THE HERALD
of Christ's Kingdom

VOL. XIX August, 1936 No. 8
Table of Contents

"Why Do the Heathen Rage?"

"Thy Judgments Are a Mighty Deep!"

PROCESSION

Christian Liberty, Unity and Fellowship

Greater Things Than These

Seasons of Refreshing

ALL I WANT I FIND IN THEE

"Why Do the Heathen Rage?"

"Why do the nations rage, and the peoples meditate a vain thing?"

A PROMINENT New York newspaper commentator, whose keen analysis of world events often justifies his degree of Doctor of Philosophy, writes under the caption "Blind 'Fiddling' in World Crisis"

"At a time when civilization is veritably trembling in the balance, the politicians are battling over mossbacked trivialities. What lies ahead of the present generation in an economic sense -- and economic matters are cer­tainly of basic importance right now-is veritably any­body's guess. But there are certain rather definite prob­abilities which may be set down with some assurance.

"It may be stated rather categorically that the days of monopoly and finance capitalism are numbered. It has foundered primarily on the rock of short-sighted self­ishness. . . . The whole system has definitely broken down.

"In Europe, the effort is being made to stem the tide by bolstering up the old order through Fascism and Tory­ism. In the United States a 'shot-in-the-arm' is being administered through lavish government spending. Cap­italism, apparently, will neither reform itself gradual­ly nor permit itself to be reformed in moderate fash­ion by liberal governments. The reaction to the New Deal in the United States furnishes a dolorous example. 'So Liberalism (reform) seems to be doomed as a way out.

"Moderate Socialism is also on the wane. It had an opportunity in Germany, Austria, and Italy, and to a certain degree in Great Britain. In every case it has broken down before the onslaughts of reaction. On the other hand, extreme Socialism, in the form of Soviet Communism, has survived in the face of unprecedented difficulties and massed opposition. Therefore the har­assed radicals in Europe outside Russia pin their hopes for the most part on Communism.

"Hence the ever-increasing- economic and social ten­sion seems to be narrowing down to, a death battle be­tween Fascism and Communism. Whether we like it or -not (and I for one do not), intermediate gradations of opinion and program seem to be evaporating... .

"There are some who believe that as the economic crisis in Fascist States becomes more acute, Fascism may evolve gradually into State Socialism through the pro­gressive nationalization of industry. They point to Mus­solini's nationalization of certain basic Italian indus­tries last spring as an example of the trend.

"'More observers are inclined to believe that the Fascist crisis will provoke another world war. This will cer­tainly end all forms of capitalism. But whether it will bring into being worldwide collectivism or will throw the world into chaos and barbarism is something which cannot be predicted at this time with any certainty.

"H. G. Wells, than whom there is no more talented social prophet, predicts that war is coming and that it will bring both chaos and collectivism.

"Against such a historical and economic canvas, the Republican antics at Cleveland can almost make any thinking person believe that Rome never burned and that Nero did not know how to fiddle."

"A Secret Pact?"

The success of the Italian dictator, Mussolini, in bring­ing to a victorious conclusion his Ethiopian adventure, has for the time being immensely increased his prestige and power. It is generally believed that he is behind the new and startling partly-secret treaty between Ger­many and Austria. A usually well informed writer on foreign affairs thus comments:

"The agreement itself has not been published and probably will not be made public. There are indications that it contains more than the communique reveals.

" 'The Austrian Federal Government', says the offi­cial announcement, 'will maintain its policy in general, especially as regards the German Reich, always in har­mony with the basic conception that Austria recognizes itself as a Germanic state.'

"Does this mean that the foreign policy of Austria and Germany will be directed from Berlin? That separate 'understandings' have been reached not only between Berlin and Vienna but also with Rome?

"It is well known that Mussolini negotiated this pact and that Austria is a pawn in the big game of the two other Fascist regimes.

"At present the European Powers are engaged in the important business of making alliances for the coming conflict. Mussolini, the Machiavelli among the European statesmen of our time, will bargain with any government which accepts his terms.

"First on the list stands Britain, which he hopes to bring to terms with the threat of a Polish-German-Austrian-Hungarian-Italian alliance. But he knows that Hitler also wants the backing of London and that the Reich would gladly forego an agreement with Rome for an accord with London."

A Happy Surprise Awaits Mankind

The Jewish Theocracy, which was conquered by the first of the lessees of universal Gentile power more than twenty-five hundred years ago, did not lack for plain ­speaking prophets of its rapidly approaching doom. Nei­ther does the last phase of the Gentile rulership, which commenced at that time and has had a continuity of power ever since, lack for equally plain-speaking prophets of its end. Those who, lacking faith, speak merely from observation, echo but with less certainty the message of those who base their warnings on the decrees of Holy Writ. These worldly prophets of destruction fail to see beyond the cataclysm the "bright jasper walls" of the Golden City. "Yet have I set My King upon My holy hill of Zion!" What a happy surprise God has in store for all mankind!

"Thy Judgments Are a Mighty Deep!"

"The foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men." - 1 Cor. 1:25.

THE PLAN which God has adopted for dealing with sin and with sinners seems to the world­ly mind, to worldly wisdom, to be a very foolish, a very unwise plan. The declarations of the Bible along this line do not appeal to such minds as reasonable. First of all, God created man perfect. Then He placed him under conditions where he was tempted and fell into sin. God then pronounced upon him a sentence of death, as He had forewarned him would be the result of disobe­dience. After thus sentencing man, Jehovah Him­self provided for a release from that death penalty by furnishing a Redeemer for the sinner at great cost. When He wished to proclaim to the world His provision for their salvation from the curse, He sent forth preachers chosen from the race of sinners to tell the good tidings.

For nearly two thousand years these preachers have used their best efforts. As same of them would die, others would take their places. But with all the preaching that has been done only a very few have believed the Message or given an attentive ear. Often have these important messen­gers grown weary and faint. They have gone to the Lord with burdened hearts, telling Him of the meager results that attended their labors. But the Lord has answered, "Continue to give forth the words which I have delivered to you; this is My will; it is just what I wish you to do." So they have toiled on, leaving the results with God.

But the world has shaken the unbelieving head. To them the proclaiming of such a Message has seemed foolish, a waste of valuable time, an evi­dence of unsoundness of mind. Few have believed that it is of God-even if a God of Love existed at all. Yet, as the Apostle tells us, "It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe." (1 Cor. 1:21.) He chose this method, which men denominate foolishness, to select a spe­cial class for a very special purpose, in connection (with His great Plan. Although from the human standpoint this appears a very small and weak be­ginning, as if God's work is almost a failure-if He purposes to save and uplift the world-yet when the Plan of God shall have been brought to its glorious consummation, it will be seen by all to have been most wise, powerful and effective. No more shall it be

"The unbeliever's jest, the heathen's scorn."

God is not now choosing the great ones of earth, but chiefly the mean things, the humble and ob­scure, "that no flesh shall glory in His presence." He is choosing these as instruments to bless the remainder of the world.

