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vol xx allegheny pa january 1 1899 no.1 greeting and exhortation for the new year -1899dear friends of the watch tower family accept please we want to outline this course of study and to ask all our editorial greetings and good wishes as we cross the the dear brethren and sisters of t.he watch tower family threshold of another year we trust that each of us can who have not already started in this course to take it up for truthfully sing with the poet,the year 1899 blessed are sure to be the results you will find as you progress in it the peace of god which pa~rl th looking back we praise the way all un~erstanding ruling in your hearts thi!l will transmute god has led us day by day the trials of ~aith ~nd of patience into blesrin~s and the and let us remember that the great watchman of spirit· borrows and disappointments of earthly hopea into channels ual brael the lord changes not his exceeding great and of god s grace and the perplexities of life into fuji assurances preciou8 promi8es are all yea and amen to those who obey of faith this graduating degree of faith hope and love him-to all who by faith abide in him trusting in the merit is attained by of his atonement-who possessing his !lpirit of love are seek a :fl1ll submission of 0l1b wills 1 0 1 he lord s will ing to wa ik circumspectly in his footsteps to all such do you answer why that is what i have been wanting to if they continue thus and abound we guarantee that the year do ever since i consecrated myself to the lord but i have 1899 will be a happy year basing our guarantee upon the not attained it what more can i do ah y~s so it has lord s promises but how many who know this full well are disposed to be b~en with all fully consecrated children of god for a long time ye all made the same mistake of wanting to fully submit fearful doubtful unbelieving and thereby are paving the our wills to god s will instead of doing so y ay for troubles h?w long it requires for some .of the pupils good wjsh is an excellent thing very important indeed in the school of christ to find out why they are in this school and under the teacher surely the object should be to be but if the wish does not lead to performance it is valueless ~o~e people never ge beyond the wishing point m any of taught-to learn of him whom god has appointed to be the hfe s affairs they wish to nse at a certain hour in the t~acher .of all his justified and consecrated sons adopted into morning ?r to attend to certain recognized duties or render his family we do not come to this teacher to obtain his some ~ervice or speak some words of kindness or encoura~e certificate that we need none of his instruction but that ment in the name of the lord but they never fulfil their from his word in conjunction with the daily experiences in good wishes in deeds the good wish should be followed by life his providences to all his pupils we may grow daily a goo.d and determined will which is sure to be favored by a in his likeness in grace and in knowledge way in matters fully in accord with the divine will now if at first we as pupils get confused and mistake selfwithout dropping a single good wish let us begin immediately will for god s-will and our teacher points this out to us to make this a successful year by throwing the entire by some failure of our projects we are not i to be rebellious and resentful of the lesson nor 2 to be discouraged strength of our wills into doing but joio take care-you are on treacherous ground a and db heartened on the contrary we are to profit by every experience seeking that the lessons of one day shall be put strong will is as dangerous as it is valuahle if mis-oirected you have started a force an energy which may lead far into practice a.nd become our aids on following days ii:rtray ~nd conscientious people are in dan~er along this the mo t important lesson of this school-term is faith hne especially for when their wills get hold of a matter the faith with which we become the lord s and entered his school must grow and our faith can only grow by knowl which their c0!lrciences approve they may make ar mneh of a blunder as did saul of tnr us under rimilar eirenmfltanees ~dge we do not refer to worldly knowledge worldly learn· there is but one safe course and to prepare the lord s ing knowledge of thl lord of his methodr hir plan his ~eople to know t realize this is the ohjeet of all the precharacter hence we must study well our teacher s words and general conduct ano as well his providence or pr:vate hmmar courres in the school of christ ipading up to this gradull;tmg course this final le~ron to he lj arned i that instr~ictionr to u indivirlually-interpreting these always the wtlls that are to be exet ired in good oppcl and good by his ~ord much of what we accepted at first by faith respecting the lord s goodness and wisdom will gtlldually words are not our own willr except as hy ndoption wi have taken the lord s will to be ours wlien we be ame the become knowledge gi ing buis for still greater lenath and breadthr of faith as well as for greater love and app~eciation lord s pupils it was by and as a conrl furn e of the nr· render of our own willr and onr firrt lesron in thi hool of our redl emer as in other chools so in this different dearees of learn were in keeping our willr dp1d we can sel as we look haek· ing are rpprerenteo in the rtudentr rome are in thl primary ward that bv the great tea her r aid we won some vi tories stage of devl lopment ~ome in thl intprml diate anti flome in o;rer self-will anrl hllve comp to the place where our real dethe graouating ·hirs the graduating de<1ree of di l iplerhip in sires are as i xpreflred by the pol t lord at length thy love hath conquered the fu:hool of chrj t ill thl one that all are to strh l for it none of self and all of thpe is abrolutely l sential that we rea·h this dl?grl l if we would pass examination-finish our coune with joy and hi grantpd but even after we have adoptpd the lord will as in· the mastpr s well done and the prize of our high calling stead of our own natural preferences and made it oura and at the end after we have resolved to do the lord s will still we are in [2411 3-4

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4-5 zion s watch tower allegheny pa danger and need to walk carefully lest we misapprehend the lord s will and adopt the will and plans of fellow men or of a church instead of the lord s will consequently without despu;ing human aid in the ascertainment of the lord s will while remembering that god still as in times past makes use of human agencies in instructing his people it mu~t not be forgotten that satan also uses human agents to mh<1ead and to deceive and that god permits this in order to teach us that he is the real teacher hence he puts hi word the bible as the test by which his people are to distinguish between true and false teachers saying if they peak not according to this word it is because then is no light in them isa 8 :20 coming to the ~cripture to ascertain god s will we find that the great work which god asks of us is not work for others but work in ourselves subduing conquering ruling self this is the will of god rconoern4f1.g you even your sanctification 1 thes 4:3 everything else therefore our s.ervice of the household of faith and our doing good unto all men by home and foreign missions etc etc is subservient to this most important work within for as the apostle by inspiration declares tho we should preach the gospel eloquently to others and tho we should give all our goods to feed the poor or become martyrs for a good cause wtthout love the spirit of christ and the father developed iii u as the ruling principle of life we would be nothilng from the divine standpoint on the contrary if we be sanctified to god by the truthif our wills be dead and the lord s will be fully accepted as ours in thought word and act we have attained the will of god and will win the prize as overcomers even if opportunities being denied us we never preached never gave to the poor and never suffered as martyrs for the truth s sake let us all note well this point this is the will of god [concerning you even your sanctification let nothing becloud or obscure this truth neither other truths nor errors let it dominate our l ourse in life and then if god s will is really our will we have a clearly marked pathway before us which is very important but without doubt god will open before all such opportunities to serve the truth to others to let their light shine to the glory of the father and the blessing of fellow creatures for this is his command to us and we may be sure he gives no l ommands impossible to be obeyed if you have been 8eeking opportunities of 8ervice and finding none there must be something wrong you may have been reeking some 8pecia service of your own preference your old will meddling with your newly adopted will-the lord s possibly the great teacher sl es pride remaining-pride which you would have been prompt to crush had you recognized it but which hid itself from you under the cloak of self-respect possibly the great teacher by his providence and his word is saying to you do with thy might what thy hand findeth to do pos~ihly he spes that you would be spoiled by giving you a more important servil for others before you have learned the lerron of humility-all important in the lord s sight act quil kly therefore the time is short humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of