THE HERALD
of Christ's Kingdom
VOL. II. May 1, 1919 No. 9
Table of Contents
OUTLOOK
FROM THE WALLS OF ZION
SPLITTING
THINGS FINE
PROVING
ALL THINGS
THE
REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST
THE
GRACE OF GOD
REPENTANCE
MEMORIAL
REPORTS AND ENCOURAGING LETTERS
HYMNS
OF DAWN FOR JUNE
VOL. II. May 15, 1919 No. 10
Table of Contents
DANGER
IN SPIRITUAL PRIDE
LET
EVERY MAN BE PERSUADED IN HIS OWN MIND
THE
REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST
FAITH:
WHAT IT IS AND WHAT IT DOES
OBEDIENCE
ENCOURAGING
LETTERS
VOL. II. May 1, 1919 No. 9
TRULY our Master in the clearest
language possible depicted the scenes and circumstances through which humanity is passing
today, when, looking forward to His return to the earth and the conditions attending His
Second Advent, He said, "Upon the earth distress of nations with perplexity." --
Luke 21:25, 26.
While the dreadful struggle called
the world-war, which for more than four years has so sorely afflicted humanity and
civilization, is said to be ended, yet the world's sorrow continues on -- new problems,
new difficulties and troubles prolong the "distress of nations with perplexity,"
as evidenced by such news items as the following noted in the
Boston American of April 10, 1919:
"500 STRIKES AND RIOTS THUS FAR THIS YEAR
"Washington, April 10.-- Based
on information obtained in Washington, it is believed that more than 500 strikes, riots,
uprisings and the like have taken place in the topsy-turvy existence that the year 1919
has thus far seen. The number is abnormal and it is exclusive of the many wars now being
waged in Europe and Asia.
"The United States is not immune
from the unrest visible in all parts of the world, and which many persons ascribe in a
large measure to the seeming failure to obtain peace. Since the Peace Conference began its
analysis of the problems before it there have been over twenty major, strikes in this
country, affecting over 200,000 workers."
The chiefs and captains of the earth
having to do-with the guiding of the ship of state; who are not infrequently men of calm
reflection and keen foresight, realize the uncertainty of all things. Many of the
financial, social, civil and ecclesiastical rulers of earth recognize the inability of the
greatest minds to cope with the present situation, and therefore, feeling the 'gravity of
the situation, are causing to be fulfilled the further expression of the Savior,
"Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which
are coming on the earth."
It is pathetic indeed to note the
earnest, appeals made and the panacea and remedies offered to suffering humanity, by some
of -the world's good and great men; ignorant of the Divine purpose, and of the fact that
the Hand of Providence is in human affairs, would themselves, lead the world out of this
dark night of sorrow and suffering into the morning time of a hew day of eternal light,
joy and peace.
One of these is noted in an Editorial
of the New York American of April 8, 1919. After
reviewing the general situation in Europe, together with the new problems that are arising, and the storm clouds that
are still seen on the horizon, the following
remarkable and. significant statement is made, under the caption:
THE WORLD CAN BE MADE SAFE
ONLY BY PEACE BASED ON THE GOLDEN RULE
"Or do you, too, believe with
the foolish ones that these storms of revolution and earthquakes of anarchy can be stilled
by a few pious admonitions, by a few incantations of the old diplomacy, by orders to
soldiers to shoot down their fellows?
"Because if you do you are mad
with the madness of the other madmen, who can neither see nor hear the signs of the times,
though they are written as by the finger of God's own messenger across the sky that domes
the troubled world.
"The mighty forces which are
shaking the earth cannot be put down by force.
"You cannot shoot ideas to death
with bullets nor stop their forward march with trenches.
"Jails and penitentiaries and
cannon are useless against the invisible powers.
"There is only one way to arrest
the march of revolution, and that is to make conditions so much better that no
considerable number will want to revolt.
"The one impregnable,
invincible, sure defense against the wrath and despair of revolution is the Golden Rule.
"The conference at Paris would
have lived in history for a thousand years as the noblest assembly that ever met in all
the world's life had the leaders there gathered together possessed the courage, the wisdom
and the long foresight to have said to one another, as they looked upon the weary and
expectant peoples:
"'Let us do unto each of these as
we would that they do unto us.,
The logical conclusion is that the
writer of the-above statement believes that the world's hope lies in its acceptance of and obedience to the
Golden Rule. While appreciating deeply the desire and sentiment represented in this
proposed- remedy, we could -not share the belief that it is possible for the world to find its way out of this dark
night, through its efforts to practice the Golden Rule, as, this is not the Divine remedy
that God's Word proposes.
Still we have the words of others
who, no doubt, are just as welt, meaning as the
author of the above Editorial. This time the appeal
and the offer of a remedy is noted in an unusual -and attractive advertisement in
large letters, covering more than a half page of Brooklyn's largest newspaper, March 22, 1919,
under the striking caption:
"CHRIST OR CHAOS?"
"Labor and Capital, once at each
other's throats, are now both threatened by the Bolsheviki. Socialism awaits its day of
opportunity. Unemployment is increasing. Breadlines are prophesied. Between the alley and
the avenue a great chasm yawns. Nation is still set against nation. The principles and
practices of governments are in the, crucible.
"Science, culture, politics,
law, finance, education, sociology, and the armed forces of the world have proven
themselves inadequate to meet the world's needs--no matter how much inherent good they may
possess. Man's attempt to enforce the Golden Rule through systems and organizations, has
failed.
"The way to victory is through the
Church of Christ. The way to service is through the Cross of Christ. The way to peace is
through the Spirit of Christ, Christianity has not failed--it has not yet been tried!
PRESBYTERIANS THROUGHOUT AMERICA
have pledged themselves to a national
and world-wide program which has as its basis a supreme confidence in the principles of
Christ as the only means whereby the rule of Chaos shall be supplanted.
"Tomorrow, in all the Churches
an appeal will be made for a forty million dollar fund to make this program operative. New
York Presbyterians are responsible for a million of it.
"In raising this fund, we wish
our fellow- Christians and neighbors to understand that no sectarian spirit dominates, no
selfish purpose rules, no ulterior motive prevails, and that this campaign is engaged in
with the full approval and sympathy of all the national evangelical denominations."
The above is merely a small portion
of the appeal, but serves to show the drift of the proposed remedy, and the tendency of
thought in the great religious bodies of Christendom; that as they note the problems
confronting the nations of earth at the present hour, and that the clouds upon the world's
horizon speak of an impending crisis, they are disposed to settle down to the conviction
that the responsibility of averting this crisis rests with them, and that the Church
during her present career is commissioned to attempt to apply the power of Christianity,
so as to accomplish a victory for humanity and bring about its deliverance from the
present distress and the impending chaos.
Again we would say that while deeply
sympathetic with the purpose and intention of this mustering and mobilizing_ of the forces
of ecclesiasticism, yet we must dissent entirely from their logic, their claims and
conclusions; being fully confident that we should look for the world's -deliverance from
its present distress, its slavery to sin and death, to come, not through any human
ingenuity, nor through the efforts of the Church in the flesh, for she has never been
commissioned to undertake that great work yet, but through the Divine interposition of the
Kingdom of Christ (Christ and the Church
glorified), for which Jesus taught His followers
to pray.
As for the world's deliverance
through the application of the Golden Rule, were we sure that those who propose this
remedy were inspired, or, were we sure that in their reasoning they had gathered up the
spirit and essence of Divine revelation on this subject, we would in either case lose all
the hope we now entertain for the glorious future.
THE GOLDEN RULE HELPLESS
It is over eighteen centuries since
our Master promulgated the Golden Rule; and His disciples and followers for all these centuries have preached
it. His words have been translated into every language under, heaven, and yet, at this
moment, how extremely few there are of the world's population of fifteen hundred millions
who practice this rule! Nay, how few there are even ,of our Master's professed followers
who make 'any pretense at governing their actions, their words and their thoughts by this
Golden Rule! Let the answer come from every quarter-from the nations of Christendom, from
the business men and manufacturers, from the mechanics and laborers, from the home
circles, where selfishness mars everything, and, finally, from the Churches professedly
advocating the Golden Rule. How much we see of slander, anger, malice, hatred,
selfishness, meanness; how little we see of any effort to control these in the lives of
professed Christians; and how little reason we have, therefore, to suppose that the rule
is observed in their hearts.
And yet, if the Editorial above
represents the wisdom of a true prophet, or if it voiced the testimony of the Bible
prophets, the only hope of deliverance lies in man's acceptance of this Golden Rule which
has met with such slight acceptance for more than eighteen' centuries. Must we then
abandon hope of the world's deliverance? Can there be, no Millennium until all mankind, or
a majority at least, shall have voluntarily accepted the Golden Rule, and brought their
hearts and lives into conformity therewith? If so, we fear the Millennial dawn will never
come. Reason and logic can reach no other conclusion than this.
But
we will not give up hope, for we have "a more
sure word of prophecy," to which
"we do well to take heed, as unto a light which shineth in a dark place, until the
day dawn." (2 Pet. 1:19.) We are still in the dark place; sin and selfishness still
abound; the Golden Rule does not control; we see no evidence of a general acceptance of
it; but the more sure word of prophecy foretold this very condition, foretold that the
present would be a dark time, and foretold that a glorious dawn would come. We do well
indeed to take heed to the prophetic testimony respecting what great light will usher in
the Golden Age.
So far from telling us that the
Golden Age will come by the adoption of the Golden Rule among the inhabitants of the
earth, the more sure word of prophecy tells us to the contrary, that the Golden Rule will
come more and more into disrepute; and that the
rule of selfishness and sin will abound; and that the result thereof will be a total
wreck of present institutions, in a time of trouble such as was not since there was a
nation (Dan. 12:1), a time of anarchy, brought on by the neglect of the Golden Rule; a
time in which "every man's hand shall be against his neighbor; and there shall be no
peace to him that goeth out nor to him that cometh in."--Zech.
8:10.
GOD'S KINGDOM THE WORLDS HOPE
This same sure word of prophecy
leaves us not to grope on in doubt and fear, but assures us that beyond the coming trouble
Immanuel shall reign-that He will set up His Kingdom upon the ruins of the present selfish
institutions and systems which will then be ground to powder and become "as the chaff
of the summer threshing-floors." (Dan. 2:35.). It informs us that Immanuel will
establish His Kingdom by means of this time of trouble, and indeed that the trouble itself
will be His judgment against sin and selfishness, against the neglect of the Golden Rule
which He laid down, and that He will break in pieces and consume all these present
institutions, and establish in the earth a Kingdom of righteousness, whose law will be the
law of Love-the Golden Rule.
In harmony with this is the testimony
of the more sure word of prophecy that, "When the judgments of the Lord are abroad in the earth [producing the great
time of trouble], the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness." (Isa.
26:9.) They will learn the inexpediency of sin and selfishness, and that thereafter under
Divine direction, under the rule of the Heavenly Kingdom (Christ and His Church, in
spiritual power and glory), no other laws or rules than the Golden Rule shall be
permitted; and under its glorious administration, the prophetic testimony is, "the
whole earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of God, as the waters cover
the great deep;" so that it shall no longer be necessary to say one to the other,
"Know thou the Lord!" because "all shall know Him, from the least to the
greatest."--Jer. 31:34; Heb. 8:11.
This is the glorious day, foretold by
Moses and by the Apostle Peter, when the great Prophet, Priest and King -- the Christ --
shall rule the world in righteousness, and execute justice in the earth; when He shall
lift up also the poor and the needy and him that hath no helper, and lay justice to the
line and righteousness to the plummet, and bless all the families of the earth with the
knowledge of the Lord and with the opportunity, if they will, to come into harmony with
Him and to obtain the gift of God, eternal life, through Jesus Christ, our Lord: while all
who reject the grace of God and the New Covenant shall be destroyed from among the people,
in the Second Death.-Acts 3:22, 23.
Let all those who desire the Truth,
and who desire to have its sanctifying influence upon their hearts and lives, gives the
less heed to earthly prophets and wise men and women, however good they may be, and give
the more earnest heed to the "more sure word of prophecy; whereunto they do well that
they take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn."
Neither logically nor Scripturally is
there ground for hope for man's uplift except in the institution of the Kingdom of Christ,
for which He taught us to pray, "Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is
done in heaven." Not only is this Kingdom the world's
hope, but it is also the Christian's hope; he hopes to become a joint-heir with his
Redeemer in that Kingdom. And, "he that hath this hope in him, purifieth himself,
even as He is pure."--1 John 3:3.
As presenting what we believe to be a
saner hope, and in marked contrast with the
two remedies above proposed in the foregoing extracts, it is refreshing to note the
following, clipped from The Sunday School Times
of Philadelphia, Pa., October 5, 1918, said to have a large circulation:
"SHALL WE PRAY FOR THE WORLD'S CONVERSION?
"What
ought to be our prayer with regard to the conversion of the world? One has heard so much
of 'The world for Christ in this generation,' and the thought and prayer that the whole
world shall be converted. Yet it always seems to me such a hopeless prayer, and I have
often wondered whether we had any grounds for believing that such a prayer would be
answered.--A Reader in Kent, England.
"It is God's purpose to convert
the world. God loved the world and He sent His Son to save the world. There will come a
glad day when the world and they that are therein will be wholly Christ's. It is right
that every Christian should pray for the hastening of that day.
"But that glad day will not come
in this generation, nor in 'this qge. Not even
in the Kingdom reign of Christ, [?] which we call the Millennial Age, will this complete
conversion of the world take place. Each of these ages carries forward God's great Plan of
redemption for the race. The central purpose of the present age is the calling out of an
elect body called the Church. The Word of God distinctly reveals that the world will not,
and cannot, be converted in this age. To pray that it may, is, indeed, a hopeless prayer.
Worse than that, it bars the way to effective praying that God's real purpose in this age
be carried out.
"'I pray not for the world,' our
Lord said to the Father, 'but for those 'whom thou hast given me.' (John 17:9.) Not that
Jesus cared not for the world, but His way of blessing the world is through those whom the
Father is giving Him. When Paul went into a new city he did not pray for the conversion of
all in the city. He never talked of 'taking Athens, or Ephesus or Rome, for Christ.' Paul
was suffering persecution at Corinth, but he remained to evangelize it, not convert it,
because in a vision God said to him, 'I have much people in this city.'--Act 18:10.
"It confuses our praying and our
service to misunderstand God's Plan of the Ages, and to expect in one age a development
which He in His wisdom has reserved for a future time."
The above is, in general harmony with
our own view and indicates, we are glad to believe, that some, at least, are awakening to
a sense of the Truth as presented in the "Divine Plan of the Ages." It is
evident that the writer has been making deep and earnest inquiry into what saith the
Scriptures, and has been giving less heed to human philosophy and speculation on the sub -
ect of the world's betterment and hope. He, with other earnest searchers after the Truth,
recognize that groaning humanity awaits God's due time and remedy for its enlightenment
and ultimate deliverance and uplift-during the times of restitution of all things.
JEWRY'S "NATIONAL HOME"
The attention of the world continues
to be drawn toward developments, looking in the direction of some provision for the Jewish
people to be established in their own land. Bible students, of course, feel a special
interest in the matter, from the standpoint of the prophetic Word. We quote the following
from The Boston Herald, March 17, 1919:
"As the peace conference approaches the final stage of its
-reat task the outlook for Zionism grows more definite as well as more hopeful. Opinion
among the plenipotentiaries is visibly in favor of entrusting the administration of
Palestine, as distinct from Syria, to a mandatory of the league of nations. with the
provision that the selected power, while promoting development among the various races of
the new state, shall hold the balance even between them. There is no desire in any of the
Zionist councils that either ethnic or religious interests shall be disregarded in the
forthcoming settlement. It is in accordance with their expressed wish that the Christian
shrines must be vested forever in a Christian body, and that the Mohammedan holy places,
especially the Mosque of Omar at Jerusalem, shall be scrupulously respected. There is thus
no possibility of friction over questions of faith, nor under the care of an unprejudiced
mandatory will there be any danger of a clash between the race aspirations of Arab and
Jew. And the very appointment of a mandatory will do away once for all with the
supposition, sometimes used to disparage Zionism, that the adherents of the movement seek
to establish a Jewish government in the Holy Land.
"Meanwhile both the limitations
and the opportunities of the Zionist movement are being made clear. Recent estimates show
that there are about 14,000,000 Jews in the world, and that not more than 2,000,000 of
these could hope to support themselves in Palestine. Just before the war the Jews,
numbering 120,000, formed about one-fifth of that country's population, but the total was
reduced during the struggle to 100,000 Partly owing to voluntary emigration, partly to
deportation by the Turks and ravages of the typhoid epidemic in the last year of the
Turko-German occupation. A large influx of Jews is sure to follow the conclusion of peace,
and that the newcomers will be gladly welcomed does not admit of a doubt. Themselves
ardent Zionists, the Jewish settlers in Palestine have dotted the land so long cursed by
Turkish misrule with prosperous and forward. looking communities, Agriculture has been
promoted, industries established and education provided for; one colony made up of Jews
who migrated from Russia 'and Arabia has adopted Hebrew as its vernacular tongue and
issues newspapers in that language. It is to the furtherance of this work, with fresh
recruits to help it onward, that the funds contributed by Zionist organizations in all parts of the world are to be devoted. And
under the new auspices Palestine cannot fail to build on foundations of economic
prosperity that higher life which has been Jewry's aspiration and goal through the
centuries."
In line with the above, and as showing the recent quickening and
activity in the land of promise, the following,
from the Correspondence, of the Associated Press, is
of interest:
"JEWISH CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY
HAS BEEN CALLED IN PALESTINE
"Jerusalem, Feb. 15.--A call to
a Constituent Assembly of Palestine Jewry approved by the British Government in April,
1918 has been sent out by the Zionist Commission in Palestine. All Jews of both sexes who
have reached their twentieth year .-re entitled to vote and all who have reached their
twentyfourth year are eligible for election. One of the other qualifications necessary for
candidates is that they will be able to read, write and speak Hebrew.
"Its two delegates to the peace
conference were instructed to urge: 'That the Powers should nominate Great Britain as
their representative or trustee and should confer on it the government of Palestine with a
view to aiding the Jewish people in building its commonwealth.
"'That an executive council
should be nominated by Great Britain in agreement with the World Zionist Organization
representing the entire Jewish people.'
"There
has been great activity among the Jews of Palestine since Gen. Allenby freed it from the
Turk. Efforts are being concentrated on procuring agricultural machinery, the purchase of
livestock, and development of credit facilities, while
the American Zionist Medical Unit is establishing hospitals and medical aid stations
in the colonies. Everyone seems inspired with the hope that a splendid era of prosperity
of big agricultural, industrial and commercial enterprises are about to open out. AL
society Of Jewish
engineers has been recently started which is working with societies of Zionist engineers
in Russia and the United States."
This reviving of the hope of God's
chosen people and the prospect of their early reorganization
in the land long-promised to their fathers, serves indeed to encourage the confidence
of the faithful watchers in these latter days. Both Prophet and Apostle, as well as our
Lord, have assured us that this. restoration must come,
and that 1
will occur in connection
with the conclusion of this Age and the establishment of the Kingdom of God. Let us indeed
lift up our heads!
[Reprint from
our Pastor's writings]
CONTEMPORARY, The Christian, says:
"Some one, speaking
of the different classes of Presbyterians, describes them as the 'U.Ps,' 'R.Ps' and 'split Ps.' The United States Census Bulletin shows
how sectarianism runs to, seed in America. In the United States there are about a hundred and forty different religious denominations. Among
Presbyterians there are, 'The Presbyterian Church in the United States of America,' and
'The Presbyterian Church in the United States,' and four branches of 'Reformed
Presbyterians,' and half a score of other
brands of Presbyterians. There are four bodies calling themselves 'Brethren,' which are
noted as, I, II, III, IV. There is the 'The Reformed Church of America/ and 'The Reformed
Churches in the United States.' There are some twenty kinds of Methodists, and a number of
kinds of Baptists, among which are mentioned the 'Six-Principle Baptists,' the 'River
Brethren,' the 'Primitive,' the 'Free-Will,' the 'Original Free-Will,' the 'General' and
the 'General Free-Will Baptists,' to say nothing of the 'Self-Will Baptists' of which the
colored brother spoke. Among the Societies of the 'Friends' are the 'Orthodox,' the
'Hicksite,' the 'Wilburite' and the 'Primitive.' The Lutherans have seventeen or eighteen
distinct organizations. The Mennonites, with 41,000 communicants, have a dozen different
branches. The people who specially claim to be looking for the Lord, and who have adopted
the name 'Adventists,' are divided into half a dozen sects, -each with their
denominational organizations; and so men divide until it almost seems as if they would
divide a man before they are done. . . . "Said Dr. Philip Schaff, speaking on this
subject, 'By persecuting, abusing, and excommunicating each other, the Churches do cruel
injustice to their common Lord and ,His followers. They contract His Kingdom and His
power. They lower in form His kingly throne to the headship of a 'party or school. They
hate those whom He loves and for whom He died; they curse those whom He blesses they
violate the fundamental law of His gospel.'