Life a Great Boon Even Now

The question has been asked: How is the love of God to be seen from the standpoint of a deliberate arrangement beforehand which, in its outworking, has involved so vast an amount of sin, suffering and death? In thinking of this question, one should first of all rid himself wholly of the erroneous thought that sin, suffering and dying are only pre­ludes to an eternity of woe. Then we are to re­member that God is not in any way our debtor. We are His debtors, even for our existence; He owes the race nothing.

Suppose that we could disabuse all minds of the idea of eternal torture or of a purgatory of suffer­ing after death, and should then say to them, Con­sider now: Would you prefer to live on for a few years more, or would you rather die at once? Or, suppose we put it this way: Are you glad that you have an existence, or would you rather that you had never been born? We believe that the great majority would reply that they desire to live, that they prefer to live as long as possible. They do not wish to die, either today or tomorrow or next year; indeed they would never die if they could help it!

Those who feel that they would be glad to die, or who wish that they had never been born, are those who have had more than ordinarily evil and unhappy experiences; or else they are unbalanced in mind. Many have not so much money as they would like, not so pleasant surroundings and con­ditions as some have and as they would wish to have. Still life is sweet; and they hold on to it with as firm a grip as possible. Love of life is in­herent in man, and has survived even the sorrowful experiences consequent on the fall.

Why God Permits the Present Reign of Sin

But why does God permit things to be as they are? This has ever been one of the perplexing prob­lems to the minds of those who have still sufficient faith to believe in the existence of a supreme Crea­tor. We do not know that we can make the matter any clearer or state it any more plainly than we have stated it in Studies in the Scriptures, Volume I., in the chapter on "Why Evil Was Permitted." Putting ourselves in God's place, we are able to see that He must create man either without moral fac­ulties, like the lower animals, or else with mental and moral faculties capable of appreciating the the standards of right and wrong, of appreciating his Creator, with power to reason and to choose between good and evil-between obedience and dis­obedience to that Creator.

Having previously brought into existence the brute creation, God wished to create a nobler- order of beings, creatures in His own image and like­ness, on the earthly plane of life. He purposed to have a race of beings who were perfect like the angels, able to appreciate the same moral standards, the same principles of righteousness. The ques­tion might be asked: How could God so create these 'beings that they would not be in danger of sometime falling into sin? Evidently it was not God's purpose so to create them. He desired that they should possess the quality of free moral agen­cy, the power to exercise their own wills for either righteousness or unrighteousness.

At the time of the creation of man, Lucifer, Son of the Morning, began to cherish ambitious designs, disloyal to his Maker. He realized that a race on a lower plane of existence than himself might be in­duced to choose a course at variance with the ex­pressed will of God-their Creator. Before man's creation God had foreseen that Lucifer would de­flect from the path of obedience, would become a rebel against His righteous government, a great Adversary, and that as the result evil would break forth later in His empire. He foresaw that through the influence of the rebellious Lucifer (thenceforth Satan-adversary, accuser, hater) man would be­come disobedient and fall from the condition of perfection in which he would be created.

Knowing this, and doing man no injustice, but creating him with full ability to resist temptation, God so arranged and timed the creation of man that he would be an object of attack by Satan, who would take advantage of the inexperience of Father Adam and Mother Eve and seek to capture the en­tire race of man. In other words, God purposed to permit this test to come to man, and knowing that Adam would fail in the testing and thus incur the penalty of death, He designed to make the experi­ence of the race an object lesson to all His created intelligences, and at the same time to so overrule the matter that the human family would themselves eventually be delivered from the evil results of the fall and be -greatly blessed, if they would profit by the lessons learned in their bitter experiences with sin, and would come back into harmony with right­eousness.

God's infinite wisdom could not approve any as worthy of everlasting life who would not prove themselves to be in full accord with His divine law. The nature of sin is to propagate itself and to pro­duce misery and degradation. With this knowledge God arranged in advance to let man have his own way. He foreknew that intelligent beings with lib­erty of choice and of will would eventually, if un­taught and unrestricted, fall into sin, even though a penalty was attached to disobedience. He chose not to restrain Lucifer.

Time an Important Feature

The Plan of God is so comprehensive that it can­not be viewed and judged from the standpoint of a few years-not even of a thousand years or six thousand years. It must be viewed from the stand­point of eternity. It .was arranged, not for the well­ being of creatures who would live for a few years or a few centuries, but for those who would live throughout the eternal ages. His Plan must, there­fore, be laid so broadly as to include all time and all beings created in His likeness, for His glory and their own eternal good.

We are not to suppose that Jehovah weeps in anguish because mankind are suffering and dying. He is a God of infinite love and sympathy; but from the beginning He knew that man would fall, and that He Himself could overrule the entire matter for the ultimate blessing and instruction of men and angels-all His created intelligences; and He pur­posed so to do. We ourselves know that sin and death with all their direful effects have prevailed in the world for six thousand years, We also know that our God is at the helm, and that all things will be made to work out good in the end. We think of the flood as a terrible overthrow, because so many lives were lost. Yet the calamity would have been far greater if one half had been left to mourn for she others. It is claimed that men do not suffer very much when drowning-that death by this means is comparatively easy.

Six thousand years of sin, sorrow and death seem a long while for humanity to suffer. Yet the majority of the race have not lived beyond the age of twenty years. Perhaps one-half have not lived to the age of five. Very few have reached the age of one hundred years. We all have seasons of compara­tive comfort, 'blessing and enjoyment; even under present conditions, God has been very merciful. And from the viewpoint of the glorious future, with its marvelous opportunities of blessing, its hope of eternal life for man, and its great lessons learned for all eternity 'by all of God's intelligent creatures, the reign of Sin and Death presents an altogether different aspect from what could otherwise be had.

In permitting the long reign of Sin and its train of evils, God has been showing forth the principles of His Government, that all may clearly discern in time what are the inevitable results of disobedi­ence to their great Creator. We are sure that Adam and Eve were glad that God did not instantly car­ry out the sentence of death pronounced against them. We are sure that they were glad to be per­mitted to continue their existence for many years, even after they had been driven out of the Garden of Eden; and we 'believe that they had many experiences of more or less happiness, in spite of the tears, the pain and the sorrows that fell to their lot.

So when we view the entire history 'of the race of Adam, and perceive that all the experiences with sin, suffering and death are to be caused to outwork God's glorious purposes for the world, and are de­signed to prove a lasting lesson to .all His intelligent creatures who now exist or ever will exist, we can see why He has permitted the reign of evil which to man has seemed so long. When we see, too, that God is now choosing a very select class, of very humble and obedient ones, to be used as agencies under His only begotten Son to recover and uplift to perfection and life everlasting all the human race who will accept the gracious provi­sions, we can understand why He has been pleased to call this class through the "foolishness of preach­ing," by very imperfect instruments. Thus He has manifested the humble ones, who will receive His Message by any means which He is pleased to use, and who are glad to forsake sin and serve Him.

