THE HERALD
of Christ's Kingdom
VOL. VII. March 1, 1924 No. 5
Table of Contents
GOD'S ESTIMATION OF OBEDIENCE
STRIVE, WAIT, AND PRAY
THE PRIVILEGE AND POWER OF
PRAYER
DANIEL THE BELOVED OF JEHOVAH
CONFESSION OF SIN, FORGIVENESS,
VICTORY
ACHIEVEMENTS OF A SHEPHERD BOY
VOL. VII. March 15, 1924 No. 6
Table of Contents
OUTLOOK AMONGST THE WATCHERS
THE LAST SUPPER -- CHRIST OUR
PASSOVER
LESSONS FROM THE LIFE OF
JEREMIAH
A LIFE OF SUCCESS AND FAILURE
THE CRISIS AND THE ERROR
VOL. VII. March 1, 1924 No. 5
"Behold, to
obey is better than sacrifice." -- 1 Sam. 15 :13-23.
THE keynote of the Bible is
obedience to the great Creator. Disobe-dience is responsible for all human ills,
suffering, and death. The Divine Plan provides that the present life shall furnish mankind
with abundant opportunity to learn deeply the lesson of disobedience -- that disobedience;
sin, is undesirable, and that the course of wisdom is to render implicit obedience to God
and thus secure His favor and everlasting life.
Many are
the lessons of obedience and disobedience recorded in Holy. Writ, and none are more
striking, impressive, and forceful than that which we observe in the history of Saul,
Israel's first king. Surely his is amongst the outstanding characters which furnish the
most solemn examples of disobedience. The lesson of his testing, of his failure to stand
the test, and of the consequent rejection of his family and himself from the kingdom, we
do well to consider.
An able commentator has observed
that "Saul's is a long history of self-will gradually asserting itself, bursting out
at times into passionate outbreak of the nature of demoniacal possession, until when self
had broken with God and hedged around man with jealous suspicion, it settled at last into
habitual gloom, and Saul in the loneliness of his own heart seeks in witchcraft for a
voice from the other world; he who once was among the prophets, with a soul stirred by the
breath of God. It is a sad picture of a misused vocation, of a man called to work together
with God, who worked outside Him and without Him."
Another has said, "'Saul was
an unspoiled, valiant, and devout man, a born leader, the very man, and the only man who
could hold the forming nation in his hand. If Saul failed, if he made shipwreck of his
life, charge it not to Samuel, charge it not to God. His was the failure of a strong but
wilful man, who started right, but went astray."
Mr. Spurgeon remarks to good
effect in this connection that "there are some men who seem to have India-rubber
hearts. If you do but touch them, there is an impression made at once; but then it is of
no use, it soon restores itself to its original character. You may press them whichever
way you wish; they are so elastic you can always effect your purpose; but then they are
riot fixed in their character, and soon return to be what they were before."
Saul's history. may be divided
into four parts: (1) The favorable opportunities of his youth -- energetic, fine looking,
modest, his choice as the king of Israel was generally conceded to be an excellent one.
(2) In the earlier years of his reign he was a successful general and amble organizer of
his kingdom. (3) In his testing time he failed and was rejected, partially at first, more
thoroughly subsequently. (4) The decline of his manhood, his almost loss of reason, and
finally the tragic death of himself and his sons. In the present discussion. we are
dealing specially with the third of these epochs -- his testing.
IMPORTANCE OF WAITING
UPON THE LORD
The Philistines exercised a kind
of overlordship in Palestine, presumably collecting taxes as the consideration for
permitting the people to have a measure of peace and possession of the country. Apparently
they had fortified cities in various parts of Israel's territory, and from their
representatives in these the word came that the Israelites had anointed Saul to be their
king, a circumstance which was understood to imply the throwing off of the Philistine
yoke, a declaration of independence. At once the Philistines assembled an army wherewith
to overthrow the new kingdom. The record that they had thirty thousand chariots is
supposed to have been a copyist's error, for three thousand; for the number of horsemen,
two to each chariot, is given as six thousand. This considerable army marched into
Palestine; and a battle, ensued between them and the Israelites: King Saul evidently
desired to be in harmony with the Lord, and realized still that without Divine
interposition he would be powerless to repel an invader of such strength. The. Prophet
Samuel was communicated with, and he promised to come within seven days to offer sacrifice
to God on Israel's behalf, that the Lord's blessing might attend His people and bring them
the victory, in harmony with the Divine covenant.
King Saul waited for six days,
and meantime saw his army melting from desertion, for the Israelites were poorly armed and
greatly in fear. They had practically no weapons, merely their agricultural implements for
weapons of war. Apparently the Philistines had previously deprived them of fighting
weapons, and in some manner had hindered the Kenites, who were the smiths of the time,
from serving them in the manufacture of swords and spears. When the seventh day had come,
King Saul, wearied of waiting for Samuel; offered the sacrifice himself, contrary to the
Divine order. Immediately Samuel appeared, and, pointing out to Saul his failure, stated
that obedience to God would have been more Appreciated by the Almighty than were the
sacrifices. Samuel also pointed out that the sacrifice under the circumstances was a sin,
and that the result of this disobedience was that God would not permit Saul and his
kingdom to, be perpetuated, though he promised that the battle immediately before them
would be successful for Israel's sake and for the furtherance of God's own cause.
The difficulty was Saul's failure
to respect the Divine arrangement, his presumption in undertaking to do what had-riot been
committed to his care, but was under the charge of another. The Lord's cause was not
hindered; but King Saul's own prosperity was interfered with by his neglect of, the Divine
arrangement.
THE LESSON FOR
SPIRITUAL ISRAELITES
What lesson may we draw from this
incident? If for the moment we think of Saul as representing those who have been favored
of God, and called to joint-heirship with Jesus in His Kingdom and anointed with the Holy
Spirit, we may see in his early victories a picture of our good beginning, when we trusted
God implicitly, and sought to do merely as He directed, and to wait patiently and
trustfully for Him to guide in all of our affairs. As Saul should have made progress and
become stronger in his faith and patience and obedience, so should our earliest
experiences as the Lord's servants bring to us increasing patience, perseverance, faith,
confidence, implicit obedience. But as this was not the case with King Saul, so it is not
the case with many of those who have been anointed for joint-heirship with the Lord in His
Kingdom. Many of these have similar experiences to that of Saul. Instead of their growing
more dependent upon the Lord, the favors received at His hand make them less particular to
know and to do His will. They still reverence
the Lord; they still recognize that without Him they could do nothing; but they are not
sufficiently careful to note just what He would have them to do. . Sometimes they
undertake to do the work of others, and to that extent are "busybodies in other men's
matters," as King Saul busybodied and sinned in attempting to do the work that
belonged to the Prophet.
We should see that in the Divine
mind obedience is one of the most important elements of character. The Lord has us in
training in the School of Christ for a great work in the future; and the first
prerequisite for future honors and opportunities very properly must be our obedience to
the opportunities and directions of the Lord in the present time. This our Lord explained,
clearly in His parables, saying that to some of His servants He had entrusted more talents
than to others; that each would be called upon to give an account for the proper exercise
of the talents, responsibilities and commands that had been put upon him. and that each
would be rewarded in proportion as he used the talents given to him. Our Lord's expression
on the subject is, "He that is faithful in that which is least is' faithful also in
much." -- Luke 16:10.
Here, then, is our lesson,
"Obedience is better than sacrifice" in God's sight. He will not either approve
or reward carelessness on our part in this matter. On the contrary, inattention to His
direct will would mark us as proportionately unfit for His direct service, either, here
hereafter. This implies on our part such a loyalty to the Lord, a carefulness in respect
to His service, such a recognition of other in respect to the Lord„and His service,
that we would about very carefully in our endeavors to serve His cause. So Apostle
exhorts, "Let us walk circumspectly," carefully, scrutinizingly.--Eph. 5:I5.
THE PRESUMPTUOUS SIN
As the mariner guides the course
of his ship by certain charts which show hidden rocks and shoals, and by the stark in
their courses, so the Christian is furnished with a chart which shows him the course which
he should pursue, and the things which would be displeasing to God and injurious to
himself. That chart is the Bible, and whoever would be in harmony with God must not only
hearken for His message but keep track also of hidden dangers which beset his course. Each
,one of us is on trial This Gospel Age is our Day of judgment, of testing. The Lord
Himself is scrutinizing the course we are taking. It is sufficient to Him that we shall
have zeal. The zeal which He approve is that which operates from love and along the lines
His instruction. The zeal which disregards the Divine instruction is not approved; it
leads to shipwreck.
The Apostle gives some
suggestions along this line, saying every member of the Body of Christ is necessary (1
Cor. 12 :12); none is to be despised or hindered from having his part in general work of
building up the Body in the most holy faith. Apostle illustrates that the eye cannot say
to the hand or the "I have no need of you," and contrariwise the hand or the
cannot say that it has no need of the eye nor of the ear. member is necessary; and above
all, every member of the Body to move only in accord with the will of the Head. And that
will to be sought for in every incident of life, great or small. We not to think of the
Lord's cause as being wholly dependent us. We are to remember the :mistake which Uzzah
made -- when saw the ark of the Lord jostled in the road, he put forth his hand steady it,
and died because of his disobedience. It was not in province to steady the ark. The Lord
had that matter under own supervision, and, only the priest might even touch it. Let all
then be zealous, not only to serve the Lord, but also to the way in which He would have us
render that service. Let us sure that service rendered in any other way than as divinely
directed will not be acceptable and will not bring blessing us, but on the contrary bring
us the Lord's proportionate disfavor obedience is better than sacrifice.
KING SAUL'S SECOND
TEST
That a good many years had
passed, and that King Saul had made good use of his opportunities as an organizer of the
kingdom is evidenced by the fact that a large army was assembled in harmony with the
Lord's command to the Prophet: "Two hundred thousand footmen and ten thousand men of
Judah." This army was evidently so disposed of as to intercept any of the Amalekites
who might flee. Meantime word was sent to the Kenites, who dwelt amongst the Amalekites,
advising them' to leave, that they might not suffer in the punishment of the Amalekites;
and the explanation made was that as the Kenites had favored the Lord's people, they were
spared in recognition of this fact; for the destruction of the Amalekites was in harmony
with the Divine decree, because of their opposition to Israel.
The people were all slaughtered
except the king, whom King Saul spared, keeping him as a kind of .trophy. The animals also
were all destroyed, except the choicest of the flocks and herds, which additionally was
contrary to the Divine command.
When the Prophet Samuel came to
the king, the latter saluted him as God's representative and reported that he bad done
according to the Divine command. Then .came the inquiry, "If so, what means the
bleating of the sheep and the lowing of the cattle?" Saul's answer was probably a
prevarication; that these were kept in order to be offered to the Lord in sacrifice. Then
Samuel reproved him, pointing out that he had violated the command of the Lord in
preserving any of them. The king, however, protested that the people had kept them; that
Israel had desired them; and we can readily suppose that there would have been amongst the
Israelites quite an opposition to the waste of the good things of the Amalekites, so
accustomed were people of that time, as well as of today; to desire valuables. Saul might
have indeed complied with the Divine decree by rendering obedience to the Lord and thus
put himself in disfavor with the people; but he would have maintained the Divine. approval
thereby. As it was, the Prophet expressed the Divine disapproval, saying, "Hath the
Lord as great delight in burnt-offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the
Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken (better) than the fat of
rams."
TESTS OF THE ROYAL
PRIESTHOOD
Let us see if there are not
corresponding tests upon the royal priest-hood. Frequently tests come to this class after
they have been a long while in the School of Christ. Speaking to some such, the Apostle
says, "For when for the time ye ought to, be teachers ye have need that one teach you
again what be the first principles of the oracles of God," the doctrines (teachings)
of Christ. (Heb. 5:12.) We are sometimes surprised at others, sometimes at ourselves, that
we have been so slow in making progress; that we have apparently gained so little victory
in character building and appreciation of the principles which should govern amongst those
who are the Lord's anointed and in preparation for the throne. Saul's difficulty and tests
may represent some of ours.
1. A selfish spirit, a desire for
some of the best of the things which the Lord has condemned; a willingness to spare these
because they appeal to us from a selfish viewpoint, the fleshly viewpoint.
2. A man-fearing spirit. As Saul
feared to bring upon himself the reproaches of the people, fearing to-be thought too
narrow on the one hand and too wasteful on the other, so a temptation comes to the Lord's
people to guide their course not entirely by the Word of the Lord, but with a deference to
the sentiments of others. This is the fear of man that brings a snare. (Prow. 29:25.) We
are ensnared by the spirit of the world. Of such the Lord says, "How can ye believe
[continue in proper discipleship] which receive honor one of another, and seek not the
honor that cometh from God only?"-John 5 :44.
3. Saul's third difficulty was
that he had too slack an appreciation of the Lord's Word; and this is the difficulty which
specially besets nearly every one oŁ the Lord's followers who stray away into error of
doctrine or of conduct. With what care ought we to guard ourselves, lest having become
partakers of so great a blessing as our anointing implies, any of us should seem to come
short of its glorious realization in the Kingdom. Let us see to it that we put away all
love of sin in its every form, and that we esteem the Lord's favor so highly that the
consideration of human friendships would not have a particle of weight or influence with
us, except as the same should be in ,full accord with the Divine Program ;and in order to
the maintenance of these proper relationships, let us take heed to His Word.
Let us remember the Apostle's
words that we wrestle not with flesh and blood, but with wicked spirits in high positions.
(Eph. 6:12.) Let us remember that these wicked spirits have the power in some degree to
favor in us wrong sentiments; that in proportion as we would give our minds into any
selfish, sinful or ignoble channel, in that same proportion these unseen adversaries of
the saints would have power over them. Let us remember, on the contrary, that in
proportion as our hearts are loyal to the Lord and His Word and to the spirit of the
truth, the spirit of love, in that same proportion we are surrounded by a halo of
influence which would protect us, so that of such it may be written, "The wicked one
toucheth him not." -I John 5:18.
THE TEST OF PERFECT
LOVE
The Scriptures clearly indicate a
great trial and testing for the Church in the last days. It will determine with very many
what Saul's testing determined for him, whether or not God's favor will continue, with its
Kingdom privileges and opportunities. To the faithful the Lord says, "Fear not,
little flock; it is, your Father's good pleasure to give' you the Kingdom." The
others will be answered as was Saul: "Obedience is better than sacrifice"; thou
art rejected. Through the Revelator the Lord tells us how the Philadelphian stage of the
Church would be saved from the great "hour of trial that is come upon all the world,
to' try them that dwell upon the earth." (Rev. 3 :10.) There are trials now upon the
Laodicean Church, living at the time of the presence of the Son of Man, when He stands at
the door and knocks. (Rev. 3:20.) In that trial, we are told, that a thousand shall fall
at the side and ten thousand at the right hand of the one Body, the true Church, of which
Jesus is the Head. The Apostle Peter, in figurative language, describes the heavens as
being on fire (2 Pet. 3:12), symbolically picturing the, ecclesiastical influence of our
day; and St. Paul tells of the "fire that shall try every man's work of what sort it
is." (1 Cor. 3 :13.) We are assured that only the gold, silver, and precious stones
of the Divine character arid doctrine will abide the fiery ordeal. Surely none of the
Lord's people can afford to ignore such testings as these: particularly none of those-who
with us believe that we are now in that trial period; and that the next few years will be
pre -eminently a testing time.
If the test of character approved
of God, is love-perfect love for God, for the brethren, yea, also for our enemies -- then
let that thought be continually before all of our minds to the intent that we be not
overtaken, that we be not deceived by the great Adversary, who still would fain put
darkness for light and light for darkness,' on this as upon every other subject. Our
understanding is that the great conflict ,which will ultimately reach the world, and
eventuate in the anarchy that will overthrow all law and order,. has begun with the
Church, the consecrated, the sanctified, the enlightened. Does not the Lord fore-warn us
that in all .things judgment must begin 'at the house of God. (1 Pet. 4:17. Necessarily it
must begin, with those who are highest up in that house as respects light, knowledge, and
privileges.
Are we prepared for these tests,
of which we read that they would deceive, if it were possible, the very elect? We still
believe that these tests will be along the lines of perfect love. Love and selfishness are
the two great powers that are moving the world and each individual therein. We have
already seen that the selfishness, which will overwhelm the world shortly, will mean
lovelessness to the extent that the Scriptures declare, "Every man's hand shall be
against his neighbor, and no peace to him that goeth out nor to him that cometh in."
(Zech. 8:10; 11:6.) Is that same condition of things to be expected in the Church-every
man's hand against his neighbor, the tongue of every brother against every other brother
in the Lord?. Are anger, malice, hatred, envy, and strife to be permitted to overwhelm the
Church of Christ? Could such things have any place or power of influence against those who
have .knowledge of the Truth? We are of the opinion that this is just what we are to
expect.
We are in the habit of supposing
that our Lord's words, "Brother shall deliver up brother to death," applies
merely to our Lord's time and during the Dark Ages. Do we forget .that similar conditions
may be expected in the end of this Age? The delivering up may not be physical, however;
the crucifying, the scourging, and .the roasting may not be literal; but we believe that
very much the same things may be expected with only such limits as our civilization will
compel. Apparently it is not enough of a test to us to be "hated of all men for My
Names's sake." We must be tested by the hatred, the malice, the evil speaking and
evil surmising of those who dipped with us in the dish, of those who partook with us of
the present things of Divine bounty at the table of the Lord, the spiritual food. Ah! If
this be so, then we may indeed expect for the closing days of the Church, the Body of
Christ, experiences not dissimilar to those which came to the Master in Gethsemane, one of
the most trying of which must have been the Judas kiss.
BRETHREN, WHAT SHALL
WE DO?
When some of those who heard the
Apostles on Pentecost day came to an understanding of what was the real situation of
affairs, and that they and their rulers had crucified the Prince of Life -- some of them
actually and some of them by failing to protest-those who were right-minded were cut to
the heart and cried out, "What must we do?" The Apostle assured them of
forgiveness because they did it ignorantly. And so with us. If any of us find that under
any snare, or delusion of the Adversary, we have been entrapped into wrongdoing toward a
brother, we should immediately, feel cut to the heart, and should go to the Lord for
Divine forgiveness and to those whom we have wronged, for their part of it, that thus we
might turn defeat in the hands of the Adversary into victory.