"One result of this state of
things is, that many devout men are unattached to any of these denominations. They love
the Lord, and, like the Psalmist, desire to be companions of 'all them that fear God;' but
they cannot tie themselves or bind themselves to any single sect or body -of people, nor
are they ready to -accept the creeds and confessions which are, in many cases, imposed as
prerequisites to membership in these denominations. Nor are they willing to bear the
unscriptural and sectarian names which have been imposed upon the Christians, either as
the nicknames of scoffing enemies, or the sectarian badges of men who aspire to
leadership, and desire to impose their label upon their followers as the marks by which
they know their sheep, as distinguished from the
tokens by which the Lord knows His.
"Among the men who have given
expression to this dislike of the denominationalism of the day, may be mentioned Abraham
Lincoln, who, though in former years skeptical, during his presidential career gave
evidence of faith in God and a devout desire to serve Him, but still remained unconnected
with any denomination. To H. C. Deming, of Connecticut, he said:
"'When any Church will inscribe
over its altar, as its sole qualification for membership, the Savior's condensed statement
of the substance of both law and gospel, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all
thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and thy neighbor as
thyself," that Church will I join with all my
heart and all my soul."'
But often even those who seem to see
that something is wrong with nominal "churchianity," fail to see in what the
real wrong consists, and what is the true remedy.
Was it wrong for Protestants to
secede from Roman Catholicism? No!
Was it wrong for John Wesley's
followers to secede from the Protestant Episcopal Church, when they conscientiously
believed that they were moving in the right direction? No!
Is it wrong for any man or company of
men to obey conscientiously their understanding of the teachings of God's Word and the
leading of His providence-even if it make ten thousand splits? Certainly not!
How then can we harmonize these
rights and duties of men to split up, with the central thought of the unity of the Church
as expressed in our Redeemer's prayer, when He said, "I pray not for the world, but for those whom thou hast given
me-that they all may be one, even as thou Father and I are one?"
We answer, that our Lord had no
reference to any earthly organization, sect or denomination. He referred to the true Church, whose names are written in heaven; and His words cannot
properly be applied to any other.
So far as the splitting up is
concerned, we may surprise some by declaring that in our view it has not gone far enough.
Each split represented a conflict between truth and error; and the error, darkness and
ignorance of Papacy's enforced "union"
of the eighth to the fifteenth centuries was so
dense as to require all the splitting and reforming
that has followed the breaking of its power, and more too; for the-work of reform still
lacks much of completion. We hope and labor that the good work of reforming and protesting
against errors may go on and on, until each
individual Christian will rest his faith (not in a denomination, large or small), but personally and individually in the Redeemer, and be united to
Christ Jesus, the Head, as a member of His Body--the only true Church.
For the past five centuries the Truth
(strangled and bound hand and feet and buried by Anti-Christ in false creeds and systems)
has been gradually awaking and struggling, and with some success, to get back to the light
and life and liberty wherewith the true Christ made it free. Yet friends as well as foes
have fought against this proper effort persistently; denouncing every reformer and
liberty-lover, complimenting all who oppose reform, and tying on new "union"
bandages as rapidly as possible.
As the good work of getting free from
the fetters of human bondage and error progresses, it is like taking the outer shells off
a nut and getting at the meat, the kernel, the valuable part, which is of very different
shape and substance from the original outward appearance. So the cracking and splitting up
of the Papal system not only threw off an outer repulsive system of superstition and
immorality, but cracked the inner shell of unscriptural sectarian bondage in error; and
the cracking and-picking operation must progress, as it has progressed, until every atom
of the real meat of the nut is freed from the shell.
Stripped of the outer shells, we now
see that the true Church is not composed of
two hundred millions of professors, but instead is a "little flock" of fully
consecrated believers, among whom are not many great or wise or noble or rich according to
the estimate of this world. And we find the faith of this true Church as different from
that of the mass as its numbers are different. It has three steps to which none of the
true Church can object-(l) justification through faith in the precious blood of Christ;
(2) Consecration in thought, word and deed to God and His cause as best they understand;
(3) Growth in grace, knowledge and love.
Standing thus free, untrammeled by
human creeds and bondages, but personally united to Christ, each will find in the other
"members of the body of Christ," an affinity; fellowship and love will unite
them in the only "union" that is not
injurious-union in Christ, to whom, as living "branches" in the Vine, each is
personally united.
But such liberty will not mean
anarchy and disorder; for the wisdom that cometh from above which is "first pure,
then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full! of mercy and good fruits," no
less than the words and example of our Lord through His apostles, will instruct them as to
a propriety of order in their assemblies, for the benefit of all.
The physical union of the Church, the entire Body of
Christ, will be in glory-at the completion of the First Resurrection; for "we
ourselves also groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption; to wit, the redemption
[deliverance] of our body"--the Body of
Christ.--Rom. 8:23.
Meantime let this "splitting
things fine" continue; and let each individual Christian seek to be no longer a babe
in Christian experience and knowledge, but to attain the stature of manhood in Christ.
(Eph. 4:13-15.) Too long, has assent to human creeds taken the place of individual faith!
Too long has membership in a popular or am unpopular denomination satisfied the conscience
and taken! the place of a personal covenant and union with the Redeemer. Too long have
many lords, many faiths and, many baptisms taken the place of the one Lord, one faith: and
one baptism, once delivered to the saints.
Such a splitting up of creeds
and systems has been necessary to set free the Lord's "sheep," to prepare a
cleansed sanctuary class truly united in Christ.--See Millennial Dawn, Vol. III, Chapter
4.
[Reprint from our Pastor's writings]
Question.-Will you kindly explain
what the Apostle meant by this text: "Prove all things; hold fast that which is
good"?--1 I Thess. 5:21.
Answer.-Proving all things would
signify the testing of them. But we could not take the words all things in
the very broad sense, for this would involve an absurdity. We have not time to test
all things in the absolute sense; for instance, we
have not time to test all kinds, of foods, nor
even all kinds of breakfast foods that are advertised. Neither would it be wise to do
so. Nor does it refer to all things along other lines we might mention. Evidently such was not the Apostle's intention.
What, then, did the Apostle mean? Did he mean to prove everything in the Scriptures? We
answer, No; for, at the time he wrote this, the Scriptures were not yet canonized. The
different books-of the old Scriptures were not then equally acceptable to the Church. We do not know a better guide or standard than the Word
of God by which to prove things; but to our
understanding the Apostle did not have any of these things specially in mind. It seems to
us that he meant, Use your judgment, your reason, in respect to everything.
The Lord does not wish His people to
be guided in any sense as a horse with a bit, or a ship with a rudder. But He appeals to their minds and judgment,
not only through the Scriptures, but also through their experiences in life through
His providences. We learn certain lessons respecting God from our daily living, or we ought to do so. If we have proved that certain
courses of conduct are injurious, we should profit by these experiences. If we have made a
mistake, we should profit by the mistake. If we have had some blessing, we should profit
by that
We should not be swayed by what some
one desires us to, do, but we should "count the cost," as Jesus says. We should
be guided by reason, seeking to read the will of God through the providences of life, its
experiences, an& through the Word of God. To our
understanding, therefore, the Apostle meant by this statement that God's people should be
reasonable, rational people, and should' use their
very best judgment as to what they accept or reject.
To give an illustration: Suppose
someone had cometo those of the early Church, before they had the Bible,. before they had
the Scriptures, and had said to them, "Your God intends to torture eternally nine
hundred'. and ninety-nine out of every thousand of His creatures. This is a revelation
from God."
These persons should and would have
rejected such teaching as being contrary to all that the Church knew, about God.
If anyone tells us something
derogatory to the character of another we should
reject it and decline to hearunless proved by Scriptural
methods. And no time should be-wasted on the matter, believing nothing derogatory until it is forced
upon us. The Lord's people should', not receive what they may hear without proper
examination. They should prove what they hear and
should use good judgment as to what is supported by the Scriptures. The end for which they
should prove what they hear is that they may hold
fast everything that stands the test applied by
the Divine Word and proves to be in accord with the Holy Spirit; and whatever will not
stand these, tests should be promptly rejected by
them.
SERIES IX
THE SEVEN TRUMPETS
"'And Those Seven Angels Having
the Seven Trumpets prepared themselves that they might sound them."--Rev. 8:6.
Diaglott.
IN the preceding article of this
series, we considered the vision of Rev. 8:5, of the Angel having the golden censer filled
with fire which He cast to the earth. This Angel, as we have seen, could apply to none
other than Christ. The fiery judgments on the Jewish nation were the fulfillment of the
symbol, and resulted finally in the complete overthrow of the Jewish polity. The City ,of
Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed by the Romans in the years 70 and 73 A.D.;
however, it was not until 135 A.D. that their subjection was fully accomplished. This
latter date marked the last attempt of the Jews to free themselves from the Roman yoke,
and resulted in terrible slaughter. We will therefore look for the events symbolized by
the first trumpet, some time after 135 A.D.
Concerning, in a general way, our Pastor's understanding ,of the significance of the seven
trumpets, we quote:
"The seven trumpets of
Revelation are all symbolic, and .represent seven great periods of time, and their events.
'The examination of these we leave for a subsequent volume. Suffice it here to say that we
find ourselves today in the midst of the very events which mark the sounding ,of the
seventh trumpet. The great voices, the increase of .knowledge, the angry nations, etc.,
taken in connection with time prophecies, establish this as a fact. Many events .are yet
to transpire before this seventh or last trumpet ceases to sound; as, for instance, the
rewarding of the -saints and prophets, the resurrection of all the dead, etc. .In fact, it
covers the entire period of the Millennial reign ,of Christ, as indicated by the events
which are to transpire under it."--Rev. 10:7; 11:15, 18.--Vol. II, p. 148.
"The events mentioned under the
preceding six trumpets of Revelation refer to humanity's doings, while the seventh refers
specially to the Lord's work, and covers the Day of
the Lord."--Vol. II, p. 148.
The events referred to in the
symbols, described as ,occurring in connection with the sounding of the seventh trumpet,
are quite fully unfolded in, the writings of our Pastor,' and are indicated as beginning
their fulfillment Over forty years ago. However, all that we have in his writings
concerning the first six, is contained in the several brief statements in the above
quotations. These are:
(1) The fulfillment of the symbolic
occurrences described in connection with the sounding of these trumpets covers great
periods of time and their events.
(2) That the six refer to humanity's
doings, distinguished from the seventh, which refers to the doings of the Lord.
SYMBOLICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF ANGELS AND TRUMPETS
In regard to the general significance
of angels and what they may represent, it is important that we keep in mind the following:
"The mighty angels, messengers,
or agents of His power, are various, and may properly be understood as applying to and including all the various agencies, animate and
inanimate, which shall be used by our Lord in the overthrow of evil systems of the
present, and in the chastisement of evil doers."--Vol. II, p. 151.
More than this, let the reader
carefully consider that the sounding of trumpets in the Scriptures occurs in connection
with movements in the world which bring
enlightenment, liberty and deliverance from error, superstition and oppression. The
blowing of trumpets by the priests of ancient Israel, announcing the year of Jubilee,
brought liberty from bondage, a recovery of rights and a restoration of families to their
original inheritances.
(Lev. 25.) This significant event in
Israel's history, occurring every fiftieth year, foreshadowed or typified the ".times
of restitution" for all mankind, the great antitypical Thousand-year Day of Jubilee.
The blowing of the trumpets by the priests of Israel announcing their Jubilee typified the
sounding of the seventh trumpet of Revelation. This is the interpretation of our Pastor:
"In the type, the trumpet of
Jubilee was to be sounded when the Jubilee year began, to proclaim liberty throughout all
the land, unto all the inhabitants thereof. (Lev. 25:10.) The antitype [times of
restitution] is ushered in with the sounding of the (symbolic) 'Seventh Trumpet,' the
'Trump of God,' the 'Last Trump.' It is indeed the great trumpet; it announces liberty to
every captive; and while at first it means the surrender of many expired claims and
privileges, and a general time of disturbance and unsettling of usages, habits, etc., its
full import, when rightly appreciated, is 'good tidings of great joy which shall be to all
people.'"--Vol. 2, p. 197.
With these impressions in mind as to
the symbolical significance of angels and trumpets, we begin our inquiry as to the
significance. of the sounding of the seven trumpets referred to in the verse at the head
of this article.
PAGANISM EARLY ANTAGONIZES CHRISTIANITY
The history of the Gospel Age has
disclosed a number of great evil, religious systems. One of these, that of Paganism, was
in existence at the time the Church was established in the world. It continued to be the
national religion of the Roman Empire for about two centuries. Others, especially the
Papal system, have risen and prospered since. In harmony with the Scriptural
interpretation of the sounding of trumpets, and keeping in mind that the first six refer
to man's doings, in connection with his efforts to
liberate the world from error and superstition, we believe it a reasonable conclusion
that the events connected with the visions which record the sounding of these six
trumpets, apply to movements associated with
both the rise and weakening of these false religious systems. We believe it also
reasonable to expect that these movements would be associated with a proclamation of some
features of gospel truth, exposing erroneous and superstitious ideas concerning God and
His dealings with mankind. These revelations of truth have gradually weakened the hold and
influence of these false systems upon humanity. This method of interpreting the
occurrences depicted under the six trumpets, is in perfect harmony with that of the
seventh; the difference is that the seventh, being the "trump of God," would bring full light and liberty--a
complete deliverance for both the Lord's saints and all mankind.
Keeping in mind, also, the fact that
Christ had given to Him previous to this, all power to carry out the Father's purposes,
enables us to see that these symbolical events represent Christ exerting that power in
shaping and overruling the events of history, for the accomplishment of the Divine
purposes for this Gospel Age-that of calling, disciplining
and developing the "little flock" of joint-heirs for the future heavenly
Kingdom, permitting, when it was necessary to the success of this purpose, the evil
systems to rise and prosper; and on the other hand, when the prosperity of these evil
systems would be detrimental to this end, to cause their weakening or overthrow. Looking
at the matter from this standpoint, we are enabled to understand how it was that faithful
children of God were permitted to come in contact with these false religious systems.
Paganism was the first great enemy of
truth and righteousness, that misrepresented God's character and opposed the Church's
testimony during and after the Apostolic Age. This was, in a particular sense, the
religion that Satan had introduced, and had used to deceive mankind for long centuries.
The testimony of the Truth was to have two effects: First, the drawing of those
individuals who would receive it gladly into good and honest hearts, and cause such to
bear fruit to the glory of God; and Second, to exert an indirect influence in enlightening
the world, and to some extent delivering from error and superstition. The Church's
testimony to the Truth would of necessity bring opposition and persecution from the Pagan
priests, and this would be overruled by Christ to keep her pure, and to discipline and
develop her for her future station. It - would also be true that many of the world who
would become enlightened would themselves engage in the conflict of overthrowing
superstition and error. We find that history records that this was so. Most naturally this
would bring a temptation to the Lord's followers to unite with these in this conflict, and
thus have their efforts diverted from heavenly to earthly thingsfrom spiritual things to
human things. This is exactly what Aid occur, and all but a few of the Lord's followers
lost sight of their true mission. The Pagan priests and their followers were very bitter
in antagonizing pure Christianity, and early resorted to extreme measures to accomplish
its extermination. Thus was introduced a great conflict between Christianity and Paganism.
This conflict continued with almost unabated fury for nearly two centuries, until the
so-called conversion of Constantine, the Roman Emperor, in the early part of the Fourth
Century--about 313 A.D. At this time Paganism as a national religion began gradually to be
overthrown, and a counterfeit of true Christianity soon after became the religion of the
Roman Empire.
THE OVERTHROW OF PAGANISM
This overthrow of Paganism in the
Roman Empire and the establishment of Christianity (?) as the religion of the Empire is
thus referred to by the Historian:
"Under Constantine, 324-337 A.D.,
as all the world knows, occurred the greatest revolution in Roman history since the birth
of Christ, viz.: the establishment of Christianity as the religion of the State. . . .
From this time on, the political fortunes. of the Empire possess only a secondary
interest; it is the struggles of the Christian sects and the rise of - the Roman Catholic
Church that mainly attract the attention of the Historian. . . . Christianitv, however,
came too late to save the ancient civilization."-- Mosheim's Church History.
From the accession of Constantine to
the throne of the Roman Empire (476 A.D.), with one exception, all the Emperors professed
the Christian religion. Bible students understand this period to be the one in which the
nominal Church united to the State, and thus fell, away from primitive simplicity and
purity. It was the period in which Papacy (Anti-Christ) gradually developed. By
,compromise with the worldly spirit, the professed Church overthrew the system of
Paganism, and in a sense made Christianity (in name) the State religion; only to, have
seductively introduced into her communion a paganized idolatrous. worship. All this,
however, was permitted to ,come and was overruled by Christ to test and develop the 41
elect" class, the
"little flock."
THE FALLEN CHURCH
Here we quote a late eminent
expositor as bearing on this point:
"For more than two hundred years
the Church did remain true to her heavenly citizenship, counting herself a stranger in the
earth, and looking for the Lord from heaven. Her uplifted gaze and unworldly attitude were
such conspicuous features of the early Church that even unbelieving Historians like Gibbon
have noted them and 'dwelt upon them with quite a suppressed admiration. The bloody
persecutions which reigned from Nero to Diocletion, only confirmed her hope-earthly
disfranchisement making heavenly citizenship more real and dear. But now the perilous
trial of peace was to be encountered. Will the Church endure the test of imperial
patronage, as she has borne the test of imperial persecution? [The facts of history prove
that the "little flock" of joint-heirs were the only ones who stood true to
Christ under both these conditions.]
"If we look upon that famous
assembly, the Council of Nicea (A.D. 325), what a clear dividing line does it present
between the old and the new-between the Church heavenly that had been, and the Church
earthly that was to be! Here on the one hand were the successors of the Apostles, bearing
in their bodies the marks of the Lord Jesus, their maimed limbs and sightless eyes, and
marred visages telling most expressively, how up to that time, the servants of Jesus had
been 'filling up that which is behind of the sufferings of Christ for His Body's sake,
which is the Church.'
"But here on the other hand in
strange contrast with these, was that central figure, arrayed in rich robes and seated in
a golden chair in the midst of the assembly, Constantine, the head of the Church. 'What
gain to our cause,' whispered ambitious bishops, 'that now we have a Christian Emperor who
will throw over us the shield of his protection, and defend the orthodox faith with the
sword!' 'Alas, what loss!' might have sighed the angels as they witnessed the nuptials of
the Bride of Christ with the kings of the earth."
It seems inconceivable that events
fraught with such vast importance in connection with the movements of humanity in history,
and in the testimony and development of the "little flock" of joint-heirs, would
be passed by in these trumpet symbols, without being prominently mentioned. It is a fact
that the events themselves, as well as the particular epoch in which.they occurred,
together with what we would expect would be the subject matter, fits most perfectly the
symbols of this first trumpet, which we now consider.
THE FIRST TRUMPET
"And the First sounded his
trumpet, and there was Hail and Fire, mingled with Blood, and they were thrown on the
Earth; and the Third of the Earth was burnt up, and the Third of the Trees was burnt up,
and all green Grass was burnt up."--Rev. 8:7. Diaglott.
This symbol is drawn from the material
world, and is that of a terrific storm of hail and fire (lightning) in connection with
which the lightning flashes were incessant and, as such storms are accompanied by winds,
spreading destruction over the earth, burning the grass and the trees. the great hail and
fire storm of this first trumpet is *destructive in its work and fittingly depicts the influences that worked together to cause the
overthrow of the Pagan civilization. These influences had their rise in the symbolical
heavens of Christianity. Hail represents in this
instance those sharp cutting truths which exposed and eventually destroyed the chief
root of the Pagan superstition -- Polytheism.
Historical expositors have very
generally applied this first trumpet-symbol to the
destructive incursions into the Western Roman Empire
of the Gothic hordes in the Fourth Century. One of the latest expositors applies it to the
reformation under Luther in the beginning of the Sixteenth Century. There is nothing in
the symbolism in itself alone that will determine positively the period of its fulfillment
in history. This is discovered chiefly by its following in order the preceding vision.
"Earth" in the passage
symbolizes the organized Pagan Roman Empire. Elliot, a noted expositor of the Revelation,
commenting on the expression "third part," says, "The Roman world was in
fact divided into three parts, viz.: (1) The Eastern (Asia Minor, Syria, Arabia, Egypt);
(2) The Central (Moesia, Greece, Illyricum Rhoetia); (3) The Western (Italy, Gaul Britain,
Spain, Northwestern Africa)."