A Savior and a Great One

God might have said, I will lift My curse from mankind and let them have another trial for life­ -- an individual trial. But even if this had been in harmony with God's Justice, it would not have sufficed alone. Mankind have long been floundering in the mire of sin. They were powerless to profit from any new trial granted them that would not include a Redeemer, a Savior, who was strong, not only to bring about the abrogation of the death sen­tence 'by a payment of their penalty,. but also to deliver them from all the bonds of Sin and Death in their members. He must be a Savior having pow­er to bind the great Adversary who has so long held the race of man in slavery and blindness. He must heal their wounds, open their blinded eyes and their deafened ears, and lift them up, up into the light and liberty of the sons of God. Truly, man needs a mighty Savior; and such, praise God, has been provided in His beloved Son!

As we trace the various steps of the marvelous Plan of the Ages, .we perceive that to all who shall gain eternal life, on whatever plane of being, the path of 'humility is the path to glory. "He that exalteth himself shall be abased; but he that humbleth himself shall be exalted." None will be grant­ed the inestimable blessing of life everlasting who are not thoroughly proven and found worthy un­der testing, who do not cheerfully humble them­selves under the mighty hand of God. This prin­ciple applies to both human and spirit beings. Only those who gladly obey God, out of love for Him and for His righteous laws, will be permitted to live beyond the Harvest time of the Millennial Age. All others shall utterly perish.

God's Glorious Character Revealed

Then the holy in every sphere of life, in every part of the mighty universe of God, shall ascribe glory, honor and praise to the Almighty Creator and to His glorious Son throughout the: ages of eter­nity. All will then see and acknowledge how mar­velous was Jehovah's Plan of Redemption, how far beyond the power of fallen man to fathom. The majesty and glory of the divine character will stand revealed-His unswerving Justice combined with infinite compassion, His glorious Wisdom, His marvelous Love, His mighty Power. Then all will bow before Him and adore !

"When all Thy mercies, O my God,
My rising soul surveys,
Transported with the view, I'm lost
In wonder, love, and praise!"

- The Watch Tower, 1.914.

PROCESSION

Help me to see in those I meet
On country road or city street
Not just strange people passing by
But those for whom You came to die.
The young-the fair-the sick-the old,
The miser with his hoard of gold,
On, on, they go unwinding by
And yet for these You came to die.
Then through Thine eyes of love and grace
Let me find beauty in each face.
These weary people passing by
Are those for whom You came to die. 

-Beatrice Fugate.

Christian Liberty, Unity and Fellowship

"Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." - Gal. 5:1.

THERE HAVE been times in the history of the Church of Christ, when because of cer­tain departures from primitive simplicity of doctrine and life, it has become necessary for the Lord's people to retrace their steps and go back to the very foundations themselves. The great Reformation in the sixteenth century marked one of these periods. The doctrine of justification by faith in the sacrifice of Christ, which is the foundation of all true Christian life and experience, had been lost sight of except by a few; and the testimony of these few had been almost silenced. When God desires to restore His truth to His people, He usual­ly first causes it to be discovered and worked out in the experience of one or more individuals and then uses such person or persons to communicate it to others. The individuals used in the days of the Reformation were doubtless such as Luther, Zwingli, Knox, Calvin, Wesley, and others.

The great Protestant movement, which began so well, and was carried forward with such sweeping success, gradually merged into sectarianism, and instead of advancing in its work of restoring addi­tional truths to the Church, it culminated in an­other apostasy. It was the divine intention how­ever that in these latter days all the "holy vessels" (precious truths), must be restored to their place in the "temple"; and to this end God caused an­other "earthen vessel" to pass through experiences in a search for truth that qualified him to be the instrument for this great work -- the harvest work. The movement under his wise supervision pros­pered, as had other reform movements, to consid­erable proportions, and gathered around it many who were greatly blessed as they learned of God's great love for His creatures.

Bonds of Love and Common Interest the only Ties

However, there was not the faintest intention in the mind of this servant of God that another sec­tarian organization should grow out of his life work; for the purpose and spirit of all his messages clearly show that he was emphatically opposed to sectarianism. He taught that the only ties that should bind God's faithful people together were the simple bonds of love and common interest in the cause of the Redeemer, based upon the two fundamental propositions of faith in Christ's re­deeming sacrifice and full consecration to do the will of God. The only object of the organization (a purely business one) which had been formed by God's servant when there were but few asso­ciated with him, was that of uniting the efforts and powers of all, to bring the precious truths to the Lord's consecrated and declare the "good tid­ings" of the coming Kingdom." In fact the "ma­chinery" worked so smoothly, that few realized what it was, that was keeping it in motion. .N o thought of its being a religious sect ever entered the minds of any in those earlier days. The blessed truths had come through God's servant who made no claim to be anything more than one of Christ's footstep followers whose privilege it was to be an index-finger pointing the people of God back to "the old paths."

Living as we are in the closing days of the Church's history, of which time our Master said that God would gather out of His Kingdom all things that offend and them which do iniquity, we can be assured that He would not long tolerate a wrong or sectarian spirit to exist among His faith­ful people. Should such condition exist, therefore, it would be proper to expect some providential in­tervention in connection with the interests of His people, to uncover and expose to view that which would not have His approval, and make clearly manifest to the faithful, to how great an extent the evil had taken root.

Christian Liberty-the First Great Blessing

Changes, events, and circumstances in these days have caused many of God's faithful people to re­examine and search the Scriptures more diligently than ever, if possible, to discover what are the foundation principles of Christian liberty, fellow­ship, and unity. Let us, beloved, ever come to the Scriptures, and from them learn the truth about this as well as every important matter of faith and practice. The final test of the Christian is that of love, and the spirit of sectarianism cannot be re­tained if the divine approval is to be secured.

Christian liberty is the first great blessing en­tered upon when becoming a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, the fetters of bond­age are broken, and true liberty is begun-liberty from the bondage of the guilt and power of sin (Rom. 3:23; 5:1; 6:12-14); liberty of conscience which requires freedom to examine both sides of a matter pertaining to our Christian life and service. Indeed, it is a Christian duty to do this so far as circumstances and ability permit. "He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame to him." (Prov. 18:13.) And finally, Chris­tian liberty signifies freedom from sectarianism. The word sect means a division, a part cut off, or a cutting off from. It is not sectariansm, however, to be separated from a sect, for such separation is necessary. Sectarianism is that spirit and disposi­tion to divide and separate God's people by setting up creed fences, or by fixing certain bounds and limits and by the application of tests of fellowship and Church membership such as have no authoriza­tion in the divine Word. Time after time God's faithful people, who are always lovers of liberty, have been forced apart by certain cliques or sects, which ingeniously apply tests, the effect of which is to rob the Lord's people of their liberty in Christ. Thus sectarianism is a separation from the true Church, where alone there is true Christian liberty. In our Pastor's messages we read

"The first danger against which the Apostle warned the Church was sectarianism; and he; was evidently heeded at the time at least, for no great sects of Paulites or Apollosites developed. But, as usual, the great enemy, thwarted in one direction, moved to the opposite extreme, and attempted to insist upon a oneness very different from what our Lord or the Apostles ever taught. This attempt was to have every recognized member of the Church think exactly alike, on every minutia of Christian doctrine. This attempt finally developed into Papacy, where every matter of doctrine was decided by the popes and councils; and every man who desired to be considered a Church member was obliged to accept such decisions fully, and to profess that such decisions were his belief, his faith; whereas they were not his in any sense but that of adoption. They were generally either blind­ly received or hypocritically professed with mental reservations.