Undoubtedly just such a storm is
upon the Lord's people; and as the Prophet expresses it, the question is not, Who shall
fall, but "Who shall be able to stand?" (Mal. 3 :2.) A thousand shall fall to
one who will stand. The very Elect will not be deceived, but the question is, Are we of
the very Elect? and our answer must be that the Lord will decide this matter according to
the manner in which we decide when under the test. It is impossible for us to surmise what
may be the various apparent grounds for unbrotherliness, for the loss of a brother's love.
If we give heed to the Adversary, he will make us think it proper, to break away from the
regular rule of procedure, and, if we are willing, make us to feel that we are fully
justified in violating all the various directions which the Lord our God has given us. It
will require of all of us loving faithfulness to the Lord and to the brethren to enable us
to withstand the trials of this day.
Let us remember, also, that the
loveless condition of the heart, the hypercritical spirit, does. not come in suddenly; it
develops gradually. Hence every day each of the Lord's people should have a searching of
his heart to see whether or not he can find there toward anybody, saint or sinner, any of
the spirit of malice which the Lord figuratively represented as leaven, contaminating in
its influence. -- "A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump." (1 Cor. 5 :6.) A
little envy, a little malice, a little 'anger, a little hatred, and a little strife, may
leaven our hearts completely, and in a comparatively short time turn the sweets of our new
nature, the spirit of love, into acid bitterness. Moreover, the leaven is not likely to be
confined to one, but spreads to others; and thus many may be defiled. The poet has said:
"We are not worst at once;
The course of evil, begins so slowly, and from such slight sources, An infant's hand might
stem its breach with clay; But let the stream get deeper, and philosophy, Ah! and
religion, too, shall strive in vain To turn the headlong current."
Strive; yet I do not promise
The prize you dream of today
Will not fade when you think to grasp it,
And melt in your hand away;
But another and holier treasure,
You would now perchance disdain
Will come when your toil is over,
And pay you for all your pain.
Wait; yet I do not tell you
The hour you long for now
Will not come with its radiance vanished
And a shadow upon its brow;
Yet far through the misty future,
With a crown of starry light,
An hour of joy you know not
Is winging her silent flight.
Pray; though the gift you ask for
May never comfort your fears,
May never repay your pleading,
Yet pray, and with hopeful tears;
An answer, not that .you long for,
But diviner, will come one day;
Your eyes are too dim to see it,
Yet strive, and wait, and pray.
"And Jesus spake a parable unto them to this end, that
men ought always to pray and not to faint."-- Luke 78:I-8.
O the thoughtful, appreciative
mind, one, of the greatest privileges which the Word of God offers is that of personal
audience and communion with the King of kings and Lord of Lords. When we consider how
great is our God, and how exalted His station, how wonderful is the condescension that
thus regards our low estate! He it is whose glory covereth the heavens, and whose kingdom
ruleth over the whole universe. He it is who is without beginning of days or end of years:
"From everlasting to everlasting Thou art God." He is the immortal, the self ,
existing One, "dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto, whom no man hath
seen nor can see." The heavens declare His glory and the firmament showeth His
handiwork. In all His vast universal domain there is nothing hidden from Him, nor can He
be wearied by its care. His wisdom, who can fathom? and His ways, who can find them out ?
or who hath been His counselor ? His mighty intellect grasps with ease all the interests
o€ His wide dominion, from immensity to minutia. His eye never slumbers nor sleeps,
nor can the smallest thing escape His notice-n4 even a -sparrow's fall; and the very hairs
of our heads are all numbered. It is His skill which clothes with life and beauty the
grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven. And are not we,
the creatures of His hand, "fearfully and wonderfully made," and the subjects,
too,, of His love and care? "O Lord, Thou hast searched me and known me. Thou knowest
my downsitting and mine uprising; Thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest
my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways; for there is not a word in
my tongue, but, lo, O Lord, Thou knowest it altogether. . Thou bast beset me behind and
before, and laid Thine hand upon me.
"Such knowledge is too
wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it. Whither shall I go from Thy spirit?
or whither shall I flee from Thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, Thou art there; if
I make my bed in the grave, behold Thou art there; if I take the wings of the morning and
dwell in the uttermost part of, the sea, even there shall Thy hand lead me, . . . even
the' night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from Thee, but the night
shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to Thee." -- Psa. 139:
1-12.
Fallen creatures though we be,
from the noble estate in which we were. created, God so loved our race, even while we were
yet sinners, as to make provision at great cost for our redemption and restitution and
subsequent eternal glory. And therefore it is, because He loves us, that through Christ He
extends to us the gracious favor of coming to Him as children to a father. Wonderful is
the condescension, wonderful the love and favor of our God!
AS JESUS TAUGHT US TO
PRAY
Yet our God is a God to be
revered; He is not one like ourselves, our equal, into whose presence we may come without
that ceremony and decorum due to His glorious person and office. (Job 9 :I-35.) The court
of heaven has regulations and ceremonies of respect and due deference which must be
complied with by every man who would gain an audience with the King of kings; and it
behooves us to inquire what those regulations are before we presume to address Him. Here
the Word of God gives explicit directions. Our Lord Jesus, the appointed
"days-man" for which Job so earnestly longed (Job 9:32, 33), said, "No man
cometh unto the Father, but by Me. I am the way." (John 14:6.) Then He gave us an
illustration of the manner in which we should address Him, in what is known as the Lord's
prayer. (Matt. 6:9-73.) The illustration teaches (1) that we (believers in Christ) may
consider ourselves as in God's estimation reinstated (through faith in Christ) to the
original position of sons of God, and that we may therefore confidently address Him
"Our Father." (2) It indicates on our part worshipful adoration of the high and
holy One, and profound reverence for the glorious character and attributes of our God.
--"Hallowed be Thy name." (3) It expresses full sympathy with His revealed Plan
for a coming Kingdom of righteousness, which will be according to His will -- "Thy
Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is done in heaven." This shows the
attitude of heart to be toward righteousness, and fully submitted to the Divine will and
purpose, that God may work in it to will and to do His good pleasure. (4) It expresses in
plain and simple, language its dependence on God for daily needs, and the confidence of a
child in the Father for the supply of those needs out of His abundant fullness --
"Give us this day our daily bread." (5) It seeks forgiveness for trespasses, and
recognizes also the obligation thus incurred to render the same to those trespassing
against us -- "And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors"; and (6) it
seeks to be guarded against temptations and to be fortified by God's abounding grace
against all the wiles of the Adversary -- "And abandon us not to trial, but preserve
us from evil."
Such are the principles which
must ever, characterize our attitude of mind and heart when we would avail ourselves of
the privilege of addressing the throne of heavenly grace. In brief; our prayers, to be
acceptable to God, must express confident faith, loving esteem and reverence, full
sympathy with the Divine Plan and submission to the Divine will, childlike dependence upon
God, acknowledgment of sins and shortcomings, and desire for forgiveness, with a forgiving
disposition on our part toward others, and a humble craving for the Divine guidance and
protection, These may not always all be expressed in words, but such must at least be the
attitude of the soul.
MAY COME BOLDLY
Those who thus come to God are
privileged always to have their interests considered at the throne of grace; arid the
welcome, we shall always find there may be judged of by the cordial invitations to come
often and tarry long. Well might we hesitate to avail ourselves of such privileges were we
not thus assured, but having this assurance we may come with confidence to the throne of
grace. -- Heb. 4:16; 13:6.
The Lord knew how necessary to
our spiritual life would be this communion with Himself. Tempest-tossed and tried, how
much we need our Father's care and the comfort and consolation which His presence and
sympathy realized imparts. And have not all the meek and contrite in heart the promise not
only of the occasional attentive hearing, but of the abiding presence of both the Father
and the Son, our Lord Jesus? Jesus said, "He that hath My commandments and keepeth
them, he it is that loveth Me; and he that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father, and I
will love him, and will manifest Myself to him. Judas -- not Iscariot -- saith unto Him,
Lord, how is it that Thou wilt manifest Thyself unto us and not unto the world? Jesus
answered and said unto him, If a man love Me, he will keep My words; and My Father will
love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with hint." -- John 14:21-23.
The thought which this promise of
the abiding presence of the Father and Son conveys to our minds is that their thought and
care and interest will be constantly upon us, and that at any instant we may engage the
special attention of either or both. The same idea is also conveyed by the words of the
Apostle Peter (1 Pet. 3:I2) "For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and His
ears are open unto their prayers." And we are urged to be "instant in
prayer," to "pray always, and not to faint," to "pray without
ceasing"; for "Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them
that fear Him; for He knoweth our frame, He remembereth that we are dust." "As
the heaven is high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward them that fear Him,"
and "As far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions
from us." Yea, "The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon
them that fear Him, and His righteousness unto children's children, to such as keep His
covenant and to those that remember His commandments to do them." - Rom. 12 :12 ;
Luke 18 : 1 ; 1 Thess. 5:17; Psa. 103:13, 14, 11, 12, 17, 18.
IF ANY MAN SIN
We cannot come too often, then,
to the throne of the heavenly grace, if we are of those who can claim the abiding presence
of the Father and the Son-if we are of them that love Him and keep His, commandments and
who recognize the Lord Jesus as the only way of access to the Father. And even "if
any man sin" -- be overtaken in a fault-so that from his outward conduct he might be
judged as not loving the Lord, yet, if he repent, let him remember that "we have an
Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous," who "is the propitiation
[satis-faction] for our sins," "who also maketh intercession for us."
"Who," then, "shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God
that justifieth. Who is He that condemneth ? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is
risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for
us." -- 1 John 2:1, 2; Rom. 8:33, 34.
Wherefore, the Apostle urges,
"Seeing then that we have a great High Priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus
the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession; for we have not an High Priest which
cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like
as we are, yet without sin. Let us, therefore, come with confidence to the throne of
grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." -- Heb.
4:14-16.
With such urgent and loving
invitations let no child of God hesitate to come to Him often or to tarry long in
communion and fellowship with Him. It is our privilege to enter into our closets and shut
the doors and pray to our Father which seeth in secret, who will reward us openly. (Matt.
6 :6.) And not only so, but He will go with us through all the business and hurry and
commotion of the day; and at any instant in the midst of cares and, perplexities we -- may
turn our prayerful, thoughts to Him for wisdom, for strength and Christian fortitude, or
for comfort and consolation for ourselves or others. And though we hear no responding
voice, if we are attentive to the course of His providence, we will shortly see the
shaping of events and circumstances for our good and the good of others in answer to such
prayers. Beloved, have we not many a time proved this true? in perplexities, in
tribulations, in afflictions, in persecutions, in bereavements, in temptations and trials?
In coming to God we need have no
fear that He is too busy with other matters of greater importance, or that He is weary of
our coming to Him repeatedly with things of small importance. It was to assure us against
this very thing that our Lord spoke the parable of the importunate widow, who was heard
and answered on account of her importunity. In so doing we evince both the earnestness of
our desires and, our faith-that our prayers will be answered, if we faint not from lack of
faith or zeal when the answer is delayed, as often it must necessarily be, since time is
an important element in all God's work.
"EVERYTHING TO
HIM IN PRAYER"
All night, until the break of
day, Jacob wrestled in payer, saying, "I will not let thee go, unless thou bless
me." Paul thrice besought the Lord until he
was assured His grace would be sufficient for him. The Lord Himself frequently spent whole nights in prayer, and He prayed earnestly and
with many tears. (Luke 6 :12 ; Matt. 14:23 ; Mark 6:46; 1:35; Luke 5:16; Heb. 5:7.) And
the Apostle Paul says, "In everything, by prayer and supplication [earnest pleading]
with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God." -- Phil. 4:6.
The Apostle himself acted on this
principle when he urged, in his letter to the Romans, that the saints "strive
together [Greek, agonize] with me in prayers. to
God for me," that he might safely accomplish a certain work which seemed to be of the
Spirit's leading. -- Rom. 15:28-32.
"In everything" -- that
signifies that our Heavenly Father is deeply interested in everything that relates to us
and ours. What thing is too small for His notice who numbers even the very hairs of our
heads? In today's household or business cares, then, we may have His loving sympathy and
helpfulness. Do a mother's counsel and a father's wisdom seem inadequate to restrain and
guide aright the wayward course of impetuous and overconfident youth, they may bring their
cares and fears to the Lord; and, as the children cross the threshold to meet the world's
temptations, His wisdom and providence may be invoked to ,so shape their circumstances and
surroundings as to show them eventually the sure safe way and the folly of pursuing any
other.
Do business cares perplex and
annoy? remember the Lord's caution, "Be not overcharged with the cares of this
life," and the Apostle's warning, "They that will be rich fall into temptation
and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts which drown men in destruction and
utter ruin; for the love of . money is the root of all evil, which, while some coveted
after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
But thou, O man of God, flee these things and follow after righteousness, godliness,
faith, love, patience, meekness. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal
life." And, remembering these things, come to the throne of the heavenly grace for
wisdom and direction as to how you may so adjust your temporal affairs as not to be overcharged with the cares of this life. It is
right to be charged with them to the extent of diligence (Rom. 12:11) and the utilization
of such diligence. in the Lord's service; but it is the overplus, the corroding care, that
interferes with peace of mind and communion with God, that is to be avoided.
IT WILL SWEETEN OUR
DAYS
Does poverty pinch and cause
anxious thought? take that also to the Lord in prayer; and then, while diligently using
the means at hand, to provide things decent and honest; patiently and confidently wait and
watch the indications of providence, assured that He who feeds the fowl of the air, which
neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and who clothes the grass of the field, which
today is and tomorrow is cast into the oven, is both able and willing to clothe and feed
you and yours.
And so through all the list of
earth's trials and cares, its wants and its woes, its bereavements and disappointments and
calamities and distresses, its failures and shortcomings and sins and mistakes, we may
take them all to the Lord in prayer and receive that strength and sympathy and consolation
and help we so much need. Let us live in the presence of the Father and the Son who have
promised to abide with us. It will sweeten our days and comfort our nights and ease our
burdens and brighten our hopes and, in a word, it will lift us up above the world into a
higher and purer atmosphere. Such is the will of heaven concerning us: let us appreciate
and avail ourselves of the privilege.
By all the encouragements of
precept and example, the Lord assures us that the fervent prayer of a righteous man (a
justified and consecrated child of God) availeth much (Jas. 5:16). We are urged then also
to come in faith. Jesus said, "If ye have faith and doubt not . . . all things
whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive" (Matt. 21:22). As He
was addressing His consecrated disciples, it must of course be understood that all their
petitions would be subjected to Divine wisdom, and therefore the answers to their prayers,
though always sure, might not always be in the way expected, but they would always be
considered and answered in some way for their highest good.
What a blessed privilege, dear
fellow-disciples of the Lord, is ours to be instant in prayer, to pray always -- to lift
up our hearts and minds to God at any time and in any place and to realize that thus daily
and hourly that the Father and our dear Lord Jesus abide continually with us, and then,
when the active duties of the day have been performed under His eye and supervision, or at
any time when the soul realizes its necessity, how precious is the privilege of entering
into our closets and there alone with God unburdening our hearts.
While secret prayer is the
blessed privilege of every child of God„ and one without which His spiritual life
cannot be sustained, it is also the privilege of Christians to unite their petitions at
the throne of grace. This united prayer is specially commended by the Lord. (Matt. 18:
I9.) "Again I say unto you, that if two of you shall agree on earth as touch-ing
anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of My Father; for where two or
three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them."
IF WE FAINT NOT
With such promises as these,
together with an experience of their fulfillment, who can doubt the love and favor of our
God and of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ? Therefore let us be encouraged to pray
always and not to faint when the answers seem to tarry long, for time is often required to
work out the deep designs of an all-wise and loving Providence. Remember the words of the
angel to Daniel. Daniel said, "While I was speaking and praying and confessing my sin
and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the Lord my God,
for the holy mountain of my God; yea, while I was speaking in prayer," the answer
came by the hand of an, angel who said; "O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee
skill and understanding. At the beginning of thy
supplications the commandment came forth, and I am come to show thee; for thou art
greatly beloved." -- Dan. 9 :20-23.
On another occasion, when Daniel
had mourned three weeks, fasting and praying, because of his inability to understand, the
angel of the Lord came and said, "Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that thou
didst set throe heart to understand, and to chaste. thyself before thy God, thy words were
heard, and I am come for thy words." -- Dan. 10:2, 3, 10-12.
Even so shall it ever be with all
the beloved of the Lord: at the beginning of our supplications God begins to set in
operation the influences and to shape the circumstances which are designed to work out the
intended blessing for us-if we faint not, but continue instant in prayer, thereby evincing
our continued earnestness of desire, and if we confess our sins, and set our hearts to
understand, and chasten ourselves before Him. How many prayers are not heard or are
hindered because the one who asks does not first purify himself of evil in his own heart?
"Ye ask, and receive not because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your
lusts"; that is, you ask selfishly and without regard to the will of God. (Jas. 4:3.)
But to the chastened and sanctified comes the promise -- "Before they call [reading
the desire of the heart .even before it finds expression in words] I will answer [will
begin so to shape events as to bring the answer soon or later]; and while they are yet
speaking I will hear." (Isa. 65: 23, 24) While this is in connection with a prophecy
relating to the Lord's people in the. Millennial Age, it nevertheless is true of all His
faithful ones of this Age. Praise the Lord for all His loving kindness to even the least
of His lowly children!
SERIES XVII
THE VISION OF THE
LITTLE HORN (Continued)
"I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints,
and prevailed against them:" -- Daniel 7:21.
THE next feature in the vision of
the "little horn" is described in the words: "And behold in this horn were
eyes like the eyes of a man." Eyes here would denote intelligence; and considered in
connection with the other descriptions of the power symbolized by the little horn; cunning
and foresight would, also be denoted. The thought would be that the "little
horn" power would be looking out and watching for all opportunities to promote its
own interests. The policy of the Papacy in this particular is proverbial. The pope is an
overlooker or overseer.
The Greek word translated
"See," which is commonly applied to the pope, has the same thought as is
contained in the word "episcopacy," which literally means oversight,
watchfulness, or careful inspection. "This would denote that the power here referred
to, would be remarkably sagacious. We would naturally look for the fulfillment of this in
a power that laid its plans wisely and intelligently; that had large and clear views of
policy; that was shrewd and far-seeing in its counsels and purposes;' that was skilled in
diplomacy; or that was eminent for statesmanlike plans. This part of the symbol, if it
stood alone, would find its fulfillment in any wise and shrewd adminis-tration; as it
stands here, surrounded by others, it would seem that this [little horn, as contrasted
with them [the other horns], was charac-teristically shrewd and farseeing in its
policy." -- Albert Barnes.