god [to do whatever hervice hih providence has made possible to you that he rna l xalt you in due time 1 pl t 5 6 think it not strange concerning the fiery trials have you never suffered for righteousness sake a martyr to principle strange when th master so plainly derlared that whosoever will live godly shall suffer persecution an it be that the lord erred i s not the dangl r rather that you have not been living godly you say that is your highest wish to live godly but do not forj et the distinction a iready drawn between wishing and doing resign your own wiii entirely put it all away and begin to do the lord s item by item just as you are ahle to find and prove it in ills ord-u ing the be t human help you can obtain in this eeking and proving hoon the perspcutions will come and from mort unl xpel tl d quartl rs anri whl n thl perse utions orne be prl pared for themforearmed by god s vorel for they will be temptations to your fll rh through them tih adversary will seek to emhitter vour soul and to stir up in you the elements of the old nature ~el konl d !lead-anger mallei hatred envy strife if this be th i ffel t of p r ecutions in you the adversary is gain ing th vif tory-you fire not overroming evil but being over o 11 by it th old nllturl will even call upon its best qualities to fight agllinst pers cution-it will call upon your natural senri of ,ju til e to rome help and resist it will call upon conscientiou ne8 to ag ree that the pcrsel ution is unmeritrd it will rail upon benevolence and spirituality your love of family lind fril nds ann every other good quality of your heing-all will be appealed to either to fight the persecution or to abandon the course of godliness which led to it then you will be in the thick of the fight and unless previously armed with the panoply supplied in the divine word you are almost sul e to lose faith become terrified and flee and whoever does this is sure to be wounded if not captured by the enemy for our armor is a front armor not a back armor it is invulnerable so long as we stand firm for the right the truth in our great captain s name and strengthit is a hindrance to those who draw back but why should we flee terrified is not this the very test of our loyalty and devotion to the lord and his word for which all of our previous experiences and instructions were but preparations is not this the very test the lord de elan s indispensable to all who would be accounted victors and be made his joint-heirs in the kingdom is not this the very opportunity for which we prayed and are not the incidental persecutions exactly what our lord forewarned ut would be part of the eost of faithful discipleship and are not those the very persecutions whose absence earlier in our f hristian experience made us wonder whether or not we were acceptable sons of god heb 12 8 i urely our answer to these questions must be yea lord even though beeause of weakness of the flesh th answer be lot joyous as it should be but through unbidden tears and with this answer on our part the lord is pleased and angels of his mercy-his promises exceeding great and preciousminister unto us and strengthen us that ia the time to fight the good fight and triumphing over self-will completely to accept the buffetings and slanders and misrepresentations of good intentions and good deeds with meekness and patience that is the time when the lord s spirit of love dwelling in us richly will manifest itself in the control not only of our words and actions but of our inmost thoughts if even so much as a bitter feeling against our traducers and maligners arises it is to be fought and so eomplete a victory gained over it that every fiber of our beings will bl in sweet accord with our great teacher s instruetion8 love your enemies pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you bless and injure not your earlie~t definition of injure not will probably have heen that you should not kill or wound your enemies physi ally but as you look to the teacher and heed his word you will hear him say learn of me and you will notl with the apo tle that though h did no sin neither was guill found in his mouth yet when he was reviled he reviled not in return when he suffered he threatened not but committed his cause to him that judgeth righteously 1 pet 2 :22 23 if you are a faithful pupil it will not be long until you see tha t the perfect law of liberty the law of christ is a disl erner of the very thoughts and intents of the heart and that while you must hate all sin you cannot hate any sinner and vet haw the love of god perfected in your heart you see th,lt this means that you not only must not retaliate and redip your foe8 but must not even wish to do so the evil wish must he onquered and the selfish conditions which gave birth must he utterly destroyed and replaced with love the spirit of christ compare 1 cor 4:12 with 1 cor 6:10 are you tempted to repine to feel disappointed at your lot in life or vour experiences by the way that is the time to rpmember t hat all repining discontent and disappointments indieate that self-will in you is not so dead as you had hoped for he who has buried his own will completely in the will of the lord can know no disappointment but in very affair of his life he sees by faith divine appointment or rupervision and hears the word of the lord in all of life 6 affairs assuring him all things work together for good to them that love god to them who are the called according to his purpose rom 8:28 it is one of the evidences of reaching the graduating condition of heart when we are able to take the oppositions of the great adversary and of the world and of our own flesh patiently unromplainingly unmurmuringly joyfully as a part of the disciplinary ex!wrienee metl d out to us by our all-wise and all-loving lord sueh is the good fight the first battle is the severest and each subsequent victory is easier for with each victory th new will th lord s will in us grows stronger and hope r l lig-ht of the thing god has in reservation for the f3ithful grow keener and faith s strength and endurance g-rellter and with the very first victory come blessings which are :llldpd to a fter every victory blersing of rest peace joy in the holy spirit and full assurance of faith as our teacher promirl d blessed are ye when men shall revile you and per el ute you and ray all manner of evil auainst you falsely for my sake rejoice and be elljceedifl.g~y glad [2412]

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january i 1899 zion s watch tower 6-7 from this standpoint and no other is it possible to accept with fortitude and resignation whatever tests of patience perseverance faith hope and love the lord may see fit to per· mit to come upon you in this condition all our experiences will result in blessings however unpropitious they may appear on the surface it is from this standpoint of victory over self-will-unto sanctification of spirit through obedience to the truth that all the bleasings and promises of the divine word are ours in the fullest sense all things are yours whether things present or things to come [for ye are christ s and christ is god s this is the graduating degree of the school of christ dearly beloved in which we all seek to be approved during the year just begun let us unite our hearts and prayers and above all our new wills with each other s and with our master s to this end that we may be wholly sanctified and for the master s use present and prospective made meet and the very god of peace shall bruise satan under your feet shortly rom 16:20 let our prayers every morning ascend to god let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight 0 lord my strength and my redeemer psa 19 14 and every evening let us review the day judging our hearts wills by the lord s law of perfect love-praying his forgiveness of shortcomings and thanking our lord for the strength and grace which brought its victories come let us anew our journey pursue roll round with the year and never stand still till the master appear his adorable will let us gladly fulfil and our talents improve by the patience of hope and the labor of love the church s divinely appointed mission seeing we have this ministry as we have received mercy we faint not 2 cor 4 1 what is the mission of the church what ministry or protestants is what may be termed the worldly idea of the 1ervice has the lord appointed to his consecrated people church s mission viz to engage in merciful philanthropic this question is one that should be prominent and clear be educational moral and benevolent works in the interest of fore the mind of every consecrated child of god it is of the mankind in other words this view recognizes the church utmost importance that the servant know what is expected as the moral influence which god has placed in the world of him before proceeding far in rendering service otherwise for the world s uplift and regeneration h wi!l be mor than likely to was his e~ergies in wrong we hold that this view is wrong wholly unscriptural directlons-l~aymg undo~e those thmgs w~lch ought to be that it is a mistake to suppose that the church is placed in done and glvmg att~ntlon to .matters whlch would better the world as a reformatory institution but if we are asked be attended to otherwise ll;ccordmg to the plan and ~rrange should christians not take a deep interest in all reformsment of the great supervisor of the plan of salvatlon-the in temperance reform for