"This was not at all the oneness urged by Paul. He urged a oneness of heart and mind, and not a thoughtless, heartless, or hypocritical profession. He urged a oneness such as naturally results from the proper exercise of the liberty which we have in Christ-to search and believe the Scriptures, and to grow in grace and in knowledge, every man be­ing thus fully persuaded in his own mind, and firmly rooted and grounded in the one faith as set forth in the Scriptures." - Z. '08-116.

Necessary Steps to Enjoyment of Liberty

There are seven things associated with the at­tainment and enjoyment of Christian liberty, unity, and fellowship. Any additions to or subtractions from these will, proportionately, mar or destroy these priceless gifts.

We will mention, first, because it embodies all the others, that of believing in Christ and continu­ing in His Word. "Then said Jesus to those Jews who believed on Him, If ye continue in My Word, then are ye My disciples indeed, and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."­ - John 8:31, 32.

The second is that of receiving the Spirit. The Galatian Christians were in danger of getting back into bondage, through certain teachers who had come among them and who were teaching them that some additional qualifications were necessary in order to the enjoyment of the liberty wherewith Christ had made them free. To warn them against this false teaching and to recover them from this error, the Apostle wrote: "O foolish Galatians, who bath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ bath been evi­dently set forth, crucified among you? This only would I know of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith?" - Gal. 3:1, 2.

The third important thing is that of receiving evidence of Divine Fatherhood. We quote: "For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the spirit of adoption [sonship], whereby we cry, Abba, Father." - Rom. 8:15.

The fourth is that of experiencing the "one bap­tism." "Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death ?" - Rom. 6:3.

The fifth is that of becoming members of the one body-the Church. "For as the body is one, and bath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is the Christ. For by one Spirit are we all bap­tized into one body." - l Cor. 12:12, 13.

The sixth is that of being begotten unto one hope. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which bath begotten us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you." - 1 Pet. 1:3, 4.

The seventh is that of entering into the enjoy­ment of a like precious faith. "Simon Peter, a ser­vant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them who have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ." - 2 Pet. 1:1.

Maintaining Our Precious Heritage

Christian liberty can be maintained only by hold­ing fast to these seven vital matters, as we read "As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him; rooted and built up in Him and stablished in the faith as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving." "Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Deity bodily." (Cal. 2:6-10.) And again: "Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humil­ity and worshiping of angels [human messengers] . . . and not holding the head." - Col. 2:18, 19.

Those who have experienced the blessings asso­ciated with these seven lines of thought are bound together by the bonds of fellowship and unity. This blessed liberty, fellowship, and unity can be main­tained only by earnest endeavor. "I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffer­ing, forbearing one another in love; endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." (Eph. 4:1-3.) It will require earnest endeavor be­cause Satan has his counterfeit of these and is ever seeking to lead away from the true, to the false. This blessed unity, fellowship, and liberty will require the making use of all the gifts of the Spirit possible. "Wherefore He saith, when He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. . . . He gave some apos­tles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ; till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ." - Eph. 4:8-13.

These seven foundation truths are all that are necessary to enjoy this blessed fellowship, unity and liberty. The Apostle mentions them altogeth­er. "One body, and one spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all." - ­Eph. 4:2-6.

The Apostle has here mentioned

(1) The Author of unity-"One God and Father."

(2) The Center of unity - "There is one Lord."
(3) The Door of unity - "There is one baptism."
(4) The Kinship of unity - "There is one body."
(5) The Nature of unity - "There is one spirit."
(6) The Goal of unity - "There is one hope of your calling."
(7) The Creed of unity - "There is one faith." 

What is the "One Faith"

It is very often along the line of the last item above, that Satan seeks to destroy these precious heritages of the Christian. How important then, that we should know, what is the faith here referred to.

"The one faith which all should hold, was a very simple one; one so simple that all, the learned and the unlearned alike could grasp it and compre­hend it, and be 'fully persuaded in their own minds' concerning it. It was not a dose of incongruous mysteries, inconsistent with themselves and inhar­monious with reason as well as with the Bible, to be swallowed by the ignorant with credulity, and by the learned with hypocritical mental reservations. But it was so simple, so clear, so reasonable, that any and every honest follower of Christ could be fully persuaded in his own mind regarding its truth. What is this one faith? The basis of it is stated by Paul, thus 'I delivered unto you first of all, that which I also received [first of all-as a foundation truth or doctrine, upon and in harmony with which all other doctrines must be built], how that Christ died for our sins, according to, the Scrip­tures; and that He was buried; and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.' (1 Cor. 15:3, 4.) 'There is one God and one Media­tor between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.' - 1 Tim. 2:5, 6.

"This, in a word, confesses sin and utter help­lessness; it acknowledges God's loving plan for our redemption; it owns that our Lord's death was our ransom price; and that forgiveness (justification), and reconciliation to God, and the restitution of believers, come as a result of faith in this Re­deemer, when in due time that plan is made known to each and all.

"These brief statements contain the whole Gos­pel, in the same sense that an acorn contains an oak tree. Without this Gospel kernel, the true Gospel can never be possessed; hence this must be insisted on as a test of Christian fellowship. This must be received, else the Gospel is not re­ceived. When it is received, the Gospel is re­ceived. . . .

A Perfect Basis of Union

"This true Gospel, this simple faith, easily under­stood and confessed by the weakest babe in Christ, must also be, and always, and equally the faith of the most developed sons of God. This one faith (and not the endless ramifications and details of faith which dead out from it) Paul placed as a stand­ard or test of all claiming the name Christian. All the consecrated who agreed on this one standard, or foundation truth, Paul counted as in and of the one Church. While each member was to grow in grace, knowledge and love, there would always be harmony and oneness in the faith and fellowship of the Church, if all growth were kept in line and harmony with this foundation truth.

"Here was a perfect basis of union, which al­lowed for all the various stages of individual development in the truth, and which most effectually guarded against errors. For if this simple creed were today made the standard by which all doc­trines should be tested, it would speedily lead to the discarding of every error and to the true union of the Church in the 'one Lord, one faith, and one baptism.'"The endeavor to compel all men to think alike on all subjects, culminated in the great apostasy and the development of the great Papal system; and thereby the 'gospel,' the 'one faith,' which Paul and the other Apostles set forth, was lost-buried under the mass of uninspired decrees of popes and councils. The union of the early Church, based upon the simple Gospel and bound only by love, gave place to the bondage of the Church of Rome­ a slavery of God's children, from the degradation of which multitudes are still weak and suffering.

The True Bible Student's Place

"The Reformation movement of the sixteenth century came as :an effort to regain liberty of con­science; but, deluded by the idea of an elaborate creed, insisted upon for so many centuries, the re­formers and their followers formed other systems of bondage very similar to that of Papacy, though slight modifications gave liberty to fuller ideas on some subjects. And so it has been ever since: each new reform movement has made the failure of at­tempting to make a creed just large enough for its prime movers." - Z. '08-117, 118.

