right to teach and to preach, except as those “apostolic bishops” shall grant their permission by laying on their hands.
According to this rule, then, Methodists, Baptists, Lutherans, Presbyterians and all such are preaching without authority. When they talk about ordination, they merely mean that each sect ordains its own ministers. The Alliance is attempting to get around this difficulty and to have the sects recognize each other’s ordination. The Federation is building upon this general recognition of orthodoxy, and is about, in some manner, to be given life, virility, power, dignity, by something which the Church of England will do for them which will recognize their ordination as ministers.
We may be sure that they will make the road to the preaching and teaching of the Gospel a very narrow one to all attempting to preach without their recognition and ordination. These will be trying times upon us and upon all who will refuse to worship the Beast and his Image, or to receive the mark of the Beast upon the forehead or upon the hand.—Revelation 13:15-17.
OUR ATTITUDE TOWARD ONE ANOTHER
The special point we are now emphasizing is that if we find it difficult, though not impossible, to see that these things could be accomplished within a year, we should feel and act most kindly and tolerantly toward others of the brethren who feel positive that these things will not take place within a year, or who think that they see flaws in our chronological views. “Let brotherly love continue.” “Abhor that which is evil. Cleave to that which is good.” Thus will the grace of God be with us, to guide us, to bless
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us, to cause all of our experiences to work for good, even though some of those experiences should be disappointments in respect to fulfilments of prophecy within the next few months.
The Episcopal Church Conference has just passed an amendment to the Church constitution, providing for the choice of one of their number to be Presiding Bishop—much the same as the Archbishop’s office in the Church of England. After some sharp discussion they also authorized their Mission Board to co-operate with mission boards of other Christian bodies. Some bishops objected that this would violate their “priestly vows,” but they were outvoted. This co-operation with other Protestants, in conjunction with the action previously taken, permitting other Protestant ministers to participate on invitation in Episcopal Church services, is practically a recognition of the Evangelical Alliance or Church Federation. How much more may be necessary to give LIFE and POWER to the Image we must wait and see.
Our statement in October 15th issue that we have never mentioned October, 1914, as an infallibly sure date, either for the ending of the “Times of the Gentiles” or for any particular occurrence, has been called in question by one of our readers. We are cited to the following words of STUDIES IN THE SCRIPTURES, Vol. II.: “Now bear in mind the date already found for the beginning of these Gentile Times, viz., 606 B.C., while we proceed to examine the evidence proving their length to be 2520 years—ending A.D. 1914. … In view of this strong Bible evidence concerning the Times of the Gentiles, we consider it an established truth that the final end of the kingdoms of this world and the full establishment of the Kingdom of God will be accomplished at the end of 1914.”
We hold that nothing in these quotations declares the infallibility of the theories we suggested respecting 1914. In these statements, and in all of our statements, we have merely informed our readers respecting our views and the processes of our reasoning on the Scriptures which we have brought to their attention. Thus we have asked each reader to think and judge for himself, and to agree or disagree with us according to his own judgment of the facts.
Notice that in the above quotations no dogmatic statement is made, but that the reader is requested to use his own intellect. For instance, note the words, “bear in mind”; again, “while we proceed to examine the evidence”; again the reference to “Bible evidence.” In the last sentence the author sums up his own views, declaring what he considers to be the truth established by the evidences which he sets before his readers.
In this respect we believe that THE WATCH TOWER presentations differ considerably from others. We state with positiveness the opinions of the writer and the reasons therefor, but leave the final decision with each head and heart in all matters, without attempting more.
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ELECTING ELDERS AND DEACONS
IT WAS a slip of the pen on the part of the Editor when he recently intimated that the only ones who would properly be entitled to a vote at Church meetings would be those believers in the Atonement who had made full consecration and who had symbolized that consecration. The error was in including the symbolization. Many of us were truly Christians, truly accepted of the Lord, truly members of “the Church of the Firstborns whose names are written in Heaven” (Hebrews 12:23), before we saw the real force and significance of water immersion. We have always held (See Vol. 6, STUDIES IN THE SCRIPTURES) that all such are entitled to vote at Church elections—yea, that it is their duty to vote—to express the Lord’s will in respect to the servants of the Church, according to their judgment.
But what we meant to emphasize is that any brother who had not as yet accepted the Bible teachings respecting the proper symbolization of his consecration would not be far enough advanced to be properly appointed to be either a Deacon or an Elder in the Church. It was altogether by an inadvertence that we included with this the thought that such should not vote.
Difficulty has been experienced by some classes in respect to nominations. When a call for nomination is made, a brother is nominated as an Elder or as a Deacon, without proper consideration of his qualifications. His nomination is seconded; and the whole class, loving the brother, feels disinclined to vote against him lest they should be misunderstood.
There should always be a reason for the choice of anybody to any service in the Church. An elder should be an able teacher, of a broad mind, able to give assistful advice to those who need it, of deep insight into the Word of God, of good influence in the Church, and a wise counselor. No one, probably, could have all of these good qualifications in equal measure. Some might possess more of one, and some more of another qualification; but all should possess some of them or there would be no excuse for his election. Likewise a Deacon should have time at his disposal and some aptitude as a prospective Elder, and also an inclination to serve the Church.
What seems to us a very good plan of nominating Elders, Deacons, etc., is by ballot, particularly if there has been any difficulty or if to a majority such a nomination might seem desirable. To put this plan into operation pieces of paper and pencils would be required. Each one entitled to a vote should write, “I nominate the following to be Elders of the __________ Class for the ensuing __________ months.” Then should follow as many names as there are Elders at the time the election was taken. If the Class desire to either increase or decrease the number it can be done after the nomination at election time.
After the ballots have been collected the results should be tabulated and announced publicly to the Ecclesia. The Class should then decide how many Elders it would properly need. If it decided that the number should be three, then the six brethren receiving the largest number of nominating ballots should be voted for. The three receiving the largest number of votes with outstretched hands should be considered the choice of the Class. Or another way would be to accept all the nominated ones who received ballots equal to one-third of the entire number of voters and to elect all such by, as nearly as possible, a unanimous vote, this arrangement being intended to give minorities a representation amongst the Elders.