instance in social purity in po lord litical reform in good citizenship in anti-tobacco crusades the answers ~o this questlon throughout chnstendom in socialistic developments in financial reforms etc we would probably divide themselves mto three groups-two of answer yes indeed no one could be a true christian and them quite unscriptural and the thir altho scr.ipt lral by yet ~e without sympathy as respects all these an every other reason of other errors ~en~rally ~ssoclated wi.th it is made possible efforts for the mental moral and physical uplift of unreasonab.1e and ~eld m its punty and consistently by but our race and yet you say that this is not the mission of few we will examme these as follows:the church yes we answer altho our sympathies are with 1 the roman catholic view of the church s mission every good work we are at the same time to inquire of it that she is the ruler of the world appointed to be such the lord respecting how where what we may do in his b the almighty and duly empowered and authorized to rule service if we would be colaborers together with him lord over kings and nations to order all the affairs of earth moral what wouldst thou have me to do our query should not be political financial social and ecclesiastical the pope and his addressed to fellow-men nor should we accept the burdens hierarchy constituting this spiritual kingdom this spiritual a~d duties and obligations which their judgments and con· kingdom it claims reigned gloriously in the past during the sciences would lay upon us rather we are to hearken to the penod which the remainder of mankind denominate the voice of the lord the scriptures and are to follow his didark ages they claim that now this kingdom is suffering a rections regardless of our own and other people s conjectures reverse at the hands of infidelity protestantism etc and is as to what would be the most expedient deprived of its proper god-given and god-intended rights as nowhere in the scriptures are god s people directed to the supreme government of the earth it claims that very spend their time in efforts at morally reforming the world shortly there will be a grand change in earth s affairs which our lord did not engage in this work neither did the will put back again into its ~ossessi.ons and under its con· apostles nor did they offer any suggestion to the effect that trol absolutely all peoples nations klddreds and tongues so the work of the church should ever differ from the work that again as of yore the pope shall be the recognized which they performed and directed us to continue on the head of the world all other religions be overthrown and ef contrary they declare that we have the apostles for ensamples fectually stamped out and that thus the world shall be of how we ought to walk they declare that our lord s course blessed-by a return to medieval conditions was in full perfect harmony with the divine will and plan we dispute this theory and hold that the scriptures teach and that the apostles faithfully followed his example and we to the contrary that the reign of the church as the kingdom are exhorted to simply become coworkers together with god of god to rule and bless the world is declared to be not in his work already instituted not to alter or attempt during this present evil world or age but in one to fol· to improve on them there were moralists and moral reo low this to be inaugurated by our lord jesus with power formers in our lord s day some along the line of total from on high as his second advent the scriptures point abstinence some along the line of asceticism inculcating out in harmony with sound reason that the sufferings of the rigid self-denials in food clothing etc as essential to a moral church are not coincident with her reign but precede it the uplift of the people there were also political reformers who sufferings of this present time they assure us are not worthy sought the establishment of republican institutions in his to be compared with the glories which shall be future day and social reformers who sought to establish forms of revealed in us rom 8 18 these sufferings tho they communism there were also dress reformers at that time are to be unto death are to be esteemed light affiictions and who advocated certain peculiar styles of clothing beneficial to be rejoiced in because of the divine assurance that they are to health morals and religious sanctity do we find that working out for us preparing us for a far more exceeding our lord or his apostles ever associated with any of these and an eternal weight of glory as yet unseen 2 cor 4 17 or that they ever in any word or act gave sanction or 2 the common view amongst protestants respectencouragement to any of these theories or reforms no ing the mission of the church resembles the foregoing con not once siderably except that the pope and his associates are reit may indeed be claimed that a kind of christian comjected as respects their claims to special divine authority to munism at the beginning went without rebuke even if it were rule the world the claim of the protestants however is not commended by the apostles we answer that the shortthat religion should undertake to rule the world and to lived communism of the early church was to some extent the place its representatives in power amongst the nations and result of the new doctrines promulgated by christ the central that higher llnd better forms of religious sentiment should feature of which was love to god and love to fellow-men as be cultivated the religion of the world growing with its poliopposed to the selfish sentiments of fallen man so that tics and its social conditions and thus leading the world without divine instruction there was a disposition on the onward and lifting the degraded masses up to good citizenship part of believl rs to have all things in common but if the in other words this claim growingly prevalent amongst holy spirit sanctioned and permittl d this in 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8-9 zion s watch tower allegheny pa it was evidently only as a lesson as an experience to the church to show that umon and communion of this kind is not practicable under present conditions while all are troubled by imperfections of the flesh-their own and that of other men at all events we do know that the lord did not permit that communbm to last long but as we are told permitted instead a great persecution to arise against the church which scattered the would-he communists everywhere to preach the gospel nor did the apostles ever recommend such procedure or attempt such an arrangement amongst the christians elsewhere if then the teaching and example of our lord and his apostles are our criterion of the will of the lord the church s commission is not to morally reform the world but perhaps someone will say times are changed from what they were and the church s work should change accordingly we anbwer that the apostle paul declares in so many words i ha ve not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of god acts 20:27 whatosoever therefore is additional to that which was stated by the apostle is not the counsel of god and any counsel from any other quarter is not to be received by christians and is sure to be misleading again the apostle says to timothy respecting the word of god all scripture is given by inspiration of god and is profitable for doctrine for reproof for correction for instruction in righteousness that the man of god may be perfect thoroughly furnished unto all good works 2 tim 3:16 17 if therefore it was god s design that the church s mission should change at some future time we should be able to find in the scriptures some intimation of this kind and some authority for the change and if we find no authority for a change in her mission we should make no change but some one inquirrs did not our lord especially go after the publicans and sinners and specially welcome them and was not this an indication to us that the church s work is to be largely amongst the lower depraved classes of mankind we answer that the publicans and harlots were not made the subjects of special missionary efforts on the part of our lord and his apostles it was when these classes came to his ministry to his preaching manifested interest therein and signs of repentance and reformation that he received them cordially he did not refuse to recognize them as did the pharisees the record is not that he went on slumming missions after the publicans and harlots but he receiveth [publicans and sinners and that many of these lower classes heard him gladly luke 15:2 mark 12 :37 furthermore be it noticed these publicans and sinners were members of the jewish church-for that entire nation was accepted of god as his people and they were all included under the typical sacrifices for sin on the day of atonement and they were all reckoned as under the law covenantcovenanters these lower classes had slipped away from the outward observance of the jewish law but our lord testified that many of them were in far better condition of heart to receive his message than were many of the outwardly pious pharisees arm of the lord revealed isa 53:1 john 12:38 as the scriptures declare so she finds it that the vast majority of mankind are blind so that they cannot see the light some are t:ltone blind so as to see nothing while others are partially blmd and can get a little glimmer of it by which they can discern some things indistinctly in hearlllg likewise the