That which in a very special way
attracted the attention of the Prophet was that the "little horn had' a mouth
speaking great things."' This is explained in verse 25, in the expression, "He
shall speak great words against the Most High." The Prophet speaks of this peculiar
feature again, when he beheld in the same vision a throne upon which sat the Ancient of
Days, and before whom was brought One like the Son of Man, to whom was given dominion and
.glory and a kingdom that all nations and languages should serve and obey Him. The Prophet
says, "I beheld then, because of the great words which the horn spake."
--See verses 9-14.
The explanation of this throne
vision seems to show that it was a judgment assize; the judgment being one especially of
the "little horn." The angel's explanation reads, "But the judgment shall
sit and they shall take away his dominion to consume' and destroy it unto the end."
(Ver. 26.) This explanation seems clearly to teach that the result of this judgment assize
is not to destroy this "little horn" power in an instant, but rather by a
gradual process, first to "take away its dominion"
and second, to "consume and destroy it unto the end."
Strange and startling as it may
seem to some, it is nevertheless a fact that this great judgment assize, and the decision,
"They shall take away his dominion," rendered by it, met its fulfillment in
1870, when the Papacy lost every vestige of temporal dominion. The world has witnessed
this event, but it is only revealed to the eye of faith in the sure word of prophecy that
the loss of temporal dominion in 1870 was the fulfillment of this prediction. That feature
of the prophecy which describes its consumption and destruction is all that awaits
fulfillment.
BLASPHEMY AGAINST THE MOST HIGH
It is very evident that the mind
of the Prophet was greatly agitated by the words of the little horn, because its words
were against the Most High. The word "tsad,"
translated "against," signifies concerning.
These words against the Most High, have their fulfillment in the decrees, bulls, and
canons issued by the popes. In 2 Thess. 2, where the same power is portrayed, it is said
that he "exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped."
In Rev. 13:5, similar words to that of Daniel's vision are employed. It is there
represented as having "a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies."
"Blasphemy in Scripture means not so much a speaking against God, as it does the
assumption of Divine attributes and Divine Power where no rightful claim exists. Thus in
Matthew 9, the scribes said of Jesus, 'this man blasphemeth,' because He said to the sick
of the palsy, 'thy sins be forgiven thee.'" As Jesus possessed this power, their
charge against Him was untrue. The Papacy; through its priesthood, cannot truthfully say
that it has Divine power, therefore the charge that it blasphemes God's name is true.
When we read of the blasphemous,
self-exalting utterances made by .the popes at different times, in the past, and even up
to the present time, it seems almost incredible that a human being could ever make such
claims; indeed wire it not so serious a matter, it could in these enlightened times have
only the effect of producing in the intelligent mind a sense of the ridiculous. We cite
some of these claims -- which are set forth in Roman bulls and decretals, and quoted by
the author of Romanism and The Reformation "It
is claimed by them, that 'no laws made contrary to the canons and decrees of the Roman
prelates have any force,' that 'no man may act against the discipline of the Roman
Church;' that 'the Papal decrees or decretal epistles are to be numbered among the
canonical Scriptures, and not only so, but that the Scriptures themselves are to be
received only 'because a judgment of holy Pope Innocent was published for receiving them.'
"It is claimed that emperors ought to obey, and
not rule over pontiffs; that even an awfully wicked pope may not be rebuked by mortal man,
because 'he is himself to judge all men, and be judged of none,' and 'since he was styled
God by, the pious prince Constantine, it is
manifest that God cannot be judged of man!' They claim that no laws, not even their
canon laws can bind the pope; but that just as Christ, being maker of all laws and
ordinances, could violate the law of the Sabbath, because He was Lord also of the Sabbath,
so popes can dispense with any law to show they
are above all law!
It
is claimed that the chair of St. Peter, the See of Rome, is made the head of the world;
that it is not to be subject to any man, 'since by the Divine mouth it is exalted above
all.' In the canon laws the Roman pontiff is described as 'our Lord God the pope,' and
said to be 'neither God nor man, but both.' But the climax of assumption, the keystone of
the arch of Papal pretension, is probably to be found in the 'extrava-gant' of Boniface
VIII; the Unam Sanctum, which runs thus: 'All
the faithful of Christ by necessity of salvation are subject to the Roman pontiff, who
judges all men, but is judged of no one.' 'This authority is not human, but rather Divine
. . . . Therefore we declare, assert, define, and pronounce, that to be subject to the
Roman pontiff is, to every human creature altogether necessary for salvation.'"
"HE SHALL THINK
TO CHANGE TIMES AND LAWS"
Another has said: "This
power has also invaded the courts of heaven and filled them with a host of imaginary
mediators. It is by the act of the Pope that deceased persons are in a formal and solemn
manner declared to be saints, and in the Catholic Church they become objects of, worship
and to be invoked in order to obtain their intercessions with God in our behalf. The
Canonization is one of the most gorgeous, ostentatious and costly of the entire
ceremonials of that Church. The decorations of St. Peter's Church and other expenditures
on such occasions have been estimated at not less than, twenty thousand pounds
sterling."
"All these claims were
incessantly and universally urged all down the centuries by the popes of Rome, and, are
still advanced as boldly as ever, in official decretals, bulls, extravagants, decisions of
canonists, sentences of judges, books, catechisms, sermons, and treatises of, all
kinds."
"As we read all this,"
one has said, "let it be with bowed heads and with weeping eyes, while we ponder the
lesson once more of the terrible consequences of pride, and ambition, and worldliness,
when permitted to run their course in the Church of God."
Another remarkable feature of the
doings of this little horn that identifies it with the Papal power is stated in the words,
"And 'he shall think to change times and laws." The times and laws here
mentioned do not have reference to secular or human times and laws. It would not be
strange or uncommon for any power to do this; for the powers symbolized by the other horns
were continually changing and making new secular laws. The times and laws referred to are
Divine times and Divine laws -- those that were given at different periods in history by
God for the benefit of mankind, and enjoined especially upon His own people to observe.
It is well known to all that
Papacy has appointed fasts and feasts, granted pardons and indulgences for sins,
instituted new rules for the worship of God, imposed new doctrines to be believed,
canonized saints, and changed at its own pleasure the laws of God. The times and laws
referred to; therefore, have reference to the laws and institutions of religion. The
meaning of the expression evidently is that its purpose would be to control, or claim the
right to control, human beings in religious matters. It would, as far as it lay in its
power, abolish laws that existed, and substitute new ones in their place; end this it
would do in order to further its own interests or ends.
ASSUMES PREROGATIVES
OF GOD
We are indebted to Mr. Guinness
for a quotation on this point from a work of Mr. Birks, an eminent writer on prophecy:
"The pope has also annulled
the only surviving law of paradise, confirmed by the words of Christ. The Lord ordained,
'What God hath joined together, let no man put asunder.' The pope ordains, 'We decide also
that, according to the sacred canons, the marriages contracted by priests and deacons be
dissolved, arid the parties brought to do penance.' The Papacy has further annulled the
second commandment, given on the mount by the lips of God-in theory, by the childish and
false distinction between heathen idols and Christian images; and in practice, by hiding
it from the people, and blotting it out from the catechisms of general instruction. The
pope has further annulled the main laws of the Gospel. He forbids the cup to the laity,
although the Lord Himself has commanded, 'Drink ye all of it.' He forbids the people of
Christ, in general, to use the Word of God in their own tongue; though Christ Himself has
charged them, 'Search the Scriptures.' He forbids the laity to reason or converse on the
doctrines of the Gospel; St. Peter has commanded them, 'Be ye ready to give a reason of
the hope that is in you.' The pope, finally, sanctions the invocation of saints and
angels; though St. Paul has warned us, 'Let no man beguile you of your reward in a
voluntary humility and worshiping of angels'; though St. John has renewed the charge to
the disciples of Christ, 'Little children keep yourselves from idols'; and an angel from
heaven renews the caution in his words to the. same Apostle, 'See thou do it not, for I am
thy fellow servant; worship God.'"
It is taught by some that Papacy
changed the Sabbath from the seventh to the first day of the week. The fact of the matter
is, however, that Constantine, nearly two hundred years prior to Papacy's existence,
legalized the first day of the week as a Sabbath. The teaching of the Scripture on this
matter is that the Christian is not obligated to keep any day of the week as a Sabbath.
The first Christians were from the Jews, and realized only gradually their freedom from
the Jewish Law Covenant. They continued for a time to observe the seventh day, and also
met in the morning of the first day, in remembrance of Christ's resurrection,' which took
place on that day. The first day also became sacred to them, because it was on that day
that He appeared to His disciples during the forty days after His resurrection. ,Gradually
they ceased to observe the seventh day under the teachings of St. Paul, but continued to
meet on the first day, early in the morning, but not to observe it as a Sabbath day. As
the Church gradually fell away from primitive, doctrines and practices, the. first day
began to be erroneously, looked upon as a Sabbath day: "Whatever may have been the
opinion and practice of those early Christians in regard to cessation from labor on the
Sunday, unquestionably the first law, either ecclesiastical or civil, by which the
sabbatical observance of that day is known to have been ordained, is the edict of
Constantine, 321 A. D., of which the following is a translation: 'Let all
judges,-inhabitants of the cities, and artificers rest on the venerable Sunday. But-in the
country, husbandmen may freely and lawfully apply to the business of agriculture; since it
often happens that the sowing of corn and planting of vines cannot be so advantageously
performed on any other day; lest by neglecting the opportunity, they would lose the
benefits which the Divine bounty bestows on us."' -International Encyclopedia.
WEAR OUT SAINTS OF
MOST HIGH.
One of the most marked features
of this little horn is described in the words, "And he shall wear out the saints of
the Most High." The significance of these words is plain and clear. They, teach that
by wars and massacres and inquisitions this power would persecute and destroy the saints
of God, that the true worshipers who would protest against' Papacy's innovations, and
refuse to comply with its idolatrous rites and practices would be persecuted unto death.
This feature has an awful fulfillment in Papacy. Concerning this a noted writer has said
-:
"Rome's contention is, not
that she does not persecute, but only that she does not persecute saints. She punishes
heretics -- a very different thing. The first would be wicked, the last she esteems
laudable. In the Rhemish New Testament there is a note on the words 'drunken with the
blood of the saints' [Rev. I7], which runs as follows: 'Protestants foolishly expound this
of Rome, because heretics are there put to death. But their blood is not called the blood
of saints, any more than the blood of thieves or man-killers, or other malefactors; and
for the shedding of it no commonwealth shall give account.' This is clear. Rome approves
the murder of 'heretics,' and fully admits that she practices her principles.
"The question therefore
becomes this, Are those whom Rome calls 'heretics' the same as those Daniel calls
'saints'? If so, the identification of the Papacy is as complete in this respect as in all
the previous points. The following statements are from authorized documents, laws, and
decrees of the Papacy, dating from the time of Pope Pelagius in the sixth century, twelve
hundred years ago: 'Schism is an evil. Whoever is separated from the Apostolic See is
doubtless in schism. Do then what we often exhort. Take pains that they who presume to
commit this sin be brought into custody. . . . Do not hesitate to compress men of this
kind, and if he despise this, let him be crushed by the public powers.' Pope Damasus . . .
authorizes persecution of those who speak against any of the holy canons, and adds, 'It is
permitted neither to think nor to speak differently from the Roman Church.' Every
evangelical Christian in the world is, therefore, according to Romanist canons, a .
heretic, and as such liable to punishment . . . . The Papacy teaches all her adherents
that it is a sacred duty to exterminate heresy. From age to age it has sought to crush out
all opposition to its own dogmas and corruptions, and Papal edicts for persecution are
innumerable. The fourth Lateran Council issued a canon on the subject which subsequently
became an awful instrument of cruelty.
"For long ages it was held
and taught universally that whoever fell fighting against heretics had merited heaven.
Urban II issued a decree . . . . 'We do not count them murderers who, burning with the
zeal of their Catholic mother against the excommunicants, may happen to have slain some of
them.' If not absolutely murdered, heretics might be ill treated ad libitum, according to an ordinance of Gregory
IX, who writes to the Archbishop of Milan: 'Let those understand themselves to be absolved
from the debt of fidelity, homage, and all manner of service, who were bound by any
compact, however firmly ratified, to those who have fallen into heresy.'
"Bellarmine [a most noted
Roman Catholic theologian, of the sixteenth century] argues for the necessity of burning
heretics, a practice which Luther had asserted to be contrary to the Spirit of God. He
[Bellarmine] says 'Experience teaches that there is no other remedy; for the Church has
proceeded by slow steps, and tried all remedies. First, she only excommunicated. Then she
added a fine of money, and afterwards exile. 'Lastly she was compelled to come to the
punishment of death. For heretics despise excommunication, and say that those lightnings
are cold. If you threaten a fine of money, they neither fear God nor regard men, knowing
that fools will not be wanting to believe in them, and by whom they may be sustained. If
you shut them in prison, or send them into exile, they corrupt those near to them with
their words; and those at a distance with their books. Therefore the only remedy is, to
send them betimes into their own place.'
"Sismondi, the historian,
writes: 'To maintain unity of belief the Church had recourse to the expedient of burning
all those who separated themselves from her; but although for two hundred years the fires
were never quenched, still every day saw Romanists abjuring their faith and embracing the
religion which often guided them to the stake. In vain Gregory IX, in A. D. 1231, put to death every heretic whom he found
concealed in Rome. His own letters show that the heretics only increased in
numbers."' -- H. G. Guinness.
DRUNKEN WITH BLOOD OF
MARTYRS
Another symbolic vision seen by
St. John and recorded in the Apoca-lypse referring to the horrible persecutions of this
same power reads: "I saw, the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with
the blood of the martyrs of Jesus." In concluding the consideration of this feature
of the vision we quote the words of the late A. J. Gordon:
"It has been estimated that
the Papacy has directly or indirectly slain fifty millions of martyrs on account of their
faith, the vast majority of these being sincere Christians, whose only crime was that they
would not own allegiance to Antichrist. Let charity discount the-number by one half, if it
were possible, and let her suggest every conceivable palliation for the murder of the
rest, and we still have the most ghastly chapter which the volume of history contains.
Would that we might mingle our weeping with floods of repentant tears from the .eyes of
this cruel mother, if forsooth we could thereby mitigate the wrath treasured up against
the day of wrath which her crimes have earned: But, alas! we find 'Te Deums' sung over Huguenot slaughters, but not
one papal Miserere can we discover.
Commemorative medals are still extant signalizing the massacre of St. Bartholomew, but not
one monumentum lacrimarum over that event is
to be found in all the archives of the seven-hilled city. 'And when I saw her I wondered
with great wonder,' writes the Seer; and now that history has filled in every detail of
the crimson outline of prophecy, we wonder with even profounder amazement that such a
demoniacal tragedy could ever have been enacted in the name of Christianity. But we
remember that the woman who did these things was 'drunken.' And there is no intoxication
so profound as that induced by pagan superstition tinctured with Christian blood. Even
Martin Luther, while yet in the delirium tremens of popery, raged with this blood-thirst.
'So intoxicated was I, and drenched inpapal dogmas,' are his words, 'that I would have
been most ready to murder or assist others in murdering, any person who should have
uttered a syllable against the duty of obedience to the Pope.' Nay, even those who have
been sobered by generations of Protestant abstinence from persecution, if they once return
to the cups of the Harlot, speedily exhibit symptoms of the old appetite, as witnessed for
example in the oft-quoted saying of Dr. Manning, now [I889] cardinal, when urging Romish
aggression in England: 'It is yours, right reverend fathers, to subjugate and subdue, to
bend and to break the will of an imperial race."'
RULE OVER SAINTS
LIMITED
One of the most remarkable
features of this wonderful prophecy of the little horn is that its rule over the saints is
assigned definite limits. Like the other features of the vision this one is expressed in
hidden, symbolic language: "And they [the saints] shall be given into his, hand until
a time, and times, and the dividing of time." (Ver. 25.) A time in the Scriptures
represents 360 days; times [two], 720 days; a dividing [half] of time, 180 days; the sum
of which is 1260 days. Other Scriptures give us the scale to use in determining the
symbol's enlargement. That scale is "a day for a year." The time, therefore, is
1260 years. It is now a well known fact of history that the French revolution that
occurred at the close of the eighteenth century, the great climax of which was the Reign
of Terror in 1793, marked the beginning of the end of Papal influence and power over the
saints. We are indebted to Mr. Guinness for the following quotation from The Papal Drama, by Thomas H. Gill, concerning how
the French Revolution affected the Roman Catholic power
"The more deeply and
earnestly the French Revolution is considered, the more manifest is its pre-eminence above
all the strange and terrible things that have come to pass on this earth . . . . Never has
the world witnessed so exact and sublime a ,piece of retribution . . . . In no work of the
French Revolution is this, its retributive character, more strikingly and solemnly
apparent than in its dealings with the Roman Catholic Church and Papal power. It
especially became France, which after so fierce a struggle had rejected the Reformation,
and perpetrated such enormous crimes in the process of rejection, to turn its fury against
that very Roman Church on whose behalf it had been so wrathful . . . to abolish Roman
Catholic worship, as she had abolished Protestant worship; to massacre multitudes of
priests in the streets of her great towns; to hunt them down through her length and
breadth; and to cast them by thousands upon a foreign shore, just as she had slaughtered,
hunted down, and driven into exile hundreds of thousands of Protestants. . . The property
of the [Roman] Church was made over to the state; the French clergy sank from a
proprietary to a salaried body; monks and nuns were restored to the world, the property of
their orders being likewise gone; Protestants were raised to full religious freedom and
political equality . . . . The Roman Catholic religion was soon afterwards abolished.
" 'Bonaparte unsheathed the
sword of France against the helpless Pius VI . . . . The pontiff sank into a dependent . .
. . Berthier marched upon Rome, set up a Roman Republic, and laid hands upon the pope. The
sovereign pontiff was borne away to the camp of the infidels, . . . from prison to
,prison, and finally carried captive into France. Here . . . he breathed his last at
Valence . . . . Multitudes imagined that the Papacy was at the point of death, and asked,
would Pius VI be the last pontiff, and if the close of the eighteenth century would be
signalized by the fall of the Papal dynasty. But the French Revolution was the beginning
and not the end of the judgment; France had but begun to execute the doom, a doom sure and
inevitable, but long and lingering, to be diversified by many strange incidents, and now
and then by a semblance of escape, a doom to be protracted through much pain and much
ignominy."'