The thought always to be borne in mind is that, so far as possible, the judgment of all the Class should have recognition. While a majority might rule, it is always preferable that they yield something to the minority, so that the eldership of a Class might reflect the sentiment of the entire membership. No matter how this result be reached, we are doing wisely; and no matter how any other result be reached it would be unwise, as endangering the peace and harmony of the Class. Brotherly love always represents sympathy, kindness, love and a desire to yield something wherever no vital principle is involved.
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THE SIN OF COVETOUSNESS
—DECEMBER 14.—JOSHUA 7.—
“Be sure your sin will find you out.”—Numbers 32:23.
THE Israelites, full of faith and flushed with the victory over Jericho, proceeded with the conquest of Canaan. Spies were sent to Ai. These, returning, advised that the place was small, and that a force of two or three thousand men would be quite sufficient for its capture. Indeed, from the experiences of Jericho they anticipated that none of the Israelites would be killed—that their enemies would be so terror-stricken as to render little or no defense. But the experiences at Ai were the reverse. Thirty-six Israelites were slain; and Israel’s army, perceiving that they had not the Lord’s favor, fled before their enemies.
Joshua and his associates, the Elders of Israel, were bewildered at this. They prostrated themselves before the Ark of the Covenant, bewailing the trouble and especially fearful of the influence which the defeat would have upon their enemies—encouraging them and discouraging Israel, who were God’s typical people.
THE ACCURSED OR DEVOTED THING
In our Common Version, accursed has been used where devoted would have been preferable. The Lord informed Joshua that Divine favor was not with Israel because of their unfaithfulness. When Jericho was captured, a portion of the spoils had been appropriated by one of the soldiers. But according to the Lord’s arrangement all the spoils were devoted in advance; hence this was a breach of their agreement, and Israel’s armies could have no blessing until the matter was rectified.
In order that the lesson might be learned by the entire people, the Lord directed that the representatives of all the tribes should appear before Him and lots be cast, and that thus would be indicated the tribe to which the guilty one belonged. In like manner the different families of that tribe were tested, and the family found. Thus step by step the matter came down to Achan, who was the
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one indicated as guilty—the cause of the trouble.
“And Joshua said unto Achan, My son, give, I pray thee, glory to the Lord God of Israel, and make confession unto Him; and tell me now what thou hast done; hide it not from me. And Achan answered Joshua and said, Indeed I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done: When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them; and behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent.”
THE PENALTY UPON ACHAN
The penalty upon Achan was death by stoning, and after the stoning the corpse was burned—the burning indicating symbolically that there was no hope of a future life for him. It is our thought, however, that this was a part of the general allegory, and that really Achan, as a member of Adam’s family, must ultimately have a share with all the remainder of the race in the redemption provided through Jesus’ death. Thus also the Sodomites were destroyed by fire from heaven—in a figure representing the class which will die the Second Death. But none can die the Second Death without being first released in some manner from the condemnation of the first death—Adamic death. These were merely types, or foreshadows, of the wilfully wicked class and of the everlasting destruction, as brute beasts, which will come upon them.
As the Sodomites experienced no knowledge nor blessing through Jesus, so Achan had none. As the Sodomites, redeemed by the merit of Jesus’ sacrifice, will be awakened from the sleep of death during the Messianic Age, and their experiences will be more tolerable than those of the people of Chorazin and Bethsaida, so it will surely be with Achan. As the Apostles declare, these typical experiences of the past were set forth as an ensample of the destruction which will be the ultimate punishment of all who wilfully, knowingly and intelligently reject the Lord’s ways.—I Corinthians 10:11; Jude 7.
COVETOUSNESS IN OUR DAY
Perhaps at no time in the world’s history was there ever so much covetousness as in our day. How few comparatively in any city, in any nation, would do very differently from what Achan did! If all such were to be stoned to death and to be burned, the world would be one vast funeral pyre. True, they are not deterred by fear of any such punishment. Nevertheless, a large proportion of them profess to believe that for all such sins the penalty is eternal torture. Yea, many who are ready to condemn the curse of Joshua and the Israelites in the stoning of Achan, are ready to believe that the God of Love, the God of all Grace, the Father of all Mercies, would do ten times worse by Achan and by practically the entire human family—all except saintly ones who have come into vital relationship with the Redeemer.
Alas, how twisted our minds have become! How glad we are that the true light is now shining, and chasing away to some extent our hobgoblins of error and false doctrine handed down to us from the Dark Ages, and wrongly supposed to be teachings of the Bible!
COVETOUSNESS IN THE CONSECRATED
When we remember that Jordan represents consecration, and that those who crossed Jordan typically represented those Christians who have entered into a Covenant with God and who have been begotten of the Spirit; and when we remember that the conquests of Canaan represented the spiritual battles of the consecrated and the subjugation and possession of the citadel of the heart, the sin of Achan has a new force and meaning. It corresponded closely to the sin of Ananias and Sapphira. They had devoted, or consecrated, their property to the Lord’s service, and then attempted to take back a portion of the devoted wealth. They would rob God. They would steal back that which they had given to Him. This class seems to be especially represented in Achan. He stole, not from his brethren, but from the Lord, things which had been devoted to the Lord.
The name Christian today has a very wide application, and in general signifies a civilized person. But the term Christian really belongs only to a comparatively small class of humanity—to those who, believing the Message of Jesus, have made consecration of their lives to be His disciples, His footstep followers. These have accepted His terms—”If any man will be My disciple, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.” This is the class, typified by Israel, who have entered the antitypical Canaan, who are fighting the good fight and who would recognize all the spoils of their warfare as consecrated to the Lord.
It is for these to inquire respecting their own faithfulness, loyalty. Each of them should inquire, Am I keeping and holding as my own any portion of what was consecrated to God? If they are keeping back as their own any portion of that which was devoted to the Lord, they are in danger of being part of the antitypical Achan. They are in danger of exercising an injurious influence on others of the Church; and not only so, but they are in danger of that fate which was typically illustrated in Achan’s case—in danger of the utter destruction of the Second Death—everlasting destruction.