"The true teacher's place, and the true Bible stu­dent's place, is outside of all human bondage, free to examine and feed upon all portions of the good Word of God, and untrammeled to follow the Lamb whithersoever He leads." - Vol. III, p. 145 (C145).

"Everyone who comes to realize the liberty of the sons of God and full freedom from Babylon's bondage, should expect to meet other attempts of the great Adversary to bring him into other bondages or to stumble him. The Lord permits these severe testings that the class now sought may be manifested and prepared."-Vol. III, p. 188 (C188).

"Stand Fast in that Liberty"

"The value of true liberty amongst the Lord's people cannot be overestimated. It becomes a part of their very life. It was because, under a wrong conception of union, this spirit of true liberty was crushed out -of the Church shortly after the Apostles fell asleep in death that the dark ages resulted, with all their ignorance, superstition, blindness, persecu­tion, etc. The Reformation movement of the six­teenth century was but a re-awakening of the spirit of liberty; . . . liberty to think inside the foundation lines of the doctrines of Christ; liberty to believe as much or as little more, in harmony with this, as the mental conditions and circum­stances will permit, without being branded as a heretic or persecuted by brethren, either in word or deed. . . . Let all who are the Lord's people, and who have tasted of the liberty wherewith Christ makes free, see to it that they stand fast in that liberty, and as soon as an attempt is made to restrain it, if not sooner, let them get out complete­ly from all the bond-ages of human systems, that they may stand firmly and loyally with the Lord, our Redeemer, our Instructor, our King." - Z. '02-170.

"We should remember our Lord's teachings, . . . that those who are not against us are on our part, and that we should neither reprove as wolves nor disown as brethren those whose hearts, whose characters, give evidence that they belong to the Lord, even though they follow not with us in respect to His service, the promulgation of His message, etc. In other words, we are to love all and wish God-speed to all loving the Lord and manifesting His Spirit, whether they associate with us or not. In a word, the Divine rule is very broad and very narrow at the same time. It is narrow as respects discipleship and character: faith in the redeeming blood, consecration to the Master, and a manifestation of His Spirit :are the lines of discipleship--,broad within themselves, but narrow as compared to the lines of the world." - Z. '06-93.

Characteristics of "Unity of the Spirit"

The unity that should exist in the body of Christ is especially designated by the Apostle as a unity of the spirit: "Endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace." (Eph. 4:3.) This spirit is seen in its perfection in the mind or dis­position of Christ as He manifested it to the Father, to His disciples, and to the world. In this re­spect we note that it was a dependent, submissive, prayerful, and loyal spirit in its relation to His Father, and a gentle, self-sacrificing and cross­ bearing spirit in its relation to men.

Some characteristics of this unity are: Recog­nizing but one Head, Christ giving the Scriptures first place, as the final settlement of all matters of interest to the Church; putting the best of helps in a secondary place; making the seven basic truths mentioned in Eph. 4:4-6, the only essentials of Christian fellowship; giving every one full lib­erty to study and increase in Scriptural knowledge, and according to every one the privilege of express­ing in a reasonable manner his belief.

The test of Christian unity and fellowship will be along the lines of love-love for the brethren. Christian unity is not simply the holding together of those of one persuasion, one belief, in one place; not simply the holding together of those who see eye to eye in all the minutia of doctrine and of par­ticular kinds and methods of service; not the hold­ing together simply of those who are cooperating with one human and necessarily imperfect channel for service; and not necessarily the making use of those gifts (teachers) who hold to one particu­lar human channel. This fellowship can never be withdrawn from any of those who recognize and experience the blessings associated with the seven basic principles laid down by St. Paul. Those who are in fellowship with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ, are our brethren-ours to love, ours to serve, and ours to lay down our lives for. The fear of what man may do, or what of misunder­standing and ostracism may come because of obey­ing this law of love, this new commandment, will not deter the faithful from serving or laying down their lives for the brethren. - R. E. Streeter, 1919.

Greater Things Than These

[Contributed]

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do: because I go unto My Father." - John 14:12.

WHEN JESUS desired to particularly emphasize any profound truth, that emphasis was very frequently given by the repetition of the word "verily" as in the above text. In this text He is making a statement which is really astounding in its nature. A moment's reflection on the great works of Jesus Himself must rivet the significance of this statement on one's attention, and in amazement we inquire, How can it be that greater things can be done by one of His much less perfect followers? How' can we be empowered to surpass the works so transcendent as those done by Jesus? Think of the raising of the son of the widow of Nain, and of the extraordinary scene-at the grave of Lazarus. Call to mind the days of ministering to the sick and afflicted, and of the hours spent, in preaching His "gracious words" to -the multitudes. How, then, can it be true that "greater works than these shall he do" who be­lieves on the Son of God?

Certainly it is inconceivable that Jesus would give utterance to such words as these if He did not intend them to be taken as perfectly true. How­ever great, therefore, His own works had been, this promise of power to do greater works, hence­forth to be enjoyed by His followers, must be understood as being within their reach. There is, of course, no difficulty in seeing how this promise will have a wonderful fulfillment in the Kingdom powers to be bestowed on the overcomers, in asso­ciation with Christ in that day to come when "all that are in their graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth." Then greater works will surely be done. In comparison with the few illustrative miracles of Jesus' brief earthly ministry at His First Advent, how much greater will be the work of raising the vast millions of mankind, not to a mere temporary awakening, but to everlasting life. What a work it will be to cleanse and transform their minds from all inherent sin, and from all miscon­ceptions of God's character, and bring all the will­ing and obedient to that knowledge of God which is eternal life. What a blessed and wonderful work it will be to direct the Kingdom work until all evi­dences of the curse shall be removed from the earth, and God's footstool is made glorious-a paradise flooded with the glory of God as the waters cover the sea. Surely, as the Scripture declares, "Mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands," as they behold the great work of that Millennial day completed, never to be marred again by sin and death.

But these words of Jesus are not to be taken completely out of the present life and work of His saints. There is a very real sense in which this promise applies to the present inheritance of the believer. As we have seen, the works Jesus had done were of necessity confined to the plane of bodily ills and to the level of human-mindedness. The Spirit had not yet come, consequently those to whom He ministered, including His immediate disciples, were limited to the natural things and viewpoints. But when the Holy Spirit came upon the Church at Pentecost, then the "greater works" began, and have so continued the privilege of all the true followers of Christ even to the present time.

Comforted that We may Comfort Others

Let us, then, take a glance back over the long years of the ministry of the true Church of Christ. What a great work has 'been done by those who have believed on Jesus! Which is the greater work--the opening of the blinded natural eyes, or the opening of the eyes of understanding, the eyes by which "the things not seen" are beheld and be­lieved? Whether would we prefer to 'be blind in the natural sense or blind to spiritual realities? Whether, therefore, is it the greater miracle to be relieved of natural blindness, or released from spir­itual darkness? Surely the latter. Similarly then with all the diseases peculiar to mankind, we might draw parallels from all of these and find that great­er works are being done as Jesus promised long ago. How many men and women throughout the last nineteen hundred years have been consumed with the fever of pride, earthly ambition, and dis­content, whose life has been transformed by the word of peace and rest carried to them through some humble disciple. How many there have been who have groaned under the consciousness of sin's defiling leprosy, and before whom some one or­dained of the Spirit to do these "greater works" has held up the saving power of the cross of Christ, that fountain in which all the weary land heavy laden may "lose all their guilty stains," and who have accepted the gracious provision and lived henceforth to the glory of God, and to the enrich­ing of many other lives. Such are great works in­deed; great on earth and great in heaven, where there is joy over one sinner that repenteth, and where such works are kept in everlasting remem­brance in the mind and heart of God.