A hail storm is generally accompanied
by lightning and is produced by a certain electrical state of the atmosphere. That the
"fire" of the symbol means lightning, may be seen from numbers of Scriptures.
"And the Lord sent thunder and hail, and the fire [lightning] ran along the
ground." (Ex. 9:23; Psa. 105:32.) "Hail" is used in the Scriptures as the
symbol of judgment truths, and in this trumpet refers to judgments upon Paganism.
"And the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies" (Isa. 28:17), is a prophecy
that specially refers to our own times and enables us to understand the symbolical use of
hail.
"Blood," when visible, is
employed in the Scriptures as
a symbol of death by
violence. It is used in Isaiah 34 in this sense, in connection with a prophecy describing
the final judgments of God upon the "wild beast" nations of earth, now beginning
its fulfillment: "And the mountains [kingdoms] shall be melted with their blood. . .
. The sword [judgment truths] of the Lord is filled with their blood [evidence that these
judgment truths will produce death to the nations]. . . . For it is the Day of the Lord's
vengeance, and the year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion." (Isa. 34:1-8.)
It is used in this 'first trumpet-symbol in the same way, and is designed to add to the
force of the destructiveness of the judgments on Paganism.
"Trees" in the primitive
method of building were used for pillars or posts. In harmony with this, we find in many
Scriptures, trees according to their size and height, employed to symbolize the several
degrees of great or rich men; or the nobles or subordinate rulers of the government. In
Zech. 11:1, 2, we have this figurative use of trees: "Howl, fir tree, for the cedar
is fallen; because all the mighty [men] are spoiled.
The inference in these last words, "all the mighty are spoiled," is that the
prophecy does not refer to literal trees, but to men (leaders). (See also Isa. 2:13;
10:17, 18, 19; Jer. 22:7, 23; Ezek. 31:3, 4.) The application of this to the vision seems
to be that one-third of the trees being burned would represent that this proportion of the
nobles, princes and subordinate rulers, etc., renounced or became dead to the Pagan
superstition, thus gradually working toward the end of Pagan civilization.
It will be seen that as
"trees", symbolize the leaders, so "grass" by the law of analogy must
signify the common people. In applying the symbol of the vision under consideration, it
would mean that practically all the common people would become dead -to Paganism, and
later on become absorbed in the Paganized Christianity that took its place. And this is in
harmony with the facts recorded by the Historian of those times.
HISTORICAL SUMMARY
History informs us that for a period
of more than a century after its institution, the Church of Christ was faithful to her
mission, not to try to overthrow the Pagan Roman Empire, but to preach the Gospel. The
effects produced by her faithfulness were twofold:
(1) To draw to herself the true
wheat.
(2) To exert an indirect influence
upon many of the world, both from those in high circles, and the common peoples to
nominally embrace Christianity. The larger part of these in Scripture phraseology would be
called "tares"--mere professors.
During nearly this entire period the
Church encountered great opposition, and experienced terrible persecution, through the
influence of the Pagan priests: "Edicts of a severe nature were issued against them,
and the magistrates animated by the priests and by the multitude, shed their blood with a
cruelty, which frequently exceeded even the dictates of the most barbarous laws."-- Mosheim's Church History.
History informs us that at the
beginning of the Third Century an event occurred that revolutionized public sentiment
toward Christianity:
"About the same time Constantine
the Great, who had hitherto discovered no religious principles of any kind, embraced
Christianity. It was not long before he was convinced of the falsehood and impiety (as he
said) of all other religious institutions, and acting in consequence of this conviction,
exhorted earnestly all his subjects to embrace the Gospel; [?] and at length all the force
of his authority, in the abolition of the ancient superstition [Paganism]. His designs,
however, with respect to the abolition of the ancient religion of the Romans, and the
tolerating of no other form of worship but that of the Christian, were only made known
toward the latter end of his life, by ,the edicts he issued for the destroying of the
heathen temples, and prohibiting sacrifices."--Mosheim's Church History.
History also informs us that a very
large number of people made a profession of Christianity at this time, and these entered
heartily into this work of overthrowing Paganism, and converting the whole Roman world *
It was from engaging in
this work that the "little flock)) of faithful ones kept aloof, and it was not long
before these began to experience persecution, because they would not unite with and
support the State Church. As further unfolding the symbols showing why fewer of the trees
were burned, we quote:
“When we look attentively into
the matter, we shall find that the execution of these rigorous laws that were enacted
against the worshipers of the gods, was rather leveled at the multitude [green grass] than
at persons of eminence and distinction [trees]. For it appears that during the reign of
and after the death of Theodorous, many of the most honorable and important posts in the
governmen were filled by persons whose aversion to Christianity, and whose attachment to
Paganism were sufficiently known."--Mosheim's Church History.
As accounting for the large numbers of the people (green grass) renouncing
Paganism, and embracing Christianity ( ?) during those days, we quote:
"There is no doubt but that the
victories of Constantine the Great, the fear of punishment, and the desire of pleasing
this mighty conqueror, and his imperial successors, were the weighty arguments that moved
whole nations as well as particular persons to embrace Christianity."--Mosheim's
Church History.
Another great factor that was used to
bring all mankind into the Christian ( ?) Church was the establishment of schools in which
the younger element were instructed in the truths of Christianity. The Historian has noted this:
"There was just reason to
apprehend that the truth might suffer if the Christian youth, for want of proper
instructors of their own religion, should have recourse, for their education, to the
schools of Pagan philosophers and rhetoricians. Schools were established in many cities.
Libraries were also erected and men of learning were nobly recompensed. All this was
indispensably necessary to the successful execution of the scheme that was laid for
abrogating by degrees the worship of the gods [of Paganism]."-Mosheim's Church
History.
It will
thus be seen by those who
have a clear knowledge, of the Lord's Plan that
this first trumpet represented humanity's doings-unregenerate
man's efforts to liberate his fellows from the bondage of superstition. It, however, like
all of his efforts, measurably failed. It served, however, to bring the "little
flock" class into new experiences of trial and testing.
-MAY 18-- GEN.
6:8; Ex. 34:6,7; 2 COR. 12:9; EPH. 2:4-10; TITUS 2:11-14--
Golden Text.-We shall be saved
through the grace of the Lord Jesus.-Acts 15:11.
GRACE, 'tis a charming sound,"
sang the poet, nor did he exaggerate; for to all who have learned the true meaning of
Divine grace, that word, like the word "gospel," is a synonym for all the Divine
mercies which God's people may now or ever enjoy. But this word grace is little used today
in common conversation on the every-day affairs of life, and consequently remarkably few
appreciate its richness, its wealth of significance, and consequently many of the
statements of Scripture in which this word occurs are, to the majority of readers,
deprived of their real beauty and force.
The word grace signifies
favor-particularly unmerited favor. Acts of grace are thus to be clearly distinguished
from acts of justice and from obligations. If this proper signification were in the minds
of people when reading the Scriptures where the word grace so frequently occurs, it -would
be to all true believers a great protection against numerous of Satan's wiles and false
doctrines-the general aim of which is to misrepresent the Divine dealings and to pervert
and subvert the Divine testimonies. Every testimony to the effect that God is extending
His "grace" to humanity or to the Church is a testimony to their unworthiness to justly demand those favors or
blessings.
One of the texts at the head of this
lesson (Gen. 6:8) calls attention to one of the earliest manifestations of God's grace in
His arrangement to preserve Noah and his family through the flood that destroyed the
remainder of the human family. God was under no obligation to save any of our race from the catastrophe of the flood.
While Noah is mentioned as a righteous man and a believer in God, yet as a member of
Adam's race, he, too, was fallen and under the Divine sentence, as were also ,the members
of his family. They were merely comparatively righteous. It was purely a matter of God's
grace or favor, and in fulfillment of His purpose, that He spared them, bringing them
across the flood with which to start the new dispensation, "the world that now
is."
The spirit of the world in general is
that of self-sufficiency and independence; following their own wisdom and lacking the
instruction and wisdom from above, the worldly-wise regard themselves with complacency;
they believe themselves to be quite sufficiently righteous to merit a good deal of Divine
blessing' and- reward: true, they admit also that they have imperfections, but these they
expect to pay for to the full according to some law of Divine retribution. Hence they are
undisposed to look for of to accept pardon, forgiveness, justification through the great
sacrifice for sins which God has provided. They see a law in nature according to which
fire burns him who believes that it will burn and burns equally him who believes that it
will not burn. -And so they regard all of the laws governing humanity as merciless,
graceless-strictly just.
The Scripture presentation of the
matter does not overlook the law of retribution-that sin of any kind, the transgression of
any law, will surely bring its penalty, whoever may be the sinner and whatever may be the
conditions. And the propositions respecting Divine grace,
rightly understood, are not in conflict with this universal law of retribution: the
proposition of grace is not to prevent fire from
burning, but to provide a healing balm; not to prevent the wages of sin from following
transgression, but to succor the repentant who desire to reform, and to help him back to
Divine favor and, full recovery, along the lines of strictest justice; by a willing ransom
price. . And since this succor is wholly unmerited on man's part and without just
obligation on God's part, it is purely of Divine favor--"grace." Indeed, if it
were not for sin and its retributive punishments, there would be no room for grace: it is
man's necessity for grace that constitutes the Divine opportunity for its exercise. Grace,
however, operates in harmony with the Divine laws, and not in violation of them.
THE STEPS OF DIVINE GRACE
Remembering that, Divine grace signifies God's unmerited mercy and
favor, let us examine its operation in the light of Scripture:
(1) The first movement of Divine
grace toward mankind was the exercise of benevolence, love and compassion toward mankind
in his fallen and sinful condition. There was nothing in man to merit this compassion and
sympathy; quite to the contrary: we were aliens from God and enemies of His righteous rule
through wicked works-the depravity wrought in us through sin voluntarily committed by
father Adam.
(2) It was in harmony with this
thought of grace on God's part, or, as we might term it, God's gracious Plan, that He
revealed something respecting His purpose of ransom and restitution to father Abraham;
thus preaching first, beforehand, to him the good tidings of a coming blessing or grace,
saying, "In thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blest." Abraham, and
others who believed God, rejoiced in mind under the influence of this gracious
promise-although even the beginning of its fulfillment was still nearly two thousand years
off.
(3) The third step of grace was in
the great gift of Divine love, our Lord Jesus Christ. It included the gracious arrangement made with the only
begotten Son of God, on account of which He joyfully laid aside His heavenly glories
and conditions and humbled Himself in death as the ransom or substitute for the first Adam
and thus incidentally a "ransom for all" the race of Adam.
(4) It was a fourth step of grace
when God, having determined to select a Church, a "little flock," to be heirs of God and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ
their Lord, in the dispensing of the Divine favors or grace, promised through Abraham, began the work of
selecting this Church-receiving at Pentecost the first installment, from the house of
servants into the house of sons and joint-heirs. (John 1:12, 13.) Although tests were
applied to, these received into the family of sons, and although character qualifications
were imposed upon them and will be imposed upon all who will be called and accepted to
this high calling, nevertheless this also was a step of grace, because there were no
obligations resting upon God to confer upon us such a "high calling," such
"riches of His grace in Jesus Christ our Lord."
(5) Throughout this Gospel Age the
same grace has, been in operation doing a twofold
work; (a) justifying repentant believers from the guilt of their moral obliquity, and
giving them thus a standing before God in Christ's imputed righteousness-thus making them
' eligible to the "high calling" to Divine sonship and to joint-heirship in
God's Kingdom to come, and (b) then extending to them' that "high calling,"
inviting them through the Divine Word to become the "very elect." True, there
are conditions imposed, and not all the many "called" will be among the few
"chosen;" but nevertheless it is an inestimable privilege to be
"called" and to have put within our grasp, the opportunity and all the needful
helps, whereby we may make our calling and election sure. ,
(6) The grace of God will still
further be manifested when the "elect" Church shall all have been sought, found,
tried, disciplined, and "made meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints
in light;" for the blessings which will be conferred upon this glorified Church will
not only be such as were not merited, such therefore as were not of obligation upon God's
part, but according to the Divine testimony they will be additionally great,
super-abounding in grace, "exceedingly abundantly more than we know how to ask or
expect;" for "eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath entered into the
heart of man the things which God hath in reservation for those that love Him."1 Cor.
2:9.
(7) Even then, God's grace will not
have exhausted itself-even after having thus honored and blessed and exalted the Church,
the Body of Christ, whose only merit consisted first in
an honest confession of
sin and an acceptance of- the Divine favor, and second, in their "reasonable
service" in rendering their lives in obedience to Him who bought them and in and
through whom the Divine graces were extended.
THE MILLENNIUM THE AGE OF GRACE
Then Divine grace will begin to be
fully manifested--then all shall see it, all shall know it, and all who will may share it; for then' will begin the
glorious "times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of
all His holy prophets since the world began"--the Millennial Age of a thousand years;
the time when the knowledge of the Lord shall graciously be caused to fill the whole
earth; the time when all the sin-blinded eyes shall be opened; the time when all the
prisoners of the pit (death) shall come forth,
that they may be instructed in righteousness. Then, according, to the grace of the Divine
promise, He who redeemed the world shall judge the world in righteousness, a trial, an
opportunity, that Whosoever will, with a knowledge of sin and its penalty, and with a
knowledge of righteousness and its rewards, with a knowledge of the goodness and grace of
God shining in the face of Jesus, Christ our Lord, may then stand trial and be judged as
to whether they will receive God's grace and its
provisions of eternal life, or whether they will reject
these and die the Second Death.
Here we behold the wonderful steps of
grace. No one can intelligently believe in Divine grace who holds the theory of evolution
or any other theory of salvation than the Scriptural one, which recognizes man's original
creation in the Divine likeness, his fall into sin and death, his redemption therefrom by
the death of our Redeemer, and his hope for recovery through Divine grace extended now to
the Church and to be extended by and by through the Church (under Christ its Head) to all
the families of the earth.
Coming now to consider present
manifestations of Divine grace toward the Church we note that many professed followers of
the Lord fail in a very large degree to appreciate this grace which it is their privilege
to enjoy. This is attributable largely to false teaching and preaching., In very much that
is preached in the name of the Gospel of the grace of God, the element of grace is
entirely omitted, and such preaching is proportionately vain-sometimes worse than vain-in
that it is delusive and subversive. For instance, how common it is for people to hear and
to believe that if they "do right" they
will have Divine rewards at the end of life's race; but if they "do wrong" they shall have Divine
punishment at the end of the race. Such views ignore grace entirely, for if we are to be
punished in proportion to our shortcomings and rewarded for our obedient deeds, where
would be the "grace?" where would be
the mercy? where would be the necessity of a Savior, a sin-offering, an atonement and a
reconciliation with God? and where would be the peace through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ? None of
these mercies and blessings can be rightly recognized except as the grace of God (His
unmerited favor) is seen in them.
The fact is that the Divine standard
of righteousness is much higher than men generally understand: with God righteousness is
synonymous with perfection; and hence all unrighteousness [all imperfection, however or
whenever or wherever] is [a proof of] sin " Thus all men are proved to be sinners,
because all are imperfect, un-right. And the Divine law is that the sinner, the wrongdoer,
the un-right, the imperfect, shall not live. "The
wages of sin is death." Whoever understands this can see at once that man's only hope
of eternal life lies not in his own perfection, but
in Divine mercy, grace. To plead that we are not
wholly bad, corrupt, or even that we are not so bad as some others, is to admit our
imperfection, and hence to prove the hopelessness of our case except as Divine grace intervenes to help us.
This thought of the Divine grace as
the basis of all our mercies is interwoven with all the promises of God's Word. Thus the
Apostle speaks of the gracious Plan of God, and Christ as the exponent of that Plan as
"the grace of God and the gift by grace."--Rom. 5:15.
Our approach to God in prayer is
spoken of as an approach, not to the throne of justice and equity, but 'as an approach to
"the throne of grace," where 'we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in
every time of need."--Heb. 4:16.
Again we are exhorted that our hearts
be established in grace; and again told *that
unto every one of us is given grace according to
the measure of our faith; and again the Apostle declares of Himself, "By the grace of *God I am what I am."
According* to the testimony of one of
our texts this grace is general, "for all
men," and must therefore ultimately in some manner or other be extended to all
men-the (lead as well as the living. The translation of our Common Version is manifestly
faulty here; all men, even in this most enlightened day of the world's history, have not
yet beheld God's grace in any degree, nor has it as yet brought them salvation. But since
it has been provided freely for all, so ultimately it shall be extended to all, that all may avail themselves of it.
The teaching of this grace is not that
we may continue in sin that grace may abound; for Divine grace is in tended to benefit
only those who renounce sin and become . servants of righteousness: and thus, as one of
our texts at the head of this lesson (Titus 2:11-14) declares, God's grace teaches us that
we should repudiate sin and live separate from every ungodly desire, in righteousness,
soberness and godlikeness. Furthermore, as this text declares, this grace of God does not
claim to have reached its completeness, and to have accomplished in us and for us the
grand designs of the God of all grace. On the contrary, it teaches us to wait for the consummation of this grace until the
glorious manifestation of the Son of God in the majesty and power of His Kingdom, to unite His Church with Himself as His Bride and
joint-heir, the channel of mercies and blessings through which God's grace shall flow to
all the groaning creation.--Rom. 8:18-22; 11:31.
-MAY 25--JONAH
3:1-10; LUKE 13:1-5; Acts 2:37, 38--
Golden Text.-Repent ye, and believe
in the gospel.-Mark 1:15.
WE are not to choose the definition
which we prefer in defining repentance, but are to take the one which the Scriptures
substantiate; namely this, "Godly sorrow worketh repentance." People may be
sorry, without being repentant, in matters in which they have failed where they had wished
to succeed. This is not a godly sorrow, but merely a sorrow of disappointment and
regret; just as the thief who attempted to steal and was caught was, of course, sorry
that he was caught. The godly sorrow is that which is sorrow for the sin rather than for
the penalty, and sorrow for the sin produces repentance and reformation of character-the
only kind recognized in the Scriptures.
Let us not be misunderstood in this
matter. Sorrow for sin does not necessarily mean a certain amount of tears and agony: it
does mean a contrition of the heart, a regretful heart on account of sin, with a full
determination to do to the contrary. We mention this, because some hold that unless there
be manifestations of agony there has been no true repentance. To this we cannot assent.
The sorrow or regret respecting the past is manifested by a radical change of life.
We are not competent to pass upon the
case of Cain, to determine whether or not he had a proper repentance or merely a fear of
punishment. Cain's own particular sentiments would have nothing to do with the fact that
in a general way he represented the world, with its evil spirit, while Abel represented
Christ and the Church, with the sacrificing spirit. Assuredly, if 'we abhor evil and
grieve upon doing that which is wrong, and cleave to
that which is good, it must be because we have learned "the exceeding sinfulness of
sin." This implies regret for any measure of wilfulness in any sins we may have
committed.
PROPER REPENTANCE MEANS GODLY SORROW
There are many who do those things
which they recognize to be wrong, they violate their consciences, they feel sorry; yet
this is not the godly sorrow, for, as the Apostle explains, a godly sorrow-a sorrow of the
kind which God recognizes and appreciates-leads to repentance. Every other sorrow is apt
to have an injurious effect merely, but a godly sorrow is profitable. It leads to
repentance, to reformation, to reconciliation with God through His appointed provision in
Jesus. Let us as the Lord's people seek to be filled with the Lord's spirit, and
proportionately emptied of the worldly spirit, the spirit of intoxication and the spirit
of self-will, and have the spirit of a new mind, of a sound mind. Yet if any find himself
in sin through yielding to the desires of the flesh, let him remember that each step in
the downward way is a step to be retraced if ever any good shall result, or is to be
attained in the future. Let such make haste at any cost to seek the Lord, and to be
purged, washed, cleansed, in the merit of the precious blood, and henceforth more than
ever be on their guard against sin.
As a part of this lesson, the story
of Jonah and some of the incidents of his life are brought to our attention. Skeptics have
long been inclined to treat the story of Jonah's experiences in the belly of the great
fish as a seaman's yarn. Many pulpiteers even laugh at the account of Jonah's experiences
as suitable only for the credulous and not for wise, "Higher Critics."
Nevertheless, the Great Teacher refers to Jonah and his experiences in the belly of the
great fish, and those who believe the Scriptures will seek no better ground for their
faith in the story than this. Nor is Jonah's account without a considerable parallel ' One
of the New 'York journals recently gave a detailed account, profusely illustrated, showing
how a sailor, overboard, was swallowed by "a great sulphur whale," but after
several hours escaped, his skin made purplish from the action of the digestive fluids of
the whale's stomach.