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“COVETOUSNESS, WHICH IS IDOLATRY”
The Apostle declares that “Covetousness is idolatry.” It puts first and most prominently the thing which is coveted; and when this coveted thing is contrary to the Divine will, it signifies that the coveted thing is esteemed more than God—is desired more than the Divine favor. From this viewpoint the whole world is full of idolatry today. The idols most worshiped are wealth and pleasure. These occupy the time and the attention of nearly everybody. Time and strength, honor and manhood and womanhood, are poured out lavishly for these “idols.” On the contrary, the true God, from whom comes every perfect gift, receives but slight attention from the masses of His creatures. His laws and His will, His pleasure and His favor are scarcely thought of.
What is the result? Has the worship of mammon been real joy or peace and satisfaction to the hearts of humanity? Has the pursuit of pleasure and the devoting to it of time, talents and money brought real pleasure of soul to the masses? This question must be answered in the negative. Wealth is being pursued and bowed down to on every hand, yet grants its favor to only a comparatively small number, and even the favored ones find bitterness mingled with their sweets. The possession of wealth brings not the joy and peace which they had hoped and believed. It has brought care, perplexity and still greater hunger, which they know not how to satisfy.
So it is with the worship and pursuit of pleasure. It is an ever-continuing chase and seeking for pleasure. The grasping of it seems to bring, not joy, but discontent and heart-hunger. As a result the worshipers of mammon and pleasure are unhappy. The world is discontented, and apparently growing more so as the days pass by.
Man is so constituted by nature that his finest and noblest sentiments, which bring him the most satisfaction, joy and peace, rest and happiness, are the exercise of his mind and talents God-ward. According to St. Paul, all men by nature should be feeling after God, desiring to find Him. But, alas, many of the noblest of God’s people, who have found rest and peace through a knowledge of the length and breadth and height and depth of
“Love Divine, all love excelling,”
are not only not helping the world to find the true God, but, on the contrary, actually misdirecting them!
The monstrous misrepresentations received by us from the Dark Ages we have heartily repudiated. And yet we are holding up these misrepresentations of the Divine Character and Plan before the world, and in so doing are turning them away from God and from the Bible—to seek rest of soul and peace and joy in the worship of mammon and the pursuit of pleasure, which can bring only disappointments. Alas, how long will it be before we openly acknowledge to the world that we have repudiated the monstrous teachings of our creeds and have accepted the teachings of the Bible that God is Love, and that He has a gracious Plan whereby through Jesus all who will may be recovered and enter into rest!
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THE LOGOS MADE FLESH
—DECEMBER 21.—JOHN 1:1-18.—
“And the Logos became flesh, and dwelt among us.”—V.14.
OUR Christmas Study is one of the most beautiful in the whole Bible. Genesis goes back to the beginning of things earthly; but this lesson goes back to the beginning of all beginnings, when God was alone. The very beginning of Divine operation was the Logos—”the Beginning of the creation of God”—”the First-born of every creature.”—Revelation 3:14; Colossians 1:15.
Logos signifies mouthpiece, or special messenger. Not only so—not only was the Logos the beginning, or Alpha—but He was also the last, the Omega, of Divine creation, as He Himself informs us. (Revelation 1:11; 21:6.) The first and only begotten Son of Jehovah was given an exclusive place, so that “all things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made.” (V.3.) Thus highly did the Father honor Him as His Agent in all the creative work, both as respects angels, cherubim and men.
The Greek text is not fully represented in our Common
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Version. Accurately translated it reads, “The Logos was with the God and the Logos was a god; the same was in the beginning with the God.” Here the majesty of our Redeemer in His prehuman condition is fully set forth, and yet He is distinctly shown to be the Son and not the Father—to be a god and not the God.
The word god signifies mighty one; but there is only one God whose name is the Almighty. St. Paul affirms this great truth, saying, “To us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by Him.” (I Corinthians 8:6.) Again, the Apostle writes, “The head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the Head of Christ is God.” (1 Corinthians 11:3.) This is the claim that Jesus made for Himself—not that He was the Father, or Jehovah, but that He was the Son of God, who came to do the will of His Father in Heaven.
The so-called doctrine of the Trinity, put into the Nicene Creed by Emperor Constantine, A.D. 325, has been the cause of much of our confusion when studying the Bible, which contains neither the word trinity nor any suggestion of it, except in the one passage acknowledged by all scholars to be spurious, namely, I John 5:7. This passage is not found in any of the old Greek manuscripts.
The Redeemer was not deceitful when He prayed to the Father with strong cryings and tears, “My God! My God!” Neither was He deceitful when He declared to Mary after His resurrection, “I have not yet ascended to My Father and to your Father, to My God and to your God.” He declared His oneness with the Father, and desired that a similar oneness should prevail amongst His followers—oneness of spirit, of purpose. Therefore He prayed for His Church, “That they all may be one, even as I, Father, and Thou, are one.”—John 17:21-23.
“THE LOGOS BECAME FLESH”
St. Paul tells us of how He who was rich on the spirit plane for our sakes became poor, leaving the Heavenly comforts for the scenes of this world, darkened by sin and death. (2 Corinthians 8:9.) And so our lesson tells us also. (V.14.) “The Logos became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” St. Paul also corroborates this, declaring that our Lord stooped from His high position, took the bondman’s form and was found in fashion as a man, of the seed of Abraham. (Philippians 2:7,8; Hebrews 2:16.) But lest we should get the wrong thought, that He had become a sinful man, we are guarded by the assurance that He was “holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners.” (Hebrews 7:26.) We are also assured that His body was especially prepared, separate and different from
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others of our race, all of whom were of Adamic stock and all tainted with sin and the seeds of death.—Hebrews 10:5-9.
But, on the other hand, we are to guard ourselves against the thought that the Logos remained a spirit being and merely materialized, or appeared in human form. This unscriptural thought is the one held by many, and styled incarnation. The angels incarnated, or got into flesh, when they materialized from time to time, as described in the Old Testament Scriptures. Our Lord Himself incarnated, or appeared in the flesh, to Abraham in company with others; and He talked with Abraham, who knew not that he was entertaining Heavenly beings, mistaking them for human travelers.