Analogies we may trace in all the impotencies and lameness of humanity, and in death itself, ail of which conditions came under the sympathy and healing power of Jesus in the days of His flesh, and in which we find illustrations of greater works made possible to us now. Think of the diseased minds, paralyzed by sin, dead, worse than dead; blind eyes, darkened by the god of this world, lest the light of the glory of God should shine into their hearts. Think of bringing any of these out of dark­ness into light, telling them of the grace by which they may be translated out of the kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of God's dear Son.

What a work for eternity! What treasure laid up in heaven! What jewels for the Lord of glory! All of this, and more, is comprehended in the com­mission our Lord has given us in words which apply to Himself and to all His followers: "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me; because the Lord hath anointed Me to preach good tidings unto the meek; He hath sent me to bind up the broken­hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, -and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He might be glorified." - Isa. 61:1-3.

He that Believeth on Me

What a wonderful thing it is to be taken into partnership with God! And such partnership it must be if we are to do any work small or great which will serve any divine purpose here on earth, and receive merit in heaven. Jesus tells us this in unmistakable language when He says, "Without Me ye can do nothing." The Psalmist gives us a similar thought: "Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain." (Psa. 127:1.) Paul may sow and Apollos may water, but all in vain if God give not the increase. The prophet may prophesy presumptuously, and say, "The Lord saith," but the Lord hath not spoken, and it shall come to naught. If we then are "laborers together with God" in all the works He has so graciously and condescendingly come down to share with us, how great is our need of this divine authorization and benediction on our service in His name. The very fact that one could speak with "the tongues of men and of angels," and yet give forth nothing but empty sound so far as results are concerned, and the further fact that "vessels meet for the Master's use" must be clean and sanctified, makes it a vital matter indeed that all the conditions under which His blessing will be given, be known and carefully followed. The condition stipulated in our text is, "He that be­lieveth on Me, . . . greater works than these shall he do, because I go to My Father."

In the Greek (see Diaglott) the preposition "on," should be rendered "into." This emphasizes the difference between believing in Christ as one might do in accepting the fact of His life and death, and being in Him by the act of complete dedication. This is the emphasis of all New Testament teach­ing. Jesus Himself stressed the fact that it was solely because the Father was in Him and He in the Father that He could do works pleasing to God. "Believest thou not," He said, "that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works." (John 14:10.) Paul, in his concise words, gives us the same thought: "I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." Thus as it was the Father's love and goodness which the life of Jesus revealed, and the life of Christ that Paul's life manifested, so it is to be with each of us. We may accept truths about Christ as authenticated facts, and yet not be materially benefited thereby ourselves, or be a me­dium through which the Lord may speak and work to the blessing of others. As we have just ob­served, the vessel must be clean ere the Lord can use it as a vehicle to convey His blessings, and it must also be completely dedicated to Him, ready to say, "Take my life and let it be consecrated Lord to Thee" - yes, we must say,

"'Take my voice and let it bring
Honor always to my King.
"Take my lips and let them be
Moved with messages from Thee."

Therefore to have His indwelling presence as a token of our acceptance into His favor and as an, assurance that our labor is not in vain in the Lord, how very important it is that we remember that great work for God can follow only when we are thus in Christ, and thus cleansed by His abiding in our hearts, destroying all the old self-life, and continually working in us to will and to do all His good pleasure, living as it were, His own life over again in us.

By Their Fruits Ye Shall Know Them

When the angel announced the coming birth of the Redeemer, his word to Mary was, "Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins." Greater work than this He could not do, and when it is all accomplished "He shall see of the travail of His soul and be satisfied." A savior from sin and all its far-reaching results is what this world is waiting for, and some day its heart will be opened to receive the One who gave Himself for it, and then to the utmost bounds of the earth they will crown Him Lord of all. With­in the ranks of those who have believed on Him in this time of special grace, no need is greater than that of a deeper realization of all that a vital union with Him can produce in the life and min­istry of the believer. In the days of His flesh "as many as touched Him were made perfectly whole," and that intimate touch is still the most important thing if we would be saved ourselves and do the "greater things" Jesus promised. It is necessary that those who would do efficient and fruitful service for God, be themselves in living union with Christ; for those to be served must be brought past all men, creeds, organizations, and movements, and into personal touch with Jesus Christ. No one can bring another into that touch unless 'he him­self has felt its power. Some one has well said, "Living in constant contemplation and contact with God will bring you into understanding touch with everything in human life. The love of Christ will constrain you to practise a sympathy with all sorts and conditions of men in all sorts and conditions of circumstances. The fires of God's love on one hand, the fires of humanity's struggles on the other -could you possibly bear a dead, inert message to those whom you are trying to serve?-Woe to him who ventures to bear precepts in religious and moral matters without proving his right to do so. The life which he leads is the only acceptable proof. He who propounds precepts to his fellows must in fact be an example in himself of that which he pro­pounds. What better preparation, then, for this essential work, than the life truly hid with Christ in God? It will exalt the worker to a position of such advantage as to render his instruction unas­sailable."

Pursuing the same thought we pause to meditate on the significant statement of Jesus covering this same matter: "As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in Me." (John 15:4.) The min­istry of Paul throbs with life and power, and it has brought forth a rich harvest throughout the Age because he recognized this vital truth. The Christ of the Apostle was no cold theological theme over which believers might contend in "strife over words," "endless genealogies," and sectarian phrase­ology, but a living Christ who saves people from their sins, a Christ who can make the foulest clean and who ultimately will present such saved ones "unto Himself a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish." (Eph. 5:27.) Sure­ly the one who thus abides in Christ, and the one who will determine with the Apostle to know only Christ and Him crucified, will find himself enjoy­ing the fulfillment of the promise of greater works being done by Christ through him, just as our opening text teaches us. It must be so, for so it is written again, "If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink. He that believeth on [Greek: into] Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of him shall flow rivers of living water." And again, "A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things." - John 7:37,38; Matt. 12:35.

The Perfecting of the Saints

Every feature of God's revealed purposes charms our mind and heart. The evidences of God's glory revealed in the heavens over us and in the earth we tread, elicits admiration and adoration. But of all the works of the Father of mercies, none so charms and inspires us as the discovery of that di­vine love which, before the foundations of the earth were laid, had chosen us in Christ "that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love; having predestinated us unto the adoption of chil­dren by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved." - Eph. 1:4-6.