world s ears are dull of hearing deaf say the scl lptures some hear nothing others hear very imperfectly few hear the met:lsage of divine love and mercy clearly and distinctly the church is to realize that her mission is not to these the blind and deaf but to him that hath an ear [to hear let htm heart rev 2:7 3:6 13,22 our lord remarked this condition to his followers when present with them in the world saying blessed are your eyes for they see and your ears for they hear and he declared that his parables and teachings were not uttered with the intention of making the blind see and the deaf hear but purposely so that the deaf might not hear and so that the blind might not see when the disciples inquired respecting the interpretation of a parable he said to you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of god but to them that are without all these things are done in parabies that seeing they may see and not perceive and hearing they may hear and not understand luke 8 10 they had indeed the natural sight and the natural hearing but they lacked the mental sight and hearing and the message that our dear master preached and that he commissioned his apostles and his church to preach throughout this age is the same-not for the blind not for the deaf but for those blessed favored ones who have eyes and ears as our lord did not expect many to respond to his preaching and particularly implied that only a small number would be able to do so saying no man can come unto me except the father which sent me draw him so his church through· out this age is to realize that when she lifts up the light and lifts up her voice no man will come in response except as the father draws him and as the father drew only a compara· tively small remnant of the jewish nation to our lord so the church should not be surprised that he has drawn only a comparatively small proportion of gentiles throughout this age following our text the apostle points out why this is the case why the majority of mankind are not in a condition of heart to see and appreciate the light to hear and to rejoice in the gospel not in the condition to be drawn by the father he declares that it is because the god of this world [satan hath blinded their minds vs 4 and thus hindered the light of divine truth from shining unto them he points out that all such are in a lost condition without god and without hope in the world not however they that are any more lost now than they have been all along for six thousand years for whoever is not in christ whoever is out of relationship to god is a member of that large class servants of sin still under condemnation still strangers from god still lost in the wilderness of sin they have not yet been found by the great shepherd who promises that in due time all the true sheep 3 the correct view of the church s mission shall be found that all the satan and prejudice-blindea eyes shall be opened to see the light of divine goodness and the question then arises if the church is not to rule the truth and all the deaf ears shall be unstopped to hear the world in this present age and if she is not to be the world s message of the grace of god isa 35 :5 instructor uplifter by moral reforms what is her missionb it is another part of the mission of the church to what other mission can she have and this brings us to the care for those who do see the light which she holds up and third view which quite a number hold in a more or less con who are attracted by that light and who come unto the lord fused way-their commingled errors beclouding and vitiating she is to teach and instruct such and to introduce them to the truth the full fellowship of the high calling by making clear to a her chief mission is toward herself she is to lift them as the lord s mouthpiece what is the hope of our up the light in the world the true light not with the calling present and future-now to suffer with christ for expectation of enlightening the world not with the thought righteousness sake to cultivate his spirit his disposition to that her feeble lamp shall scatter earth s night of sin and bear much fruit of the spirit in our own hearts and lives darkness of superstition for that can be accomplished only and thus under divine supervision to be fitted polished and by the coming of the morning the millennial morning when prepared for a place in the glorious temple of the future for the sun of righteousness shall arise with healing in his a share in the glorious work of the incoming age the bless· ing of the world l cor 1 :26 eph 1 18 2 thes 1 11 beams she holds up the light of the truth the light of the gospel during this night to attract some a peculiar peothe church is supplied by her glorious head christ jesus ple not to attract and gather all but even as many as the with certain gifts of the spirit amongst her members of the lord our god shall call acts 2 :39 her message earth and these coworking together in their various offices respecting the love of god and the salvation which is in christ are to strengthen establish upbuild develop one another jesus as it rings out into the world is not expected to awaken growing in grace and in the knowledge and spirit of the the world and to lead the world to the lord no she is merely head until the whole church shall eventually by the close of bearing witness a witness which will have to do also with this age be brought to the stature of the fulness of perfection as the body of christ under the lord jesus as the a future knowledge and opportunity to be granted to the world during the millennium head eph 4 13 but she is not to expect that all even she is instructed by the word of the lord not to expect of those who see her light and who hear her proclamation that any but a comparatively small number will appreciate and who draw neal in harmony with her message will her light or her me isage as the prophet foretold so she has eventually come into full membership in this glorious body of christ on the contrary she is assured of the lord in adfound it who hath believed our report and to whom is the [2414]

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januaily 1 1899 zion s watch tower l0-11 vance that while only a few comparatively will hear her message the call a still smaller number will accept the call -for many are called proportionately to the few w~o are chosen-who make their calling and election sure by faithfulness to the conditions imposed 2 pet 1 10 0 the conditions imposed upon the church are designed of the lord to be crucial tests of her loyalty to him and to the law of the new covenant under which she was received by him tiials difficulties persecutions are useful in proving whether or not her covenant of consecration is from the heart those who have merely made a lip covenant will be sifted out manifested separated from the true ones whom the lord designates his jewels and his sins and whom he purposes to make joint-heirs in the kingdom with his well-beloved son our lord jesus it is for this reason that this call and election or selection of the church takes place during this present age while evil is still permitted to reign in the ~o~ld and while the majority of mankind are under the blmdmg influences of the great adversary not yet bound rev 20 1-3 as our lord explained the darkness of sin and error is in direct antagonism with the light of truth and consequently when his people lift up the light let their light so shine as to glorify the father in heaven who has called them out of darkness into his marvelous light the effect upon the darkened world will be to awaken opposition antagonism because the effect of the light is to make manifest the evils of darkness which would not otherwise appear and thus to disturb and make uncomfortable those in sympathy with darkness consequently those who love darkness those who love evil those who love sin in its varied forms hate the light nei ther come to the light but either ublicly or secretly oppose the children of the light the enhghtened ones the light-bearers and even those who have gotten out of the extreme darkness of moral pollution into a kind of twilight of civilized reformation and moral reform cannot endure the clear searching light of the true gospel they much prefer a measure of darkness john 3:20 it is in consequence of this conflict between light and darkness that our lord suffered at the hands of those who professed to be children of the light children of god and who had at least a little light our lord was not maltreated by the roman governor and the ro~an soldiers of their ?wn volition for they were so totally bhnd as not to appreciate anything of the light which he displayed his persecutors were those who had some light but who hated the brilliancy of the great light which shone upon them similarly all the ay down through this gospel age those who have been burnmg and shining lights in the world have been hated and persecuted largely we might say chiefly almost exclusively by those who had some light but whose light was darkness in comparison to the great light of the holy spirit shining in and through the lord s fully consecrated ones thus was fulfilled our lord s testimony if they have hated me they will also hate you whosoever will live godly in christ jesus shall suffer persecution the lord s fol.lowers in the present time are called upon to suffer persecution for righteousness sake not because it is either reasonable or proper but because the lord wishing to test prove