Similarly Jesus after His resurrection appeared in various forms of flesh. That is to say, He materialized, or incarnated, for the purpose of teaching certain lessons to His disciples, because after His resurrection He was a spirit being, as He was before He was made flesh. As a spirit being, He appeared and disappeared, the doors being shut. Thus He taught His disciples a double lesson:
(1) That He was no longer dead, but risen;
(2) That He was no longer a human, but a spirit being—”put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit.”—I Peter 3:18—Emphatic Diaglott.
A RANSOM, OR CORRESPONDING-PRICE
As Bible students we are learning that we must strive more earnestly than we have done to keep close to the Word of God. It was the perfect man Adam who sinned and was sentenced to death, and under the Divine Law he could be redeemed only by the sacrifice of a perfect man. The Law declares, “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, and a man’s life for a man’s life.” Hence the blood of bulls and goats could never make atonement for Adam’s sin; for they did not correspond. It was not a bullock nor a goat that had sinned and was to be redeemed, but a perfect man.
Because all of the human family were children of Adam and sharers in his death sentence, therefore, “no man could give to God a ransom for his brother.” (Psalm 49:7.) God so shut up the matter that Adam and his race could not have been redeemed except by the finding of a perfect man who would be willing voluntarily to die on their behalf. It was because there was no such man that God arranged with the Logos, His only begotten, that he should become a man and be the Redeemer of the race—Adam and all his children.
But even this might not be demanded of the Logos. The Heavenly Father, therefore, as St. Paul points out, set before His Son, the Logos, a great proposition; namely, that if He would demonstrate His faith and loyalty to the extent of becoming man’s Redeemer, the Father would still more highly exalt Him and make Him partaker of the Divine nature, far above angels and every name that is named. (Hebrews 12:2; Philippians 2:5-11.) The Logos, full of faith and obedience, heartily entered into the proposition, was made flesh, consecrated His life, kept nothing back, finished the work at Calvary, and was raised from the dead by the Father to the Heavenly nature and glory and honor.
“THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD”
The Logos was made Jesus. The work of Jesus in the flesh, however, is not the completion of the Divine Plan, but merely the beginning of it. His death constitutes the basis of all future blessings to the Church and to the world. According to the Father’s Plan, an elect class was to be gathered out of Israel and out of every nation to be the Church of Christ, His Bride, associates with Him in His Throne, glory and work.
With the completion of the Elect, the Kingdom for which we pray, “Thy Kingdom come,” is to be established. Satan is to be bound; all evil is to be brought to an end; every good influence and enlightenment is to be shed; and He who died for the world is thus to become the Light of the world. He has not yet been the Light of the world, but merely a light to His people. As St. John declared, His light shined in darkness, and was not appreciated. Similarly the light of Truth upheld by His consecrated Church will not be appreciated, so strong are the powers of the Prince of Darkness influencing the minds of the world, which, as yet, lies in the Wicked One.—I John 5:19.—Diaglott.
But the Prince of Life and His Kingdom will cause the light of the knowledge of the glory of God to fill the whole earth, as the waters cover the great deep (Habakkuk 2:14), so that none shall need to say to his brother, Know thou the Lord, for all shall know Him, from the least to the greatest. (Jeremiah 31:34.) Thus according to His promise Jesus eventually will be “the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” (V.9.) The great mass of humanity have never seen nor even heard of this true Light—not merely the heathen millions, but the masses in civilized lands.
The resurrection of the just will be necessary to bring the Church to glory and joint-heirship with her Lord. But the resurrection of the unjustified, which includes practically all humanity, will be for the very purpose of permitting them to see the true Light, which God has provided in His Son and which will be shed abroad during His Millennial Kingdom. Only those who refuse the light, preferring the darkness, will die the Second Death.
“POWER TO BECOME SONS”
John the Baptist was a messenger sent to call attention to the Light, but he was not the Light. He was not even one of the Church class, of whom Jesus said, “Ye are the light of the world”; for John the Baptist did not continue to live to the time of the begetting of the Spirit, after our Lord’s sacrifice.
The world recognized not the great One who was in it, the Logos, by whom it was made. His own nation recognized Him not, but crucified Him. Yet some then and some since have received Him, and to such He has given the power, the right, the liberty, the privilege, to become children of God. No such privilege was given to the Jews, nor to any of the fallen race, until Pentecost—after Jesus had appeared in the presence of God to make atonement for our sins.
These sons are all begotten of the Holy Spirit. Theirs is not a fleshly sonship. Their birth of the Spirit will be the resurrection change, when they shall be made like their Master, see Him as He is and share His glory.
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CHRIST IN THE HEART
As some rare perfume in a vase of clay
Pervades it with a fragrance not its own,
So when Thou dwellest in a mortal soul,
All Heaven’s own sweetness seems around it thrown.
The heart alone, like a neglected harp,
Grows out of tune, and needs Thy hand Divine;
Dwell Thou within it, tune and touch its chords,
Till every note and string shall answer Thine.
MRS. H. B. STOWE.
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“CHOOSE YE THIS DAY”
—DECEMBER 28.—JOHN 3:16.—
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
THE closing of the year and the opening of a new one is properly considered an opportune time for an inventory or balancing of the books and the carrying forward of profit and loss, and the determination of advantageous policies for the future. It would be a pity and a shame for all of us if we should be thus prudent in respect to earthly matters, and careless as respects higher interests. We may safely say that no human soul can strike a thoroughly satisfactory balance of accounts at the close of this year unless Jesus has been a partner and counselor and guide. And every one dissatisfied with his status of affairs at the close of the year—every one who finds himself weary and heavy-laden, perplexed and discouraged—we would like to have know how to begin the new year aright by entering into covenant relationship with the Redeemer, who declares, “Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.”