WHEN THE SAINTS WERE
DELIVERED INTO HIS HAND
The famous decretal letter of the
Emperor Justinian constituting 'the bishop of Rome "head of all the holy churches and
all the holy priests of God," was issued in March 533 A. D. just I260 years prior to
the Reign of Terror. Referring to this de decretal letter;. Mr. Elliott says "The
famous decretal letter of Justinian to the Pope dated March 533. . . became thenceforth,
part and parcel of the Civil Law." Mr. Guinness, referring to the same, says this Was
"the point at which the saints were delivered into the hand of the Roman pontiff by
the famous decretal letter of the Emperor Justinian, in March, A. D. 533, constituting the
bishop of Rome, 'head of all the holy churches and of all the holy priests of God."'
A part of the text of this letter to the bishop of Rome, as also another to the patriarch
of Constantinople is given by Pastor Russell. From this we quote: "'The victorious
Justinian. . . to [Pope] John the most holy archbishop of the fostering city of Rome: . .
. We do not permit that any question be raised as to anything which concerns the state of
the churches, however plain and certain it may be, that be not also made known to your
Holiness, who is the Head of all the holy churches."'
To the patriarch of
Constantinople Justinian wrote these words: "'In no manner whatever have we changed,
or shall we change, or have we (as your Holiness also knows) passed beyond that position
of the Church which, by the favor of God, has as yet been preserved; but in all respects
the unity of the most holy churches with his Supreme Holiness, The Pope of Ancient Rome,
(to whom we have written in like manner), has been maintained. For we do not suffer that
any of those matters which relate to the state of the Church be not also referred to His
Blessedness, since he is the head of all the most holy churches.' " The same writer
thus refers to these decretal letters "The letters from which we have given the
foregoing extracts may be found complete, together with the Edict of Justinian referred
to, in the Volume of the Civil Law.Codicis lib. I tit. i.'' This decree was not enforced,
according to Pastor Russell, until 539 A. D. Twelve hundred and sixty years from this date
brings us up to the time of the humiliation and dethronement of Pope Pius VI, by Napoleon
in 1.799.
The prophecy of Daniel goes on to
state that even after this terrible judgment, the. Papal power would recover and continue
for an indefinite period of time. The revealing angel's words are: "The judgment
shall sit and they shall take away his dominion to consume and destroy it unto the
end." -- Ver. 26.
It was in the year 1870, July 18,
at an Ecumenical Council, which was attended by 803 prelates of the Roman, Catholic
Church, that the Pope, by an official decree, reached the most dizzy height of his
blasphemous claims. This decree was that the occupant of the Papal chair is in all his
decisions with regard to faith and morals, infallible.
In two months from this time Papacy suffered the loss of all that remained of its
temporal possessions and authority. It was to this time, it would seem, that, the Prophet
had reference in the words, "I beheld then, because
of the voice of the great words which the horn spake." --Ver. 11.
Continued from
last issue
A LESSON FOR
SPIRITUAL ISRAEL
"And Samuel judged the
children of Israel in Mizpeh." That is to say, as a judge, a counselor; he gave
advice, gave decision in respect to their affairs, disputes; proper course of conduct,
right and wrong on any subject, etc. Thus the nation of Israel was making a new start; and
as a people they were more drawn together than at any time in their history from the days
of Joshua onward. But, as though it were a trial of their faith, at this very time, while
they were resolving on the course of righteousness, their enemies, the Philistines, having
heard of the gathering, sought to nip the rebellion in the bud, and came against them with
an army of considerable size.
The Israelites had not come
together for battle, but for prayer; nevertheless they were probably more or less armed.
But they felt themselves quite unprepared to meet the Philistine hosts. And they said unto
Samuel, "Cease not to cry unto Jehovah our God for us, that He save us out of the
hand of the Philistines." They were learning to look for help in the right direction.
This cry coming to the Lord after they had abandoned their idols and had vowed to be loyal
to Jehovah, put them in a very different attitude toward Him from that of twenty years
previous, when they called for the Ark of God to lead them in battling against the
Philistines without any reformation of character, without repentance for sins.
Is there not a lesson here for
all God's people? Is it not as true today as it ever was that it is vain for the Lord's
people to call upon the Lord for assistance and blessing while they are living in sin, in
violation of their Covenant and its obligations? The first lesson of all, then, for those
who realize their being in sin, is repentance, and definite vows to the Lord respecting
faithfulness in petition to Him for His mercy unto them. Those who thus come to the Lord
now, as Christians, under the Headship of our Lord Jesus Christ, are sure to have Divine
mercy and "grace to help in every time of need."
Our Philistines that come upon us
and' enslave us are our passions and weaknesses, and the oppositions of the world and the
Adversary. These are our foes, and against these only Divine Power can enable us to fight
a good fight and come off victorious.
In response to the cry of the
people, Samuel the Prophet offered to the Lord a sacrifice -- a lamb of the first year. He
knew it not, but it was a type of "the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the
world." Beside this typical sacrifice, Samuel cried to the Lord on behalf of his
people, and the Lord heard him. So with all that stand beside the great Antitypical
Sacrifice, and in the name and merit of that Sacrifice, as people of God in covenant
relationship with Him -- having put away sins and weaknesses to the best of our ability,
we may be sure of Divine help, deliverance.
SIGNAL MANIFESTATION
OF DIVINE FAVOR
While yet the offering was upon
the altar, the noise of the approaching hosts of the Philistines was heard. How would God
assist His people? How could they hope for deliverance against the Philistine hosts? Would
they in fear scatter or would God's power to help be manifest? The deliverance came in the
shape of a great, violent, sudden storm. Going hastily, it swept down the hill Mizpeh, in
the faces of the approaching hosts. They turned their backs against the violent storm; and
the Israelites perceiving the opportunity rushed onward with the storm, pursuing the
Philistines and driving them before them, and thus gaining a great victory. The place of
the victory was the very spot where, twenty years before, the Ark of the Lord had been
captured by the Philistines. Samuel there set a stone as a pillar and monument; and called
it Ebenezer, saying, "Hitherto hath the Lord helped us." -- Ver. I2.
So with Christians in their
victories under the Lord's assistance; when by the Lord's grace they gain victories they
should setup memorials or monuments in their minds, in their hearts, and not pass these
blessings. by or forget that the victories were gained by help from on High. Every
Christian, therefore, should have his Ebenezers, his monuments of victory, as it were, of
Divine assistance over his foes, the world, the flesh, and the Adversary, and lie should
rejoice in these. This sentiment has come down to us in the words of a beautiful hymn,
familiar to nearly all who read the English language
"Here I'll raise my Ebenezer,
Higher by Thy help I'm come;
And I hope by Thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at Home."
PROPER AND IMPROPER
JUDGMENTS
The record is that Samuel
continued to be a judge, an interpreter of the Divine Law, a counselor to his people,
"all the days of his life." The Israelites had accepted God's Law, and had
agreed to abide by its decisions. Whoever, therefore, they would have confidence in as an
interpreter of the Divine Law, they in proper condition of heart, would be ready to obey
his rulings, his judgments. Spiritual Israelites similarly have come into covenant
relationship with God, and have bound themselves to seek to know and to do the will of God
and not their own wills. Hence whoever may be the person of opportunity who can show
"an Israelite indeed" the mind of the Lord in any manner, lie becomes his
counselor.
This office is not left to
ministers, to priests, but is open to all the Lord's people; for St. Peter declares all
the Lord's people are priests -- "Ye are a Royal Priesthood." True, these
priests have not entered into their royalty, nor yet have they entered fully upon their
priestly office. These glorious offices belong especially to the future, when by virtue of
the resurrection change, these priests, who are now sacrificing, will be Priests in glory,
reigning with Christ and judging the world -- assisting the world, counseling the world,
instructing the world regarding God's will and helping them to know and to do that will.
The Royal Priesthood are to
remember that their judging in the present time is not a judging of the hearts, but merely
a judging of the conduct. As respects the hearts, they are informed of the Lord that they
are not competent to, judge; and hence the words of the Apostle Paul, "Judge nothing
before the time." The time for the judging of the, hearts, when this work will be
committed to the Church, will be after that which is perfect shall have come, after the
resurrection change shall have made us like our Redeemer and qualified, therefore, to read
the hearts of mankind and to judge a righteous judgment, a merciful judgment, a
sympathetic judgment, a helpful judgment.
"I delight
to do Thy will, O my God." --
Psa. 40:8; 2 Sam. 7:18-26; 8:14, 15.
IT has been. truly said that
"the history of the life of David is the record of his education by the hand of God.
Separated by disparity of years from his seven brothers, whilst they lived in the world,
he kept his father's sheep upon the hill pastures near to Bethlehem. Little did he dream
of the future for which he was preparing. God had set him there to keep those sheep in the
wilderness. For God he kept them; with God he communed as he changed their pasture, beat
off the lion and the bear; and led them to the water's side. The solitariness of his
shepherd's life braced up his spirit, and its dangers formed within him the habit of ready
action based on simple trust in his God. When the lion and the bear came forth -against
his wilderness flock, and took a lamb for which he was accountable out of the fold, he
went out after him and caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew him: He knew that
he did it not in his own might, but in the strength of the Lord. So was his faith
nurtured."
"ANOINT HIM, FOR
THIS IS HE"
God's choice of a man to succeed
Saul was that of David, the son of Jesse. And we read "he was ruddy and was all of
beautiful countenance and goodly to look upon." The description is thought to
indicate that David was fair complexioned and of auburn hair. It is supposed that he was
in his eighteenth year.
The Lord said to Samuel,
"Arise and anoint him, for this is he." "Then Samuel took the horn of oil
and anointed him in the midst of his brethren." "And the spirit of the Lord came
mightily upon David from that day forward." We are not to understand from this that
David was begotten of the Holy Spirit, as are the members of the Body of Christ, the
Church, during this Gospel Age. No; ours, is a special and peculiar blessing from the
Lord, the like of which never came before Pentecost, except in the one case of our Lord's
baptism of the Spirit at Jordan, when He received the Holy Spirit without measure. The
spirit, influence, power of God upon David was similar in its operation and effect to what
it had been upon Samuel and the Prophets. Undoubtedly it gave him wisdom, strength, and
courage, and enabled him wisely to appropriate to himself the various opportunities for
learning the lessons in connection with his daily experiences, all of which were a
schooling or preparation for his future work as king.
Similarly, only in a higher and
fuller sense and degree, the Lord's people of this Gospel Age, from the time they come
under the influence of the Holy Spirit of begetting, which was poured upon the Church at
Pentecost -- from that time onward they should be exercised by this Spirit of the Lord,
and, as the Apostle expresses it, should be filled with the Spirit, "filled with all
the fullness of God," filled more and more with a knowledge of God's will and with
the spirit of obedience thereto. This feeling increases as we receive of the Holy Spirit,
and as it abounds and is shed forth in our hearts we are enlightened; our appreciation of
God, our appreciation of our own privileges, our appreciation of His calling us to the
high position of joint-heirship with Jesus and our appreciation of the necessity for
learning the lessons which would fit us for that glorious position, is increased.
DAVID AS A FUGITIVE
Among the outstanding epochs in
David's life is that of the seven years as a fugitive from the envy and hatred of King
Saul. The latter, though still the nominal representative of the Lord upon the throne of
Israel, had lost the Divine blessing and power which, in considerable measure, had been
transferred to David after his anointing to be Saul's successor. The lesson brings before
' our minds in sharp contrast the king, whose better judgment was overcome by evil
impulses, and David, the "man after God's own hart," who, although far from
perfect, strove successfully for mastery over himself, and overcame promptings of evil
under the guidance of principles of righteousness. We are not to think of David as
perfect. Neither are we to be blind to his faults and sins, nor to excuse them, nor to
copy them. David was not one of the "saints" in the New Testament sense. He
lived at too early a date to share in the High Calling; nor could he follow in the
footsteps of Jesus, since the Captain of our salvation and our, forerunner in the Narrow
Way had not yet come. David was a man after God's own heart, in the sense that he was full
of faith in God and aimed aright. At heart he desired to do the Lord's will, and wherever
he failed of this it caused him grief. and led him to repentance. He lived before the time
of God's revelation of His own character and Plan and perfect will concerning His people.
All things considered, David's attainments in faith and obedience were quite remarkable,
so that although as a whole he was not to be considered as a model or pattern by the
Church of the Gospel Age, nevertheless many beautiful illustrations of proper faith and
.obedience may be drawn from his care, and some are noted in the lesson before us.
The seven years from the time
David fled from the wrath of Saul until Saul died must have seemed to David a peculiarly
long period of trial of faith and, patience. His own course had been a noble and true
one.. He had served his king and his nation most loyally, yet he suffered as a reward. He
was for a time an exile in a foreign land, and his father's family was obliged to remove
to Moab for protection. It must have, seemed peculiar to David that the Lord should permit
him, anointed to succeed King Saul, to be thus delayed from coming into his kingdom, and.
instead to be hunted and persecuted as an outlaw. This, however, was a valuable test of
his faith, and doubtless helped to strengthen its roots, and thus to make his character
stronger and his trust in the Lord firmer. But besides this; we may readily see that those
seven years were valuable to David as a preparation for his kingly office. They made him
intimately acquainted with the people and their usual manner of life and general
sentiments -acquainted also with the neighboring peoples. Above all, he became intimately
acquainted with the Lord, and, we may be sure, learned to trust His providences even where
he could not trace them. Several of the Psalms were either written during this period and
describe David's experiences on the spot, or written subsequently describing the lessons
learned from those experiences. Amongst these Psalms may be mentioned numbers 34, 52, 56,
57, 63.
THE CHRISTIAN'S
ADVERSARY AND CONFLICT
What lesson can the "New
Creation" of the present time draw from this story of olden time? David, whose name
signifies beloved, in many respects typified the Christ, Head and Body. His experiences
with Goliath illustrate well first of all our Lord's conflict with the Adversary during
the forty-days' temptation in the wilderness. Our Lord's victory over Satan on that
occasion, His loyalty to the Father and. the work entrusted to Him, His own
self-sacrifice, meant the victory for all the world of mankind desirous of being in
harmony with God and His arrangement. Did He not declare to us, "Fear not, I have
overcome the world?" In overcoming Satan, the prince of this world, He was gaining at
the same time a victory over all the hosts of evil and servants of sin He stood faithful
to God and to His covenant relationship and responsibility and hurled at the Adversary the
pebble of truth.
"It is written." As
Goliath fell before David, so Satan was vanquished by our Lord, who declares, "I
beheld Satan fall from heaven," and declared also as a result of His victory;
"All power is given Me in heaven and in earth," and sent forth His disciples in
His name to similarly battle in His strength and to come off conquerors and to ultimately
share with Him in His Kingdom, which is to "bless all the families of the
earth:" It is written of the Lord's faithful disciples, who shall constitute the
Church of glory, that they must walk in His steps as He set the example. This means to
them as to Him a warfare against sin, its great representative and leader Satan, and all
the hosts of deceived humanity who are on his side.- Does not the Apostle intimate this
when he says, We wrestle not with flesh and blood, but with wicked spirits in influential
positions? (Eph. 6:12.) Our enemy is a giant in whose presence we are feeble indeed. The
Apostle calls him a wily foe and our Lord taught us to pray the Father, "Abandon us
not in temptation, but deliver us from the evil one." Very evidently, then„ we
need Divine assistance in our unequal contest, as did David in his.
"NOT BY MIGHT,
NOR BY POWER, BUT BY MY SPIRIT"
All these whom the Lord accepts
to probationary membership in the Body of Christ, have been previously anointed and come
'under the Divine power and guidance. They have had their experiences, too, in struggling
against evil in general, even as David had his experience with the lion and the bear, and
those experiences in the Lord's providence were merely, preparations for the great testing
the great conflict with the Adversary and his various devices for our injury. The natural
thought in connection with such a contest is to put -on armor similar to that of our
opponent, as Saul offered his armor to David. It is for each of the Lord's people,
however, to learn that victory cannot be won along worldly lines. We cannot fight evil
with evil, wrong with wrong, boasting with boasting, and slander with slander, hatred with
hatred, etc. If we undertake so to do we shall surely lose in the battle. Our course, like
that of David, must be full reliance upon the Lord and the use of the sling and pebble of
truth. If we cannot conquer along these lines we cannot conquer at all. Who is sufficient
for these things? for such an unequal contest with the prince of darkness and all the
hosts of sin? Surely the one who would have confidence in himself would be unwise; hence,
as the Apostle says, we place our confidence in God; if we are loyal to Him- victory wilt.
be ours, if we are careless or unfaithful we' shall not be of the David class-not be
members of the glorious Body of Christ, in which event we shall never reign with Him, even
as David, who received the anointing, would never have reached the throne, if he had
fought the giant with Saul's armor.
"WORKS OF THE
FLESH AND OF THE DEVIL"
The imperfections of the flesh
with which we all must contend are indeed part of the works of the devil, for did he not
in Eden accomplish the fall of our first parents, and thus the fall of our entire race
into the sin and death condition against which we struggle in vain, except as we are
rescued by Him who loved us and bought us with His precious blood? But in addition-to
these inherited weaknesses of the flesh we must contend against the active works of the
Adversary -not only his temptations to ourselves but his intrigues through mankind in
general, for he is indeed the "one who now worketh in the hearts of the children of
disobedience," and they are much more numerous than the children of obedience. Hence
our assailants are manifold, and in many of their assaults upon us they have at least the
sympathy of our fallen flesh, however antagonistic our hearts, our minds as New Creatures
in Christ.
The Apostle helps us to get a
view of the great enemy and the influence he is bringing to bear against us on every hand
and every day. He sums them up as follows "Now the works of the flesh are manifest which are these --
adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred,
variance, emulations, wrath strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, [he that
hateth his brother is a murderer], drunkenness [intoxication literally or symbolically
with, the spirit of the world, Babylon], revelings, and such like; of the which I tell you
before, as I have also told you in times past, that they which do such things shall not
inherit the Kingdom of God." -Gal. 5:19-21.