So far as we know, Jonah's case was
the only one in which anyone spent parts of three days and nights in the belly of a fish.
True, the throats of the majority of whales seem too small to admit a man. We remember,
however, that they are quite elastic. The great sulphur variety is of enormous size and is
said to have a throat capable of swallowing a skiff (much larger than a man and less
flexible). Besides, the Bible description of the matter tells us specifically that God
prepared a great fish. No one who has a proper appreciation of the powers of the Almighty
would question for an instant the ability of God to prepare a special fish, either at the
moment or, foreknowing Jonah's course, long in advance. The exceptional character of
Jonah's experience constituted him a type of Jesus, who, in death, was swallowed up of the
earth, as was Jonah by the fish; and as our Lord was liberated from His prison-house, so
was Jonah.
PREACHING TO THE NINEVITES
Our special lesson, however, is
connected with Jonah's preaching to the Ninevites. Ninevah was a great city outside the
pale of Judaism and therefore at that time outside the lines of Divine favor; for from the
giving of the Law until three and a half years after the Cross, God's favors were
exclusively confined to the Jewish nation under the
terms of the Law Covenant-Cornelius, the centurion, being the first Gentile to receive
evidence of Divine favor at the close of the period of Israel's exclusive favor.
In the cases of the Sodomites,
Ninevites and Amalekites, Divine justice decreed that their iniquity had come to the full,
and that for them to live longer would be unwise, and for them to be cut off in death
would not only hinder them from further degradation, but also furnish to mankind a general lesson, to the effect that there is
a limit to the Divine permission of evil. The fact that these people were thus condemned
and overthrown did not signify that they had
ever enjoyed salvation, or even an offer of salvation. Like all of Adam's children, these
people were under the sentence of death, "Dying thou shalt die;" "As all in
Adam die." They were merely cut off from further life under present conditions. Their
opportunity for future life by resurrection from the dead was not interfered with. Neither
they nor others had yet been redeemed.
Hence the future life, secured by the
redemptive work of Jesus, was in no sense interfered with by the sentence of death issued
against them en masse. Indeed, the Jews were not saved either. The offer of salvation made
to them under the Law Covenant did not give them eternal life; as St. Paul declares,
"By the deeds of the Law shall no flesh be justified in God's sight." If the
Jews were justified by the Law, then Christ died in vain.
. The offer of life given to the Jew
was merely to prove to him, and ultimately to all,
the impossibility of any obtaining life under the Divine Law without Divine assistance
-- without the Savior and His work at Calvary and additionally His work for the world as
the Mediator of the New Covenant, during His Messianic reign of a thousand years. In
harmony with this the Apostle declares, "Christ brought' life and immortality to
light through the Gospel." And again, "There is none other name given tinder
heaven whereby we must be saved." And again, "This great salvation began to be
preached by our Lord."--Heb. 2:3.
THE NINEVITES REPENTED
Jonah's preaching was that within
forty days God would destroy Nineveh. But the people, impressed by his message, repented
of their sinful course and sought Divine forgiveness. The King's proclamation was that
"neither man nor beast, herd nor flock taste anything; let them not feed nor drink
water, but let them be covered with sackcloth, both man and beast, and let them cry
mightily to God; yea, let them turn every man from his evil way and from the violence that
is in their hands." The Lord hearkened to
the Ninevites, accepted their repentance, and permitted their national life to continue
for a time.
We are, of course, to understand that
God knew the end from the beginning-that He knew that the Ninevites would repent and that
He would not blot them out within forty days, in accordance with Jonah's preaching.
Nineveh did pass away utterly, great city as it was, but not within forty literal days.
Possibly the time meant by the Almighty was what is sometimes termed prophetic or
symbolical time, a day for a year-forty days, forty years.
The lesson shows us how much greater
is the compassion of the Almighty than that of His imperfect servants of human kind. God
was pleased to have the Ninevites turn from their
sins to hearty repentance. He was pleased to grant them an extension of earthly life. But
Jonah was displeased. His argument was, There, God did make a fool of me. He told me that
this great city would be destroyed within forty days, and I preached it. But all the while
He must have known that it would not be destroyed within forty days. God has brought
discredit upon me and I am now to be regarded as a false prophet.
Jonah was more interested in himself
and his own reputation than in the Ninevites and their interests. The Lord's servants must
not be so! Self should be lost sight of; as the great Apostle Paul advises, "Love
seeketh not her own;" and again, "Christ pleased not Himself."1 Cor. 13:5;
Rom. 15:3.
GOD REPENTED OF THE EVIL
The query arises in some minds, How
can God repent and change His mind, if He knows the end from the beginning? The answer is
that the word repent has a wider meaning than is
generally appreciated. Humanity uses it only in respect to a change of purpose. But, as
modern dictionaries show, the word may mean either a change of action or a change of
purpose, or
both. God's purposes do
not change. He never repents of them. But he does change His conduct.
Thus Israel, His favored people for
centuries, were cut off and God's dealing towards them changed. But God's purposes never
changed toward Israel. He foreknew and foretold their rejection of Jesus and His rejection
of them, and how later on they would be regathered to their own land and be forgiven and
be blessed by Messiah when He assumed His Messianic office as King of kings and Lord of
lords--"the Prince of the kings of the earth."
The Lord taught Jonah a lesson
respecting his sympathy for a gourd, an inanimate thing, and his lack of sympathy for the Ninevites. So it
is with many preachers and others. They have sympathy for the flowers, for the birds, for
the lower animals, for children and, to some extent, for all mankind under the distresses
of the present time. Nevertheless such people sometimes become angry at the bare
suggestion that God does not intend to roast the Ninevites, Sodomites, Amalekites, or
anybody else, to all eternity and that His gracious purposes for the world in general will
be manifested in giving all an opportunity to attain to human perfection, a world-wide
Eden and everlasting life, if they will hear and obey the Great Messiah -whose Head is
Jesus and whose members, the elect Church, have been in process of selection and
preparation throughout this Gospel Age. Our Lord declared that the Gospel was to be
preached no longer to the Jews only, but to all nations. The preaching was not intended to
convert all nations, and has not done so. It was intended to gather a saintly few from all
nations, and this it will soon have accomplished.
Our Golden Text directs our attention
to the kernel of our Lord's Message: "Repent ye, and believe in the gospel."
John the Baptist had previously explained what real repentance would lead to. The
fact-that the Scribes and Pharisees came to John and were baptized of him signified
repentance and turning to God; but John points out that more than an outward profession of
repentance is necessary; that there should be such a reform of life 'as would yield fruit
and clearly show the repentance. Thus it -is evident with those who feel truly repentant.
It cannot but result in a radical reform of life, even as it did in the case of Zacchaeus
who was convinced of the truthfulness of our Lord's Message and was so impressed that he
was moved to repentance, and publicly declared his intention of proving the sincerity of
his sorrow by making abundant restitution to those he had wronged. (Luke 19:1-10.) The
lesson is, that the conversion' that includes recompense -- and , that not merely in a
skimped manner but abundantly -- four-fold -- undoubtedly signifies a true conversion, one
that is not likely soon to be forgotten or ignored.
We might find parallels to this
incident which belonged to the end of the Jewish Age and to fleshly Israel, in the end of
this Age and to spiritual Israel. We find today some backsliders from the Lord's Covenant
of Grace, as Zacchaeus was a backslider from the Lord's Covenant of, the Law. We may
perhaps find them living in a measure of sin, in business which they admit is unjust and
in violation of their consciences. We are not, therefore, to pass by them with the Gospel
Message, the Good Tidings of great joy; but if any such manifest an interest in the
present Truth we are to seek to assist them as our Lord and Head assisted Zacchaeus. And
there is an encouragement to this class in Zacchaeus' case, for though they may feel
themselves sadly short of the stature of a. man in Christ, if they have in their hearts a
longing desire for righteousness and to behold the Lord's face, they will find opportunity
to do so, if they will but humble themselves to take the necessary steps. And sincere
reformation today must be like that of Zaccheus; it must make some outward manifestation
expressive of contrition and of a desire to make reparation to the extent of ability. Some
one has said, and quite truly, we think:
"No religious profession amounts
to anything if it does not include a readiness to put one's property at the service of the
Lord. It has been well said that 'a personal consecration' should be spelled 'a
purse-and-all consecration.' And the full restitution of all that had been taken
wrongfully must be made by a Christian
disciple-even to the stripping of himself of all his earthly goods.
AN IMPRESSIVE AND SOUL-SATISFYING MEMORIAL
DEAR BRETHREN IN CHRIST:
On Sunday evening, 168 of our Lord's
family, in New York City, celebrated the anniversary of our dear Redeemer's death,
partaking of the Memorial Supper in Carnegie Hall, 154 West 57th Street; and by previous
arrangement, 12 took the emblems in their homes, making a total of 180.
In harmony with the suggestion of our
dear Pastor when he was with its, we recognized this opportunity of meeting in the
particular sense of a family celebration, therefore be the number many or few, as in the
little home groups, the celebration was an impressive and soul-satisfying one, recognizing
the presence of our Lord in the very midst.
It was as an occasion of mingled
sorrow and joy, realizing that we were memorializing our dear Lord's death and our own
participation in that death; but our hearts rejoiced in the knowledge that Jesus triumphed
over death and is now present, to our eyes of faith.
There seemed to be a deeper
appreciation of the wonderful truth portrayed in the simple service, than on former
occasions. The solemn and impressive participation in the emblems, stimulated our love for
all the dear brethren, those of like precious faith, the world o'er, and brought into our
hearts sweet confidence and an increased measure of the Lord's peace. It gave us joy of
heart to remember at the Throne of Grace the dear family of God everywhere, and we prayed
for them the Divine benediction, as we realized that many of them were, at that same hour,
keeping the feast in honor of the same Lord.
Afterwards we sang a hymn, and
quietly went out to our respective homes, blessed and chastened, but with the assurance of
our Lord's continued favor toward us, and our continued determination to faithfulness,
even unto death.
We continue in thanksgiving and
praise for His loving kindness, and may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with us all.
In Christian love,
NEW YORK CITY ECCLESIA.
DETERMINED, TO STRIVE ANEW DAILY
DEAR BRETHREN:
We are so glad to advise you of the
blessed Memorial season observed by 15 of the brethren and sisters at the residence of
Brother next door to our residence.
All seem refreshed and determined to
show more gratitude to our dear Lord for His great Ransom Sacrifice in our behalf, and to
strive anew daily to live pleasing to Him.
Two voluntarily requested us to send
in their subscriptions to the HERALD, for which we enclose check, and you will note their
addresses on enclosed slip as they wrote same. . . .
With much love to all, we are,
Yours faithfully in Him,
HOUSTON ECCLESIA--Texas.
RENEWED COVENANT OF SACRIFICE
DEAR BRETHREN:
Greetings in our dear Redeemer's
name! Fourteen of the Hutchinson Ecclesia met last night to commemorate our dear Lord's
death. Three of our number who live at a distance were not present. No doubt they partook
of the emblems in their homes. One brother came from Oklahoma in order to meet with us. We
rejoiced in this opportunity-to partake of these symbols in remembrance of Him-of His
great love and His sacrifice for us. Again we renewed our covenant of sacrifice to be dead
with Him that we may. also live with Him. Pray for us that we may walk faithfully in our
Master's footsteps-may indeed be baptized into His death. . . .
May God guide and bless you
continually. With Christian love.
Your sister by His grace,
E. A.-Kansas.
SOLEMN YET JOYOUS OCCASION
DEAR BRETHREN:
We wish to report a very blessed season
of fellowship with the Lord Sunday evening at the Memorial service, and to report that 109
partook of the emblems here. It was a very solemn yet joyous occasion.
We thought you would like to know the
number participating.
Yours in His service,
PROVIDENCE ECCLESIA.
THE MINISTRY IN INDIA
MY BELOVED BRETHREN IN THE LORD:
Loving, greetings in the name of our
King! I hope you are in receipt of my last letter sent in reply to yours dated December
26, 1918. 1 am sure you will be glad to know that the Lord's work is progressing to a
certain extent in spite of the adversities and the recent setback. Last week 1 had the
pleasure of visiting our friends who live about 40 miles away from here. I communicated
the happenings at home and your renewed activities under Divine guidance. They have all
expressed their willingness with joy to co-operate with us in every way possible. They say
unanimously that this refreshing news comes to them in answer to their convinced, earnest
prayers. Though we all feel very sorry for the differences among the brethren there, yet
we are glad that we have learned to submit ourselves entirely to the Lord's will in
everything. I shall be glad to know further developments there.
This week I intend to visit our
friends around Russelpuram. As many as I have come across and with whom I have told about
your letter, express the same sentiment With others, They all rejoice to have heard from
you, and the joy on hearing your message has no bounds, as they were all downcast to a
great extent because of their varied experiences.
We do not know for sure how long
these last moments may linger like this. As the present condition promises favorable
openings for the Kingdom Message, certainly we feel that we must pull ourselves together
and do something for the glory of the Lord. We are truly grateful to the Lord, that the
HERALD OF CHRIST's KINGDOM comes through you from the Lord, and we assure you brethren
that we are ready to announce the Message far and wide to the best of our ability,
according to the will of the Lord. What timely meat the HERALD brings the hungry souls!
May God bless your efforts for His own glory, dear brethren. Please continue to send me 25
copies of the HERALD until you find that you could spare more for India. Truly we have all
reasons to thank the Lord for His goodness.
During the last twelve days I have
had the pleasure of holding fourteen meetings with an average attendance of 24. 1 have
been using my old cycle, which I find to be the cheapest, though it is very hard for me in
this hot climate. I find everywhere, friends are very enthusiastic over this new departure
for obvious reasons. Specially the change of name is very helpful to us here just now. All
the teachers in our Bible Classes, do rejoice greatly on hearing the comforting and
encouraging words from you to the poor friends in Travancore. They begged me to send their
special love to you all who are used of the Lord for His glory. May the loving Father
grant you all necessary wisdom, strength and courage to follow the footsteps of our
beloved Pastor even. as he followed our Lord Jesus Christ.
At present, classes are conducted in
eighteen different places, and as soon as the way should be opened we shall have, by God's
grace, as many more. Here I desire to communicate to you, dear brethren, that there are
more than seven thousand poor Christian people who are quite prepared to place themselves
under our instructions if we could only encourage them and provide teachers to instruct
them. There has never been a better time here than now to announce the Glad Tiding$ of the
Blessed Kingdom and the Presence of the Prince of Peace.
I shall be glad to have your kind
directions and counsel along the line of carrying on the Lord's work under your
supervision. It is necessary to organize the work here without delay. Some timely
literature in Malayalan and Tamil languages is urgently
needed, and we can print them locally as we have been doing hitherto.
Of late, every now and then some
slanderous tracts are distributed by Lutherans, Seventh-Day Adventists and Second
Adventists (all from America) without any opposition from anybody. Of course, as the time
is such, we are obliged to be silent. We take it as one of the many ways that the Lord
permits to polish His loved ones. Other mission people also join hands with the above in
their nefarious act. By this method they think they could threaten and discourage our
friends. It is really a wonder to witness our poor brethren who stand firmly, by the grace
of God, withstanding these darts of the Adversary. Their zeal and devotion and love toward
the Truth and the Lord's work show how they are protected by the Arms of the, Lord
according to His promises.
Though I have much more to say, I feel I must stop and first wait to hear from you about
the details of the work to be carried on
here. I realize, dear brethren, that you also have your crosses to bear there. We all pray
that the loving Father may grant you necessary help in every time of need.
May the Father of us all bless you
more abundantly than ever before, while you endeavor to show forth His praises and also
your labor of love' and sacrifice. With our united love and with much prayer,
Your brother and fellow-servant in
the King's service,
S. P. DAVEY-India.
THE TRUTH IS MARCHING ON
DEAR BRETHREN:
Greetings in the Lord! Recently a few
items of interest have been brought to my attention that seem to me to be somewhat
interesting, giving perhaps a little indication of the changes taking place everywhere.
The enclosed item you will note is from the Sunday School Times, a paper that must have a
very large circulation amongst nominal Church workers, and the quiet expression of such
radical views must be exerting a good influence, preparing the way for the reception of
the whole truth on the subject discussed. In this same connection a Church paper published
in Toronto by the Evangelical Publishing Co., called "The Evangelical
Christian," recently contained an article by the Rev. O'Meara of Wycliffe College,
Toronto, in which he went on at length to show from Scripture,. particularly the words of
the Apostle in Acts 15:14, that the Church had made a mistake in holding the thought that
it was commissioned to convert the world in this Age, that great work being designed in
the most to be accomplished after the return of Christ.
More along the same line has just
been given me by some of the friends who attended a few meetings held here in Knox Church
(Presbyterian), styled a "Prophetic Conference," at which speakers were present
from New York, Hamilton, Ont., and various other places. In the lectures heard there
seemed to be an indication that on some points they were approaching the truth, especially
on the point of our Lord's return being very near; the taking of the Church to Himself and
then the blessing. of the remaining peoples. One minister questioned by a sister as to his
hope for those who have died previous to the setting up of the Kingdom, after giving
expression to a slighting remark about "Russellism," and a "second
chance," answered, "I do not know, I do not know, I do not know," and
walked away.
Yet for all, our Lord's immediate
return is being very much preached. What do these things mean- to us as Bible' students?
Are they an indication that our Message (the Lord's Message) having been faithfully
delivered by the last Messenger and those who have caught the inspiration of that Message,
that now as Brother Russell has somewhere' suggested--"then many would begin to see
things differently"? Does it not open up
to us a golden opportunity to give the people the truth on these points? That they are interested in them is evident.
Your brother in Him,
J. J. B.-Toronto.
OH, TO BE ONE FOUND WORTHY
DEAR BRETHREN:
It was with great pleasure I received
a few days ago a copy of THE HERALD OF CHRIST Is
KINGDOM. The brethren are
one and all pleased with both its form and contents. Enclosed please find money order for
twelve shillings in payment for one year's subscription to THE HERALD OF CHRIST'S KINGDOM
on behalf of the following three brethren.
Surely, though sorrowful, we should
be and are always rejoicing, considering the evidences we have of our Great Heavenly
Father's love and protecting care and of the Good Shepherd's supervision of all of our
affairs. I like to think on the fact that "There is one body and one spirit even as ye are called in one hope of your calling: One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is
above, all, and through all and in you all." Oh! dear brethren, let US- see to it
still that nothing has power with us to move or sway. May the dear Lord strengthen,
encourage and keep you in every good word and work until the end, and may this New Year
see fulfilled in us as the Body of Christ. I Cor. 1:3-10. A good New Year exhortation is
Prov. 8:34; 4:23, 25-27. Oh, to be one found worthy to reign with Him I
thousand ears
With Christian love and greetings,
and assuring you of my earnest prayers on behalf of you all, I remain,
Your sister by His grace,
E. M. B.--Australia
LOVE AND GREETINGS FROM AUSTRALIA
DEAR BRETHREN IN CHRIST:
At our Quarterly business meeting
held at the Bible House, E. Melbourne, on Saturday evening, February 22nd, it was
unanimously resolved to send along the following letter of Christian love and appreciation
from the Melbourne Ecclesia, and heartily endorsed by all present:
Issue No. 1 of THE HERALD OF CHRIST'S
KINGDOM has been received here and with general gratification. The attitude and aim of the
journal, as outlined, seems highly commendable, and our prayer is that the fine spirit may
be maintained, and the journal truly prove a blessing to the Lord's people.
Though far removed from you, our
hearts are with you as fellow servants, striving to know and do God's will, and to serve
Him and the brethren. We pray for you God's guidance and wisdom with which your work shall
truly be blessed, and that you may be kept in the attitude of submission and service.
Truly we see our King marching on,
and the breaking down in speedy progress. How increasingly precious grows the Truth. May
God help us all to have strong faith, a bright hope, and patience just to wait for our
much desired change. With much love in the Lord,
YOUR BRETHREN OF THE MELBOURNE
ECCLESIA-Australia.
ACTIVITY IN SOUTH AFRICA
DEAR BRETHREN:
Your letter of the 24th
of September, 1918, with the Bulletins, came duly to hand. The reason for my not answering
the letter before, is owing to my having been on a Pilgrim tour through Transvaal and the
Orange Free State, where I had a glorious time and performed a baptismal service by
immersion in a river. . . .