Today’s Study is full of helpful instructions. The very first lesson that all need to learn is that “God so loved the world.” No other message than that has any attraction for thinking people. The difficulty with the world and with the Church in the past has been that we have not emphasized the Love of God. How could we do so when our eyes of understanding were misdirected by our creeds away from the God of the Bible to a creedal image which pictured the Heavenly Father in most Satanic colors—more loveless, more unjust, more diabolical than any human being we have ever known and than any demon we can possibly imagine! It is well for us as Christians that we have tried to forget those horrible pictures and instead to fill our minds with precious Scripture texts such as the one of today’s lesson.
But while we have thus gotten away from the “doctrines of devils,” as St. Paul calls them (I Timothy 4:1), we forget that Christendom is still holding up those terribly slanderous creeds before the world, hindering them from getting even a glimpse of the length, breadth, height and depth of the “Love of God which passeth all understanding,” and giving them, instead, awful misrepresentations—of the height and depth and length and breadth of Divine injustice. We have thus been unintentionally driving the world away from God, instead of helping them in their endeavor to feel after a Friend, the true God.
But the people of God are awakening to the Truth, and gradually gaining courage to assert it and to “show forth the praises of Him who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light.” We are now met with the difficulty that the world has so thoroughly believed our blasphemy of the Divine character that they can scarcely believe the gracious Message of the Bible when we bring it to them—the message of great joy.
“MIGHT NOT PERISH”
The very text we are considering illustrates our bondage, our blindness of the past, and tells us of God’s righteousness. It does not say, as we once supposed, that God gave His only begotten Son to save us from eternal torture. Quite to the contrary, it declares that His mission was and is to save from perishing. We know what perishing signifies. The brute beasts, when they die, perish, because God has made no provision for their resurrection. And mankind under the death sentence, “Dying, thou shalt die,” would have perished like the brute beast, without hope, had it not been for God’s mercy and provision in Christ. “Christ died for our sins”—”tasted death for every man”—to the intent that, the sentence of death having been thus satisfied, all men might have a resurrection.
Without the death of Jesus our race would perish like the brute beast. Because of His death there is to be a resurrection, not only of the just who now come into harmony with God through faith, but also of the unjust—the unjustified, who have not yet come to a knowledge of God, whose eyes of understanding have not yet been opened to see the grace of God and its length and breadth and height and depth. Thus we read that “as all in Adam
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die, so all in Christ shall be made alive.” Even “as by a man came death, by a man also [Christ Jesus] comes the resurrection of the dead”—”every man in his own order.”
It is St. Paul himself who particularly points out to us that, unless there be a resurrection of the dead, there is no hope of a future life, but all who have fallen asleep are perished. It is he who points out that, because Jesus died for our sins and has been raised from the dead by the Father, we have an assurance that all who sleep in Jesus—all who were purchased by the redeeming blood—the whole world of mankind—will God bring from the dead with Him. Therefore we need not sorrow as those who have no hope—even in respect to our friends and relatives who are not in Christ and have not the hope of the Church.—See I Corinthians 15.
THE “BETTER RESURRECTION”
The chief resurrection to glory, honor and immortality is only for those who are called during this Gospel Age, who receive the call into honest hearts, and who lay aside every weight and run the race for the prize with patience. These saintly ones Jesus declares will constitute the Royal Priesthood, who, in association with Himself as the Royal Chief Priest, will be engaged in blessing the world, restoring the world, resurrecting the world from sin and death, during the thousand years of his Messianic Reign.
The resurrection of the Church begins in the present life with believers, who in their minds rise in newness of life into Christ. (Colossians 3:1.) These will be perfected by the instantaneous change mentioned by the Apostle, “When this mortal shall put on immortality,” they “shall be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye”; for “flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God.”—I Corinthians 15:50.
“WHOSOEVER BELIEVETH IN HIM”
The Divine Plan is purposely arranged so that none can obtain everlasting life except through a personal relationship to Christ, the Redeemer, and the exercise of faith in His redeeming blood and obedience to His counsels. This being true, none of the heathen are saved yet. None of those who lived before Jesus came into the world are saved. And the great mass of our friends and neighbors, yea, of our own families, are still unsaved, because they have not come into vital relationship with the Savior. “He that hath the Son hath life”; “he that hath not the Son shall not see life.”—I John 5:12; John 3:36.
“TESTIFIED IN DUE TIME”
St. Paul, commenting upon the fact that Jesus died for all—a Ransom-price for all—declares that this is to be testified in due time. (I Timothy 2:5,6.) God’s due time for the testimony to reach the world evidently has not yet come. The testimony began when Jesus “brought life and immortality to light through His Gospel.” As we read, “So great salvation began to be spoken by our Lord.”—Hebrews 2:3.
Since then, a few here and there have had the hearing
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ear, have heard of the grace of God and have seen something of His Divine providences. Jesus congratulated this class, saying, “Blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear.” The great mass of mankind see not and hear not, because, as St. Paul explained, the God of this world hath blinded the minds of those that believe not, that thus he might hinder them from seeing the true light of the grace of God, as it shines in the face of our Lord Jesus.—2 Corinthians 4:4-6.
God has permitted this blindness, but declares that it will soon end; that under the blessed influences of Messiah’s Kingdom the true light shall shine everywhere; and not only so, but He also assures us that “all the blind eyes shall be opened, and all the deaf ears shall be unstopped.” What a blessed vista this opens before us on behalf of the poor world! We see that God has special grace and blessing for His faithful Church, the Little Flock, the saints; but now we perceive that He has a blessing also for the world, although a different blessing from that which He has provided for the Church.
Our text tells us of this, assuring us that God not only loved the Church, but also loved the world—not only redeemed the Church, but also redeemed the world. All will have an opportunity that, by believing, they may attain everlasting life. The life provided for the world, however, according to the Bible, will be very different from that provided for the Church. The latter are to have life on the Divine plane, being made partakers of the Divine nature; and they are to be sharers of the glory, honor and immortality of the Master. The world, by faith and obedience during the Messianic Kingdom, will be privileged to re-attain the earthly life and perfection which Adam lost, and which Jesus redeemed for the world at Calvary.