David's experiences in waiting
for the kingdom and the lessons learned and the character developed and the preparation
which made him wise and moderate, all serve to illustrate a great lesson to the Gospel
Church. We also are called to sit upon the throne of the Lord -- to rule in His name. We
also have, been 'anointed to the office by the Holy Spirit, which the Apostle declares is
a foretaste of the glory and -- joys into which we shall enter when the crowning days
shall have come. If discipline, self-control, faith, moderation, and hope were all
requisite to make David a king over the Lord's people and to properly represent him in
government, how much more severe lessons should be for us, who are called to so much
higher a station -to the throne of earth as God's representatives and to the Royal
Priesthood, ruling, judging; and trying mankind, to the intent that as many as possible of
them may be rescued from their degraded condition and be brought into full harmony with
God! Surely we may say as David did that our trials and testings are much less than we
expected them to be.
VOL. VII. March 15, 1924 No. 6
INFIDELITY AND THE
FAITHFUL
SO RAPIDLY has faith in the Bible
as a Divine revelation been on the wane during the past two decades, and particularly the
last, that the fact is being commonly noted and the attention of the public called to it.
Thus writes Mr. Arthur Brisbane in the New York
American:
"Fashions change even in
religion. Things that Robert Ingersoll said while the pious held their breath and waited
for the lightning to strike are now said in the pulpit.
"The Rev. William Montgomery
Brown, of Ohio, Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church, is to be tried for heresy. His
book classes Buddha, Allah, Jehovah and Jesus in the same class. All, says he, are
'versions of the sun myth.'
"The founder of Christianity
this Christian Bishop classes with 'Santa Claus and Uncle Sam,' not real personalities,
but convenient symbols. He says of Jesus, 'I doubt that He ever lived.' And he still
preaches in a Christian pulpit.
"Soon they will have .cut
out of the Christian religion everything except, perhaps, one commandment, 'Thou shalt not
kill,' but real Christianity is not disturbed by these 'modern improvements.' On the
contrary, the faithful delight in proving that their faith is stronger than anybody's
reason or 'higher criticism."'
Very true, we answer. --
"Real Christianity is not disturbed," nor can the teachings of its great
Founder, the Apostles and Prophets be overthrown or even weakened to any extent by attacks
of modern unbelief, infidelity, etc., which pass under the guise of Modern Thought, New.
Thought, Higher Criticism, Evolution, etc. The security of the writings of the Bible lies
in the fact that their real Author is God, in the sense of a Divine supervision; and He
has caused one line of thought to permeate them all; and a golden thread of prophecy to
pass through them all, binding them together as one message. The reverent student of these
writings plainly observes the most remarkable fact that though penned by different writers
who spoke and wrote many centuries apart, they have the one theme and the one harmonious
story to tell. It is first, the story of creation; then of the trial and fall in Eden, the
coming in of the curse, and the ravages and ruin down through the Ages wrought by death,
the great enemy; then the story of love and redemption, first in prophecy, then in fact,
when in fulfillment of prophecy and in the "fullness of time," the well-beloved
Son of God was heralded by, angelic hosts as the long looked for Redeemer and bringer of
Salvation.
Then, this sweetest of all
stories, taking again the form of prophecy, continues on, announcing that He who tasted
death for every man as the Ransomer, has won high distinction and honor in the presence of
Jehovah, that now being seated at the right hand of His Majesty He is to be accorded the
rule, the kingdom or empire of this earth; that following the selection of His Bride, the
true Church, made up of faithful bearers of the cross and doers of His holy will, and
following their exaltation and union with Him, there is to be fulfilled the prayer He
taught His followers, "Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth as it is done in
heaven"; which will mean the retraining and subduing of evil and sin in every form,
and the removal of the curse of disease and death from the earth, and the giving to every
member, of the human race a full, fair trial for everlasting life in paradise restored.
The story concludes by assuring
us that the reign of God's Kingdom in the hands of Christ and the saints will be attended
with marvelous success, "such as earth has never known"-that "the desire of
all nations shall come"; that there shall be no more curse; that sorrow, weeping,
pain, and dying shall depart from the earth; that mankind, whose family circle has become
terribly shattered and broken by sin and death, will then as one grand restored, united
family pass into the ages of perfection and bliss to follow.
The above writer states that
"on the contrary, the faithful delight in proving that their faith is stronger than
anybody's reason or, higher criticism." We would add that the faithful delight in
proving that their faith is stronger than fallible, human reasoning, "science,
falsely so-called." The faithful are not called upon to believe anything unreasonable
although they do believe many things that they cannot reason out or understand, just as
our reason compels us to accept many facts. in life that are beyond our power to reason
out: We see animal and vegetable life growing all around us, but we cannot reason out or
understand the process of how it grows. It is then according to this same line of thought
that the faithful believe in the miraculous display of Divine power in the past in the
form of our Lord's supernatural birth and in the performances of other miracles, without
their having been personal witnesses of these miracles. The faithful believe in them
because the testimony has come from those whose characters for truth and veracity are.
unimpeachable and therefore it is reasonable to accept them as truth.
Consequently it is not a matter
of the faithful trying to prove that their faith is stronger than anybody's reason, but
stronger than the human guesses and speculation of modern times, that would discredit the
Bible and give it a place amongst writings of fiction, fables, and tradition. The faithful
delight in proving that their faith has a good and sufficient foundation to endure all the
tests and all the storms of the present dark time, and to "endure as seeing Him that
is invisible"; being fully persuaded that soon the glorious power of the new
dispensation will thoroughly scatter all the present darkness of ignorance, superstition,
infidelity, unbelief, etc., and cause the knowledge of the true God and His purpose to go
abroad throughout the earth for the healing of mankind.
INFIDELITY SHAKES
MODERN CHURCH
Don O. Shelton, president of the
National Bible Institute goes on record in defense of the Bible:
"Infidelity and rationalism
like a whirlwind shake the modern church. The stiff breeze of modernism which has been
felt has developed into a hurricane. But there is no need for astonishment or alarm.
Christianity has never been congenial to the human mind. It rebukes man's selfishness and
sinfulness. It demands repentance and belief. It requires self-surrender and a close walk
with God. The Bible is God's winnowing fan. It distinguishes the chaff from the wheat, the
false from the true.
"From the beginning
Christianity has been misrepresented. False prophets are still going out into the world.
The devil is an expert dust-thrower. He is skilled in the art of befogging truth. Now in
New York he is trying to make it appear that Christianity is something that every teacher
can reconstruct to suit himself."
DISTRIBUTION OF THE
BIBLE URGED
In striking contrast with the
spirit of irreverence toward the Bible and in contrast with the spirit of unbelief and
agnosticism, there comes to our attention a large display advertisement of the Bible in
the Boston Post, which we understand to be a
regular feature of that paper, consisting of an earnest and eloquent appeal to all its
readers to co-operate with them in the distribution of the Bible. The appeal reads:
"Following the most
distressing period of unrest the world has ever known, comes a world-wide revival of Bible
reading, which must tend to ameliorate the, unrestful conditions of mankind. To encourage
such an end, publicity is being used in leading newspapers throughout this country to
promote the distribution of the great Book of Books, on an extensive plan that should
readily place the Bible in the hands of every reader. Two exclusive editions have been
chosen for this purpose-first, the famous large print Red Letter -Bible, illustrated
herein, and a beautiful plain print, medium large type edition that will be distributed
for a nominal sum. May be had either in Protestant or Catholic version.
"The Question of
the Universe"
"THIS BIBLE-THIS MIRACULOUS BIBLE-THIS
BOOK OF ALL BOOKS-LUMINOUS WITH THE LIGHT THAT DWELLETH NOT ON LAND OR SEA-THIS NOBLEST
AND MOST BEAUTIFUL THING IN ALL THE WORLD-WHAT IS IT-WHENCE COMETH IT-WHAT MEANS IT?
"It has made and unmade
Nations. It has uprooted Kingdoms and Empires. It has diverted the mighty tides of
History. It has crumpled ancient Faiths and Superstitions. Because of it fell Pagan Rome.
The antique Systems of India and the Far East have bowed their heads to its enlightened
sway.
"China and the Orient now
first awaken from their sleep of thrice a thousand years; and follow their sister nations
of 'the Occident-whose feet are guided by one sole lamp -the sacred flame of which was
kindled by the inspired-Hebrew Prophets, and fed for all time by the Lord and Master of
the Golden Rule.
"Only ignorance scoffs at
the Bible! The greatest rulers -- the greatest statesmen --the greatest scholars --
writers -- orators -- scientists -- soldiers -- and the untold millions of the, Common
People, whose collective genius outweighs them all -- have thrilled to its Divine' Wisdom.
"Its lyrics of unfathomable tenderness-its orations of compelling potency -- its
contemplative prose of preternatural grandeur-have never been equalled. Its emotional
depths and its intellectual heights make it tile one and only Book of Books, vouchsafed
for the guidance of mankind throughout the ages."
In reading the foregoing, one
cannot but be impressed with the thought that those who are moved to thus urge the
distribution of the Bible are evidently realizing increasingly the instability of the
present order of things; that we are living in the time when all things are being
"shaken"; that all peoples of the earth today are feeling a sense of, unrest and
insecurity as never before, knowing not that this is "the day of His
preparation," that "the Hour of His judgment is come." It is indeed' to the
credit of the Bible that its pages are thought, even by the worldly-wise, to contain
benign influences; peaceful influences that would tend to counteract the spirit of unrest,
the spirit of fear and of -anarchy.
FORETOLD AND
FULFILLED
"We are living in an age of
modern miracles. What has happened is nothing compared with what is coming. Great
discoveries are within reach-almost here. You may expect to hear of marvelous developments
any, moment. We are at the threshold of a new world-a radio controlled universe.
Television is not far off. Motion pictures will be transmitted by radio -- along with the
voice or music of the speaker or musicians to whom you are listening.
"You may look forward to
transmission of power -- electrical energy for operating factories, even cities -- without
the use of wires. Already aircraft and ships can be controlled by radio, and. in the
development of that one field alone the possibilities are limitless: We may all soon be
flying by radio." -- Major J. Andrew White, in New
York American.
"RICH AND
INCREASED IN GOODS"
"World's Richest Church"
"The richest church in the
world is Trinity, New York. Its annual statement shows that its income for 1922 was
$1,250,000, of which $230 came from pew rent. The salaries of the pastor and his
assistants amount to $80,000. The church pays $300,000 taxes each year on its business
holdings. Its assets are $15,000,000. There are upwards of 10,000 communicants. in the
parish. There are five services each Sabbath." -- Boston Post.
"For Christ
our Passover is sacrificed for us,
therefore let us keep the feast." - 1 Cor. 5:7.
EVER increasingly precious and
sacred is .the memory of the death of our blessed Lord and Redeemer to those who have been
given to know the value of that death as it concerns the entire human family,
No wonder our Lord chose as His
memorial that which represented what was, in His and in God's estimation, His mightiest
work-His sin -offering on our behalf; and that which His real followers, and they alone,
would appreciate more than any other feature of His mission. True, His followers would
have appreciated something comme-morative of His wonderful words or works, but the worldly
also could have appreciated those things. But not so the value of His death as our ransom-sacrifice, the basis of our, reconciliation
and atonement, which has never yet been fully apprehended by any but the consecrated
Little Flock -- the Elect. It was for these that the remembrancer was arranged and
instituted; and though a Judas was present, he was given a sop and went out from the
others before the supper was ended; thus possibly representing that in the close of this
Age, before the Little Flock will have finished their part of having fellowship with their
Lord in His suffering, the sop of Truth will have become so strong as to drive forth from
the company and communion of the faithful all who do not rightly appreciate and value the ransom accomplished by the Lamb of God for the
taking away of the sins of the world.-I John 2:19.
At such a time as this, when the
Truth so positively stated in the Bible regarding the advent and death of our Savior
nineteen centuries ago, is being so generally denied by those who still use the name
Christian, it is of double importance that those who remain steadfast in the faith should
declare their convictions and openly show forth His death -- "till He come."
THE ANNIVERSARY OF
THE LAST SUPPER
We have already indicated in
previous issues of this journal that the evening of April 17 this year, marks the
beginning of Nisan I4, the appropriate time to observe the Memorial -- the anniversary of
the time that our Lord. and His disciples gathered in the upper room and partook of the
Last Supper. In reaching the conclusion that this is the proper date for the Memorial we
have followed the reckoning of the Jewish Calendar, as has been our custom to do in other
years, and just as we believe Brother Russell invariably did in the closing years of his
life. The method followed by the Jews this year in fixing the Passover season; is the one
that was in vogue in the days of ancient Israel, and at the time of our Lord's First
Advent, namely that . the new moon which comes closest to the spring equinox marks the
beginning of their ecclesiastical year, the first day of the month Nisan. Beginning with
the first of Nisan the Hebrews counted, and on the tenth day the paschal lamb was chosen
or selected from the flock; on the fourteenth day (the full of the moon or approximately
so), "between evenings" (at any times between 6 P. M. of the 13th and 6 P. M. of
the 14th of Nisan), the lamb was to be killed and eaten on the-fifteenth day their
Passover feast began, lasting seven days, the first of the seven, days being observed as
specially holy, as Sabbath days or "High" days. (Exod. 12:16.) On the sixteenth
day the omer of the first fruits of the barley harvest was offered to the Lord and fifty
days after (Pentecost) they offered before the Lord two wave loaves. -- Lev. 23:17.
NISAN 14 AND THE FULL
MOON
Some in noting that the Passover
date indicated in the Jewish Calendar this year does not fall exactly on the full of the
moon, have raised the question if there is not some mistake in the reckoning. Our reply is
that there is no error in this case, as we view the matter. The facts are that the I4th of
Nisan does not always fall on exactly the full
of the moon, though it approximately does. The reason for this discrepancy is that in some
instances there is a period of more than fifteen days between the two lunations -- the new
and the full moon. Astronomers have their method of explaining such variations, the
details of which are not necessary for us to consider here. One authority states that
"by reason of the great eccentricity of the moon's orbit it not infrequently occurs
that the time between the two lunations [the new and the full moon] exceeds fifteen
days."
Thus there have been several
years when we have celebrated the Memorial Supper more than one day in advance of the full
moon. For instance, last year, 1923, we in common with thousands of other Bible students
over the world, followed the Jewish method of reckoning and celebrated the Memorial on the
evening of March 30, whereas the moon did not become full till the morning of April I,
more than forty hours after the Memorial service. The same was true in the Memorial we
observed in 1919.
It is true we attach a certain
importance to the matter of the full 'moon at the time of the Memorial service it is
supposed that the moon was at its full at the time of Christ's crucifixion; there it
immediately began to wane and to wane for as long as it had previously increased. So
Christ's death was the turning point in Israel's history. However, as noted above, Nisan
14 does not always fall exactly on the full of the moon inasmuch as Nisan 1 commences with
the new moon arid, it not infrequently happens that it is more than fifteen days before
the full moon. The thought then is that while Nisan 14 does not always fall exactly on the
moon's full it approximately comes at that time.
As bearing upon this point, it is
significant that in 1916, Brother Russell's s last year, he followed the reckoning of the
Jewish Calendar. In that year the moon became new in the morning of April 2 and did not
reach the phase of full moon until the early morning of April 18, nearly sixteen days.
Brother Russell, accepting the Jewish Calendar, observed the Memorial on the evening of
the 16th which was about thirty hours prior to the time the moon became full. This is the
strongest possible evidence that he was not holding unequivocally to the thought of
observing the Supper, exactly on the full of the moon, but recognized that while the
Memorial date frequently came on the full of the moon, there were exceptions when it did
not, and the last year of his life was one of these exceptions, just as the present year
is.
We make the above explanation,
riot wishing, however, to the impression that the exact date is the all-important thing.
are not under the Law but under grace. Our observation of Memorial Supper is a privilege
and opportunity rather than obligatory command. The .principle thing would seem to be we
have a uniform time for its celebration and that we. celebrate with the right thought in
mind.
THE PASSOVER IN
HEBREW
The Israelites were commanded to
celebrate the Passover ,the first feature of the Law and as one of their greatest
memorials as a nation. Therefore we find that in some degree the Passover celebrated by
Jews in all parts of the world; even by those claim to be agnostics. They still have a
measure of respect for Passover as an ancient custom. But is it not strange that with
bright minds which many of our Jewish friends possess, they never thought it worth while
to inquire as to the meaning of celebration?
Why was the Passover lamb slain
and eaten? Why was blood sprinkled upon the doorposts and lintels? Of course, God
commanded; but what was the reason, the motive,, behind Divine command-what lesson, what
object? Truly a reasonable God gives reasonable cum-_ mands; and in due time Jehovah cause
His faithful people to understand the significance of every requirement. If the Jew can
realize that his Sabbath day is a of a coming Epoch of rest and blessing, of release from
sorrow and death, why cannot he see that similarly all the features of the Mosaic
institution were designed of the Lord to foreshadowings of various blessings, to be
bestowed "in due time"?
Going back to the picture in the
early history of the Hebrews note that the Passover time indicated that it was God's
purpose save all Israelites; and that as a nation they represented all mankind that will
ever come into harmony with God and granted everlasting life in the Land of Promise. Let
us note that there were two Passovers -the one in which only the first horns were passed
over; and another greater one at the Red Sea, when by Divine power the whole nation of
Israel was miraculously delivered and led across the channel of the Sea especially
prepared for them by the accentuation of winds and tides. These passed over dry-shod and
were saved; while the host of Pharaoh, representing all who eventually will go into the
Second Death, were overwhelmed in the Sea. The Passover at the Red Sea pictures ultimate
deliverance from the power of sin and death of every creature of Adam's race who desires
to come into accord with the Lord and to render Him worship, all who will ever become a
part of Israel; for not one Israelite was left behind in Egyptian bondage .
RESPONSIBILITY OF THE
FIRST-BORNS
But this Passover is not the one
which we are about to celebrate. We are to celebrate the antitype of the passing over of
the first-borns of Israel by the angel, in the land of Egypt. Only the first-born ones of
Israel were endangered on that night in Egypt, though the deliverance of the, entire
nation depended upon the salvation, the passing over,. of those first-horns. So only the
First-horns of the sons of God from the human plane, the Church of Christ, are now being
passed over during this night of the Gospel Age; only these are in danger of the
destroying angel. These are all under the sprinkled blood.