and polish his people is willing to permit the evil opposing influences to prosper and persecute and oppose his members and thus to serve his cause in the preparation of his elect for a future work of service thus the persecutors of the body like the persecutors of the head are cooperating to fulfil the divine plan in a manner they little suspect john 15 18 1 john 3:13 2 tim 3:12 1 thes 2:14 15 2 thes 3:4 we might multiply the scriptural declarations that this is the call of the church in the present time-to let the light shine and thus to attract persecution and to endure the persecution for righteousness sake and to be rightly exercised by it in patience brotherly-kindness pity and love-toward the persecutors and toward all men as it was the mission of our lord not to rule the world nor to judge the world at his first advent but to lay down his life for the world so it is the mission of the church the body of christ not to rule the world nor to judge the world now but to lay down our lives for the brethren 1 john 3 16 our lord declares i came not to judge the world john 12:47 the son of man came to lay down his life for the world john 6:51 10:15 my kingdom is not of this world john 18 36 and so the apostle assures us that we are not to reign now but on the contrary to suffer with christ if we would reign with him and by and by that we are not to judge the world now but on the contrary to judge nothing before the time but he assures us that in god s due time the saints shall judge the world see june is 1919 for critical examination of covenants and that to the world s blessing he assures us that it is our mission to fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of christ for his body s sake which is the church col 1 24 he tells us along the same line that while we are to do good unto all men as we have opportunity our service is to be specially to the household of faith our efforts that will go toward the world of mankind in general are to be only the side-glances as it were the overflow of our efforts expen~ed chiefly and directly upon the members of the body of chnst the consecrated church expended in building one another up in the most holy faith rom 8:17 1 cor 4:5 6:2 gal 6:10 d quite a goodly number of protestant christians theoretically take more or less of the position which we have herein stated especially our presbyterian and baptist friends but when we come to consider god s object in thus specially dealing with the church we find that very few indeed even of these have any comprehension of it the general thought is that god merely wishes to elect the church and that he is thoroughly indifferent as respects the poor world that for six thousand years has lain in a lost condition under the blinding influence of satan and deaf to the gospel call here we must differ for we find the scriptures to teach a much more wonderful much more benevolent much more grand plan of god than that we find it to teach that this church now being selected or elected is merely a first-fruit unto god of his creatures and that a great work is to be done for the world of mankind through this church after she shall have been glorified and associated with her lord in the heavenly kingdom the same scriptures which tell us that now the world is blind and deaf and that satan the lrince of this world the god of this age has directly an indirectly had much to do with this blindness tell us also that the time is to come when all the blind eyes shall be opened and all the deaf ears shall be unstopped and when satan the great deceiver shall be bound restrained permitted no longer to deceive humanity these scriptures assure us that the church now being selected and proved and thus made meet for the inheritance of the saints in light is to be god s ohannel of blessing to mankind and that head and body jesus and his church shall constitute in the full sense the promised seed of abraham or spirit· ual israel through which all mankind shall be blessed with a knowledge of god s true character and with an opportunity for gaining eternal life in the millennial judgment day which god has appointed gal 3 16 29 one of the particular trials with many of the lord s people is that they are frequently upbraided by less consecrated worldly-wise professors with the suggestion that they are selfish and neglectful of the true work of the church because they do not join with others in the various political social financial and moral reforms of the world or in revival efforts to drive and scare the worldly whom god has not called by the truth along scriptural lines if we are obliged to endure something on this score for christ s sake it is only a part of the sufferings of christ in which we should rejoice realizing that the lord knows our faithfulness to him and to his word we may realize also that in due time others shall see the divine plan actually fulfilling as we are now permitted to see it by the eye of faith and they wiii then see that the wise virgins were wise in that they hearkened to and obeyed the lord s word and made themselves ready for the future work of service for the world.rev 19:7 eph 4:12 we can sympathize with those who see nothing we can sympathize also with those who see a little and who strive toward moral and other reforms and in various ways for the sectarian prosperity rather than for the upbuilding of the saints the church of the living god whose names are writ· ten in heaven we should have patience particularly with those who give evidence that they are laboring in harmony with their convictions if they are engaging in good works of any kind they deserve our sympathy and undoubtedly will obtain a blessing as a result the true church is laboring not merely for a blessing but for the blessing the prize of our high calling of god in christ jesus phil 3:14 let all then who see the prize and who see the light of god s glory shining in the face of jesus christ our lotd be faithful to the father s terms conditions callin service let all such give attention to this ministry service which we have received and faint not be not discouraged whether men hear or whether they forbear whether they think ill of us or whether they speak ill of us let us remember that our report at the end of the trial is to be rendered to the lord himself when he is making up his jewels let us remember that the first condition of acceptance with him is loyal obedience to his [2415]

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11-13 zion s watch tower word the evidence of love for him and faith in him 2 cor 10 5 6 let us remember also that the second qualification he will look for in us is love for the brethren readiness to be to do and to suffer to die on behalf of those who are rea iy truly consecrated children of god seeking to walk in nis ways all thus following in the ministry the service which we have received of god find themselves today walking in the footsteps of jesus and the apostles and find the various predictions made respecting the entire church applicable to its living members also as for instance following our text the apostle declares of this class who have this ministry we preach not ourselves but christ jesus the lord and ourselves your servants [the church s servants not the world s servants for jesus sake · · we are troubled on every side yet not distressed we are perplexed yet not in despair persecuted but not forsaken cast down but not destroyed always bearing about in the body the dying of the lord jesus [always representing christ and his sacrifice as dying members of his body that the life also of jesus might be made manifest in our body for we which live [as new creatures in chri8t jesus are always delivered unto death for jesus sake rour consecration at the beginning was a consecra tion to death it changes not it will always so continue until we have finished our course and have actually died that the life also of je8us might be made manifest in our mortal flesh verses 5-11 in other words the truly consecrated church of christ all whose names are written in heaven are his representative members upon the earth throughout this gosj>el age the head suffered eighteen hundred years ago the members of the body have since been suffering with him and have been learning the o;ame lessons of obedience to the divine will and trust and confidence in the divine wisdom and love for the brethren and by and by the entire body of christ will have finished its course and will have been received by the head into his glory and then will begin god s great work for the world for which all his dealings with the church are but the divine preparation in the church the lord will give to the worm kings to rule in righteousness in love instead of in selfishness and pride but the church will also be priests to bless with the knowledge of the truth and with help out of the mire of sin back to full harmony with god all who desire to return to him it will then be true thou hast made us unto our god kings and priests and we shall rei on the earth rev i 10 questions answered will communication between heaven and earth be re-established question if the saints and the lord are not visible to the we are not informed nor need it specially concern us since world during the millennium how will their loved friends we know that our father is abundantly wise and abundantly who did not have the same hope of union in christ have able and abundantly loving to do for his creatures all fellowship with