The Brothers and Sisters in South
Africa look upon and call me the father of Present Truth in South Africa. They designate
me "Old Uncle Smith," and although they nearly all know my sentiments . . . they
love me, and from time to time help me to make my Pilgrim tours, financially and
otherwise. They are all eager to entertain me under their hospitable roofs and give me the
best of everything. Nothing seems too good for their old Uncle. Some of them are
government teachers, lawyers, engineers, merchants, and others. I spent a couple of weeks
with each, and I have been away from home nearly two months on my Pilgrim tour. I held a
few public meetings, and nearly every evening cottage meetings. The friends are very fond
of hearing me sing the Gospel, as they call it. . . . I am pleased to think I can praise
the Lord with Psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, as well as in giving lectures. To Him be
all the honor and glory.
You observe, dear brethren, I can carry
on God's work independently with many blessings, but if I have credentials from a fully
organized and legal corporation I can then travel
on the railways in South Africa "concession," which means, half of the
ordinary return fares, or single fares. You will thus understand that that will Save many,
many pounds sterling I
per year. Should you see
your way clear to send me the necessary credentials, please designate me as a
representative of the PASTORAL BIBLE INSTITUTE of Brooklyn, N. Y. Hoping to hear again
from you soon,
Your brother and fellow-servant in
Christ,
E. R. S.-S. Africa.
As a part of the devotional exercises at the beginning of each day
many Bible Students find it a profitable feature to sing one of our Hymns of Dawn.
Additionally it would seem that there is a strength of fellowship in the fact that the
friends can realize that they are singing the same hymn each morning. The following
selections are submitted for the month of June: (1), 2411, (2), 201; (3), 211; (4), 111;
(5), 211; (6) 97; (7) 13; (8) 79; (9) 93; (10) 239; (11) .20; (12) 78; (13) 105, (14) 95;
(15) 242; (16) 197, (17) 333; (18) 293; (19) 264; (20) 113; (21) 284; (22) 164; (23) 130,;
(24) 4; (25) 115; (26) 44; (27) 165; (28) 99; (20) 194; (30) 245.
VOL.
II. May 15, 1919 No. 10
[Reprint from
our Pastor's Writings, 19161
PRIDE IN ANY FORM and in
anybody is a dangerous thing. In a worldly way the proverb is well attested, "pride
goeth before destruction and an haughty spirit before a fall;" and surely very, very
few people have anything of which they might justly be proud! Some who hold their heads
high with the pride of a haughty spirit, as though they were especially created out of
some preferable "dust of the earth," have really nothing to boast of as to
ancestry. A very few generations back are generally sufficient for any boaster.
The
World is learning that it is not wise to boast of riches, lest thereby some one ask how
were the riches accumulated and by whom, and whether they were honestly obtained. Pride of
education is not appropriate, either; for education in general signifies the learning of
what other people have found out or have written as history. And in our day those who
would boast of great education have need of
humility lest it be found that the very thing that they are boasting about has been
disproven by later researches. Scientific books of the year 1900 will not pass muster
today, nor their theories stand in the light of present knowledge. So if it were right to
boast of knowledge, the boaster would need to be very careful to keep up to date.
Pride of one's beauty or physical
perfection is scarcely to be excused; for the beauty of form and feature came by heredity,
and the parent rather than the child might have some reason for pride. Pride as respects
clothing, adornments, is also foolish. The maker of the fabrics or. the ornaments might
have some reason for pride in the handiwork, but surely the wearer has, not! He is merely
appropriating to himself the skill and labor of others.
SPIRITUAL PRIDE WORST OF ALL
But our theme is spiritual pride! We
would divide' it into two classes: first, the spiritual pride of the merely nominal or
professing Christian; and second, the spiritual pride affecting true Christians.
The spiritual pride of the nominal
church-goer is not all hypocrisy. Ile sees spiritual forms and ceremonies, bears spiritual
songs and sermons, and in many instances is not aware but that he himself is a true
Christian, as much so as any. Does he not go regularly to meeting? Is he not a regular
contributor, not only to the expenses of the house of worship, but in general to the
forwarding of the Lord's cause-charities, etc., as these are presented to him from time to
time?
However they have lived during the
week, however they have dealt with the butcher and the baker, most church-goers take a
pleasurable pride in joining some of the showy groups moving toward church buildings. The
spiritually proud usually prefer the showiest and most aristocratic and high-toned temples
of worship. At the conclusion of the services they feel a self-satisfaction. Have they not
worshiped God? Ought not all people to worship Him? How many others have not done sot They
feel a spiritual pride or superiority when comparing themselves with non-attendants.
They went not for spiritual
instruction; or even if any were given in the places visited, they were not themselves in
condition to receive such-not being spirit-begotten. They had no real hunger for
righteousness, for Truth. They had merely satisfied a feeling of duty. They had in a sense
done penance, and hoped that somehow, sometime it would inure to their advantage-perhaps
saving them from some of the Worst degrees of purgatorial sufferings--perhaps even making
them acceptable for Heaven. Why should not God feel grateful to them for having denied
themselves and wasted a few of their precious hours to go worship Him?
Although they would not put it so,
they feel in a measure that God would be very unjust if He would pass by such a matter and
not reward it handsomely. They feel spiritually proud and self-satisfied, and so long as in that condition are not in a particle of danger
of getting hold of the Truth. Nor need we suppose that the great Adversary would
especially give his attention to them, for they are very safely under his influence. Was
he not the first to manifest pride and to say in his heart, "I will ascend above the
sons of God (I will take a higher position than others) ; I will be as the Most
High"? Spiritual pride was evidently
Satan's great mistake, which led to his complete downfall.
Some who make no pretense of belief
in God or in the Lord Jesus Christ or in the Bible have what might be termed a sort of
spiritual pride. They pride themselves on living a moral life, on being able to conduct
themselves honorably and decently in life-never getting drunk, never doing some of the
seriously immoral and perverse things that many others do, In pride and boastfulness they
will say: "I feel myself just as good as any church member, and I never go to
church." And by this they mean, "I feel myself to be better than any church
member." They are merely mixing modesty of statement with pride of thought in the
proportion which they think will best influence the hearer.
Press the inquiry a little
further--as to what good works they especially rejoice in-and they will tell how as
"Odd Fellows," "Masons," etc., they sat up one night with a brother of
the 'Order who was not very sick, who did not need very much, attention and who had a
trained' nurse anyway to take care of him; but they felt as though they had been doing a
noble work of charity. In general, their pride is-that they have not violated the laws;
that they have lived decent, respectable lives. Is there really anything in this that is
an occasion for pride, for special self
congratulation? What man or woman
should not keep the laws and should not be ashamed if he failed to keep the
laws--especially I
when we would remember
that those laws were made-not for good people, but for evil-doers.
SPIRITUAL PRIDE IN THE TRUE CHURCH
Now we come down to the most serious
thing of all! The pride which is merely foolish or semi-hypocritical in the world and in
the nominal Christians becomes a very serious matter indeed if it invades the heart and
the life of the child of God. But why do we make such a difference? Why say that spiritual
pride would be so very dangerous in one of the Lord's saints, whereas it would be little
more than foolishness in the world? Ah! the difference is that these are God's special
representatives in the world, who must become copies of God's dear Son if they would ever
attain to the glory, honor and immortality to which they have been invited by the Lord.
When they gave themselves entirely to
the Lord and were justified from sin through the imputation of the Redeemer's sacrifice,
and were thus introduced into the family of God and begotten of the Holy Spirit, it
meant a great change for these. Old things passed away; all things became new. These, and
these alone, are on trial during this Gospel Age for eternal life or eternal death. And of
all their temptations and beguilements, the sin of
spiritual pride is probably one of the most dangerous of all. In proportion as it
comes in, the spirit of the Lord departs, and the spirituality of the individual ceases.
This spiritual sickness, unless curbed, would surely lead on to the Second Death, for
"the Lord resisteth the proud and showeth His favor to the humble."--James 4:6.
The Apostle Peter evidently had this
besetting danger of spiritual pride in mind when he wrote to the Church: "Humble
yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due
time." (1 Peter 5:6.) "Whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that
shall humble himself shall be exalted," said the Master.
ONE SYMPTOM OF THIS SOUL-SICKNESS
How may we know spiritual pride? Some
one may inquire. One of the most serious things in this connection is that those who have spiritual pride very rarely are aware of
it. They sometimes have forms of godliness which not only deceive others, but deceive themselves and hinder them from
seeing the spiritual pride which is working and which others may more readily see.
When you feel that your attendance at
meetings, your reading of so many pages of Scripture Studies per day, your distribution of
so many tracts, or your circulation or loaning of so many books, are matters to be boasted
ofthen take care! That disposition to boast is an indication that you would be in danger
of catching spiritual pride if circumstances were favorable. These are all good and laudable things, all proper things; and you should
feel a proper degree of self-congratulation that you find yourself able and willing to
turn from the daily newspaper or novel, the reading of chitchat, or the writing of
chitchat, to do things so, reasonable, so proper, so much in harmony with the Divine will.
But any disposition to boast of the matter should lead you to a careful scrutiny of
thought--of the motives lying behind these activities in the Lord's service.
We are not meaning to say that it
would be improper to give a testimony in which all of these things might be brought
forward as an encouragement to others or as a proof that we love the Lord and are anxious
to serve Him. What we are cautioning against is a spirit, or disposition, to boast of
anything that we might be or do as the Lord's children. We have nothing whereof to boast.
If we gave all of our goods to feed the spiritually poor, all our time to circulating the
Truth, and all of our energy to the honoring of the Lord's name, we should feel that
having done all, we had not really profited our Lord but merely found an opportunity of
showing Him a little of the devotion of our hearts in acknowledgment of the numberless
blessings already received at His hand, and the still more wonderful favors which He has
promised shall be ours, if faithful. Well did the poet write:
"I want the. first approach to
feel Of pride or fond desire!"
STILL FURTHER SYMPTOMS
Another form of this disease of
spiritual pride manifests itself in a hypercritical attitude of mind. When one attends a
testimony meeting, or a Berean class, and hears no' real good testimony but his own, hears
no proper answer except his own to any of the questions, never sees an Elder in the chair
who knows how to lead a meeting anyway-these should be considered dangerous symptoms of
spiritual pride.
Not that all these things might not
possibly occur, but they are surely not likely to occur continually. It would be perfectly
proper for us to give such attention, and to be so well informed, that we would be able to
see quickly any unscriptural proceeding or any instance of very poor judgment that would
be a hindrance to the effectiveness of the services. It would be proper, too, if ever we
saw that the best interests of the Class were not being served and if, after waiting
patiently for a while, we found that they were not likely to be corrected-it would be
entirely proper for us, in a meek and quiet spirit, to call attention to the fault, either
in the Class or to an Elder, or whatever would be the most effective and least
demonstrative way. "Let nothing be done through strife or vain glory," but
everything for the glory of God.
And right there we need to be
careful, too, lest we get into the way of thinking that everything that harmonizes with
our ideas is to the glory of God, and that whatever would not harmonize with our ideas
could not be pleasing to Him. Well did the Apostle write - "See then, that, ye walk
circumspectly, not as fools." (Eph. 5:15.) Well do we see the meaning of this word
"circumspectly"-- that it signifies with close scrutiny. on every hand,
especially as respects thoughts, motives, intentions.
“BE NOT MANY OF YOU TEACHERS"
Well did St. James write, "Be
not many of you teachers, my brethren, knowing that a man shall receive the severer
trial." (James 3:1.) While, as we have pointed out, all of the Lord's people are
specially susceptible along the line of spiritual pride, there seems to be a special
danger surrounding all who become in any manner identified with the promulgation of His
Truth.
It is a special privilege, indeed, to
tell out the Message of God's grace to all who have a hearing ear. How thankful we are
that it is not-as it was once supposed-the exclusive privilege of the clergy, but that the
Lord declares that all who are His consecrated people and who receive the begetting of the
Holy Spirit have, through it, the anointing to preach the Good Tidings to the meek and to
bind up the broken-hearted! (Isa. 61:1.) We are glad of this privilege, which includes our
private conversations with neighbors and friends. But what a privilege to be God's
ambassadors, and in His name to tell of the coming Kingdom, of the great provision God has
already made through the death of Jesus, of the grand outcome, and of how the kings and
priests of that Kingdom are now being called out of
the world, experiencing a change of nature in preparation for their future work!
Old as the message is, it is so new
and wonderful, if *rightly presented, as to awaken astonishment in the honest hearted who
hear. They wonder, how did this ordinary man (or woman) ever come to understand and be
able so beautifully to portray these wonderful things? Perhaps they gave a hint of their
surprise. Then comes a danger moment for taking the disease of spiritual pride. just a
little swing of the mind; and you think that it is wonderful that even you should know
about such things when the great mass of mankind have not the remotest conception of them,
and that even some of the ablest and most talented ministers of the Word of God are
ignorant respecting these things in the Bible.
If you are taking the disease of
spiritual pride you will doubtless feel a straightening of your back. You are beginning to
feel more important, and to look more dignified and to feel that, after all, you are
somebody great. Your voice indicates this, too; and your hearer notices it. Then he begins
to feel that it is not the Word of the Lord, but, that, as you seem to admit, it is
something that you made up-something that you are responsible for, and he thinks less of
it on that account.
The proper attitude, as all will
agree, is that the Lord's people should feel greatly humbled instead of greatly exalted
and heady in respect to these opportunities for telling the Truth to others. We should
feel our unworthiness. We should realize that the Plan is not ours; that we have merely
heard of it ourselves; that it is really God's Plan; that we are honored as His servants
to tell it out. But if we allow any impression to go out that it is by any wisdom on our
part, or any skill, that the beauty is seen in the Message, then to that extent we are
taking glory to ourselves which belongs to the Lord, and doing injury to ourselves
proportionately by failing. to demonstrate our worthiness to be used by the Lord in the
present and in the future. The wonderful privilege of speaking as ambassadors for the
Lord, to tell of His greatness and Plan should humble us with the thought that He has
privileged us, whereas He has angels, who excel in strength and whom He might have used in
communicating this most wonderful Message.
SPECIAL TEST UPON ELDERS AND DEACONS
But the dear brethren chosen by the Classes to be their Elders and
Deacons have a still further test to their humility. Apparently no one could occupy such
a position without great danger of infection from the disease called spiritual pride.
Sometimes the Lord's people
seem entirely to forget the caution which St. Paul gave, saying that a novice, a
beginner, one young in the Truth, no matter how bright, no matter how educated, should not
be chosen to the service of Elder or Deacon because, as the Apostle remarked, he would be
especially susceptible to this foe of the children of God-spiritual pride.--1 Timothy 3:6
But not merely are the novices in
danger. Everyone appointed to serve the Lord's people is thereby put into the place of
great temptation, which might mean a spiritual fall and ruin in the Second Death. Perhaps
the Lord's people have not been sufficiently considerate of these things as respects those
whom they elect to be their servants. Perhaps those accepting these positions of service
under the votes of the brethren scarcely realize what danger they do run in accepting. If
they realized, doubtless that realization would make them hesitate about accepting at all;
and humility would certainly lead them not to attempt to serve unless they were most
explicitly appointed to the service.
But what do we find? Alas! in some a
tendency to seek the eldership or deaconship. In some, even a tendency to
"wire-pull" and bargain that they might be elected; in some a tendency to feel
offended if they were not chosen; in some a tendency to feel angry with. anybody: who
would vote against them in such an election.- Alas! alas! if the dear brethren realized
what was: gnawing in their minds and urging them on to these things--oh, what a different
course they would take! In all meekness and humility they should feel a timidity even
about taking a position where there would be such a responsibility. The, admonition on
this is that although all of the Church should, according to their knowledge of the Truth,
be qualified to be teachers, nevertheless the safer place is not to be a teacher, knowing
that such shall have the severer trial. 'Only a sense of responsibility to the Lord and to
the brethren should make one willing to serve in such capacity, much as all ought to love
to be the Lord's representatives in the Church.
Everything in the nature of pride,
fond desire to be Elders or to be great, is not
only dangerous to the person himself, but dangerous to the entire Class with which he is
associated. The spirit is catching, just as is every disease. Strife, vain-glory,
ambition, all contrary to the spirit of the Lord, soon appear. Next come anger, malice, envy, hatred, evil-speaking,
evil-surmising. These St. Paul tells us, are "works, of the flesh and of the
Devil." All this harm, all this spirit of the Adversary, is apt to be. introduced
into the Class either by one or more of its Elders, or Leaders, or by one or more who
desire to be Elders or Leaders.
We are sorry that this is true, yet we
know of a number of Classes containing many dear children of God,
many of whom are otherwise exemplary, but who have
gotten into this condition. Instead of the spirit of the Lord being fully in control,
the evil spirit, or disposition, is frequently manifest in various ways in the meetings.
The Class fails to make progress, either numerically or spiritually. These are the bitter
fruits of this noxious thing known as spiritual pride.
If we had but the power of language to
hold it up before the readers of The Watch Tower, that they might see it in its trite
shape and terrible color, the effect would surely be to cause an alarm in Zion!
Fain would we ring the alarm bell
from the "Watch Tower," for be it noted that these dear ones who are becoming
thus involved are often grand characters, truly
spirit-begotten children of God. Of some of them we know that in the past they ran the
race splendidly. How sorry we feel to see signs that their characters are being
transformed in a wrong direction! Let us heed Him who said, "By their fruits ye shall
know. them."--Matt.
GUARDING AGAINST SPIRITUAL PRIDE
As already indicated, one of the
serious things connected with this malady of spiritual pride is that those who have it are
rarely aware of it. Another difficulty is that it is almost impossible to correct them and
to cause them to know that they have the disease. If spoken to on the subject they seem to
think at once that their benefactor is their enemy; that he is jealous of them; that he
would like to get their position, etc. Hence the disease is nearly incurable, except as
either the Class may assist or the Lord's providence may interpose.
If the Class notices the growth of
such a disposition, it should quickly, and with. love and good intention, merely fail to
elect for any service to the Class the individual who seems to be getting
top-heavy--spiritually proud. If this were resented, it should be considered all the more
a necessity to leave the self-conscious one to cool off
quietly and get his bearing-f or his
own good and that of the Class. Where the Class fails to help in this
matter, apparently nothing remains except for the Lord to chasten the individual for his
good, either with business reverses or losses or with physical disease, or in whatever way
may seem best to Him. And we have confidence that the Lord will do this for everyone who
is truly His child and who gets into such a condition as to need such correction in
righteousness. Is it not written, "The Lord will judge (punish) His
people"?--Deut. 32:36.
A BIBLE ILLUSTRATION OF THIS SIN
The Bible gives many illustrations of
this sin, but we choose the most conspicuous one. There was a
holy man of old, beloved
of the Lord, noble, self -sacrificing, a 'Prophet of the Lord. He served the Lord and His
people faithfully--wonderfully--for forty years; but finally he was guilty of this sin of
self -assurance-spiritual pride.
'And strangest of all, this man is
noted to us in the Bible as having been at the beginning of his career the "meekest
man in all the earth."--Num. 12:3.
Yes; it was the glorious Moses, who
at the beginning of his experience as a servant of the Lord was so very meek, so very
humble, but who, at the conclusion of his career, was hindered from entering' the promised
land as a punishment for spiritual pride or self-assurance, where .be should have given
the Lord the glory. We recall the circumstances: Moses, a's the Lord's special servant,
had led Israel out of Egypt across the Red Sea into the wilderness', en route for Canaan.
He performed, by the Lord's direction, several miracles on the journey. One of them was
the smiting of the rock when the people were famished for water. God directed him to smite
the rock; and from that rock flowed an abundant stream of water for the refreshment of the
people.
According to the Bible, that rock was
a picture of Christ-the "Rock of Ages." (1 Cor. 10:4.) It was by the Lord's
arrangement that this "Rock of Ages" was smitten, that the water of life might
flow from Jesus for all of Adam's race who would become Israelites indeed and come out of
Egypt-out of the world-out of sin-out of the kingdom of the Adversary into obedience and
fellowship with the Lord.
Forty years after this time of the
smiting of the rock, when Israel had been journeying to and fro, wafting for the time to
come that they might be permitted to enter Canaan, their wandering led again into this
district, so barren and devoid of water. The people cried to Moses and Moses cried to the
Lord on their behalf as to what should be done. The Lord's answer was that Moses should speak to the rock which previously he had smitten,
and that water would come forth. But during these forty years in which Moses had dealt
with the Israelites as a father with his children, he had naturally gained a great deal of
self-assurance. He could hardly pass through such experiences and still be the meekest man
in all the earth.
So now, neglecting the command of the
Lord, Moses went to the rock and smote it a second time with his rod, shouting to the
people: "Ye rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?" (Num. 20:1-12.)
Alas, poor Moses! He was taking the glory to himself instead of ascribing it all to the
Lord. Soon Moses realized the great mistake he had made. - It might be said to have been
his only mistake, and yet the Lord on this account denied him the privilege of going -into
the land of Canaan, granting him instead merely the opportunity of seeing it from across
the River Jordan, and burying him there.