What greater work could there be than that which God has so graciously placed within our reach as co-workers together with Him? "How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gos­pel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!" -"Preaching peace by Jesus Christ." (Rom. 10:15; Acts 10:36.) Some day soon, and very soon it seems, the word will go forth, "Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to Him; for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife bath made her­self ready." (Rev. 19:7.) And of what will that readiness consist? We answer, the character-like­ness of God's dear Son. When on His own like­ness in us He can smile, then "He will rest in His love, He will joy over thee with singing," and that, will 'be joy unspeakable for us. Meantime, we are here in the house of our pilgrimage, and this per­fecting of the living saints is going on. What should engage our attention with greater zeal and joy than this matter of assisting one another in the completion of this, the greatest feature of all God's creative work?

What a great work will have been completed when all the faithful Church has been gathered out, changed from mortality to immortality, from cor­ruption to incorruption, and from weakness to pow­er. What joy will then be the portion of those faithful workers together with God, who in the days of their earthly activity were themselves building into their own structure gold, silver, and precious stones, and assisting others to build like­wise on Christ the solid Rock. True builders work­ing together with God have always known much of sorrow and disheartenment in contending with ad­verse influences. The Savior who wept over the blindness and the consequent rejection of Jerusalem, has had faithful servants throughout this Age who have entered into a sorrow similar to His own. Paul was one of these. Visualizing as he did the wonderfulness of God's grace in Christ and the possible attainments laid open before every believ­er in that grace, what tears he shed because so few really followed on to inherit the rich inheritance the love of God made possible. Surely it was for the encouragement of these faithful laborers that the word was written, "They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him." - Psa. 126:5, 6.

The great purpose of Paul's untiring labor is well expressed in words which reveal his concen­tration of thought and service on the all-important fact of Christian attainments in both knowledge and grace: "O my little children! whom I am bear­ing again, till Christ be formed in you." "That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrec­tion, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death; if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead,

. Let us therefore, as many as be perfect [mature], 'be thus minded." (Gal. 4:19; Phil. 3:10, 11.) To be conformed to the image of God, to walk worthy of His grace, to be changed from glory to glory into the character of Jesus Christ, to be filled with the Holy Spirit, this is the real aim and standard of true spiritual life.

This, then, becomes the all absorbing purpose of the faithful believer in his own personal relation­ship to God, as it will also be the unwavering ob­jective and aim of his work in the Master's service. Far more wonderful than the healing of lepers and the temporary release from pain and death result­ing from the work of Jesus long ago, is the out­working of the power of God in us and on us in these works committed to us. What finer ideal can we hold than this attainment of likeness to Christ, either for ourselves or for those among whom our field of work may be? The real glory of Christian life and service is that we can eventually attain a perfect likeness to God's dear Son. We know that while that perfect image will not be ours on this side of heaven, we may believe it our assured goal. And then to know that those around us who have likewise been drawn to God through Christ have in them the possibilities of eventually reaching that same goal, and with ourselves be for ever more to "the praise of the glory of the God of all grace" - what a "greater work" that will be! And what an honor to have had some little share in working together with God in its accomplishment!

What Manner of Persons Ought We to be

We recall that in our opening text Jesus said, "He that believeth in Me, the works that I do shall he do also." Let us, in conclusion, consider what "believing" in Jesus will do for us. To be­lieve in Him we must see Him as the Author and Finisher of our faith. We must see Him for two reasons: first, that we may see in Him the perfec­tion of God's holiness, and our perfect substitute in meeting the requirements of God's broken law; and second, that we may with every fresh vision of Him see more and more clearly our own short­comings, and that only in Him and through Him may we hope to attain to the inheritance of the saints in light. If then we possess such a humbled and believing heart, there will be a warmth of love which will make possible the completion of God's creative work in us, and also fit us for effective service for Him. The believing heart is a warm heart. As some one has well said in verse"

"A warmth within the heart would melt
The freezing reason's colder part;
And like a man in wrath, the heart
Stood up and answered, 'I have felt!"'

A life that would be like Christ's must be filled with love as His was. The great principles illus­trated in the life of Jesus and because of which He worked the works of God, must govern our lives also. If we would 'be workmen needing not to be ashamed, we too must learn first of all to be like Him in an absolute renunciation of self-life and self­-aims. We must be willing to give up "the love of life for the sake of the life of love." Jesus em­phasized that fellowship with the Father molded and ruled all His words and actions-the Father working through Him. This being true of Him, how very important it is then that we be clean and ready channels through which Christ may work His works through us; Christ, the Word of God, must fill and control our thoughts and words and doings.

"If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin." (1 John 1:7.) How blessedly true! And it will 'be true whenever Christ has been formed within our hearts. It will then be "Christ the Truth for the understanding, authority for the will, love for the heart, certainty for the hope, fruition for all the desires, and for the conscience at once cleansing and law. Fellowship with Him is no indolent passiveness, nor the luxurious exercise of certain emotions, but the contact of the whole nature with its sole adequate object and rightful Lord.

"Such intercourse, brethren, lies at the founda­tion of all work for God. It is the condition of all our power. It is the measure of all our success. Without it we may seem to realize the externals of prosperity, but it will be an illusion. With it we may perchance seem to spend our strength for naught; but heaven will have its surprises; and those who have toiled, nor left their hold of their Lord in all their work, will have it to say at last with wonder, as they see the results of their poor efforts: 'Who hath begotten me these?'

"Consider in few words the manifold ways in which the indispensable prerequisite of all right efforts for Christ may be shown to be communion with Christ:

"The heavenward look is the renewal of our own vision of the calm verities in which we trust, the recourse for ourselves to the realities which we desire that others should see. And what is equal in persuasive power to the simple utterance of your own intense conviction? He only will infuse his own religion into other minds, whose religion is not a set of hard dogmas, but is fused by the heat of personal experience into a river of living fire. It will flow then, not otherwise. The only claim which the hearts of men will listen to, in those who would win them to spiritual beliefs, is, that ancient one: 'That which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, declare we unto you.' Mightier than all arguments, than all 'proofs of the truth of the Christian religion,' and penetrating in­to a sphere deeper than that of the understanding, is the simple proclamation, 'We have found the Messiah.' If we would give sight to the blind, we must ourselves be gazing into heaven. Only when we testify of that which we have seen shall we win any to gaze with us till they too behold and know themselves set free.

"The heavenward look draws new strength from the source of all our might. In our work, dear brethren, contemplating as it ought to do exclusive­ly spiritual results, what we do depends largely on what we are, and what we are depends on what we receive, and what we receive depends on the depth and constancy of our communion with God. We are but channels through which this might is poured; and if we choke the bed with turbid masses of drift and heavy rocks of earthly thoughts, how shall the full tide flow through us for the heal­ing of the salt and barren places. Let us see to it that by fellowship with Christ we keep the passage clear, and become recipients of the inspiration which shall thrill our else silent spirits into the blast of loud alarm and the ringing proclamation of the true King." Verily we must drink of the water Christ gives if we would send forth streams of liv­ing water to others; and as the vessel used of the Lord must be a clean pure vessel, therefore,

"Take time to be holy,
Speak oft with thy Lord;
Abide in Him always,
And feed on His Word;
Make friends of God's children,
Help those who are weak,
Forgetting in nothing
His blessing to seek. 