them things needful to the comfort and happiness of those who a nswer in the present life the saints themselves do love and obey him the most of the loving true they also are beloved to some abe great sacrifices and sufferings necessary to extent by home who are not now the lord s people and not joint·heirship called to the high calling but the loving of the latter is question what about the majority of christians who beusually more of the selfish order of love and less fervent iieving in christ are not yet called upon to make any great the saints will be as able to love their kindred and the sacrifices for his sake world in general as at present and we might say more able answer for a general answer we refer to the article in because of their perfected powers now their chiefest love is our issue of may ist 1895 entitled perfect through suffor the lord himself their secondary love is for the house fering everyone who seeks to walk carefully and honestly hold of faith and as they love not the world neither the before the lord in the footsteps of jesus will surely find things of the world their love for the worldly is more of that it will cause something of self-sacrifice-the sacrifice a benevolent hope-a wish for the welfare of mankind in gen of human aims or plans or preferences eral and in particular of all to whom they are attached by but this question may be viewed in another light the earthly ties the prophet speaking for these declares i questioner may mean to lay stress upon the word great shall be satisfied when i awake in thy likeness with our per and may have in mind the endurance of persecutions such as fected powers received in resurrection change we will compre came upon our lord the apostles and others of the faithful hend the lengths and breadths the heights and depths of the in the past-imprisonments cruel mocking s and scourgings divine provision for our friends and for all men i-secured and violent deaths our answer from this standpoint is by god s love and wisdom through the great sacrifice of that it is not for us to supervise the trials and difficulties atoneme nt finished at calvary which may beset us it is for us to make an unreserved conas for the worldly they will have little difficulty genersecration of ourselves to the lord and then leave to him the ally in asauaging their sorrows this is evident from the decision of how great shall be our trials and besetmentsfact that partings caused by death so soon lose their poig how great our sacrifices in following his leadings the lord nancy th l hief allse of lpuch of the grief manifested at the may see that some need special trials more than others prese nt time ir the fear and uncertainty with which the rna and those things which to some would be great trials and jority of people regard the future of the present life and of imply great sacrifices to others because of greater love that wlw h if to l olnf the lattf r ff ar is born of mirin to the lord and his cause and greater zeal for service the terpretation of scripture inspired by false human traditions sacrifice might seem to be as the apostle expresses it of his when they shall comp to know that their erstwhile friends own light afflictions which are but for a moment and the saints are forpver with the lord they will be as satirwhi l are working out a far more exceeding and eternal weight fied a l we now are rat.if fied to think of our lord jesus our of ulory if we are doing our part faithfully-if we are bl t fripnd a heing highly exalted and on a different plane faithful to the lord and to his people and to his truth to of hl ing from ourselves till hest of our knowledge and ability god will surely overas for the method of communication between the glorified see our affairs so that we shall have just the right experiences church and the world undergoing the disciplines of the resti to dl yelop us just the proper opportunities of sacrifice which tution we need not suppo le that much communication and his wi ldom sees to be appropriate and needful to us he will personal attention and carl for our loved ones of earth will !en p no true son without chastisements disciplines neither be npppssary what would be good for one person would will lit for~ake us in our trials but will stand with us so generally hi good for all and our heavenly fatlwr s plan that we shall not be tempted above that we are able havmg is so abundant in ita provirions for the bll f ring of all that provided a way of escape unlll rf;tanding romething of his character and plan we already in this enlightened day physical scourgings are not sanerealizp that he propo~e to do for all mankind exceedingly tioned by the world nevertheless we may be called on to enabundnntly morl than all that wp could have thought or dure patiently and uncomplainingly cruel mockings of the askpt for tho ll wi 10 i most so when till world has that onqllp we may be imprisonl d in the senf e of being oswhich ii illl provision will make general during the millentrapized for the truth s sake i-as our lord foretold they nial agp there will he very little necessity if any for spe hall e3st you out of the synagogue and separate you from cial interwntions or special communicat.ions by the saints to thpir company yea whosoever shall kill you shall think that tho~e for whom tlh y now feel so rolicitous he nol th god service many today are thus imprisoned and and yet we can readily suppose that god har made some kil!cd in in!lupl1ce for the trnth l sake thu l the aportle also arrangement by whil h eventually there will be a communi declared i dip daily and all who will constitute the elect cation between the restored earthly and the hl avenly planes ovprcoming church mu t die thus in the symbolic language of being ar til pre war in eden before sin entered when god of revplation this is termed behea~ng and we are assured either personally or through a representative talked with our that all who will share the first resurrection and the kingdom fir lt parpnts .tu lt how thir communication will be established will have heen thus symbolically behraded rev 20:4 [2416]

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now his will is mine-1899 onee once once once once once once once i sought a blessing now i ve found my lord i sought for feeling now i ve found his word his gifts i wanted now the giver own i sought flesh-healing now himself alone it was my working his it hence shall be i tried to use him now he uses me the power 1 wanted now the mighty one for self i labored now for christ alone once once once once once once once once twas painful trying now tis restful trust a half-salvation now the uttermost twas ceaseless holding now he holds me fast twas constant drifting now my anchor s cast twas twas twas twas busy planning now tis trustful prayer anxious caring now he has the care what i wanted now what jesus says constant asking now tis ceaseless praise once i hoped in jesus now i know he ll mine once my lamps were dying now they brightly shine once for death i waited now his presence hail and my hopes are anchored safe within the vail follow the lamb whithersoever he goeth jan 8 john 1 :35-46 behold the lamb of god john 1:36 john s mission was to bear witness to jesus he knew him took the place of the law covenant so that any jew alwell from his infancy to manhood and as cousins according to ready baptized into moses and already thus in covenant the flesh they doubtless had discussed various features of the relationiship would by merely accepting christ as the mesdivine law and they were of one heart as respects service to siah the antitype of moses and the mediator of the tnew the lord neither could begin a public service until thirty covenant and in harmony with his faith repenting of sin years of age since this was one feature of the law but john be adopted reckoned as a member in the body of christ inbeing six months the elder was thus privileged to begin his stead of as a member of the body of moses all others ministry six months in advance of our lord during that however who were of the gentiles and not of the natural brief period he had evidently made a considerable commotion seed of abraham are not to come first to moses and the law as a reformer his message being repent ye for the kingdom and then through john s baptism into christ but are to of heaven is at hand matt 3:2 ignore the law covenant entirely and avail themselves of the the jews had been waiting for the kingdom for centuries better covenant direct and hence they are instructed to be they realized that the kingdom given to saul david solomon baptized into christ by being immersed into his death and to etc had not fulfilled the promises and that a kingdom in a testify to this consecration outwardly to their fellows and larger sense and under a greater than david and a greater before god by an immersion in water ·-rom 6:3 4 than solomon was to be expected the apostle assures us we have no record that john the baptist was ever imthat this thought was continually before their minds acts mersed himself-nor would we need to have since he evi· 26:7 john s mission to that nation therefore was the an dently was a godly man living up to the best of his ability nouncement that the fulfilment of the divine promise was at to the standard of the law covenant his baptism as he hand and that in order to be ready to receive the divine favor himself explained was only for sinners those who had they should repent of sin and turn to the