All the willing and obedient may thus come into relationship with the Life-giver and obtain the everlasting life, the eternal life, which was given to Father Adam conditionally and lost by disobedience. Nevertheless, all who will refuse this grace of God in Christ and fail to come into vital union with Him will perish. But they will not perish in the first, or Adamic death, from which all were redeemed and will be rescued by the Master. Their perishing will be in the Second Death, for their own wilful sins, and there will be no hope of recovery; “for Christ dieth no more.” None will be redeemed from the Second Death.
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“MARRIAGE IS HONORABLE”
NO MATTER what others may say or do, each one of the Lord’s people is to be guided in his judgment by the letter and spirit of God’s Word, the Bible. It declares, “Marriage is honorable in all, and the marriage-bed not impure.” (Hebrews 13:4.) St. Paul recommended that such of the Lord’s people as desired to give themselves, completely, to the Divine service would doubtless be able to accomplish their sacrifice joyfully by remaining unmarried. He tells his reason for this argument; but he does not say that the marriage state is unholy or impure or in any way contrary to God’s law. He merely declared that the married man, properly enough, would seek to please his wife, and that the married woman would, naturally and properly, seek to please her husband.
Thus, to be in the married condition would more or less take away from the singleness of purpose with which the individual would be able to serve God in body and in spirit. (1 Cor. 7:32-35.) St. Paul reminds the Church that he had found the single, or celibate, condition advantageous—that he was able to accomplish greater service than if he had been more or less mortgaged by the care of a companion and the necessary duties toward that one.
But St. Paul points out distinctly that there is no law of God to prohibit brothers and sisters in the Lord from marrying if they find, in their judgment, that this is the necessary or preferable thing in their cases—if they believe that thereby they can carry out their consecration vows the more acceptably.
We mention this because in some instances brethren and sisters, in counseling the unmarried, have been going beyond what is written—laying upon them burdens which the Lord has never declared—telling them that to marry means to lose the prize of our High Calling. Good intentions cannot justify one in such a course.
Additionally, we heard recently of a dear couple who have an infant child, which properly they very dearly love. The mother was shocked by some sisters intimating to her that it should be considered a disgrace to be a mother, in view of our expectation of great changes shortly.
We believe that those dear sisters made a mistake. They, of course, have a right to think for themselves and to shape their own courses in life according to their best judgment of the Lord’s will. But they have no right to censure others for having a different opinion on the subject. To his own Master each servant stands or falls. Nothing in the Bible speaks disrespectfully of either fatherhood or motherhood—quite to the contrary.
If, as the Apostle suggests, some of the Lord’s people mutually agree to live celibate lives, it is a matter of their own concern. If they thus make themselves eunuchs in the interests of the Lord’s cause, that they may have the more opportunity, energy and means to invest in the service of God, it is their sacrifice at their own option, and they are to look to the Lord for such reward as He sees best. But if it is their option and they are to be rewarded, we should remember that others have an equal option and may, if they think proper, take an opposite course without condemnation from us, and, indeed, without our feeling that we have even the least right to interfere with their social rights and privileges.
The Golden Rule is very helpful to us in our dealing with the brethren as well as in our dealings with the world. We should do toward others as we would that they should do toward us. We should grant them the same liberties that we think proper for ourselves.
We fear that some of our readers have not given sufficient attention to Chapter xii. of Vol. VI. of STUDIES IN THE SCRIPTURES, which examines this subject in detail.
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SOME INTERESTING LETTERS
EVIL SPIRITS AND THE EDITOR’S COMMENT
DEAR BROTHER IN CHRIST:—
Greetings in the name of our dear Redeemer and King. I take this opportunity of reporting to you what, to my mind, is a most remarkable manifestation of the fallen angels.
Some six weeks ago I started to do some Extension work in a private way, there being no class here.
Much interest was aroused, and four symbolized their consecration. Among these was a young man, Brother J. He grew rapidly, and gave all the evidences of begetting of the Holy Spirit.
One day he asked Brother B. if he had ever been bothered by the fallen angels. Brother B. said no; he never gave them an occasion, and asked Brother J. if he had ever been troubled.
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He said no; but thought he had seen something at his window, remarking that he had not been to the Lord with the matter.
That evening the friends were to have a testimony meeting at Brother B.’s house. Brother B. invited Brother J. to have supper with him. He did so. In the meantime they went out to do some chores, and while they were out Brother J.’s father came in and told those in the house that his son was going crazy. Brother J. went in and soon after was told what his father had said. He went back to Brother B. and told him about it. Then he stepped away out of sight to pray. When he came back he said it was all right.
The two then returned to the house, and Brother J. asked them if they thought they had ever had a trial. They said, Yes. He told them they had had no trial. He stepped away and lifted his hand as if to pray and said, “Listen!” Then he came back to them and said that they should not worry, everything was all right.
They then went to supper and Brother J. was asked to invoke the blessing. He had no more than finished when he jumped from the table and began to bounce over the room and scatter the furniture and to talk in an unknown tongue. This lasted about two minutes and then it left him. He said, “Isn’t this awful? they are trying to break down the Truth.” All suggested that they pray, and did so, Brother J. joining in. But he broke right out again.
When he is rational he says that it is the fallen angels; but his people think him crazy. He warned his wife against the evil spirits and said that they were very cunning, and he could not resist doing the things they told him to do. He remembers all he has done, but is in a stupor much of the time.
The whole country is worked up, and people have suddenly become very bitter against the Truth. Do you think this might be permitted more extensively, thus bringing reproach upon the Truth and the Lord’s people?
Should you have any suggestions to make, we would be very pleased to hear from you.
Your brother by His grace, BEN H. BOYD.
THE EDITOR’S REPLY
DEAR BROTHER:—
Your letter is before me. The case you relate is a sad one. I fully agree with you that Satan and all the fallen angels would be specially desirous of gaining an influence over those who espouse the cause of Present Truth. In proportion as we have the Truth and present it, we are their enemies, even as they are the enemies of the Lord and of the Truth. The only safe course for anybody, and especially anybody accepting Present Truth, is to follow the suggestions of the Vow. Whoever recognizes that there are only two masters—Christ and Satan—should resolve to have nothing whatever to do with anything that is of Satan.