Shall we not from this illustration
esteem that spiritual pride and self-assurance are very displeasing in the sight of the
Lord? Could we draw any other conclusion from this great lesson written for our
admonition.
A WORD OF CONSOLATION
For the comfort of those who may feel that they have done much worse than Moses, or been much more self,assertive, been
much less careful to honor the Lord, have manifested much more spiritual pride-for their
comfort let us notice that the punishment here was severe because it was part of a type.
As the- first smiting of the rock typified the
crucifixion of our Lord, so the second smiting of the rock typified the, crucifying of
the, Son of God afresh and putting Him to an open shame; as described by St. Paul in
Hebrews 6:6. As the smiting of the. rock represented this public, open repudiation of
Jesus and His teaching and His cause, so the preventing of Moses from crossing Jordan into
Canaan typified the Second Death. We are not to think that Moses will never come into
,Canaan; nor that he has died the Second Death, but merely that this type was shown in his
experiences.,
Neither are we to think that brethren
who have manifested spiritual pride and done things in their own name, rather than in the
name of the Lord and the name of the Class, have thereby committed the sin unto death. We
are, however, to realize that a terrible danger goes with .spiritual pride and that,
persisted in, it would surely result in Second Death. Realizing this, how anxious, how
zealous we should be, not only in the eradication of every symptom of it we might find in
ourselves, but also in being careful lest we should take the contagion or in any manner
come under its influence or have any of its symptoms!
SPIRITUAL PRIDE-PREVENTION AND CURE
We have already intimated the
difficulty in connection with the treatment of this disease when once it gets hold. The
chief feature of the difficulty seems to be that the disease has a destroying effect upon the conscience. The mind becomes more or less obtuse to
the simple principles of the Golden Rule--not to mention the still higher law of our
Lord's New Commandment to the brethren. The ignoring
of the Golden Rule is manifested every time an attempt is made to coerce the Class,
either in the election ,of its servants or in the ordering of its meetings.
The regulations of the Lord's Word
are known; the residing of the authority in the Class is recognized, and when an Elder
attempts to twist or turn or alter this he is not doing to the others as he would be done
by. He has a right, as one of the Class, to his
own opinion of the Lord's will on any matter. He has the right to express his judgment.
But he has no right to hinder others from the expression of their judgment; and every such
interference is a violation of the Golden Rule as well as a violation of ,the Law of Love
and a violation of the First Commandment--to honor God; for it is setting aside the Divine
arrangement provided for such matters.
But where the Elder progresses along
such lines, in defiance of the Golden Rule principle, to the ruling of the Class, the
coercing or cajoling of them to the doing his way, his will, the effect is the perversion
of his own mind. His conscience becomes obtuse. Whoever
violates his conscience repeatedly, by ignoring
the principles of righting a wrong which he clearly sees, that person is undermining his conscience.
Conscience is the scale by which we
weigh the various things presented to our judgment to ascertain the right or the wrong,
the justice or the injustice, the truth or the falsity of a thing. This scale may be a
very coarse one or a very fine one. It may be capable of very fine discriminations. or
it may see things only in a rude, crude way. The Christian, especially if he has been long
in the School of Christ, should have a very sensitive conscience; and from the Word of God
he should be able to draw the weights by which he would balance all the questions of the
affairs of life, and determine with almost absolute accuracy their right or their
wrong--to what extent they would be pleasing or displeasing to the Lord. The impairment of that scale is the great danger in
every sin, and it seems to us especially so in respect to the sin of spiritual pride.
Nothing much can be done until the scale be rectified.
How important all of the Lord's
people should feel it to be to keep their consciences thoroughly just; to be unwilling to
take advantage of a brother, or of anybody, either in business or in an argument or in a
Church election! The thought of the slightest
infraction of, justice on his own part should ring the loudest bells of alarm in the
heart and the head of every true child of God: "Could it be that I who have enlisted
in this cause of justice should be found sympathetic with injustice? Could it be that I could close my eyes to anything in
my own conduct in the nature of injustice? Can it be that I am vitiating my own
conscience and shall be liable to all the terrible results ?"
To rectify a wrong course would
therefore mean the re-establishment of the
principles of justice in the hearts and the minds with a carefulness proportionate to
the results involved-life or death everlasting. As justice shall begin to be
re-established in. our minds, it will begin to
regulate our words and acts. Gradually, then, the wrongdoer would begin to see how
grossly he had violated the principle, how spiritual pride had almost destroyed his future
prospects in the Kingdom. To such a one would surely come hearty repentance and thorough
resolutions for the future.
THE GREAT NECESSITY FOR SELF-EXAMINATION
But how shall we safeguard ourselves
against this spiritual pride, knowing as we do its insidious character and evil influence?
How may we know that we are keeping ourselves in the love of God and not straying away toward -spiritual
pride?
Our advice, is, the, same that we
have already given in "The-Watch Tower," viz.--that the Lord's people not only go to Him at the opening of each
day and ask for Divine wisdom and supervision, and then through the day seek to live in
accordance with that prayer, but, additionally at the close of the day we have recommended
a special self-inspection as respects the things done, the things neglected that should have been done, and the
things done that should not have been done, in accordance with out vows of consecration to
the Lord. If these reckonings and balancings every night with the Lord continue, and if
they are done honestly, by a conscience that is not perverted, but that balances truly, we
may surely expect that such, in harmony with the Lord's Word, will be keeping themselves
in the love of God. They will be growing in grace, growing in knowledge, growing in love,
and "the Wicked One will not touch them."
But let us not forget that while we
are to exercise great leniency in viewing the words and deeds of others, ascribing only
good intentions where they are professed, we are to scrutinize with all of our might our
own hearts, our own intentions. We are to inquire why we did this thing or left - undone
the other -thing; why we did this thing this way; why we spoke in such a tone, etc. Such a
careful examination, weighing of thoughts, words and deeds would be very unsatisfactory to
a person who was not wishing to be in accord with the Lord. But those who have made a
covenant with the Lord and are faithful to that covenant will find such a course to be a
great blessing, comforting their hearts at the time, strengthening them for the future,
and in connection with the Lord's providences it will be fitting and preparing them for
places in the Heavenly Kingdom.
A BROTHER makes inquiry
as to just what is the attitude and position of the Publishers and Editorial Committee of
the HERALD with regard to the matter that
appears in the columns of this journal, and particularly with regard to the series of
articles on the Revelation. In replying, we feel that we can do no better than call
attention to the fact that on the second page of every issue of the, HERALD, the Editorial Committee goes on record as
follows:
"This
journal is published under the supervision of an Editorial Committee, at least three of
whom have read and approved as truth each and every article appearing in these
columns."
In accordance, therefore, with the
above statement, the Editorial Committee regards as truth the articles that are herein
published, including the reprints from our Pastor, as well as the articles on the
Revelation. In fact, we believe that it would not be pleasing to the Lord for us to
publish what we do not consider as truth, or to
set before the Lord's people what we are not sure is sound doctrine, such. as a mere
fancy, theory or speculation, not being thoroughly established by the Lord's Word.
But we are asked to consider further
what is the attitude of the Publishers and, the Editorial Committee towards those who may
not agree with all that is printed in the columns of the HERALD, such as, for instance, some of the
suggestions in the Revelation articles. We would reply that we urge none to accept any
statements or suggestions herein published that do not seem to them reasonable and
Scriptural. The Editors of this journal have no reason for considering themselves more
inspired than others; nor do they make any claim of superior ability to expound the
Scriptures. They have received their appointment indirectly from the brethren at large to
act in the position in which they are serving; and in accordance with the wishes of the
brethren who appointed them, the Editorial Committee is striving to place before the
Lord's people what they consider to be truth and what will be for, their profit and
comfort.
We wish to accord to all the fullest
liberty to exercise their own individual judgment as to what is received as .truth. It
will be remembered that our Pastor took this same position toward his writings, and so
expressed himself on the second page of every issue of his semi-monthly journal; the same
is contained on the second page of every issue of the HERALD in the following language:
"And we not only invite but urge
our readers to prove all its utterances by the infallible Word, to which reference is
constantly made, to facilitate such testing."
As for the series of the Revelation
articles appearing in these columns, we have received many letters expressing deep and
profound appreciation for the great blessing received through the reading of these
articles, while but very slight criticism has come to our attention. If some do not agree
with all that is presented in these columns, .this would constitute no grounds for us to
esteem them less highly, nor should we regard them as being less spiritually minded; nor
that their prospects of gaining the crown would be any less than that of others. More than
this, the fact that some may not just see eye to eye with the interpretations herein given
should not be allowed to hinder the spirit of fellowship in Christ.
We believe we cannot too strongly
urge upon the brethren everywhere to be on guard against every tendency and disposition to
make tests of fellowship of certain minor points of doctrine or interpretation, but to
remember that full fellowship in Christ is based upon the two fundamental propositions,
viz.: faith in the atoning blood of Christ, and full consecration to do the will of God in
harmony with the example given us by Jesus. As for other features of faith, we would say,
"Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind."
SERIES X.
THE SECOND TRUMPET
"And the Second Angel sounded
his trumpet, and as it were a great burning Mountain was cast into the Sea; and the Third
of the Sea became Blood, and the Third of the Creatures which were in the Sea, Things
having Life, died; and the Third of the Ships were destroyed."--Rev. 8:8, 9.
Diaglott.
IN THIS second trumpet, we have
portrayed what we believe to be the overthrow of a great kingdom or empire. The symbolism,
which is that of a burning mountain being cast into the sea., is a very familiar one to
students of prophecy. Bible students are generally agreed that mountains
When used as symbol's nearly always
refer to kingdoms. The Kingdom of Christ is frequently represented by a mountain:
"And the stone which smote the image [of earthly empires] became a great mountain
[kingdom], and filled the whole earth." This is explained by the prophet, "In
the days of these kings [kingdoms] shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall
never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break
in pieces and consume all these kingdoms and it shall stand forever."--Dan. 2:35, 44.
The Psalmist David when speaking of
his kingdom makes use of this symbol: "Lord thou hast made my mountain to stand
strong," (Psa. 30:7) evidently referring to the stability of his kingdom. The unusual
disorders experienced by the people of a kingdom in connection with its being overthrown
or destroyed, by invading armies, or other disturbing causes,, as revolutions, etc., are
expressed in prophetic symbology, as mountains being carried or cast into the sea. In one
of the prophetic Psalms which portrays in symbolic language the terrible scenes that occur
in connection with the close of this Age, we have these words: "Therefore will we
[God's saints] not fear, though the earth [organized society], be removed, and though the
mountains [kingdoms] be carried into the midst of the sea." (Psa. 46:2.) In one of
the closing visions of the Revelation, that of the "seventh vial," we read that
the "mountains were not found," meaning in this case, the kingdoms of earth were
overthrown (symbolically burnt up) to make room for the Kingdom of Christ. -Rev. 16:20.
THE BURNING MOUNTAIN
Careful examination and comparison of
all the facts of ,history, we believe, reveal to us that the symbolic vision of this
second trumpet had its fulfillment about a century and a half after the Pagan religion had ceased to be in a
national sense the religion of the Roman Empire. The is that of a burning mountain being
cast into the sea.
In our endeavor to uncover the
meaning of these symbolic visions of Revelation, we are keeping in mind the exhortation of
St. Peter: "Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private
interpretation; on; for the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man; but holy
then of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit." (2 Pet. 1:20, 21.) To our
understanding the meaning of these words is -not that God is necessarily going to choose
some special individual, and miraculously make known to him the meaning of Scriptural
prophecy; but rather, that we are to study to discover its meaning, and carefully note in
other Scripture prophecies, where the same symbols are employed, and have had their
fulfillment, and thus their meaning having been made evident, we should make use of this
knowledge.
In applying this. rule to the
prophecy of this second trumpet symbol, we discover that there is one other place in the
Scriptures where the symbolism of a "burnt mountain"
is employed and explained. It is in connection with a prophecy referring to the ancient
Babylonian Empire, and reads: "I will render unto Babylon and to all the inhabitants
of Chaldea all, their evil that they have done. .
. . Behold I am against thee 0 destroying
mountain, [kingdom] which destroyest all the earth, and I will stretch out mine hand
upon thee and roll thee down from the rocks, and will make thee a burnt mountain." (Jer. 51:24, 25.) This
prophecy, as all Bible students know, refers to the complete overthrow of the ancient
Babylonian Empire by the Medes and Persians 538 B.C.
From this fulfilled symbolic prophecy
we are enabled to ascertain the meaning of the vision under consideration. We learn:
(1)
That a "burnt mountain" is employed
by "holy men of old moved by the Holy Spirit" to describe a destroyed kingdom.
(2) That a "burning mountain" symbolizes a kingdom
in process of destruction.
(3) That a "burning mountain cast into the sea" would symbolize a kingdom
which had been gradually disintegrating, finally becoming extinct.
We consider next the symbolic
significance of a "sea." A sea that is calm symbolizes an orderly collection of
men in a quiet and peaceable state or condition. A sea troubled and tumultuous describes a
collection of men restless and turbulent and at war. (Dan. 7:2.) Waters (plural)
frequently symbolize peoples (Rev. 17:15) ; a sea being a collection of waters becomes the
symbol of a people gathered into one body politic. It is doubtless the "sea"
condition represented by a collection of men at war or in commotion, that is employed in
the symbol of this second trumpet.
THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE
We inquire, Where or at what time in
the history of this Gospel Age do we find that a great kingdom or empire was gradually
overthrown, and in connection with its overthrow caused great disturbances and calamities
to the "sea" class ? There doubtless have been a number of such occurrences in
-history, but as a rule most of. these have been of local significance only. How shall we
know which of these is referred to in the symbolism of this second trumpet? The only
logical answer is that it must be the one that follows, and we would think is closely
connected with the fulfillment of the first trumpet
symbols. In our exposition of the first trumpet we noted that the great storm of hail,
etc., which was the symbol employed under that trumpet, fitted perfectly with the
disturbances and commotions associated with the efforts to overthrow the Pagan religion
(not the Empire) in the Second and Third Centuries and the early part of the Fourth. We
inquire next, Was there a great kingdom or empire, that through wars and commotions was
gradually overthrown soon after this time; and this, in connection with the gradual
passing away of the influence of Paganism over the people of the Roman Empire? Was the
overthrow of that kingdom an event of great significance in the fulfilling of other
inspired prophecies of "holy men of old?" And if so, was it of special
importance in connection with the development of the "little flock" of
joint-heirs of the coming Kingdom?
Without doubt the answer is that
there was such a kingdom overthrown which met all these conditions. This kingdom was one
whose rise and fall occupied a very large place in the prophecies of Daniel. It was the
one symbolized by the "legs of iron" of the great metalic image of
Nebuchadnezzar's dream of Daniel 2. Its description occupied a very much larger place in
the vision of Daniel 7. It was the Western Roman Empire symbolized by the "fourth
beast" of that vision. Less than two centuries after the ecclesiastical revolution in
connection with the change of the religion of the Roman Empire, from Paganism to
Christianity, the Western Roman Empire, whose capital city was Rome, and which had ruled
the world since a short time before the birth of Christ, was overthrown, and began to be
broken up into several lesser kingdoms. This event, next to the overthrow of the Pagan
-religion itself, is one of the most important in the history of the world since the birth
of Christ. Its final collapse occurred 476 A.D. in which year, Odoacer the King of the
Heruli took possession of the city of Rome, and Romulus Augustulus, the last reigning
Emperor of Western Rome was dethroned. The Eastern Roman Empire with its capital at
Constantinople, however, continued to exist until 1453 A.D. The Roman kingdom began its
career in the city of Rome. This city has been called the "eternal city." It was
here that its central government was; always located. With its overthrow the world entered
upon a new era. The Historian informs us that, "Modern history, in a comprehensive
sense, begins with the downfall of the Western Roman Empire; for, with that event the
volume of ancient history was closed." (Swinton's Outlines of the World's History.) It was only about half a
century from this in 533 A.D. that a Roman bishop of the Church was declared in a decree
of Justinian, the Emperor of Eastern Rome, to be the head over all the Churches of
so-called Christendom; and from, this time began to exercise from the city of Rome a
ruling influence, not only in the professed Church, but over all the kingdoms into which
the Roman Empire was divided.
THE TEN-HORNED BEAST
For two centuries, the
Fourth and Fifth, the great Empire-of Western Rome was undergoing the process of
dissolution. The Gothic hordes of the North had made incursion after incursion into its
territory. It was, during this long period of disintegration, in a condition fittingly
described in symbol as a "burning mountain." In harmony with the symbolism of
Jeremiah, as referred to above, of Babylon, the Western Roman Empire -after 476 A.D.
became a "burnt [destroyed] mountain." The kingdom (ruling power) became
divided. (Dan. 2:41.) Its ruling dynasty, which had held universal sway for about five
centuries was (symbolically speaking) "cast
into the sea," -the restless people at war. It continued, however, in the symbols
of both Daniel and the Revelation, to be described under the figure of the "fourth
beast," but no longer the fourth empire universal; and entered upon that phase of its
rule, symbolized by the "ten horns" of the "beast." These ten horns we
are informed by the revealing angel, represented
the ten kingdoms which on an average have occupied the territory of the original Roman
Empire since that time.-Dan. 7:20; Rev. 13:1.
The symbols of this second trumpet do
not describe in detail the method by which this great empire was destroyed; but rather
describe the effects produced on the "sea" class, by the commotions which
accomplished it. History, however, records it very fully, as being through the moral
degeneracy and weakness of its ruling Emperors, etc. Through these causes the Empire
became an easy object of prey to the barbaric tribes of the North, who, through continuous
invasions into its territories spread devastation in many provinces, spoiling the Empire
of its wealth. It gradually grew weaker and weaker in its power to resist, until finally
it succumbed to the king of the Heruli.
Most historical writers who have
attempted to expound this vision have applied it to a second stage in the invasion by the
Gothic tribes of the Roman Empire-that of the Vandals. A recent exposition applies the
casting of the burning mountain into the sea, of this second trumpet, to England's
breaking away from the Papacy during the reign of Henry VIII, in the beginning of the
Sixteenth Century. England, however, was not overthrown or destroyed at that time, as the
symbol of a mountain being cast into the sea invariably in Scripture symbology teaches;
nor was this the proper time in history for the vision to have its fulfillment.
RESULTS THAT FOLLOWED
It now remains for us to consider
those symbols that describe the effects produced by the wars and invasions of these
barbaric tribes of the North in connection with the gradual overthrow of this great
empire, upon the "sea" class. The symbols to be considered are three in number:
(1) It is said that the third part of
the sea became blood.
(2) That the third part of the
creatures in the sea that had life died.
(3) That the third part of the ships
that sailed upon the sea were destroyed.
The sea becoming blood evidently
describes in a general way the calamitous effects produced upon the people of the Empire
as a whole by the invasions of these barbaric tribes, and also the effects of the misrule
of the Roman Emperors. Blood, when visible, as we have learned from Scripture usage,
symbolizes death by violence. ".Bloody times" are times of great calamities,
brought about by the loosing of human passions. The scenes occurring in connection with
wars and invasions of an empire and the misrule of its ruling powers, together with its
overthrow are accompanied by great distress to the peoples and followed by periods of
lawlessness, anarchy. Wars, usually cause famine, excessive taxation of the people in
whose land war is waged, bringing discontent. On the overthrow of a government, the
peoples are loosed from the restraining influences of its laws, and until a stable
government is established a state bordering on anarchy prevails. The significance of this
symbol is very forcibly illustrated in the present time in the effects produced by the
great war in Europe, resulting in the overthrow of the autocratic governments of Russia,
Austria and Germany and others. The contending factions, of the "sea" classes each endeavoring to assume the reins of
government, causes a condition that very vividly pictures the meaning of this symbol of
the "sea becoming blood.''
Similar conditions existed during the
invasions into the Roman territory, and also followed for some time the downfall of
Western Rome. The Historian describes the terrible condition existing, in this period:
"In the beginning of, this
(Fifth) Century the Roman Empire was divided into two distinct sovereignties, of which the
one comprehended the Eastern provinces, the other those ,of the West . . . . Honorius who
governed the Western provinces . . . neglected the great affairs of the empire, and
inattentive to the weighty duties of his station held the reins of government with an
unsteady hand. The Goths took advantage of this criminal indolence; made incursions into
Italy; laid waste its fairest provinces and sometimes carried their desolations as far as
Rome, which they ravaged and plundered in -1he most dreadful manner. These calamities
which fell upon the western part of the empire from the Gothic depredations, were followed
by others still more dreadful under the succeeding Emperors. A fierce and warlike people,
issuing out of Germany, overspread Italy, Gaul and Spain, the noblest of all the European
provinces, and erected new kingdoms in these fertile countries; and Odoacer, at last, at
the head of the Heruli having conquered Augustulus in the year 476 gave the mortal blow to
the Western Empire and reduced all Italy under his dominion."--Mosheim's Eccles. History.