lord and as been living knowingly in violation of the principles of rightour lord declared subsequently if that nation had believed eousness hence also john objected at first to the baptism of john and acted upon that belief they would have been ready jesus assuring him that he was not a sinner and that if to receive the lord himself and to have fulfilled to them jesus needed to be baptized much more appropriate would it ali the gracious promises of the kingdom to which they were be that john himself should be immersed i have need heirs as the natural seed of abraham to be baptized of thee and comest thou to me 1 but our it was because they were not in a right condition of heart lord while admitting the force of john s argument that a that they were not fit to have the kingdom the promise of baptism of repentance and remission of sins would not be which therefore was taken from them to be given to a new appropriate in his own case requested him to proceed with nation a peculiar people a royal priesthood-which god has the matter anyway intimating that he had some other reason been selecting from amongst all peoples kindreds and tongues why it was right the fact is that our lord s baptism was during this gorpel age and which will now soon be completed the beginning of the christian baptism it symbolized the and be glorified and begin the work of blessing all the families consecration which he had just made at the first hour of manhood his full consecration to do the father s will even of the earth as the spiritual seed of abraham gal 3 29 john did not preach to the people that they should be unto death the giving up of his human life a sacrifice on lieve on god for he was addressing only the believing cove behalf of the world it required all of the lord s three and nan ted people israel bis message was respecting things al a half years ministry to complete what was there symbolized ready known to them and believed by them he therefore and he said just before his crucifixion i have a baptism to exhorted merely repentance from their sins and a return to be baptized with and how am i straitened till it be accom their proper and covenanted relationship with god in all plished luke 12:50 and so with the baptism of consethis john s ministry is very different from the ministry of cration death into which we are to be baptized as memthe apostles to the gentiles who not only had been without bers of his body we are to become living sacrifices dead to knowledge rerperting god r purposes kingdom etc but also the world alive toward god fir is particularly set forth in without faith or any ground of hope as the apostle declares rom 6 :3-5 they were without god and having no hope in the world it was in connection with our redeemer s symbolical bapnor did any hope reach them nor was the gospel message tism in water which promptly followed his consecration to sent to them until after israel s rejection in consequence of death at thirty years of age and was the public declaration their rejertion of mesriah of that devotion unto death that the heavenly father bore the baptism of john was to the jews only and was witness to his adoption to the divine nature we are not inwholly different from the baptism appointed for those called formed that any but john witn~ssed the descent of the holy from among-st the gentiles the apostle makes this fact very spirit upon him but john bore witness that he saw the spirit lear in acts iii :2-5 john s baptil m was not a baptism into thus descend and that the lord in sending him to preach any thing or into any body whereas our baptism is a baptism had previously testified that this war to be the sign by which into chrirt as members of his body john s baptism merely he would surcly know the mesriah john 1:32 33 it was in signifierl tllp putting away of sins and thur to return to a harmony with this that he declared to his disciples subserondition of holiness and consecration already enjoyed our quently a l jesus passed by behold the l!lmh of god hnpti m signifies something very different from this-not john doubtlerr knew and experted that rome of his disciples th putting away of the filth of the flesh but the submiswould cease cooperation with him to follow the messiah in rion of our rons ienrer our wills fully and unreservedly to deed he d~clar~d to them h must increase but i mus the will of christ that we should henceforth have no will of decreaa our own but be guided entirely by the will of our bead the two who heard john s testimony promptly followed as ml p berr of hi body thus h~roming dcad to reu-will we .jl rll with a view to gettinct as close to the fountain head of t see june 15 1919 issue for critical examination of covenants · are ret k onl d a iive a l new crea t mem b ers in par t uri s icui!lt of the body of christ l cor 12 :27 out friends of tl;e disciple denom;nation wholly misunderstand the jews aa a nation had alre dy been baptized into moses t~is matt r at;d are practisin jo~n s baptis of repentance and remisslon of sins 1 1stead of the b pttsm of chns they should note t~e 1 cor ]0:2 the mediator of their law covenant and to · oostle s words and correct this matter a he li1~tructed others to do iii the .tew chnat took the place of moses and hla new covenant his day-hy a fresh bapti~m act 19:2-5 [241 7 12 14

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14-16 zion s watch tower ai.legheny pa the truth as possible and all must admit the propriety of their course how this suggests to us our own proper course to follow the lord as nearly as possible and to seek as much as possible to come into fellowship and communion with him and the noble self-ignoring course of john appeals to all who have the right mind upon the subject-that similarly all of the lord s servants should call attention to the lord and not to themselves let us each bend our energies to pointing men to the lamb of god and not to self-seeking and let us remember that following jesus in the best sense means that we walk in his paths strive to do as nearly as we are able what he would do today taking our lessons from what he did and said personally and from the instructions which he has left for us through the apostles respecting the path of fellowship in his sufferings the path to glory and joint-heirship in his kingdom the lord is found of all those who diligently seek him from right motives and such are by and by to be granted full joint-heirship with him ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever i command you john 15 14 the evangelist furnishes us the name of only one of the two who first heard john the baptist speak of jesus it is possible that the apostle john himself was the other one and that through modesty he refrained from bringing himself into special prominence in his own records just as in another place he speaks of himself as that disciple whom jesus loved who leaned on his bosom modesty is a gem wherever found one of the graces of the spirit which all of the lord s consecrated ones should seek to have largely developed and well polished the narrative of how andrew found peter and how philip found nathaniel supposed to be the disciple called bartholemew is interesting and shows that true devotion to the lord is unselfish-desires to confer upon others all blessings and truths enjoyed this is still the spirit of true discipleship having found the great light of the world and having seen thereby something of the lengths and breadths heights and depths of the divine character and plan we are and should be anxious to serve the same favor to others and this desire to serve the lord and truth and our fellows should be so strong in us as to make it impossible for us to withhold the good tidings from any selfish consideration indeed if we have the spirit of the lord wliich is the spirit of the truth the spirit of true discipleship we will be so anxious to make known the good tidings as to be willing to lay down our lives for the brethren to help them out of darkness into his marvelous light it will be noticed that these who found the lord were full of faith respecting the messiah of whom moses wrote in the first five books of the old testament called the law and of whom all the prophets also wrote-jesus of nazareth the reputed son of joseph they had not yet learned that joseph was not the father of jesus nathaniel s answer can any good thing come out of nazareth reminds us of the prejudice which now exists respecting certain quarters from which good thin~s mayor ljlay not be expected for instance some of our english friends tell us that when the present truth was first brought to their attention they were inclined to disregard it and consider it un worthy of special investigation simply because it came from america for though they might expect many useful things to come from america the product of yankee skill they had no expectation whatever that any new light upon the scriptures would come from america where they seemed to imagine everyone given over to cheating and muck-raking for wealth and that consequently it would be one of the last places in christendom in which the lord would cause the harvest light to shine out for the blessing of his people this undoubtedly has hindered many foreigners from investigating the truths which are now meat in due season for the household of faith america is nazareth with them and they expect nothing of the kind from this quarter similarly others will inquire what denomination backs up these