Such should be as speedily as possible informed respecting the fallen angels and their constant endeavor to misrepresent the Truth and to injure humanity—especially the “children of
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the light.” They should be shown that all occult, spiritual influences are evil; that the holy angels indeed have a charge concerning the saints, but not to give them instruction of any kind. The Bible most explicitly declares that the Word of God is sufficient that the man of God may be thoroughly furnished. (2 Tim. 3:16,17.) We are not therefore to expect visions or revelations or any kind of communications from the Lord or the holy angels. We are to conclude that all such attempts to communicate with us are of the Adversary and to shun them accordingly.
In the instance you mention, Brother J. evidently yielded his will to some extent; else he would not have been entrapped. While obedient to the Lord, we are entirely safe—then the evil spirits cannot do us injury. “The wicked one toucheth him not.” But the slightest yielding of the will, as through curiosity, is dangerous, as those in insane asylums demonstrate. It is estimated that fully one-half of all those in insane asylums have no functional brain disorder, but are merely possessed of evil spirits.
In a case like that of Brother J. no time should be lost in doing everything possible for him. A brother who is in close fellowship with the Lord should be for a time his constant companion, continually stimulating him to courage in the exercise of his will in resisting the evil angels and in joining with him in prayer. If in spite of all these assistances the evil spirits still get him under their control, we advise that said companion exorcise the evil spirit in the name of the Lord—saying, “In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I command the evil spirit to depart from him and to enter him no more.”
Please read this letter to the brother and assure him of my sympathy.
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“THE TOWER” GROWS DEEPER AND SWEETER
DEARLY BELOVED BROTHER RUSSELL:—
The July 15th issue of THE WATCH TOWER has come to hand, and as usual it is full of helpfulness. I am unceasingly and increasingly thankful to the dear Father in heaven for the wonderful manner in which He has put His blessing upon you as you have sought to serve His flock through the pages of that precious journal. I count it a privilege to confess both privately and publicly that if I am one of those so favored as to be a sharer in the glory of the Kingdom, as I hope to be, the grace of God will have brought me there in large measure through the edifying influence of the articles in THE TOWER.
THE TOWER grows grander and its messages deeper and sweeter. As the Lord makes me to grow in grace in spite of all those infirmities in my flesh which would hold me back, the uplift each succeeding number of THE TOWER gives me becomes more and more apparent, and my prayers are multiplied for you in your labor of love. We appreciate it, dear Brother, and better still the Lord appreciates it, too.
In the current number of THE WATCH TOWER you quote some views which Prof. Flinders Petrie has given expression to, and I feared that some might infer that you wished to give emphatic endorsement to the Professor’s ideas. My first impression was that this was a wonderful truth, but when I went to compare it with the Bible the erroneousness of it was readily apparent. However, I know that you are too busily engaged to find time to look thoroughly into the many matters of secondary importance brought to your attention, and in addition it would be natural that in a thing of this kind we would suppose that Prof. Petrie would have gone carefully over it before putting forth such a theory. But I fear that he gave his views without sufficient study.
The extract from the July TOWER, page 216, is as follows:
“Prof. Flinders Petrie calls attention to the fact that the Hebrew word alaf is used in the Scriptures sometimes to mean a thousand, and at other times to signify a group, families, or tents, very much in the same way that we use the word regiment, as signifying a group of a thousand men, yet often far less in number, especially after a battle. Thus understood, the record, ‘Judah 74,600,’ would read, ‘Judah, seventy-four families, or tents, with six hundred men in all’; ‘so they set forward, every one after their families, according to the house of their fathers.’—Num. 2:34.”
Now it is true that the Hebrew word for a thousand is also sometimes used to signify a family or tribe, but it would be impossible to give it that application in the Pentateuch for the following reasons:
In the second chapter of Numbers we have the number of each of the twelve tribes given, but there is also given the sum of the numbers of the three tribes on each side of the tabernacle. If you figure up these statements it will be found that they are figured on the basis of thousands. The following table will illustrate it:
Tribe. Thousands. Hundreds.
Numbers 2:18,19. Ephraim . . . . .40 500
Numbers 2:20,21. Manasseh . . . 32 200
Numbers 2:22,23. Benjamin . . . . 35 400
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Numbers 2:24. Total . . . . . . . . .108,100
But according to Professor Petrie the total ought to be 107 families of 1,100 persons.
Another passage will serve to further illustrate it, viz., Num. 3:42-51. Here we are told that the number of the first-born are twenty-two thousand two hundred and seventy-three. Now it seems incredible that all the first-born were gathered together into twenty-two families; they must have been scattered all through the host of Israel. Then verses 46-50 indicate that there were 273 more first-born than Levites, but according to the interpretation of Prof. Flinders Petrie, 273 would be the whole number of the Israelites.
Other examples of this inconsistency are plentiful in the book of Numbers, but I believe these will suffice.
Please consider this not in the nature of an attempt at criticism, but merely as an humble effort to present facts which your busy life may have prevented you from following up.
The Lord continues very good to me in assisting me each day to glorify Him in the Pilgrim service. I realize that my efforts are very imperfect, but they are nothing like what they would be if I attempted this work in my own strength. Every day He is proving to me the faithfulness with which He keeps the promise that all things will be supervised by Him to our good, and that His grace will be sufficient.
With much Christian love, and wishing you many spiritual joys even in the midst of your earthly trials, I remain,
Yours by His favor, BENJ. H. BARTON.
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TIME SHORT FOR CULTIVATION OF FRUITS
DEARLY BELOVED BROTHER RUSSELL:—
On my arrival here last evening, THE WATCH TOWER for October 15, was received. A little later I read, with much interest, the leading article: “Resume of the Ending of the Times of the Gentiles.”
The writer is very much interested in this matter: (1) Because we are sure that we are right at the end of that period; and (2) because so many of the friends are now, more than ever, discussing that wonderful event—the termination of the “Times of the Gentiles.”
It is only natural and reasonable that the brethren should now be particularly interested in this question; for we are very close to the fulfilment of the prophecies which relate to the ending of that period and to the winding up of the present order of things.