We see, in harmony with all the
Scriptures, that the "Little Flock," "the First-fruits unto God of His
creatures," "the Church of the First-borns," alone is being spared, passed
over, during the present Age. We see that the remainder of mankind who may desire to
follow the great antitypical Moses, when in the Age to follow this He shall lead the
people forth from the bondage of Sin and Death, are not now in danger of, eternal
destruction -- only the First-horns. With these it is a matter of life or death whether or
not they remain in the Household of Faith --behind the blood of sprinkling.
By and by the night of sin and
death will have passed away, the glorious Morn of deliverance will have come, and The
Christ, the antitypical Moses, will lead forth, will deliver, all the people of God-all
who, when they shall come to know, will be glad to reverence, honor and 'obey the will of
God. That Day of Deliverance will be the entire Millennial Age, at the close of which all
evil and evil-doers; symbolized by the hosts of Egypt, will be utterly cut off in the
Second Death-destruction.
JESUS OUR PASSOVER
The Apostle Paul clearly -- and
positively identifies the Passover lamb with our Lord Jesus, saying, "Christ our
Passover sacrificed for us; therefore let us keep the feast." He informs us than we
all need the blood of sprinkling, not upon our houses, but upon our hearts. We are to
partake of the Lamb; we must appropriate to ourselves the merit of Christ, the value of
His sacrifice; we must also eat of the unleavened bread of Truth, if we would be strong
and prepared for the deliverance in the Morning of the New Dispensation. Thus we put on
Christ, not merely by faith; but more and more we put on His character and are transformed
into His glorious image in our hearts and lives.
We recall the circumstances of
the first Memorial -- the blessing the Bread and of the Cup, the fruit of the vine; and
our Lord's declaration that these represented His broken body and shed blood, and that all
His followers should participate, not only feeding upon Him, but being broken with Him;
not only partaking the merit of His blood, His sacrifice, but also laying down their lives
in His service, in co-operating with Him in every and any manner, that they might -later
share all His honor and glory in the Kingdom. How precious are these thoughts to those who
are rightly in tune with our Lord!
The partaking of the unleavened
bread at the Memorial season, then, means to us primarily the appropriation to ourselves,
by faith of justification to human life-right -- a right to human
life -- with all its privileges, which our Lord at His own cost procured for us.
Likewise the fruit of the vine symbolizes primarily our Savior's life given for us, His
human life, His being, soul, poured out unto death on our behalf; and the appropriation of
this by us also signifies, primarily, our, acceptance of restitution rights and privileges
secured by our sacrifice of these.
SHARERS IN THE
SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST
Let it be observed that God's
object in justifying the Church by during this
Gospel Age, in advance of the justification of the world
by works of obedience in the Millennial
Age, is for the very purpose of permitting this class who now see and hear, who now
appreciate the great sacrifice which Love has made on man's behalf, to present their
bodies a living sacrifice, and thus to have part with the Lord Jesus, in His sufferings --
as members of His Body: This deeper meaning of the Memorial He did not refer to directly.
It was doubtless one of the things to which He referred when He said, "I have yet
many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now; howbeit, when it, the Spirit of
Truth, shall come, it will guide you into ail Truth, and will show you things to
come." -- John 16:12,13.
This Spirit of Truth, the power
and influence of the Father bestowed through Christ, speaking through the Apostle Paul,
clearly explains the very high import of the Memorial; for St. Paul says, writing to the
consecrated Church, "The Cup of blessing for which we give thanks, is it not the participation of the blood of Christ? The Loaf
which we break, is it not the participation of
the Body of Christ?" -- the sharing with Christ as joint-sacrificers with Him even
unto death, that thereby we might be counted in with Him as sharers of the glory which He
has received as the reward of His faithfulness?-"For we, being many, are one Loaf and one
Body." -- 1 Cor. 10:16, 17, Diaglott.
Both views of .this impressive
ordinance are very important. It is essential, first of all, that we should see our
justification through our Lord's sacrifice. It is proper then that we should realize that
the entire Christ, the entire anointed company is, from the Divine standpoint, a composite
Body of many members, of which Jesus is the Head (1 Cor. 12:12-14.), and that this Body,
this Church, as a whole must be broken-that each member of it must . become a copy of the
Lord Jesus and must walk in the footsteps of His sacrifice. We do this by laying down our
lives for the brethren, as Jesus laid down His life -- directly for His Jewish brethren,
but really for the whole world, according to the Father's purpose.
NO OTHER WAY OF LIFE
Speaking on the import of the
emblems, Mr. Barnes has very ably noted: "Is it not the emblem by which the blood of
Christ is exhibited, and the means by which our union through that blood is exhibited? Is
it not the means by which we express our attachment to Him as Christians; showing our
union to Him and to each other; and showing that we partake in common of the benefits of
His blood? The main idea is, that by partaking of this Cup they showed that they were
united to Him and to each other; and 'that they should regard themselves as set apart to
Him.
"'Are one bread.' One loaf;
one cake. That is, we are united, or are one. There is evident allusion here to the fact
that the loaf or cake was composed of many separate, grains of wheat, or portions of flour
united in one; or, that as one loaf was broken and partaken by all, it was implied that
they were all one. We are all one society; united as one, and for the same object. Our
partaking of the same bread is an emblem of the fact that we are one. In almost all
nations the act of eating together has been regarded as a symbol of unity or
friendship."
Our Lord distinctly declares that
the Cup, the fruit of the vine, represents blood; that is, life -- not life retained, but life shed, given, yielded up -sacrificed life. He tells
us that this life poured out was. for the remission of sins; and that all who would be His
must drink of it, must accept His sacrifice, and appropriate it by faith. They must
receive life from this source. It will not do for any to claim an immortality outside of
Christ. It will not do to, declare that life is the result of obedience to the Law. It
will. not do to claim that faith in some great teacher and obedience to his .instructions
will amount to the same thing and bring eternal life. There is no way to attain eternal
life other than through the blood once shed as, the ransom-price. for the whole world.
"There is none other name given under heaven or amongst men whereby we must be
saved." (Acts 4:12.) Likewise there is no other way by which we can attain to the new
nature than by accepting the Lord's invitation to - drink of His Cup, and to be broken
with Him as members of the one Loaf, to be buried with Him in baptism into His death, and
thus to be with Him in His resurrection' to glory, honor, and immortality.-Rom. 6:3-5;
2:7.
SELF-EXAMINATION AT
THE LORD'S TABLE
The beloved Apostle admonishes
"let a man examine himself." Thus to impress upon the one who comes to the
Lord's ,table the solemnity that properly attaches to such an act. The occasion therefore
is to be made one of the most careful self-examination in the light of the searching
admonitions of the Lord's Word. Here again Mr. Barnes presents a beautiful line of
thought:
"Let him examine himself,
and see whether he have the right feelings of a communicant, and can approach the table in
a proper manner. In regard to this we may observe, (1) That this examination should
include the great question about his personal piety, and about his particular and 'special
fitness for this observance. It should go back into the great inquiry whether he has ever
been born [begotten] again; and it should also have special reference to his immediate and
direct preparation for the ordinance. He should not only be able to say in general that he
is a Christian, but he should be able to say that he has then a particular preparation for
it. He should be in a suitable frame of mind for it: He should have personal evidence that
he is a penitent; that he has true faith in the Lord Jesus; that he is depending on him,
and is desirous of being saved by him. (2) This examination should be minute and
particular. It should extend to the words, the thoughts, the feelings, the conduct. We
should inquire whether in our family and, in our business; whether among Christians, and
with the world, we have lived the life of a Christian. We should examine our private
thoughts, our habits of secret prayer, and of searching the Scriptures. Our examination
should be directed to the inquiry whether we are gaining the victory over our easily
besetting sins, and becoming more and more conformed to the Savior. It should, in short,
extend to all our Christian character; and every thing which goes to' make up or to mar
that character .should be the subject of faithful and honest examination. (3) It should be
done because, (a) It is well to pause occasionally in life, and take an account of our
standing in the sight of God. Men make advances in business and in property only when they
often examine their accounts, and know just how they stand. (b) Because the observance of
the Lord's Supper is a a solemn act . . . . (c) Because self-examination supposes
seriousness and calmness, and prevents precipitation and rashness -- states of mind
entirely unfavorable to a proper observance of. the Lord's Supper. (d) Because by
self-examination one may search ,out and remove those things that are offensive to God,
and the sins which so easily beset us may be known and abandoned. (e) Because the approach
to the table of the Lord is a solemn approach to the Lord Himself; is a solemn, profession
of attachment to Him; is an act of consecration to His service in the presence of angels
and of men; and this should be done in a calm, deliberate and sincere manner-such a manner
as may be the result of a prayerful and honest self-examination."
TO GETHSEMANE AND TO
CALVARY'S BROW
In considering the events of
those solemn Hours associated with the Memorial Supper, let us follow the Redeemer to
Gethsemane, and behold Him "with strong cryings and tears'' praying "unto Him
who was able to save Him out of death" -- expressive of our Master's fear of death
lest in some particular He might have failed to follow out the Father's .Plan, and
therefore be thought unworthy of a resurrection. We note that our Lord was in some way
comforted with the assurance that He had faithfully kept His consecration vow, and that He
would surely have a resurrection as promised.
We behold how calm He was
thereafter, when before the high priest and Pilate, and Herod and Pilate again. "As a
lamb before her shearers is dumb, so He opened not His mouth" in self-defense. We see
Him faithful, courageous to the very last; and we have His assurance that He could have
asked of the Father and could have had more than . twelve legions of angels for His
protection. But instead of petitioning for aid to escape His sacrifice, He petitioned for
help to endure it faithfully. What a lesson is here for all His footstep followers!
We recommend that the dear
friends in various parts of the world neglect not this blessed Memorial. We do not advise
the leaving of the smaller groups. to meet with larger companies, but rather that each
little company, or band, meet together as is its usual custom; for this seems to have been
the course of the early Church. .Even the ones and twos may observe the Memorial if the
circumstances do not permit them to meet with a regular class. Let us "keep the
Feast," with joy of heart, but with due appreciation of its solemnity, not only as
relates to our Lord's sacrifice for us, but also as relates to our own covenant to be dead
with Him. We recommend that the leaders of each company make arrangements to obtain
unleavened bread, arid either unfermented grape juice, or raisin juice, or other fruit of the vine, though provision might be made for any,
if there be such, who conscientiously believe that fermented wine was meant to be used.
We recommend that these little
gatherings be without ostentation. Decently, orderly, quietly; let us come together, full
of precious thoughts respecting the great transaction we celebrate. Let us not have our
attention too much taken up with forms and ceremonies. Let us in this, as in all things,
seek to do that which would be pleasing to our Lord; and then we shall be sure that the
service will be profitable to all who participate.
_____________
Brethren
in Brooklyn will this year assemble to observe the Lord's Supper at 8 o'clock on the
evening of April 17, at their regular place of worship -- the parlors of the INSTITUTE,
177 Prospect Place. All who are trusting in the precious blood will be made warmly welcome
at this service.
SERIES VIII
THE PROPHET'S TRIAL
AND CONFLICT
"At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and
concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy: it; if that nation,
against whom 1 have pronounced, turn front their evil, 1 will repent o f the evil that I
thought to do unto them. And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and
concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it; if it do evil in My sight, that it obey
not My voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith 1 said I would benefit them."
-- Jer. 18 :7-10.
AFTER the incident in the
potter's house, Jeremiah was given instruc-tions by the Lord, the substance of which
embodies a principle that animates Jehovah in His dealings with the nations of earth and
especially with His own chosen nation. This principle is noted in the words at the head of
this article.
While these words have reference
to temporal matters only, that is, matters pertaining to this present life, yet they
contain or suggest an attribute of God, which is applicable to everlasting or redemptive
blessings also. This attribute is that of mercy. Mercy is a distin-guishing attribute of
the Supreme Being. "The Lord is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity
and transgression [yet] by no means clearing the guilty." Mercy is defined as
"that benevolence, mildness or tenderness of heart which disposes a person to
overlook injuries, or to treat an offender better than he deserves. It is the disposition
that tempers justice, and induces an injured person to forgive trespasses and injuries,
and to forbear punishment, or inflict less than the law or justice will warrant. In this
sense there is perhaps no word in our language precisely synonymous with mercy. That which
comes the nearest to it is grace. It implies benevolence, tenderness, mildness, pity or
compassion and clemency, but exercised only to offenders."
In the plan that provides
redemptive, everlasting blessings, God's love is shown in the exercise of both justice and
mercy. The whole human family is under the condemnation of death. "Dying thou shaft
die" was the sentence imposed. Not only is it true that, "all have sinned and .
come short of the glory of God," but it is also true that all were condemned in the
one man, Adam. "Having no hope, [of a future life], and without God in the
world" describes each individual's condition. -- Eph. 2:12.
The exhibition of God's love and
mercy was manifested in what is expressed in Scripture as the gift of His only begotten
Son. This is explained in the Scriptures to mean that His Son, who existed with Him in the
morning of creation, voluntarily yielded Himself to the Divine will and purpose, in order
to release all men from the sentence of death. This required that God's Sort experience
or, undergo a change of nature, and become a flesh, human being. The object of this was
that He by the grace of God should taste death for every man; or as expressed in another
Scripture, give "Himself a ransom for all." This is stated to have been done in
order that "God might be just, and the justifier of him that believeth in
Jesus." (Rom. 3:26.) Therefore "if we confess our sins He is faithful and just
to forgive us our sins." -- 1 John 1:9.
AGAIN WARNINGS OF
IMPENDING JUDGMENT
To make known God's willingness
and desire even at that late day, to show mercy to Israel and hold back the judgments,
Jeremiah was commissioned of the Lord to go again and repeat the message of judgment, and
earnestly exhort the nation and people to return unto Jehovah. (Chap. 18 :11.) A translation of verse 12 by Fenton makes it to
teach that Jehovah informed the Prophet beforehand what the people would say. It reads,
"But they will reply, There is no hope of that, for we will follow our own plans. And
each will practice the suggestions of his own heart." It was a fact, that the people
rejected .disdainfully the Prophet's words. The thought evidently is that the people did
not believe Jeremiah's words. They were led away by the evil of their own hearts to
believe the words of the false prophets, who opposed Jeremiah's teachings and predictions
of coming woe. The words that follow are addressed to Israel, and are designed to show the
people that such obduracy was unheard of among the other nations. They read:
"Therefore the Ever-Living answers thus, Enquire, I .pray of the nations, Who has
heard such horrors as that virgin, Israel, has done? Will the snow of Lebanon supply to
the fields of Mitzer, as cold waters [as] are poured from a spring? Yet My people have
abandoned Me for delusions -- they offer incense, and stumble from their ancient pathways,
to follow unpaved by-paths; to turn their country to a waste, to a continuous jungle! All
who pass will hiss!* and shake their heads! I will scatter them like an east wind before
their enemies, I will repulse and not advance them. I will terrify in the day of
distress." -Ver. 13-17.
____________
* "The word hiss does not here
denote the hissing -- hissing down or against one, by way of contempt, but the sound
midway between hissing and whistling, which escapes one when one looks on something
appalling."
________________
The lessons taught here are the
foolishness and stubbornness of the natural, evil heart, and the cruel strength of the
shackles that bind those who live in sin. The only deliverance is to turn away from the
promptings of the foolish natural heart, and yield to God, to His Son. "Whosoever
committeth sin is the servant of sin, and the servant abideth not in the house forever;
but the Son abideth ever. "If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free
indeed." -- John 8:34-36.
HISTORY RELATED
It is very apparent from the
words of verses I8-23 that Jeremiah's faithfulness and courage in proclaiming Jehovah's
messages, pointing out the sins of the nation, and declaring the judgments impending, had
aroused intense hatred and opposition toward him. It seems evident that he sat, as it
were, almost alone, cast out by the false prophets, priests, court party, and the people.
It was evidently the case that only a little band, Jeremiah himself being the foremost,
and upon whom came the brunt of all the persecution and afflictions, remained faithful to
the covenant of Jehovah.
"Come," his enemies
say, "and let us devise devices against Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish from
the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let us
smite him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words." The solemn
words of the Prophet were not heeded in the least measure or degree by the blinded, sinful
people. Instead of examining themselves and reforming their lives they resolved to put the
troublesome preacher of repentance out of the way. They purposed to do this by the .means
of .false charges, or by devising devices against him. They had, as they thought, priests
to give them instruction out of the- law, wise men to give counsel, and prophets to
prophesy. That is to say, they believed these rather than Jeremiah who spoke only of
repentance and coming judgment.
History has frequently repeated
itself. In critical times only the few teachers are found loyal to God, by declaring the
unpleasant things; and the masses generally follow the false or mistaken leaders -- blind,
leaders of the blind -- and both together will eventually fall into the ditch. The great
test at all times is to meet God's approval in all that we do; and this is especially true
in these days. The test cannot be avoided; it will come at sortie time to all. Concerning
how we meet it. will determine whether or not we will have the Master say unto us
"Well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."
Against these schemes and
plottings to defame him and take his life, the words of the Prophet in the next verses are
a record of his cries unto God for protection. While his enemies are calling upon the
people to give no heed to his prophesyings, Jeremiah prays to the Lord to listen to his
plea, and to hear what his enemies are saying. To justify his prayer the Prophet says:
"Shall evil be recompensed [paid], for good?" He asks that Jehovah will remember
that he stood before Him only to do the. people good, and in support of this he reminds
Jehovah of the prayers he had so often presented to Him, that He would turn His anger away
from them. This good, the people are now going to requite with evil.-Ver. 2o.
JUST RETRIBUTION
PRONOUNCED
The Prophet next prays that the
Lord will repay the people for this evil; by bringing upon them all the calamities that
Jeremiah had sought to avert, namely destroying them with famine, disease, and sword. His
words are, "Therefore deliver up their children to the famine, and their young men to
the hand of the sword, and let their wives be childless and widows, and let their men come
to a murderous death; their brave men slain by the sword in battle! Let shriek be heard.
from their homes, when the plunderers come suddenly upon them, for they dug a ditch to
catch me, and laid a trap for my feet." -- Ver. 21,22.
Concerning this prayer of the
Prophet to God to exterminate his enemies, one of the early commentators, Hitzig, remarks:
"The various curses which in his bitter indignation he directs against his enemies
are at bottom but the expression of the thought: Now
may all that befall them which I sought to avert from them." What is called the Hirschberg Bible presents a different thought, and
in a comment says: "It is no prayer. of carnal vengeance against those that hated
him; but as God had commanded him to desist (chap. 14:11;12) from the prayers he had
frequently made for them; and as they themselves could not endure these prayers, he leaves
them to God's judgments, which he had been already compelled to predict to them (chap.