"Take time to be holy,
The world rushes on;
Spend much time in secret
With Jesus alone;
By looking to Jesus,
Like Him thou shalt be;
Thy friends in thy conduct
His likeness shall see:"

Seasons of Refreshing

Washington, D. C., June 20, 21

The Lord's blessing was with us in bountiful measure as we met to consider the grandeur of our calling of God, and the mark to which we must attain if we would win the prize of that calling. The keynote of the con­vention was sounded in the Master's words: "By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to another" (John 13:35), and many were the manifestations of that love in the discourses and the fellowship. We were reminded that as, our Master was full of love, so are we to be in this: world; that we have from Him a blessed inheritance of hope, joy, and peace, and were admonished to hold fast the things He has wrought in us, fighting as good soldiers of the cross under His banner -- "His banner over me was love." The necessity for the opening of our eyes, not of the mind only but more especially of the heart, was dwelt upon, and we were encouraged to keep looking unto Jesus, who is able to complete the work of faith and love He has begun in us.

Across the miles came loving messages that we had the prayers of many who would have been with us had the Lord's providences permitted. We remembered you all earnestly in our prayers that the Lord would compensate your unwilling absence by pouring upon you a portion of our blessing. We came away knowing that the convention was a blessing to many, and trusting that the results will be permanently beneficial, not -only to those in attendance, but also in the homes represented as those present carried back some of the convention's fulness of joy. We parted, hoping to meet again at that Grand Con­vention, the General Assembly of the Church of the first­born, and knowing that as the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about His people from henceforth even for ever.

Detroit, Mich., July 3, 4, 5

'The following, supplied us at the suggestion of the Detroit friends, we have pleasure in publishing:

At the convention in Detroit, gathered a representative group of Bible Students in the large auditorium of the Highland Park High School. An estimated 120 in num­ber, from points as far distant as Florida, the spirit was that of a happy family reunion, based not on ties of blood and human kinship, but on the eternal basis of Christian fellowship -- union in and through Him whose name they bore. In Antioch the followers of Jesus were first called Christians; in Detroit, long centuries later, let us hope a no less earnest assembly, joyously, and with a clear realization of its solemn import, bore individually that same glorious name!

Much spiritual satisfaction was to be found in the praise and testimony services and much ground for se­rious thought in the fourteen earnest discourses. In addi­tion to these,, several vocal numbers were given, inspiring­ly 'beautiful in themselves, but rendered the more so in that they issued from lips consecrated to the service of the Master. There was also much kindly ministering to physical needs by the friends residing in the city. Their loving service and painstaking care to smooth all the ways for their visiting brethren is one of the happy remem­brances always carried away from such Detroit gather­ings. A blessed precedent is theirs in that One who came not to be ministered unto but to minister.

In an impressive service one brother and three sisters symbolized their consecration. 'They were all from the Jackson Class where the very spirit of Philadelphia was declared to prevail. Solemn thought this, and full of searching import! The candidates were first addressed in earnest solemnity by one whose long years in Christian walk and service have made him well known and loved -living epistles these, whose silver hair seems at times to resolve itself into a crown of .glory; pilgrims so near to home that one fancies the light of the heavenly city already is shining upon them. Who of us can measure the power of such lives, and how weak mere words are beside them! How impressive those same words if utter­ed by them! After this, the immersion took place in the Church of Christ near by, whose pastor awaited with all things in readiness, asking neither money nor price, and whose hand was later quietly extended in fellowship and encouragement to those baptized. "A cup of cold water in My name," whenever and wherever it may be given, who can deny its reward?

It seems fitting that a sort of epitome be given here of some of the seemingly outstanding thoughts caught now and then from the addresses of the convention speakers­ thoughts that must be brief and limited in this report but rounded and well given in their proper settings.

Along the line of doctrine there were those who spoke in grateful acknowledgement of the teacher who, his own life contemporary with theirs:, had, by the grace of God through his sacrificing ministry, made the Bible har­monious to them. One emphasized the thought that back of all doctrinal testing lies the great basic test of faith in God. Do we still cling and hold to Him? Let this be the heart's searching question. Another compared the Ransom, truth to a carpenter's level-all doctrine to be held against that most perfect and necessary test. And yet another declared no sanctified truth -can ever change; it is the same today as when we started.

Impressively, with heart-searching words, one speaker dwelt upon the promises so dimly revealed to the faith­ful of a past day, yet which led them to confess them­selves but pilgrims and strangers on earth. Are those promises, he queried, clear to us today, leading us on­ward to the same whole-hearted course of separation that those worthy ones evinced? Are we moving onward as did the literal pilgrims of old, with no added weight of earth's chattels strapped to our backs, and staff only in hand? Are we not only willing, but desirous of exchang­ing the things of the flesh for the things of the Spirit? Are we abiding in the shelter of the love of the Almighty where the very elect, it is promised, shall never be de­ceived by any signs and wonders of "false Christs"? Elect for what great purpose? That they should bring forth fruit and that fruit should remain; which fruit in its en­tirety is love, in which we find ourselves today in special test.

A last day speaker whose words, ever gracious, had been eagerly awaited, found himself upon the rostrum al­most deserted by his voice. Only under the greatest dif­ficulty and by an effort that seemed at times a losing battle was he able to give a small part of his discourse. But when in the closing words of the convention chair­man those painfully halting words were declared, "the very keynote of the whole convention," it was seen in evi­dence impressive that God's strength is made perfect in weakness.. This brother had expressed humble gratitude to God for the truth of His holy Word, wherein, though we search "for many years, still, some' new rich gem ap­pears." But if we are trusting too much to knowledge, he warned, "let him that thinketh he stand take heed lest he fall"! The great question for us to ask ourselves today is, "What has, the truth done for you, for me?" Verily, he that hath this truth in him, purifies himself as he realizes that every day, every hour, yea, every mo­ment is spent in the presence of God, under His scruti­nizing eye. Who then will so carelessly utter that criticism of his brother? And the foundation facts of faith are so simple that the Lord's little ones have ever been, "not many wise." Let us then forget some of our differences on the minutia of belief and magnify our common ground. We are not to fight but to love our way into the Kingdom.

With all signs and portents declaring the nearness of the coming of the Bridegroom for His Bride (the Bride who is all glorious within, and without spot or wrinkle or blemish) should not our tongues be speaking forth our joy at that not far distant realization of the blessed hope of all the faithful throughout the Gospel Age?

The speaker then chose as a closing hymn for his service "Behold the Bridegroom!"

The convention closed with the customary love feast. In the evening, at eight o'clock, a public discourse was given-"Jesus, the World's Coming Dictator." Approxi­mately 125 attended, about 75 being strangers, while 26 of these left names and addresses for literature. Thus ended another gathering this side the marriage of the Lamb:

"Go forth, we soon shall see Him,
The way is shining now,
All lighted with the glory
None other could bestow­
We see our King more lovely
Than all the sons of men;
We haste, because that door, once shut,
Will never ope again."

ALL I WANT I FIND IN THEE

1936 Index