The Roman bishop at this time began
to become very influential, and historians inform us that the people in general began to
look for help in their troubles to this ecclesiastic; and in this manner events began to
shape themselves in the direction of the Roman bishop assuming the powers of the civil
rulers and gradually to take the reins of government in Rome. The third part would
represent that proportion of the empire experiencing these calamities.
The next part of the symbolism is
that of the third part of. the living creatures that were in the sea that had life, dying.
The creatures in the sea represent the peoples as individuals or units that constituted
the civilization of those times.
The civilization during the. period
of the Pagan Roman Empire was a Pagan civilization; i. e., in religious matters,
Polytheism, a belief in* many gods, molded and fashioned, the various elements of mankind
of both the higher and lower classes ("trees" and "grass") in all the
various relations of life. The symbols of the first trumpet, as we have seen, describe the
indirect effects of Christianity upon this Pagan civilization, uprooting it and finally
establishing in its place a new, a so-called Christian civilization. However, as all true
Christians know, it was a very impure form of Christianity. Constantine and the Emperors
who succeeded him in certain matters ruled the professed Church. Constantine himself
sought, however, without success, to unite the various sects and harmonize the
disturbances on account of differences of belief. Gradually during this period the Pagan
temples were either destroyed or converted into houses of worship for the Christians(?).
In the "Biblical Comments." these Christian Emperors are called, prematurely the
"man child" of Rev. 12:5 .
Regarding the type of Christianity
that existed in these times we quote the Historian:
"While the Roman Emperors were
studious to promote the boner of Christianity, by the auspicious protection they afforded
the Church, and their most zealous efforts to advance its interests, the inconsiderate and
ill directed piety of the bishops cast a cloud over the beauty and simplicity of the
Gospel, by the prodigious number of rites and ceremonies which they had invented to
embellish it. And here we may apply that well known saying of Augustine, that the yoke
under which the Jews formerly groaned was more tolerable than that imposed upon many
Christians in this time. The rites and institutions by which the Greeks and Romans, and
other nations had formerly testified their religious veneration for fictitious deities
were now adopted, with some slight alterations by Christian bishops, and employed in the
service of the true God. These fervent heralds of the Gospel, whose zeal outran their
candor and ingenuity, imagined that the nations would receive Christianity with more
facility, when they saw the rites and ceremonies to which they were accustomed adopted in
the Church and the same worship paid to Christ and martyrs which they had formerly offered
to their idol deities. Hence it happened that in these times the religion of the Greeks
and Romans differed very little in its
external appearance from that of the Christians. Gorgeous robes, miters, tiaras, wax
tapers, crosiers, processions, images, gold and silver vases, and many such circumstances
and pageantry were equally seen in the heathen temples and the Christian Churches."--Mosheim's Eccles. History.
Such was the civilization that
existed during the period of the Christian Roman Emperors, from Constantine about 313 A.D.
to Romulus Agustulus 476 A.D. However, we must not obtain the impression that this
Christian civilization was united or harmonious in its doctrines or forms of worship, etc.
On the contrary it was broken up into sects and divisions, very much the same as the
present Christian ( ?) civilization is. While to a very large extent these various sects
all looked to the Emperors, one of whom, Constantine, delivered them from persecution, to guide and protect them in many
ways, yet there was no unanimity of doctrine
or methods and forms of worship. There was during this period according to the Historian,
a certain freedom and independence enjoyed in these matters by these various sects. The
unification of these came after the' overthrow of the Imperial power which this second
trumpet depicts. Indeed it was foretold that the Imperial power at Rome was the hindrance
that would have to be removed before this unification under one head could take place.
This' head is' the "man of sin," the Papacy. (2 Thess. 2:5.) 'We quote the
Historian:
"We are not, however, to think
that the same method of worship was uniformly followed in every Christian society, for
this was far from being the case. Every bishop consulting his own private judgment, and
taking into consideration the nature of the times, the genius of the country in which he
lived, and the character and temper of those whom he was appointed to rule and instruct,
formed such a plan of Divine worship as he thought the wisest and best. Hence, that
variety of liturgies which were in use, before the
bishop of Rome had usurped the supreme power in religious matters and persuaded the
credulous and unthinking that the model, both of doctrine and worship was to be given by
the "mother" Church, and to be followed implicitly throughout the Christian world."--Mosheim's Eccles. History.
'With this brief summary of the
history of those times we are enabled to understand the meaning of these symbolisms. The
"living creatures" dying in the sea, refer to the individual units of the
Christian civilization of those times,
represented by the clergy and laity. Their death refers symbolically to their dying to
this extent of freedom enjoyed in religious matters, and becoming absorbed, swallowed up
in the Roman Catholic Papal system, that soon followed the overthrow of the Western Roman Emperors.
"Ships" represent inanimate
objects and in this case represent the many
denominations or sects. These, like the living creatures in them, were eventually
extinguished, and lost their existence by being swallowed up in the great apostasy, the
Papal system. A new experience was now coming to the "little flock" class, as it
comes into contact with this great persecuting power. The rise of this power is portrayed
in the symbolisms of the third trumpet.
-JUNE
1--HEBREWS 11:1-40; 12:1, 2--
Golden Text.-Believe in God, believe also in Me. -- John
14:1.
THE eleventh chapter of. Hebrews
furnishes us with a: definition of- faith that, is amongst the most excellent that -has
ever been written. In this lesson we come to examine faith to learn of its importance as a
motive power to good thoughts, good words and good deeds.
The chapter under consideration is
one of the masterpieces of Holy Writ. Indeed, the entire book of Hebrews, occupies a very
commanding position in the Bible. Some, indeed, have questioned its authorship,, but to us
there seems no room for doubt that it was written by St. Paul.. It is marked throughout by
his masterful logic, reverence and personal humility. It gives insight -into the Divine
Plan of the Ages, which fully comports with St. Paul's other epistles and which far
transcends in this respect all the other writings of the Bible. It has been noted by some
that its style is more lofty than that of 'some others of St. Paul's epistles; but this
may be easily accounted for. Those other epistles, although full of sound reasoning and
logic, are written in a simple and fatherly style for the general reader. This one was
written particularly for the benefit of the other eleven apostles and other learned
Hebrews who were slow to discern the change of dispensation. Naturally, therefore, it was
St. Paul's masterpiece, because upon it he evidently expended the greater
labor-demonstrating the typical character of the Jewish Dispensation and indicating the
antitypes of the Gospel Dispensation, as well as softie reaching well into the Millennium.
The references in' the thirteenth chapter to Timothy and the statement,,-, "They of
Italy salute you," imply that St. Paul wrote this epistle from Rome, where he was in
prison.
"THE FOUNDATION OF THINGS HOPED FOR"
Strictly speaking, hope is
unsubstantial-not a reality. It furnishes, no genuine foundation-it is merely a hope. It
will not sustain weight. But faith is more than hope. Faith implies a promise. And when a
promise is made by the Almighty God, who changes not and who is as omnipotent as He is
unchangeable, then faith can firmly trust Him, come what may. Hope finds a foundation --
finds in faith a substance -- because the faith rests upon a Divine promise. Whoever,
therefore, has hope that is without such a Divine promise has a foundationless hope. Thus
we see the heathen with hopes and fears full of uncertainty; yea, many Christians, hoping
for certain things, have *uncertainty, fear and doubt, because they have not faith. And
they have not faith because they are hoping for something which God has not promised and
to many of them the things which He has promised are not known, not understood, and,
therefore, not a basis for faith, nor a foundation for hope. Realizing these things, how
careful we should be that our hope should not soar away to uncertain' fantasy, but build
solidly upon the faith foundation of Divine promise. Such as have this proper faith must
of necessity be students of the Divine Word and the greater their studies the more their
faith; and the greater their faith the more. their studies of the promises.
The Apostle brings before our minds
from the past a galaxy of faith heroes. He holds them up for our admiration, so that they
shine and sparkle and excite our admiration and, we trust, stimulate us to similar faith
heroism. None of these enumerated by the Apostle was a heathen vagarist, feeling after God
and hoping against hope and soaring off in imagination. They were all positive, forceful
characters, who knew in whom they believed and testified their faith by their obedience to
God.
JOHN. CALVIN DEFINES FAITH
"Eternal life is promised to us,
but after death. We are told of a blessed resurrection, but we meantime become the prey of
decay; we are promised righteousness, and yet sin dwells in us; we hear ourselves called
blessed, and meantime are overwhelmed in infinite miseries; we are promised affluence of
all good things, but are all our days in hunger and thirst; God proclaims that He will be
ever present to help us, but seems deaf to our cries. What would become of us if we
learned not to hope,- and unless our mind, guided by the Word and the Spirit of God, emerged through the midst of the shades, above
this present world?"
The Apostle briefly sums' up the
matter of the Christian's present lessons: in faith, saying, "We walk by faith and
not by sight." The more carefully we walk with God the more peaceful and the more joyful may be our Pilgrim
journey towards the New Jerusalem. Outwardly the
world, the flesh and the Adversary may harass us, but no grief, no tribulation, can shake
our inmost joy, if it be well founded upon the faith foundation of Divine assurances that
we are children of God, in touch with the Infinite, beloved by our Redeemer, who assures
us that "The Father Himself loveth you;" and the Apostle's words are, that
"all things shall work together for good to them that love God, to the called ones
according to His purpose."
ST. PAUL'S ILLUSTRATIONS OF FAITH
"By it (faith) -- the Elders
obtained a good report." Not all the Elders or ancients received a testimony that
they -pleased God-the "report" here referred to. No, the number who received
this witness of God is comparatively small, and, in every instance, they were commended,
not for perfect works, but for their faith. Their "faith was counted unto them for
righteousness." The Divine intention was that those whose reverence for their Creator
and obedience to His Word of promise shaped and moulded a human life under present
conditions of imperfection and world-enmity to God thus implied that they had hearts so
full of trust and the proper spirit that God could count it righteousness, count it
perfection; because' when in the. resurrection such should receive perfect bodies under
perfect conditions they would surely do the Divine will thoroughly. Hence their faith in
God and ,His promises, attested by imperfect works, justified them ,.to that Divine
fellowship which they will fully enjoy when .the things hoped for shall be realized.
Thus in few words the Apostle
summarizes what he afterwards proceeds to amplify respecting the Ancient Worthies. Then he
begins a specification of faith. By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the
Word of God-in obedience to Divine direction. We believe this equally true, whether we
understand the seven days of creation mentioned in Genesis to be twenty-four-hour days or
to be longer epochs--seven-thousand year days. The fact that Divine energy is exercised
through various channels and agencies and that worlds are not spoken into existence in a
moment of time matters not. While God could speak worlds into existence, as our Lord by
His word turned water into wine, as a matter of fact this is not His usual proceeding,
even as the fruit of the vine is usually produced by sunshine and rain falling upon the
earth in which the vine has been planted. It is, nevertheless, a matter of faith with us
that what we see was miraculously formed, even though gradually.
“FAITH BEING DEAD YET SPEAKETH"
Particularizing the heroes of faith
the Apostle begins with the first martyr, Abel, who is mentioned four times in the New
Testament and three of the times particularly styled "the righteous." It was in
his death that he spoke in the fact that he died because of his devotion to the Lord. And
has it not been so with many of God's saints -that their lives spoke more earnestly to
their neighbors, friends and children after their death than while they lived? We know of
many instances which have exemplified this. So Abel, the first martyr for righteousness in
the world's history, yet speaks of his devotion to God and to principle.
Figuratively his blood is said to cry
out to God for vengeance. Divine justice is supposed eventually to see to it that every
crime, every injustice committed, shall somehow and somewhere receive a just recompense of
punishment, whether in the present or in the future life. The Apostle calls our attention
to the fact that the blood of Christ, on the contrary, speaks the very reverse, and,
instead of calling for justice, vengeance, upon those who crucified Jesus and have
persecuted the members of His Body, will eventually call for mercy. Our Lord was the great
sin-offering for mankind, and all whom He accepts as members are specifically styled
sacrificers--on behalf of sinners--to seal for Israel the New Covenant, through which all
the families of the earth may receive the blessing of Divine forgiveness.
ENOCH WALKED WITH GOD BY FAITH
The testimony respecting Enoch was
that his was a life of faith; that he walked with God and not with the world; that he
sought to walk righteously, in harmony with the Divine will. The testimony is that all
that approach God must believe that He is (else they would not seek to approach Him), and
must believe that He is a rewarder of those that diligently seek Him, else they would not
deny themselves the things highly esteemed amongst men and seek at the cost of sacrifice
to do the things pleasing to the Heavenly Father. The record respecting Enoch is very
meager, but we do know that he was a prophet and that through him the message came that
Messiah would come eventually with ten thousand of His holy ones to execute righteousness,
judgment, in the earth to overthrow sin and set up Divine standards amongst men.
"Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousand of His saints, to execute judgment upon
all."--Jude 14, 15.
Enoch not only prophesied this but he
believed it and it stamped his entire character and made him separate from the world and
drew him nearer to the Lord. Similarly faith in the coming of our Redeemer and the
establishment of His Kingdom and the reward of His faithfulness and the judgment or trial
of the world during the Millennium, in which every man will receive a just recompense of
reward, whether good or bad-this faith. still has a sanctifying power. Let us cultivate
daily, hourly, the setting of our affections on things above. the things which God hath in
store for them that love Him, for which we pray, "Thy Kingdom come."
"HEIR OF RIGHTEOUSNESS"
Noah is the third of these faith
heroes held up for our inspection. None of these was righteous in the absolute sense, for
the Scriptures declare, "There is none righteous, no, not one." Of Noah it is
written, "Now Noah was perfect in his generation"--he and his family were
separate, free from the contamination of their time, from improper intercourse with the
angels, which kept not their first estate.-Gen. 6:4.
Noah's faith in God was manifested in
his building of the Ark in obedience to the Divine instruction that a great rain and flood
of waters would come, which would destroy every living thing and wipe out the corrupted
race. This was no slight test of faith either, for we are to remember that the Scriptures
declare that up to that time there had been no rain on the earth. It was moistened by
irrigation and by mists and fogs. "For the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon
the earth. . . . But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of
the ground."--Gen. 2:5, 6.
For a long period Noah's faith was
tested even unto the entering of the Ark and the closing of the door before the rains
descended and the floods came. Of him it is well declared, therefore, "He became heir
of the righteousness which is by faith." God is pleased to call Noah and all others who thoroughly, genuinely
trust Him, friends. He recognizes them as separate and distinct from the world in general. Their faith is
their distinguishing quality. Nevertheless a manifestation of the faith and the testing of
it by works of obedience is required. Blessed is the man who has much and strong faith in
the Lord, which will stand trial, testing; for subsequently will be granted to him a corresponding blessing.
Nay, more than this, the Lord has guaranteed us that He "will not suffer us to be
tempted above that we are able" and He informs us that He knoweth our frame and
remembereth that we are but dust.
HE LOOKED FOR THE CITY OF GOD
Next in the list of Ancient Worthies
is Abraham, styled "The Father of the Faithful"--not because Noah and Enoch and Abel had not been
faithful, but because with Abraham God started a faith family to whom were given many and
great promises. That family became known as the nation of Israel, and latterly as
Spiritual Israel. Again, Abraham was the father of the faithful, because while the heroes
that preceded him exercised faith in God, it was more along abstract lines, whereas the
Divine revelation to Abraham was the Gospel, the Good Tidings in definite form-that in and
through his Seed all the families of the earth should receive a blessing. Thus the Apostle
declares that God preached in advance the Gospel to Abraham, and thus all who believe that
Gospel, of which redemption by Messiah is the essential, all such are called "the
children of Abraham," and he is spoken of as their father, the one through whom this
Gospel hope was, caused to descend.
But in still another sense Abraham
was the Father of the Faithful; in the sense that he typified the Heavenly Father, as
Isaac typified our Lord Jesus, and as Isaac's bride, Rebecca, typified the elect Gospel
Church.
Abraham's call of God was the result
of his having faith in God and because he lived at an appropriate time for the Divine
purposes to begin to be expressed. First his faith was tested by the Divine command that
he leave his native country to wander up and down through Palestine as a shepherd,
dwelling in tents without any fixed habitation, without any attempt to take possession of
the land and to establish himself in it by building fortresses, etc. The promise was that
in after times God would bring his posterity to this land and give it to them for a
possession.
The promise went further and declared
that if obedient the Lord's blessing would continue and that the seed of Abraham would
become great and influential and that through it all nations would receive a blessing-and
by implication all would come under its control. It required great faith to believe all
this under the circumstances. And the test continued, as, year by year, Abraham's wife
grew older, until the time of motherhood was long. past. Still we read that Abraham's
faith "wavered not."
Still later, after Isaac the son of
promise had been born and had grown to manhood, the Lord tested the faith of this
wonderful man by telling him to offer his son as a sacrifice. We are not to assume that,
this instruction was given by an; mere impression of
the mind, nor would it have been proper for Abraham to have accepted and acted upon
anything short of an absolute demonstration of the Divine will in such a matter. The
father love, the hopes of years, and apparently the Divine Word and Oath were all about to
be wrecked. Yet his faith "faltered not." for he accounted that God was able to
raise his son from the dead and that surely God would fulfil His every promise to which He
had bound Himself, not only by His Word, but also by His Oath.
While we exclaim, Wonderful faith!
let us remember that this was the very quality of Abraham which specially commended him to
the Almighty as His particular friend. And let us remember if we would have the particular
friendship and blessing and fellowship of the Lord this is the channel through which it is
to be sought-the channel of faith, of trust, of obedience. "Without faith it is
impossible to please God." The more faith we have the more pleasing we shall be in
the Lord's sight and the more we may be used of Him as channels of blessing to
othershowever imperfect we may be in other respects.
"SHE JUDGED THE PROMISOR FAITHFUL"
We are glad that Abraham's wife is
specifically mentioned in this list of faith heroes. It helps us to thoroughly grasp the
Apostle's thought that the distinction of sex does not operate to the disadvantage of
either male or female in connection with the Divine promises. Perhaps it cannot be said
that Sarah's faith did not falter, but if it wavered for a time it certainly was
recovered. Although she was past the age of motherhood she believed God. 'She judged Him
faithful who had promised." Thus she was counted in with the noble list of whom the
Apostle says, "These all died in faith, not having received the promises (the things
promised), but having seen them afar off (with the eye of faith) and were persuaded of
them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were pilgrims and strangers in the
earth."
Ali, yes, here is an important
feature. It is not sufficient that we see glorious things of the Divine purpose, not
sufficient that we believe them, not sufficient that we rejoice in them. We must be
willing also to stand the, test of being strangers and pilgrims in the present time. Those
who cannot stand this' test will not be accounted worthy
of a share in those glorious things. Those Ancient Worthies, unsatisfied with any of
the earthly prospects, sought the heavenly--not in the sense that we are seeking the heavenly, the spiritual
things-in the sense of hoping for the completion of a change of nature from earthly to
spiritual. They sought or desired the heavenly in the sense expressed in our Lord's
prayer. They wished God's Kingdom to come, to be established in the earth--a heavenly rule
of righteousness, a heavenly city or government. "Wherefore God is not ashamed to be
called their God, for He hath prepared for them a city"--He has planned such a
heavenly Kingdom or dominion as they hoped for. That Kingdom, the Scriptures assure us,
will eventually be the "desire of all nations."--Hag. 2:7.
“SO GREAT A
CLOUD OF WITNESSES"
The moral of our lesson, is summed up
in the first verse of Hebrews, 12th chapter, in which the Apostle says,
"Wherefore, seeing that we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of
witnesses (martyrs), let us lay aside- every weight, and the sin which doth so easily
beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us looking unto Jesus,
the author and finisher of our faith."
What a grand exhortation! Let us heed
it! Let us give faith its proper place. Let us feed our faith upon the Word of God and
upon all the Divine providences of our experiences in life as they daily come to us! Let
us thus follow in the footsteps of our great High Priest, the Captain of our salvation,
our Leader, our Forerunner, whose sacrifice is the foundation for our faith and whose
power in glory is to be its consummation, when He shall receive us unto Himself in the
First Resurrection, "In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye."
-JUNE
8--Matthew 7:16-29; JOHN 14:21-24--
Golden Text.--Ye are my friends, if ye do the things which
I command you
-- -John 15:14.