11:22; 14:12,16), without any longer resisting with His entreaties." -- See 2 Tim.
4:14.
Kiel, a noted commentator, has
thus referred to the foregoing comment: "In this observation that clause only is
wrong which says Jeremiah merely leaves them to God's judgments, since he on the other .
'hand gives them up thereto, prays to God to carry out judgment upon them with the utmost
severity. In this respect the present passage resembles the so-called cursing
[imprecatory] Psalms (Psa. 35:4-10; 109:6-20; 59:14-16; 69:26-29) ; . . . for the
Prophet's prayer is not inspired, but [rather] the wish and utterance of his heart, for
the fulfillment of which he cries to God; just as in the Psalms cited:" As opponents
of the Bible always refer to these, imprecatory Psalms and the words of Jeremiah in
endeavors to undermine the faith of some in the Bible as a Divine revelation, our readers
will be interested to hear what some of the early commentators have said on these
Scriptures,
Kiel has thus commented on these
imprecatory Scriptures: "All these curses are not the outcome and effusions of
personal vengeance against enemies, but flow from
the pure spring of a zeal, not self-regarding at all, but for the glory of God. The
enemies are God's enemies, despisers of His salvation. Their hostility against David and
against Jeremiah was rooted in their hostility against God and the Kingdom of God. The
advancement of the Kingdom of God, the fulfillment of the Divine scheme of salvation,
required the fall of the ungodly who seek the lives of God's servants. In this way we
would seek to defend such words of cursing by appealing to the legal spirit of the Old
Testament, and would not oppose them to the words of Christ. (Luke 9:55.) For Christ tells
us why He blamed the Elias -- like zeal of His disciples in the words: 'The Son of Man is
not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them.' In keeping with this, the peculiar end
of Christ's coming on earth, we find no curse's from Him against His enemies and the
Kingdom of God. But just as the word 'I am come,' etc. (Luke 9:56), does not exclude the
truth that the Father hath given all judgment to Him, so as Kurtz [another eminent writer]
very justly remarks: 'from our hearing no word of cursing from the mouth of Christ during
His life on earth we cannot infer the absolute inadmissibleness of such; , still less can
we infer that Christ's Apostles and disciples could not at all be justified in using any
words of cursing.' And the Apostles have indeed uttered curses against obdurate enemies;
so Peter against Simon the Magian (Acts 8:20) ; Paul against the High Priest Ananias (Acts
23:3), against the Jewish false teachers (Gal. 1:9 and 5:12), and Alexander the
coppersmith. (2 Tim. 4:14.) But these cases do not annihilate the distinction between the
Old and the New Testaments. Since grace and truth have been revealed in Christ, the Old
Testament standpoint of retribution according to the rigor of the law cannot be for us as
the standard of our bearing even towards the enemies of Christ and His Kingdom."
BECAUSE OF SHEDDING
INNOCENT BLOOD
Jeremiah is next instructed by
Jehovah to go and purchase an earthenware bottle, and after gathering together some of the
elders of the people and of the priests, have them accompany him to the valley of the son
of Hinnom, which is by the entrance of the gate Harsith, and there proclaim a message that
would be given to him. (Chap. 19:1, 2.) The words were similar to others before spoken by
him -- a prophecy, against the kings of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. This
judgment message is contained in verses 3-9; the threatening is briefly set forth in
verses 3-5. Terrible calamities was the Lord to bring upon Jerusalem. So terrible, so
utterly stunning, were these calamities to be, that it would cause the ears of all who
heard of them to tingle. By their dreadful sins in forsaking Jehovah, they had estranged
Jerusalem and brought upon themselves these calamities -- that is, they had not treated
Jerusalem as the holy city, the place of the sanctuary of their God; but instead had
offered up worship to. Baal, and "filled the place with the blood of innocents."
Some have supposed this last expression to refer to the blood of children slain in the
offerings, to Moloch. Another, and seemingly a more reasonable explanation is given by
Kiel in the words:
"We, therefore, understand
the filling of Jerusalem with the blood of innocents, according to chapter 7:6; 2:34; and
22:3,17, of judicial murder or of bloody
persecutions of the godly; and on two grounds: first, because alongside of idolatry we
always find mentioned as the chief sin, the perversion of justice to the shedding of
innocent blood, so that this sin would not likely be omitted here, as one cause of the
dreadful judgment about to pass on Jerusalem; second, because this passage recalls the
very wording of 2 Kings 21:16, where after
mentioning his idolatry, it is said of Manasseh: 'Also innocent blood hath he shed until
he made Jerusalem full to the brink."'
The summary of Jerusalem's sins
then are: "(1) The disowning of the
holiness of Jerusalem as the abode of the ,Lord by the public practice of idolatry. (2)
The shedding of innocent blood as the extremity of injustice and godless judicial
practises. (3) As worst of all abominations,
the . building of altars for burning their own children to Moloch." The
burnt-offerings to Moloch are mentioned last, in verse 5.
After Jeremiah had declared this
message to those who had accompanied him to the place, he broke ,the earthen bottle into
fragments in their, presence, and explained to them that the Lord's meaning of this act
was that as the earthen bottle was shattered to pieces, so would Jerusalem -- people and
city -- be broken up. He states further that the Lord would make the city the houses of
the kings and the inhabitants, like Tophet, that is defiled, unclean; and because of the
great numbers who would die in connection with the siege of the city, they would be
compelled to bury them in Tophet, there being no room in Jerusalem.
BECAUSE THEY HARDENED
THEIR NECKS
When Jeremiah had performed this
Divine command he returned from Tophet to the city, and stationed himself in the court of
the house of the Lord, and spoke to the people who were assembled there, thus addressing
them: "Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring, upon
this city and upon all her towns all the evil that I have pronounced against it, because
they have hardened their necks, that they might not hear [obey] My words." -- Ver.
15.
It seems very evident that a
large concourse of people were gathered at this place to engage in some sacred rite, and
when Jeremiah's voice was heard they gathered around to hear his words. The words of the
Prophet must have aroused the ire and passion of the people to the highest pitch. The
endurance of Pashur, the chief governor of the temple, had reached its limit, and
approaching the Prophet he smote him, and it would seem with the assistance of the temple
servants laid hold of him and thrust him into the stocks, and left him in this position
all night, exposed to the ridicule and anger of the people, and the dews of the night, and
perhaps to the prowling dogs. When the morning dawned Pashur seems to have repented of
what he had done, and released Jeremiah. The Prophet, on his release reiterated the
prophecy of the day previous, and in addition foretold what would happen to Pashur
himself, in the words: "For thus saith
the Lord, Behold, I will make thee a terror to thyself, and to all thy friends and they
shall fall by the sword of their enemies, and thine eyes shall behold it: and I will give
all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall carry them captive into
Babylon and shall slay them with the sword. Moreover I will deliver all the strength of
this city, and all the labors thereof, and all the precious things thereof, and all the
treasures of the kings of Judah will I give into the hand of their enemies, which shall
spoil them, and take them, and carry them to Babylon. And thou, Pashur, and all that dwell
in thine house shall go into captivity; and thou shalt come to Babylon, and there thou
shalt, die, and shalt be buried there, thou, and all thy friends, to whom thou hast
prophesied lies." -- Chap. 20:4-6.
It is at this time and place in
the book of Jeremiah that the name of Babylon is first
mentioned. This would suggest the thought that this incident occurred in the early years
of Jehoiakim's reign.
STILL IN A WORLD OF
TRIAL AND SUFFERINGS
There are several very valuable
lessons that may be learned by, the. Lord's consecrated today-from this incident in the
Prophet's life: Among them are the following The Lord's people must not expect that
everything in their service for Him is going to be pleasant. There may be times when to
stand with the Lord, we will find ourselves almost if not quite alone with Him; even times
when some of our former friends will turn against us, and walk no more with us. However;
we will need to be very sure that at such times we find the Lord walking by our side. The
Lord permits His servants sometimes to suffer affliction or persecution at the hand of
their enemies. However, it is most frequently the case that these trials and persecutions
come from those who profess to be the Lord's people, who may be led astray by false or
mistaken guides. We may be assured, however, that no trial or persecution that may come
will in any measure hinder the progress of the Lord's appointed work, or prevent the
accomplishment of His purpose in those who will be submissive to His will and providence.
While. the Lord's people may often be hurt, no harm can possibly come to them, if they
walk by His side. Let us be sure, then, that as in the case. of Jeremiah our. trials and
persecutions come, not because of any indiscretion on our part, but for the Lord and for
conscience' sake, and in His service. On the other hand, false and misguided teachers will
suffer shame in the end.
It would seem that when Jeremiah
was set free, he went to his home at Anathoth, a little place outside of Jerusalem; and it
was there that he "poured forth that marvelous combination of heroic faith and
wailing grief which is recorded for us that we may .know the weakness of his nature; and
learn how earthen was the vessel in which God had placed His heavenly treasure. These
words are found in verses 7-18.*
________
* See for
consideration of verses 7-14, H '23, pp. 331 and 300.
_________
The words of verses 14-18 which
describe the Prophet as cursing the day in which he was born, etc., simply express his
.utter collapse into a condition of discouragement and despair. The greatest difficulty in
explaining these words is in supposing that the two parts of the lamentation followed each
other in as rapid succession. as would seem in the text: The words seem rather to portray
most terrible spiritual struggles separated by an interval of time. The preceding verses
clearly show that Jeremiah experienced a recovery from the discouragement that followed
his ignominious .and cruel treatment at the hand of Pashur. The words of verses 14-18,
reveal the fact that the temptation to . give up his divinely called work, was not fully
overcome: The renewal of his confidence as expressed in verse II, that the "Lord
would be with him as a mighty terrible one," does not indicate a complete recovery.
The seeming unsuccess of his mission, as he carne to dwell upon, or perhaps to brood over
it, completely unmanned him again, and he seems to have lost control of .himself
altogether, and began to curse the day of his birth, etc. -- Ver. 14.
In verse 18, the reason for his
imprecatory words is given. It was in the fact that his birth had brought him only a life
of hardship and sorrow. 'His days seemed to him to be passing away in shame, that is,
shame at the discomfiture of his hopes; for his life-calling seemed to him to have
produced no fruit; his prophetic work seemed in vain, since it had not saved his people
from destruction.
It is of course understood that
this cursing the day of his birth, etc., was not written for our imitation. It should be
tous, however, a source of instruction and
comfort, From it we should learn the full weight and power of temptation, so that we may
arm ourselves with prayer and faith as weapons against the power of the tempter. On the
other hand, we should be encouraged as we see the greatness of God's grace, which raises
again those who are stumbling -- that grace that does not let the Lord's true servants
succumb entirely under powerful temp-tation. This we gather from the fact that God did not
cast off His tried and discouraged servant, but lifted him up and gave him needed strength
for carrying to a completion the heavy labors of his prophetic office. That Jeremiah did
indeed at last struggle against and obtain the victory over temptation, we learn from the
fact that when later one during the siege of Jerusalem under Zedekiah, he had still sorer
afflictions to endure. Under these troubles he no longer bewailed the sufferings connected
with his calling. "Blessed is the man that endureth temptation, for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which
the Lord hath promised to them that love Him." -- Jas. 1:12.
"The fear of
Jehovah is the beginning of knowledge." --
Prov. 1:7; 2 Chron. 1:7-I2; I Kings 11:6-11.
SOLOMON'S name signifies
peaceful. Nathan, the Prophet, who was his tutor, called him Jedidiah, which signifies,
"beloved of Jehovah." Apparently he inherited certain natural traits which were
much to his advantage, and under special Divine blessing gave him properly the title,
"the wise man." A writer says of him:
"His parental inheritance
was remarkably strong in several directions. His father David was in the maturity of his
age; his mother was the grand-daughter of the Prince Ahithophel, whose advice 'was, as if
a man had inquired at the oracle of God.' He thus inherited from his mother sagacity,
quickness of judgment, judicial insight and perhaps some sensual weakness; from his
father, thoughtfulness, literary taste, the skill of ruling and an interest in religion.
His bodily form and countenance must have borne the graceful characteristics of all
David's children; and, if we may, follow the description given in the , a canticles, he
was fair, with bushy locks, dark as the raven's wing; yet not without, a "golden
glow, tall and imposing."
THE DREAM OF GOD'S
PRESENCE
It was doubtless due to David's
increasing reverence for the Lord, and his realization of the mistakes made in the
training of his other children, and his desire that his successor to the throne should
honor the Lord and carry forward the interests of religion-these things doubtless led the
king to put his son Solomon under the special care of the Prophet Nathan, with the view to
his preparation to serve the Lord and His kingdom righteously, and to build the temple of
the Lord, which David had purposed to build but was not allowed. The Prophet Nathan knew
of the temple project and of God's promise that it should be built by David's heir, and
that Solomon was the chosen of the Lord and of the king. We can) imagine the Prophet's
faithfulness in the training of Prince Solomon for the duties of the position he. was
intended to fill.
Possessed of reverence for the
Lord and acknowledging Him before all the people as the real Ruler of Israel, and by
sacrifice confessing Him as Israel's Ruler, the young king was in just the right attitude
of heart to receive a blessing. He slept -- he dreamed. Whether the dream was the
outworking of his own devotion of heart and the Lord's response to it or whether the Lord,
noticing his teachable attitude of mind, gave the dream as a lesson respecting Solomon's
proper course, none can say, because the matter is not revealed; but, at all events, the
young king had a most beautiful dream, which, in view of later developments, can be
considered only as a true reflection of Solomon's attitude of heart.
He dreamed that he was in the
presence of the Almighty, who graciously inquired what were his desires. Solomon's answer
was a most humble one. It intimates that he realized that it was not of any worthiness or
merit of his own that God's favor was thus indicated, that it was merely the continuation
of the Divine mercy which for years had blessed his father, King David, "according as
he walked before Thee in truth and in righteousness and in uprightness of heart with Thee;
and Thou hast kept for him this great kindness, that Thou hast given him a son to sit on
his throne, as it is this day." (1 Kings 3:6.) How beautiful an adornment is
humility! The fact that few possess it should make it all the more estimable to us. It is
like salt to-our food. It adds a blessing to every other grace and talent we may possess.
"I AM BUT A
LITTLE CHILD"
We have nothing to indicate that
Solomon ever became very haughty, proud, though he certainly would have been man had his
great wisdom and honor and wealth not affected in some degree the childlike simplicity
which he expressed to the Lord in this dream, saying, "O Lord my God, Thou hast made
Thy servant king instead of David my father; and am but a little child; I know not how to
go out or come in [how to conduct myself, in public or in private before the people]. And
Thy servant is in the midst of Thy people which Thou bast chosen, great people, that
cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude. Give Thy servant, therefore, an
understanding heart to judge Thy people, that I may .discern between good and evil; for
who is able to judge this Thy great people." -- Ver. 7-9.
We do not wonder that the record
shows that the Lord was pleased with His choice -- because Solomon asked neither long
life, nor riches, nor the lives of his enemies, but something far better-wisdom. Then,
just as we might expect, with our present knowledge of the Lord's bounty and mercy and
generosity, Jehovah declared to Solomon that his request for wisdom was granted, but that
with it He would add riches and honor above those of any other human being of his day; and
He promised also that if Solomon would continue in this way He would lengthen his days,
give him an increase beyond the limitations of his natural powers.
When Solomon awoke and found that
it was but a dream; doubtless there was a measure of disappointment in connection with it,
but it brought before his mind, clearly and distinctly just the condition of heart and
mind most pleasing to the Lord. And be remembered that for a considerable number of years
Solomon maintained his humble attitude of heart and faithfulness to God. He returned to
Jerusalem and there, through the agency of the priest, made various additional offerings
and sacrifices to the Lord, the flesh of the peace-offering constituting a feast for his
servants, including many of the royal citizens. Thus was his reign reverently and wisely
inaugurated and the foundation laid for his personal prosperity and that of the nation,
which, as God's representative, he both ruled and served.
LESSONS FROM THIS
STORY FOR OUR DAY
The word opportunity signifies
"standing at the door." We have seen how great opportunities stood at Solomon's
door and how he embraced them. Similarly opportunities stood at the door of his two
brothers and they embraced them for sin and treason.. Let us note that opportunities for
good and for evil come to all of us at some time and it is for us to decide which we will
grasp. But before the opportunity, comes the desire: If the desires be impure, an evil
opportunity in harmony therewith will be found. If the desires be good, noble, true,
loyal, opportunities in harmony with these will come to us. The thought to be, impressed
upon our minds, therefore, is that the desires of our hearts should be noble in every
respect, and that all ignoble desires, be studiously and promptly set aside, to the intent
that only the good opportunities may come to us. But desire and opportunity are not
enough. Many a man has had both and gotten nothing. When the good desires have been
cultivated and developed and by and by a noble, opportunity stands before us, then comes
the responsibility of seizing it -- decision., Probably more people make failure of life
at this juncture than at any other.
Our counsel to the worldly would
be along these lines That first they should have noble ambitions; that they should resist
all others; that they should be on the lookout for opportunities in harmony with their
noblest sentiments and should seize them with all the energy of their being, when they,
come within their reach, and should. never let them go. It is worthy of note, too, that
very few are so meanly born or unfavorably environed that they are utterly devoid of noble
principles or incompetent of discernment as between these and ignoble ones. True, born in
sin and shapen in iniquity, and surrounded by others in similar conditions, none can help
it if ignoble suggestions come to his mind. But it is within his power to exercise his
will to resist the evil suggestion and bid it be gone and to entertain only noble, pure,
true sentiments. This is illustrated by the adage which declares that "We cannot help
crows flying over our heads, but we can prevent them from building nests in our
hair."
The difficulty is that where an
affinity exists between the evil suggestions and the fallen nature, the will may not be
prompt enough to rid itself of the, intrusion. The battle of the will, therefore, is not
merely with the crow thoughts that desire to nest with us, but Additionally the wrong
disposition which desires the crow company. A child's hand was stuck in the narrow mouth
of a vase. He called for aid and the father suggested, "Open your hand loosely."
"I know," replied the child, "that if I do that, I'll drop my penny."
The thought is that to release ourselves from the power of sin requires such an exercise
of the will as would enable us to drop the cost of our release, "the pleasures of sin
for a season."