Dear Brother, I wish to state here that your advice to WATCH TOWER readers in WATCH TOWER articles during the past two or three years, not to lay too much stress on any particular date, but to give special attention to character building, has had an excellent effect. Evidently the friends are coming to realize more and more that to cultivate the fruits of the Spirit is the principal thing; and that we need all the time remaining for that purpose—whether it shall prove to be one year, or two years, or less, or more.
And in the event of the Lord’s having permitted a slight mistake to be made, relative to the ending of the Gentile Times, or even the time when the last member of the Church shall be glorified, I do not think it would prove a stumbling-block to very many, if any, of the dear friends who are in Present Truth; for like you and myself, they are laying stress on their consecration to God for all Eternity—not to 1914 or to 1915.
Yours in His love, FRANK DRAPER.
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RESTITUTION SOLDIER BUGS
DEAR BROTHER RUSSELL:—
We have some of the beginnings of Restitution on our farm; and I thought that you might like to know about them.
We have a bug which destroys the potato bug, which has been such a pest of late years. This bug is called the soldier bug, and is really a kind of beetle. I am sending you in this same mail a specimen in a small box.
This “soldier bug” has red markings about the head, and a red shield-shaped mark on its back. It has a sword-like proboscis which it runs out, spears the potato bugs with, and sucks the juice out of them. It comes to the house to winter. There were several of these bugs on our potatoes this year. We had only a small patch, and we did not have to put a bit of Paris-green on them.
We overheard, when traveling one day, a conversation between two commercial travelers concerning this bug. The one said that the other day he was in a store and a farmer came in. The store-keeper asked him how many pounds of Paris-green he should need this year. “Oh, not a pound,” replied the farmer, “I have the soldier bugs at my place.” This same farmer, so the store-keeper said, had other years taken several pounds of Paris-green. Surely, this is Restitution!
This soldier bug is found here and there all through the country. It attacks the potato bug in both the larvae and the full-grown state.
Your sister in Christ, BESSIE TATE.
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GARDEN PEA-BEANS
DEAR BROTHER RUSSELL:—
Last spring a brother in the West sent me a supply of pea-beans, assuring me “they are very good.” I planted them in rows similar to pea-planting and find they bloom and bear continuously from early summer until cut by frost in the fall. We are still picking them for table use at this date, October 14.
We have more seed than we need. Am sending you a supply for such of THE TOWER readers as have garden space and may desire some to plant next spring. Should they wish to pay the postage on as many as you could apportion, that would, of course, be their privilege; I donate them.
I might state, the stalk resembles a bean stalk, but within the long pods are peas, and suitable for cooking in the pods green, or, after ripening, shelled. They are tender and taste unlike beans or peas. We all like them. Until nearly ripe the pods are stringless or nearly so.
In Christian love, your brother and servant in the Lord,
J. A. BOHNET.
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BEREAN QUESTIONS IN SCRIPTURE STUDIES
THE RESURRECTION INHERITANCE OF THE NEW CREATION
JANUARY 4
Read p. 699, par. 3, to p. 703, par. 1.
(12) After the resurrection of the Ancient Worthies, how may we expect the gradual resurrection of the world to proceed? P. 699, par. 3; P. 700, par. 1.
(13) Will it not be necessary for every member of the human race to go down into actual death before experiencing the resurrection? P. 700, par. 2; P. 701, par. 1.
(14) What reasonable suggestion has been made respecting the manner in which those of the world who have gone down into the tomb will be brought forth? P. 701, par. 2.
(15) Explain why the real meaning of the word resurrection has been lost sight of. P. 702, par. 1.
(16) From what Greek word is our English word resurrection derived, and what is its significance in the original? P. 703, par. 1.
JANUARY 11
Read p. 703, par. 2, to p. 706, par. 2.
(17) Who were the only two human beings that ever possessed life? And how are all the rest of mankind regarded from the Divine standpoint? P. 703, par. 2.
(18) What two conditions must be clearly kept in mind in order to fully appreciate the significance of the word anastasis? P. 704, par. 1.
(19) Is this word anastasis ever used in connection with the mere awakening of the dead? P. 704, par. 2, first seven lines.
(20) What is the popular but erroneous explanation of Hebrews 11:35, and what is the proper interpretation? P. 704, par. 2, 3; P. 705, par. 1.
(21) Does the word anastasis limit the resurrection process, to make it either instantaneous or gradual? Or does anastasis change the nature of the being resurrected? P. 706, par. 1.
(22) What was the experience of our Lord Jesus previous and subsequent to His anastasis, and what is the hope of the Church in this respect? P. 706, par. 2.
JANUARY 18
Read p. 707 to p. 710 par. 3.
(23) What will anastasis signify in the case of the natural man? and how will the resurrection of the Ancient Worthies differ from that of the rest of mankind? P. 707.
(24) What will be the process of anastasis as respects the Great Company? P. 707, foot note.
(25) Upon what will the anastasis or re-standing of the world as individuals depend? P. 708, par. 1.
(26) What Scripture clearly indicates how this passing from death to life will be accomplished? P. 708, par. 2; P. 709, par. 1.
(27) To whom does the expression, “They that have done good,” apply? And what will be the nature of their resurrection? P. 709, par. 2.
(28) Who are “They that have done evil“? And what kind of resurrection will they experience? P. 710, par. 1 to 3.
JANUARY 25
Read p. 711, par. 1, to p. 714, par. 2.
(29) Will the world’s trial correspond with the present methods of trying criminals in court? If not, how will it be conducted? P. 711, par. 1, 2.
(30) At what time during the world’s trial will obedience be required, and what will be the experience of those who positively refuse to make progress toward righteousness? P. 712, par. 1.
(31) What is the significance of the Scripture, “They that shall be counted worthy to attain that world and the resurrection”? (Luke 20:35.) P. 712, par. 2.
(32) What would be the disadvantages of an instantaneous resurrection to perfection for the world of mankind? P. 713, par. 1, 2.
(33) Explain the reasonableness, beauty and harmony of the Divine Plan for the world’s resurrection. P. 714, par. 1.
(34) Would it be reasonable to expect the awakened ones to come forth in exactly the same physical condition as when they went into death? P. 714, par. 2.
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