ALL INTELLIGENT people have at least a super
ficial knowledge of what obedience is: doing what we are told to do. All know that they
ought not to obey those who have no right to command them, and that they ought to obey
those who have that right. Our lesson follows the Sermon on the Mount, and was evidently
intended as a parable, to impress upon the minds of the Lord's people the importance of
what they had heard the importance of obeying as well as hearing the Good Tidings. It
sets forth the good results of careful obedience, in contrast with the unsatisfactory
results to those who would fail to obey. It is evidently not evil surmising if we are on
the lookout for false teachers, who our Lord declared would come amongst His sheep to
mislead them. The Master and the Apostles foretold and forewarned that there would be
such, and we do well to heed their warning.
But, we are to distinguish them in
the manner which our Lord and the Apostles clearly indicated: however, smooth, polished,
educated, gentle, they may be on the surface, we must get to know them better than by
surface indications before we may dare trust them as leaders of the flock-we must become
intimately acquainted with them, their motives, ambitions, private life. This our Lord
intimates by telling us to beware of them if they are ravenous, greedy, selfish, even
though outwardly they may have a sanctimonious air. The Apostle speaks of these, saying
that "grievous wolves shall enter in among you, not sparing the flock:"
"And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of
you": "even denying the Lord that bought them."--Acts 20:29; 2 Pet. 2:1, 3.
We are to balance the matter,
however; and while vigilant to detect and resist the wolves in sheep's clothing, as well
as out of it, we should remember our Lord's teachings on the other side of the
question-that those who are not against us are on our part, and that we should neither
reprove as wolves nor disown as brethren those whose hearts, whose characters, give
evidence that they belong to the Lord, even though they follow not with us in respect to
His service, the promulgation of His Message, etc. In other words, we are to love all and
wish God-speed to all loving the Lord and manifesting His Spirit, whether they associate
with us or not. In a word, the Divine rule is very broad and very narrow at the same time.
It is narrow as respects discipleship and character: faith in the redeeming blood,
consecration to the Master, and a manifestation of His Spirit are the lines. of
discipleship -- broad within themselves, but narrow as compared to the lines of the world.
"KNOW THEM BY THEIR FRUITS"
Anticipating our query
respecting how we may know the true from the false our Lord says, "Ye shall know them
by their fruits." He illustrates this by suggesting that grapes are not to be
expected on thorn-bushes nor figs on thistles, although it is said that there is a thorn
bush in Palestine which grows a fruit somewhat resembling grapes, and a kind of thistle
with heads shaped like figs. Nevertheless, no he was in danger of being deceived
thereby, nor should any among the Lord's people be in doubt respecting the character and
the fruitage of the life of those who are the followers of Christ.
The thought is that the
Lord's true people are of such a kind that the fruit of their lives is nourishing and
refreshing toward all who have fellowship with them. On the other. hand there are
persons who, thistle-like, are always scattering seeds that will cause trouble-false
doctrines, evil surmisings and errors; and there are some who, like thorn-bushes,
instead of bearing refreshing fruit, are continually reaching out to impede, to irritate,
to annoy, to vex, to poison, to injure, those with whom they come in contact. The
intimation clearly is that the Lord's people ought to have little difficulty in
distinguishing between the false teachers who would mislead them and the under-shepherds
who gladly lay down their lives in the service of the flock. The one class are continually
mischief makers, underminers, destroyers. The other class are helpers, builders,
strengtheners, peacemakers.
Not content. with giving us a
word-picture distinguishing between wolves and sheep, between injurious plants and
fruitful ones, our Lord next institutes another illustration still more
searching-contrasting a healthy fruit-tree with a diseased or evil one, contrasting a
healthy Christian with a perverted and misguided one. He declares that A sound tree brings
forth good fruit, but a corrupt or diseased tree brings forth undesirable, evil fruit. How
we have all witnessed this in nature-the sound apples come from good apple trees that are
in healthy condition. The knotty, wormy, unsatisfactory fruit comes from trees that are
diseased, under-nourished, uncared for, unpruned, attacked by worms, etc.
In this illustration our Lord seems
to refer to the fact that those who are His disciples, sound and proper enough to begin
with, might become evil, might lose their spiritual strength and fruitfulness-their
carefulness. Lack of nourishment in the soil would expose a tree to disease, blight. So
the Christian who would add to his attainment in knowledge is liable to decline in
spirituality unless he have spiritual nourishment of the right kind. As without pruning
the tree would develop suckers, which would corrupt it and ultimately destroy its
fruitfulness, so the Christian needs the disciplines, the prunings, that he may develop in
character and the graces of the Spirit.
To a considerable degree it is for us
to determine what nourishment we will have. The Lord supplies the good soil of Truth, the
refreshing showers of grace, and the nourishment of precious promises, but it is for each
of His people to use these and thereby to grow in grace, knowledge and love. We cannot,
then, blame the Husbandman if we come short, and be unfruitful from lack of nourish
ment. None of His good promises can fail; whatever failing there may be must be in
ourselves. Likewise with the pruning--the Lord will send the chastisements, trials,
difficulties; but with our independent will it is possible for us to pass these by, and
failing to use them, fail to correct the weaknesses, shortcomings and wrong
development of our nature. It is possible with us, notwithstanding all the development
I
or pruning we may receive,
to set our affections on houses, lands, or earthly aims, objects or individuals, which,
like the suckers in the illustration, would draw away our vitality and hinder our bearing
of acceptable fruit.
The sound tree cannot bear poor
fruit, nor the corrupted or decayed tree bring forth good fruit. While each of the Lord's
people is to examine. himself before the mirror of God's Word, to ascertain his own
character, disposition, likeness or unlikeness to Divine standards , nevertheless, in this
matter of deciding about fruit, whether it be good or bad, each of the Lord's people is
called upon to exercise judgment in regard to others as well as to himselfwhat are the
results, the fruitage, the token of my own life, and what is the fruitage, results, token
of my brother, my neighbor. Our Lord's intimation is that these tests are specially
applicable to those who would be leaders of His flock. They should all be examples,
bearers of good fruit , and these good fruits should be looked for as a test of good,
sound character--a character fully in harmony with the Lord. True, all are imperfect, and
with the best of intentions we cannot do all that we would, but the weakest of the Lord's
brethren must bear some fruits that other brethren could discern, and these fruits should
be accepted by the brethren according to the Divine standard, viz., not of the flesh but
of the spirit, the will, the intention. So, then, every true child of God should manifest
before the brethren and before the world honesty, faithfulness of intention, a consecrated
heart, mind, will, which would seek in all things to do the will of the Father in heaven.
In Palestine, to this day, fruit
trees are taxed, and hence a tree which will not bear, whose fruitage is poor, cannot, be
tolerated, for it would entail a loss instead of a revenue. Similarly, the assurance that
the Lord will ultimately cast away every unfruitful one--"every branch in the vine
that beareth not fruit He taketh away"--while every branch that beareth fruit is
purged, that it may bring forth more fruit, is a further lesson along the same line.
Our Lord used a fig-tree to represent
the Jewish nation, and pointed out that it was not bringing forth the desired fruitage,
and that therefore it would be cut down and destroyed. The symbolical' "fire"
which utterly destroyed the Jewish nation made an end of their tree. The Jews will indeed
receive a further blessing at the hand of the Lord, but, as He declares through the
prophet, it will be "not by your Covenant." The blessing to come to Israel and
all the nations in the future will be the New Covenant. Similarly, in the end of this
Gospel Age, not only will there be an individual test of the Lord's people as respects
good and bad fruit, but Christendom as a whole, as a system, will be found unfruitful,
unsatisfactory; and when the true saints of the Lord shall have been gathered out and
glorified, the tree, the system as a whole, will go down, in the great time of trouble
with which this Age shall close and the New Dispensation begin. Christendom will indeed be
favored and blessed under the New Covenant of the Millennial Age, but its special
privileges and opportunities of the present time under the Abrahamic Covenant will be
forever gone.
"IN THY NAME HAVE CAST OUT DEVILS,
DONE MANY AND WONDERFUL WORKS"
This represents a class claiming relationship to the
Lord and public ministry in His name-far above the ordinary masses of Churchianity. Our
Lord declares that unless our consecration shall lead us to more than miracle-working and
calling ourselves Christian, and preaching to
others in the Lord's name, it shall profit us nothing. In order to have His approval
"in that day" it will be necessary that we shall develop characters in
conformity with the Father's will-in conformity to the Lord's Word. Nothing but character
will stand the final tests.
All about us in so-called Christian
lands we see and hear many in public prayer and hymns of praise call repeatedly Lord,
Lord, yet whose conduct, so far as we can see, bears no good fruit, but rather evil
fruitage. Many of them are like the thorns and briars to which the Lord likened them. They
reach out with helping hands to lift man up, to bless and to ennoble, but the thorns and
briars tear and do injury. We live in a day when little of this injury, is done
physically, because the laws of civilization would take cognizance of such evil deeds and
punish the, evil doers. Nevertheless, the thorny and briary people find abundant
opportunity, for injuring others with their lips, with their tongues. Slandering,
backbiting, malice, hatred, envy, strife, proceed from them because this is their nature.
These bramble and thorn bushes may indeed tie on clusters of grapes and figs to deceive,
but the thorny and brambly character will be sure to manifest itself to those who come
near them in the contact of daily life.
No wonder that our Lord determines
that such are unfit for a share with Him in His Kingdom and its great work of judging and
blessing the world of mankind. How could busybodies and backbiters and slanderers be fit
for the Kingdom of God's dear Son? Saying, Lord, Lord, or performing some miracle in His
name, does not warrant them in expecting the great blessings which, the Lord has in
reservation for those who love Him, and, who in turn are controlled by the spirit of love
toward Him and toward all the household of faith.
The Lord never knew His
people by so many sects He never recognized nor authorized them as such; they are of
men, and for men, not of the Lord nor for the Lord's glory. Claiming that all there is of
Christianity is due to themselves, they are proud and boastful and realize not that the
Lord's true cause would have flourished far better without them, in the simplicity of the
early Church: One -- in redemption through the precious blood and in consecration to the
Redeemer. The gathering out of the Bride class and the leaving of the remainder will be
saying in effect, "I never knew you, never recognized you, never authorized
you;" and these authorized sects -will go down in the great time of trouble. We are
glad, however, that the thousands and millions who have been deceived by these false
systems will have a glorious opportunity during the Millennial Age to come to a knowledge
of the Truth and a right understanding of the character of God as revealed in the
fulfillment of His gracious Plan. Thus many who miss the great prize may still have a
glorious opportunity for the lesser prize or favor of God in restitution, etc.
ON THE ROCK OR ON THE SAND
This picture or parable of one house
built upon the rock and the other house built upon the sand refers not to the Church and
the world, but to two parties in the Church. None are in the parable except " those
who hear these sayings of mine." The world hears not our Lord's message at all. As
the Apostle declares, the world is both deaf and blind to spiritual things. Those who
hearken to and appreciate the Lord's sayings represent at least a nominal Church, and
amongst those of the nominal Church are some who are obedient to the Lord's Word while
others are disobedient. The obedient are built upon the rock, the disobedient upon the sand.
Those
who build upon the rock our Lord explains to be such as not only hear His message but
are obedient thereto to the extent of their ability.
Let, us remember the words to which He refers-they are the words or message of the Sermon
on the Mount, which -show the things which are blessed of God in contradistinction to the
things which would not have His approval. Those who do, who strive for, who to the best of
their ability obey these Divine teachings, the message from heaven, are laying the
foundations which will be permanent, which will guarantee them against all the storms,
difficulties and trials of the present life.
Those who hear the Master's words and
say, "Yea, Lord," but who do not put the Master's teachings into practice, are
not built properly upon the rock of Truth, upon Christ. They are building their hope,
their faith, their trust, upon a foundation which will not stand. When the adversities of
life come upon such, their hopes will be undermined, their faith will collapse. Thus does
the Lord teach us that it is not merely to know His will, to be doctrinally informed, but
that He is looking for such character development in us as will bring us into full harmony
with His teachings, into heart harmony, and, to the extent that we are able, to obedience
in all the affairs of life. The other, whose faith is built upon knowledge, without
obedience, without growth in grace, will not be accepted to the Kingdom, will not be
members of the Bride class, will not be joint-heirs with God's dear Son.
"THE FIRE OF THAT DAY"
In this lesson our Lord describes not
only the trials and tests which come upon all Christians throughout this Gospel Age, but
especially the great test in the close of this Age-in the "harvest" time. Here
His figure is that of rain, floods, and winds beating upon the faith structure of His
professed followers, overthrowing the faith of those not properly constructed in
accordance with His teachings, but unable to harm those founded on the rock of Truth. This
is the same storm and flood mentioned by the Lord through the Prophet Isaiah--"The
hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding places
. . . when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then shall ye be overthrown by it.
From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you; for morning by morning shall it pass
through, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report
[the message, the Truth]."--Isa. 28:17-19.
The same day of trial is pictured
under another figure by the Apostle Paul when he says, "The fire of that day shall
try every man's work of what sort it is." lie pictures true believers built upon the
rock, the true foundation, but points out to us the necessity of having a proper house, or
faith, as well as a proper foundation. He pictures one faith structure built of wood, hay,
stubble, combustible materials, which will shortly be destroyed in this day when the fire
of Divine judgment. shall test every doctrine and destroy every error. He pictures also
the proper building constructed of gold, silver and precious stones, the Divine promises,
and how these will stand every test.
Our Golden Text is well
chosen--"Ye are my friends, if ye do the things which I command you." Our Lord
pointedly declares that he, who does not seek to please Him by conforming to His
instructions, thereby manifests that he does not love Him. (John 14:23, 24.) Surely there
can be no better test of love than devotion, and no better test of devotion than
obedience. Our enlightened consciences render hearty assent to the Master's words, and
with the Apostle we exclaim, "The love of Christ constraineth us, for we thus judge.
that, if one died for all, then were all dead, and that He died for all, that they who
live [justified and begotten to newness of. life] should, henceforth not live unto
themselves, but unto Him who died for us, and rose again."--2 Cor. 5:14, 15.
OF THE SAME MIND
Dear Brethren:
As you have comforted us in our
trials so we should try to comfort you. The HERALD has more than met our expectations
because it seems that dear Brother Russell is again writing to us in due season. Surely
our Father is guiding your efforts to serve the scattered sheep, and the first article in
April 15th HERALD has increased our confidence in you mightily.
That you boldly declare your loyalty
to our Lord, the Truth, the service of the Church as brethren and not "lords over
God's heritage"--will be the means of encouraging others to maintain the same
standard. We were forced to choose here--perhaps before any others since Brother Russell's
passing on, and we boldly declared we should stay with our Lord and take the consequence.
We are of the same mind and rejoice to find you are in the same class. While the HERALD is
kept pure and undefiled-nothing your enemies say of you personally will have any effect
upon us. Our Lord has trusted you so far and whom our Lord can trust, we shall trust.
We are all looked upon now as being
deceived and misled by wrong teaching, and those who believe we are deceived are praying
and hoping that we may be recovered from the error of our ways. This applies here locally
as well as generally..
I notice in various publications that
some members of the PASTORAL BIBLE INSTITUTE have had severe trials, but have steadfastly
refused to be moved from a right course. To our enemies it looks like a wrong course, but
we who have had a like experience rejoice in your ability to choose right and stand by it,
even if eventually you may be forced to stand alone. We are never alone, if the lord is
with us, and if we follow Him, He will never leave or forsake us.
We believe the severe trials have
brought the Lord's people closer together in love and sympathy and have developed humility
and patience. We are all wiser, too, and on guard against surprises. The trials were all
for our own development and growth in grace.
We daily pray our Father's love and
care may keep you always acceptable to Him and we thank Him for- giving us the HERALD and
faithful brethren to serve the Church at this particular time, when so much is written and
said to confuse the truth-hungry sheep. The twenty-third Psalm is a living thing today.
Some of us are looking forward to the
June Convention in Now York, if the Lord permits us to attend, if not, our hearts will be
with you all.
Sincerely yours with much Christian
love,
MRS. C. M. G. -- R. I.
HIS PROMISE NEVER TO LEAVE NOR FORSAKE
Dear Brethren:
I have been enjoying the HERALD very
much-, especially the last three or four numbers. I was particularly impressed with the
first article in the Apr. 15th HERALD. I wish to say that the stand you have taken in
refusing to use the HERALD for vindicating your position, etc., meets with the hearty
approval of both Brother S. and myself, and so long as you show that spirit, which we
believe is the Lord's spirit, you will have our support and approval. We are asking the
Lord each day to guide you in your efforts to serve the brethren and His cause, and as He
has promised never to leave us or forsake us, we believe that so long as we keep our
hearts right and look for His leading, He will not let us go astray. . . . Asking that the
Lord may bless you and guide you, I remain,
Your sister in Christ,
MRS. 0. B. S.--Ind.
PRESENTATIONS REFRESHING AND UPLIFTING
Dear Brethren:
I am herewith enclosing you
twenty-five cents in stamps, for which I wish you to send me a few copies of the April 1st
issue of the HERALD. It is simply grand. All the issues are fine, but to my mind the April
1st issue surpasses them all. Every article is superb; such clear reasoning upon matters
so long misunderstood. The one on the Holy Spirit and its office could not it seems be
improved upon. I wish to humbly thank you for this splendid testimony to our God, His
cause and His purpose for mankind. Such presentations are so refreshing, energizing and
uplifting. It is a rare pleasure and privilege to honor and love the brethren who can send
forth such love-laden, messages to the dear Israel of God. In the name of our God and His
dear Son, I again thank you.
May the Father's rich blessing rest
upon each and all of you, who are thus laboring in His vineyard. I am sending. you the
twenty-five cents in stamps to help in the matter of postage. I wish some of the issues
named to do some missionarying hereabouts. May the God of all Grace bless and keep you.
Your brother by His Grace,
J. G. A.-Ala.
REJOICES IN MASTER'S SPIRIT
Dear Brethren:
I wish to commend the stand you have
taken ever since the HERALD has been published. The first article in the April 15th issue
re-iterating your position was a splendid article, and I believe will do worlds of good
throughout the country. There is no question, dear brethren, but what you have ample cause
to digress from your position and make reply to certain false statements, but the fact
that you intend to ignore them ,and go right ahead, with the Lord's work as it is given to
you to do, thus manifesting the Master's spirit, will be especially pleasing to our
Heavenly Father and will work out a blessing to you all. I tell you, dear ones, the more I
read the HERALD, the more I see of the Master's spirit all through it. May the dear Lord
reward you for your noble efforts to serve Him and His people, and He will do it.-Col.
3:23, 24.
With fervent love to all the dear
co-labors, I remain, Your brother by His Grace,
H. H. E.--R. I.,
THE MEEK WILL HE TEACH HIS WAY
Dear Brethren
Loving greetings in the Lord!
Copies of the HERALD for January I
and 15 have been forwarded on to me by Brother Nicholson, of Melbourne, whilst I am
traveling in Queensland in connection with the above Society, and it is a great joy and
encouragement to realize the Lord's continued supervision and care over His. people, both
in their individual affairs, and our joint interests as "members of His Body." I
am sure, dear brethren, that though the experiences Of the past months have been very
trying to you, there has been also a realization of our Father's tender watch-care, and
sometimes, when perhaps least expected, a word of encouragement, as you sought to follow
faithfully in the footprints of the Master along "the Narrow Way." May He
continue to smile upon you, and bless your efforts to feed His sheep and lambs.
I am at present in Brisbane,
Queensland, and although the friends here have been slow to realize the true situation in
all its bearing . . . evidences are not lacking that there are a few, "one here and
there," who are not satisfied with the present conditions, and who have failed, of
late, to catch the accents of the true Shepherd, in the voice that is now calling to them.
. . . Truly the promise is still ours, "The meek will He guide in judgment, and the meek will He teach His way.'
With love in the Lord, and prayers on
your behalf. Your brother and servant in the Lord,
ALFRED A. HART-Australia.
SOUNDED LIKE MESSAGE FROM HOME
Dear Brethren:
While on a forced vacation, by
physician's order, several numbers of THE HERALD OF CHRIST'S KINGDOM fell into my hands. I
started to read and kept on reading with increasing interest, and to my surprise was able
to concentrate my mind on the matter, something I had found difficult for some time past.
It acted like balm upon a wounded heart.
For some time I have' been perplexed
but not dismayed, always trusting in the Lord and waiting for His leading. A spirit of
persecution among the Lord's people, all well meaning and determined to do His will, has
puzzled me considerably. We have heard much talk of Judas, Peter and John classes. I never
could recognize any divisions among the Lord's people in the past, nor can I do it now.
The HERALD sounded to me like a
message from home. It brought back to my memory and mind the olden times; when Brother
Russell was still with us, especially the early period after I had received the Truth, and
I came to the conclusion to tell you these things by way of encouragement.
Please send the HERALD to for which
find enclosed $1.00, beginning with January 1, 1919. The other $ is a contribution from
Your brother,
S. KUESTHARDT-Ohio.
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