Very interesting is the story of
the great temple of God purposed and largely prepared for by King David and built by King
Solomon the wise. It was commenced in the fifth year of Solomon's reign and finished in
the twelfth. The story of its cost seems fabulous, the gold and silver employed in its
construction being estimated at from $I,000,000,000 to $2,500,000,000.
IN THE DIVINE LIGHT
There might be room for dispute
amongst the Lord's people on the subject of costly church edifices, until we get to see
the subject in the Divine light of God's Word. Thereafter there should be no room for
discussion. That Divine light shows us the temple at Jerusalem as more than a house of
worship for its time, as a. type of a greater Temple to be built by a greater than
Solomon. That greater Temple, the New Testament assures us, is the Church, the Body of
Christ, of which He is the Head. This is the Temple of which St. Peter declares that
himself and all of the Lord's thoroughly consecrated followers are antitypical, the living
stones or members. This is the Temple of which our Lord declares, "Him that
overcometh will I make a pillar in the Temple of My God." This is the Temple of which
our Lord again said, "Destroy this Temple and in three days I will rear it up";
He shake of the Temple of His Body, not of His own flesh, for that was but a tabernacle
and was not reared up by our Lord. The Father raised Him from the dead, but in -a new
body, a spiritual one.
Of the Temple, the Body of
Christ, the Church, He declares, "I will raise Him up at the last day." The last
day, the seventh day, the Great Millennium, is the third day referred to by our Lord: He
was living , in the fifth thousand-year day, there following the sixth, and the seventh
has just begun, and with it; we believe, the raising up, the "change" to glory
of the "Church, which is His Body." .
Of, this Temple St. Paul writes,
"The Temple of God is holy, which Temple ye, are." (1 Cor. 3 :17.) He here
referred to the Church in its present condition, on probation, as though it were a
finished Temple, because by faith may be realized the Lord's presence and protecting care
amongst these members in their temporary organization as the Church of Christ. But the
same Apostle shows that this Temple, is not quite' complete, saying, "Ye are built
upon the foundation of the Apostles, and Prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief
corner stone; in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy Temple
in the Lord." (Eph. 2:20, 2I.) In a word, as St. Peter suggests, the Lord's
consecrated ones, as living stones for the glorious spiritual Temple of the future beyond
the veil, are now being shaped, chiseled, polished, fitted for their places.
THE ANTITYPICAL
TEMPLE
That glorious Temple The Christ,
in the power of the First Resurrection will share in the. glory, honor, and immortality of
the Divine nature; and through it during the Millennium, the Heavenly Father will
communicate His blessings to the world of mankind for their uplifting out of sin and
death. Thus, as the High Priest in His robes of glory and beauty represented The Christ,
the Messiah, Jesus the Head and the Church His Body, so the temple in which He served
likewise symbolizes the same Redeemer and the same Church. The one illustration discloses
one relationship or communication between God and men. The other represents another
feature of the same ministry of reconciliation, as it will ultimately reach the world of
mankind.
From this standpoint we can
readily see that God's femple, built by Solomon, represented so glorious a class and such
rich blessings of God to men that it was very appropriate that the type of these riches of
grace should be costly, ornate, beautiful in the highest degree.
But now in the strict sense of
the word these living stones are undergoing the process of chiseling and polishing, and
the stone-yard and surroundings are not gorgeous and. beautiful. Rather, as the Apostle
declares, the Church in its present condition is a .body of humiliation, or, as improperly
translated, "our vile body." The Church in the present life, like her Lord, is
disesteemed in the world, despised, persecuted, "counted as fools' all the ,day
long," and "the filth and offscouring of the earth." It is in full harmony
with these actual conditions pointed out in the Scriptures and known to us by experience
that we see it to be the will of God that our present religious conditions should be very
humble ones, unostentatious, inexpensive, to the intent that our energies may be the more
efficaciously used in the forwarding of the work at the present time, rather than in
attempting to make further. types of the, "glory that is to follow" our
resurrection "change."
This is further shown in the
type. God's association with His people now is represented in the tabernacle and its court
and its tent, all of which were temporary. Thus the Apostle speaks of us who .are in this
tabernacle as groaning, waiting for our house from heaven, waiting for our
"change" to the Temple condition through the power of the First Resurrection.
"THE GLORY OF
THE LORD FILLED THE TEMPLE"
The record tells us that the
stones and timbers of the temple were brought to the spot all prepared; shaped and marked
for their several positions, so that the actual construction was a quiet one. We read
that, "The parts came together without the sound of a hammer." The antitype of
this is that the chiseling and polishing and preparing of God's saints in the present life
and the marking of them for their several places, by which God sets the various members
in. the Body as it hath pleased Him, will leave the work of the First Resurrection a very
quiet one, so quiet that the world is not aware that it is now in progress. Thank God it
is not yet finished, and there is yet hope and opportunity for some of the consecrated now
living to "make our calling and election sure," and by the final "change
from glory to glory" to be placed in the great spiritual Temple, in the particular
niche or position for which under Divine providence we shall have been prepared. This
resurrection "change" will make us all glorious and like unto our Lord and
Redeemer, who is the express image of the Father's person.
The downfall of the kingdom of
Solomon the wise, the rich, the great, surely manifested the necessity for the greater
Kingdom than his, which Divine wisdom and love have' designed, and which Divine power is
to inaugurate in due time. In Solomon's experiences we have a most remarkable lesson of a
most remarkable man; illustrating the tendencies of wisdom and riches to lead the
imperfect children of men away from God, the Source of 'wisdom and riches, and away from
all the highest ideals.
The accounts of Solomon's
prosperity are set forth in the books of Kings and Chronicles, and indicate that, under
his wise administration, numerous public works were carried on, royal palaces built, great
roads engineered, and water works and store-houses and armories constructed, etc. The
nation of Israel, under Solomon's regime reached its highest position of power and
influence in the world and dominated its largest amount of territory. But as Solomon
prospered, he grew less pious. He became what the world would call broader-minded. The royal families of surrounding
nations were pleased to have their daughters become Solomon's wives, and he generously
accepted them from every quarter. The effect, however, was injurious to the King and to
his entire people, because each of these prominent wives felt that she must represent the
dignity of her own home land at the Jewish capital, and specially must represent its
religious sentiment. Thus the heathen religionists all felt a great jealousy for the great
temple of Jehovah and its elaborate services; and these wives, as representatives of the
religions of their fathers, urged upon King Solomon, insistently; that they must have the
opportunity of serving their gods, and that proper breadth of mind on his part would lead
him to accede to their 'demands and to erect altars to . their heathen divinities.
The king, rolling in wealth,
yielded to these importunities of his wives and established for them and their foreign
ambassadors and visitors shrines, altars, holy places, dedicated to the various false gods
of surrounding nations -- not that the King believed in these or worshiped them himself,
but, through a mistaken view of broad-mindedness and a mistaken form of generosity to his wives and their sentiments, he violated his
highest. sense, of responsibility to his own Lord, Jehovah. Gradually that devotion which
had been his at first, and which the -Lord had blessed by two special manifestations,
yielded, and the King became less and less a man after God's own heart; possessed of less
and less of his father David's loyalty of heart and zeal for the Divine will and worship,
resulting ultimately in the forfeiture of the conditional promise of long life and of the
continuance of the entire kingdom in his family.
It is only when we remember that
the kingdom of God under Solomon was a foreshadowing of the Kingdom of Christ that .we get
the proper view of the situation. It was God's typical kingdom and Solomon sat upon its
throne as God's representative. So a greater than Solomon is eventually to sit upon the
throne of earth and extend the Kingdom to the uttermost bounds and bring to the Kingdom
riches, honor, wisdom, and power greater than we can now properly appreciate, and but
feebly foreshadowed in Solomon's experiences. Solomon's blemishes are not to be considered
as typical blemishes in the Kingdom of Christ, however. They teach another lesson, namely
that all power and wisdom in the present time are hindered by the unfavorable conditions
surrounding, so that they become traps and snares, even to the wisest and best intentioned
of men. Meantime the Lord's promise through Moses and the Prophets was for a greater than
Solomon, and wiser than he, and richer and more powerful than Solomon; able and willing to
execute the Divine will amongst men, and to bring in a Kingdom of everlasting
righteousness. That Kingdom has not yet appeared amongst men, and hence we still pray,
"Thy Kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven."
"Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit
before a fail."-Prov. 16:18; 1 Kings 12 :12-20.
ALTHOUGH the nation of Israel was
a monarchy, it had. connected with it elements of a democracy. That is to say, each of the
tribes, except the Levites, maintained a political organization and a measure of
independence. Thus King David reigned for seven years over Judah and Benjamin before he
was accepted as king by the other ten tribes. Although the nation was a theocracy in the
sense that God was their King, and the earthly monarch merely His representative, it can
readily be seen that the religious faith of the nation had much to do with the regulation
of the king.
King Solomon, the wise, although
reverent toward God, was evidently much less zealous, much less religious than his father
David. His heathen wives, the riches of the kingdom, anti his political intercourse with
the surrounding nations made him what might be termed a bright-minded man rather than a
religious one. This was reflected upon his son and successor and also upon the people he
governed.
KING REHOBOAM'S
UNWISDOM
When the great king, Solomon,
died he left the kingdom to his son Rehoboam -- a kingdom extending from the wilderness on
the South to the Euphrates on the North, in all nearly as large as England and Wales: It
was God's Kingdom; as we read, "Solomon sat upon the throne of the Kingdom of the
Lord." Rehoboam was about twenty-one years of age when he came to the throne at the
death of his father, Solomon. He was inexperienced. His mother was a princess from a
nearby heathen kingdom and apparently she never renounced her heathen religion. Evidently
she was very beautiful and the favorite of. Solomon's household. The son probably
inherited personal beauty from both of his parents. The riches of the kingdom had been
chiefly gathered to its capital, Jerusalem, and King Solomon's annuity is supposed to have
been more than ten million dollars. No young man probably ever stepped suddenly into
greater opportunities than Rehoboam, and few ever dissipated good fortune more rapidly;
but while few have so great opportunities financially and politically to lose, yet each
has character possibilities and a kingdom of his own will, valuable beyond all monetary
calculations. Let as all learn lessons from the successes and failures of others. Let us
all set before us proper ideals that their attainment may be a blessing and not a curse.
Besides this, Solomon's great
enterprises, palatial buildings, etc., brought the revenue and glory to his capital city,
Jerusalem, and did not evenly distribute it throughout the nation. Indeed, following the
custom of other kings, wealth was gathered largely from the enforced labor of his
subjects, who were compelled to labor at his capital for the common weal without pay. They
were drafted and put under task-masters. In Solomon's day this was borne, though sometimes
resentfully.
JEROBOAM'S FIRST
MISTAKE
Evidently Jeroboam, a servant of
King Solomon, was one of these who had criticized the policy of the kingdom during
Solomon's time. He as a young man attracted the attention of King Solomon, who perceived
that he possessed great executive talent and that he was a natural master and director of
men. King Solomon put Jeroboam at the head of one of his corps of drafted workmen who were
engaged after the manner of that time in building palaces and fortresses for the
king-without pay other than very plain food and clothing. These labor armies were obliged
to work for a number of months and then were replaced by others similarly conscripted.
Of the tribe of Ephraim, the
largest of the ten tribes which separated from the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, naturally
Jeroboam may have felt something of the spirit of discontent as he perceived that the
wealth of the nation was being principally gathered at Jerusalem-that all of the tribes
were being taxed, and that most of the benefit went to the' tribe of which the royal
family were members. Jeroboam became the leader of a party of discontents, and an
incipient rebellion was the result. This was quickly suppressed by King Solomon and
thereupon Jeroboam fled to Egypt, from whence he returned at the death of 'Solomon anti
became leader and spokesman of the ten tribes when they demanded of Rehoboam . the reform
of the government's policy.
It should be remarked that one of
God's prophets had specially foretold to Jeroboam that he was to be the king of the ten
tribes. It was doubtless this that led him to head the insurrection. How much better it
would have been had he followed the example of King David, who was anointed king of Israel
several years before the death of King Saul. Young David was content to wait God's time
for bringing him to the throne. 'The fact that God had indicated that this would lie so
did not indicate that the time had come, hence David waited on the Lord and meanwhile
learned valuable lessons of self-control and trust in Divine Providence., Not so Jeroboam,
who was evidently a very different type of man, no doubt possessed of more confidence in
himself than of trust in God; possessed of. more impatience to be a long than of loyalty
and patriotic zeal to serve God and His people. The first mistake should be noted by all.
"Wait ye upon Me,, saith the Lord!" The man who ignores God is not wise; the man
who opposes God is a fool.
Through Jeroboam the ten tribes
had a general conference of tribe leaders and informed Rehoboam that they were not
satisfied with the way they had been treated by King Solomon. They inquired what he would
promise them in the way of a reform government. Rehoboam, who had already been recognized
king by the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, was at the conference and properly enough asked
for three days in which to consider the question. He and all realized that a crisis in the
affairs of the kingdom had come. The matter was too weighty to be decided hastily. He
called for the secretaries of the kingdom, his. father's counselors, elderly men, to know
their advice. Their recommendations were good. They recommended that he be a servant of
the people; that instead of accumulating wealth at the capital and .being personally
great, he should serve the entire nation, looking out for all of its interests and
forwarding the same -- exactly what the ten tribes desired.
Next, Rehoboam called the young
men, his friends and acquaintances, his schoolmates, whom he was disposed more and more to
bring into power with himself: Their, advice was that the one way for a monarch to be
successful is to intimidate his subjects and rule them with a heavy hand. The young king
had not been rightly taught the principles of justice in human affairs. Wise as his father
was, he had neglected to prepare his son for a proper decision in the crisis upon him.
Pride and inexperience said, Hold to your power. If you yield an inch they will consider
you weak and inefficient and will ask for more and more until shortly you will be a king
in name only. Pride and ambition are dangerous counselors.
THE GRIEVOUS DECISION
The king followed the advice of
the young men, and in figurative language, said, "You claim that my father made your
load heavy, and you ask me to make it light. Instead, I will add to your load; my father
chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions"-a whip with metal
pricks at the ends of the thongs. The unwise decision lost the king the greater part of
the kingdom. The ten tribes revolted, and the adjacent kingdom; which had been under
Solomon's sovereignty also; deflected, and left the king but a small minority of his
empire, although it was the richest, most influential portion. The ten tribes answered, "What interest have we
in David and his family? He belongs merely to the tribe of Judah." Thus they
separated.
There is a lesson in this study for all, namely the importance of
wisdom in our decisions, especially at the start of life and at various partings of the
way,, as we come to them in life's journey. To all there is a lesson worth learning in the
matter of pride and ambition, threats and attempted coercions and the unwisdom of such
courses, as well as their injustice. Wealth, power, influence, gained through oppression
and injustice, are unworthy of noble minds, and this principle can be applied on .the
smaller scale as well as on the larger. In homes the principle operates between parents,
and children, between husbands and wives. Alas! too often in the home' control is held by
force rather than by love and esteem and the appreciation of justice and the general
welfare. Such a headship or rulership in the family is an unworthy one and should be
remodeled forthwith.
Another lesson is that in every enterprise of life we should seek counsel.
In this connection let us remember the words of the Apostle that we seek the wisdom that
cometh from above, that is "first pure, then peaceable, easy of entreatment and full
of mercy and good fruits." -- Jas. 3 :17.
"We shape ourselves the joy or fear
Of which the coming life is made,
And fill our future atmosphere
With sunshine or with shade.
"The tissue of the life to be
We weave in colors all our own,
And in the field of destiny
We reap what we have sown."
THE KINGDOM RENT
ASUNDER
As a result of Rehoboam's unwise
and rash policy the ten tribes promptly accepted Jeroboam' as. their king, ,in harmony
with the Prophet's declaration of years before. Finally the boy of humble birth had
reached a high station of influence -- a grand opportunity for service for his God and his
people. Whoever occupies a position of prominence -- political, social, literary -- should
recognize that thereby he has come under . special responsibility and obligations toward
all with whom he has toy do. Such opportunities, whether in business life, in politics or
in literature, should be used humbly, faithfully, as responsible service.
But Jeroboam, kung of the ten
tribes, styled Israel, took the course, alas, too commonly taken-the selfish course. He
looked not to the Lord to serve Him, nor to the people, to serve their best interests. He
looked selfishly to his own interests: He reasoned thus: If I would establish my. family
in the kingdom of these ten tribes, I must separate them effectually from the influence of
the kingdom of Judah. And since, in God's providence, the temple is in the land of Judah,
and all the religious rites and interests of the people center there, I must as
unobtrusively as possible turn the attention of the nation I rule away from sympathy with
their fellows of the kingdom of Judah; and away from the regulations which God has
established there.
Every worldly politician would
declare Jeroboam a master spirit as a ruler, as a politician. . He was worldly wise. God
through the Prophet had assured him, "If thou wilt hearken to all that I will command
thee, and wilt walk in My ways, and do right in My sight to keep My statutes and
commandments, as David My servant did, thy kingdom will be prolonged." (1 Kings
11:38. ) God explained that the reason for giving Jeroboam rulership of the ten tribes was
that Solomon's course of dealing with the
nations round about was gradually breaking down the true religion and leading the people
toward idolatry. Jeroboam should have had all this in mind, and should have applied his
heart with special fervor to the banishment of idolatry.
Instead, however, for policy's
sake, he led the nation, of which he was king, directly into idolatry. He did not come out
plainly and say to them, I wish to separate you and, alienate you from God and the religious institutions of your
nation by attracting your attention away from Jerusalem, its religion, its worship, its
temple. Under the pretext that its was too far for the people to go to Jerusalem, he
erected a golden bull near the northern extremity of his kingdom, and another near the
southern line, and the people went from one to the other. Additionally, he established
near each of these golden bullocks (wood overlaid with fold) a house of high places. In
these buildings lustful practices were carried on in the name of religion- and in, the
manner of heathen peoples, this form of religion. pandering to the fallen appetites and
commending itself, to the people who were not at heart religious.
Thus a man of great opportunities
and of great natural ability for serving his God and his people dishonored the One and led
the other astray. The lesson to each of us should be, See that, thou do differently. Make
not Jeroboam's mistake.
Lest we should suppose that the
affairs of Israel's Kingdom, under Divine supervision, were neglected and allowed to go
astray, we are particularly informed that the "thing was of the Lord." From this
standpoint of faith and from no other the history of Israel should be studied.
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