religious teachings and when told that no sect or party has endorsed these things and that not many great or rich or wise have in any sense of the word become interested they say to themselves if not to others what could you expect can any good come out of nazareth nevertheless all who are of the nathaniel type of character israelites indeed in whom is no guile will find sufficient reason for investigating and on investigation will find sufficient proofs to satisfy them as nothing else would do our answer to all such objections should be that of philip come and see test examine prove for yourself another lesson here that should prove of value is found ld the words respecting andrew he first findeth his own brother simon so all who find the lord and who are anxious to make him known to others should similarly begin in their own households with their own brothers and sisters father or mother or husband or wife there is frequently a diffidence about mentioning the lord and the truth to those who are of the family and home circle which is surely much out of place true love for our kin should lead us to make an extra and special effort on their behalf in conclusion let us remember that those who follow the lamb through evil as well as through good report-those who follow his teachings and example-are they who ultimately shall be with him and share his glory as members of his elect zion rev 14:4 cresar s friends or friends of jesus solemn question for today friends of cresar friends of jesus take your sides without delay if ye pause for man s forbidding cresar s friendship ye secure if ye do the father s bidding scorn reproach ye shall endure free from cresar friends of jesus stand in phalanx never fear love severely tried increases courage yet the lord is near onward still his name confessing weaving crowns to grace his brow lo his hands are full of blessing lifted for your succor now water turned into wine jan 15 john 2 1-11 and his disciples believed on him john 2 n the third day from the calling of nathaniel to discipleship of a feast in progress and the supplies run short and yet found our lord and his disciples invited guests at a wedding she could not have known of the lord s power to turn water in cana cana was near to nazareth for many years the into wine from any previous experiences during the thirty home of jesus and quite probably those who invited him his years of her acquaintance with him for contrary to all apocmother and his disciples was either relatives or old acquaint ryphal stories the boy jesus did no miracles nor did the ances this is implied in the fact that jesus mother knew young man jesus do miracles but as here declared the miracle when the wine was exhausted a matter which rather implied at cana was the beginning of his miracles nevertheless his scarcity of provision and which would be carefully kept from mother llad considerable confidence of some sort else she would the knowledge of outsiders who might be guests it is also not have instructed the servants to give heed to anything implied in the statement that mary gave commands to the jesus might command servants to do whatsoever jesus should direct a matter which our lord s reply to his mother has rather the appearance would have been quite improper in an ordinary guest of rudeness but we may be sure that this was not the case the fact that our lord was willing to attend the wedding the sense of the lord s words would seem to be to call his implies a sympathy with the marriage institution indeed we mother s attention to the fact that while he had in every know that god himself instituted marriage as between our sense of the word been a dutiful son for thirty years he had first parents and we have the apostle paul s inspired explana now reached the period of manhood according to the law and tion that this union between man and woman which god was now devoted consecrated to the lord no doubt he and approved was designed to be an illustration of the union be his mother had talked the matter over previously and he was tween christ the heavenly bridegroom and the church his thus reminding her that his life being consecrated now she bride eph 5 :22-28 could not expect him to be under her direction to the same jesus mother seems to have had some intimation of his extent as formerly-the time had fully come that he must now power to help the friends out of the difficulty and ignominy be about his father s business [2418]

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january 1 1899 zion s watch tower 16-19 the six water-pots mentioned as for purifying were probably intended for the use of the guests for washing their hands washing of hands had become an important part of the jewish observance and unless they washed oft they ate not mark 7 3 we nowhere find these washings and water-pots referred to in the law they were therefore probably part of the tradition of .the elders to which our lord so frequently referred as taking the place of the law of god these water-pots had handles permitting them to be tipped over so as to pour water upon the hands of those who washed and the six held about one hundred and twenty gallons of water for the supply of the many guests our lord made use of these water-pots in the performance of his miracle for two reasons 1 such vessels were probably rarely or never used for wine so there could be no misunderstanding of his miracle 2 he probably intended a symbolical lesson in their use for we are expressly told that this miracle was a manifestation of his glory beforehand vs 11 a manifestation of his work in the kingdom water is a symbol of truth both as respects its cleansing properties and also as respects its refreshment one of the necessities of life from which thought we have the expression water of life thus during the millennial age the servants of the truth will fill up all of mankind who are suitable vessels and all thus filled with the truth and brought vol into harmony with it under our lord s direction shall then by supernatural power find the truth transformed in them into the wine of joy-a joy superior to any other joy as the wine in the miracle was superior to any other wine it cannot be claimed for our lord jesus that he was a total abstainer from alcoholic liquors and the claim made by some that the word wine here mentioned signifies a nonintoxicating wine is not true it can however be said on the other side of the question that many of the wines of that vicinity and time contained much less alcohol than do many of the wines of today it may also be noted that changes have taken place in humanity so that the inhabitants particularly of the temperate zone are more highly nervous than those of any other time hence with stronger wines and with weaker nerves there is a largely increased tendency to excess and to injury it is our opinion therefore that if the lord were living where we do and now he would be a total abstainer from alcoholic liquors not only on his own account but also as an example for others this miracle was evidently not only designed to establish faith in our lord by his disciples and amongst the people in the vicinity of his home but also as already suggested was particularly designed to manifest in advance the still future glory of messiah s great work xx allegheny pa january 15 1899 no.2 view from the watch tower blindness beginning to return noll/l israel a remarkable lecture was recently delivered before the to mention the name of jesus the christ in order not to trans council of jewish women at philadelphia by rabbi k gress the law which says ye shall not mention the name of kohler on the new testament in the light of judaism it other gods neither shall it be heard upon your mouth nor illustrates the new attitude of jewish thought toward chris need we wonder at that it was little short of idolatry which tianity and indicates the first stage of fleshly israel s recovery a paganized church made herself guilty of in her worship of from ihe gross blindness of the past eighteen centuries rom jesus and his mother christianity has advanced since toward 9 :31-33 11 :7 10-12 20 25-29 the light of jewish monotheism it is jesus as a man as an the following extracts were the doctor s most favorable ideal of humanity that is now held up for adoration and references to jesus and christianity and might be misleading emulation by christian theology in spite of the trinitarian did we not explain that while making these remarkable ad dogma both art and literature portrays him no longer as a missions and concessions to christianity he attempted to offset god but as a wondrously gifted teacher and healer of men them and neutralize their effect by claiming that our lord s who appeals to our human sympathy nay more his apollo most forceful teachings were merely a fresh presentation of face gave way to the historically more correct type of the the sentiments and sometimes the very phraseology of the jews he is recognized as one of israel s great sons whatjewish teachers who preceded him his criticisms of the ever the restriction in the flesh may amount to should we epistles of peter james and john are in similar strain these then as jews not also gladly and proudly own him as one he claims were all jews and merely restated or rehashed of our noblest of men and accord to him the proper position jewish doctrines and precepts all the seriously anti-jewish in our own history ought we notwithstanding all difficulties not learn to appreciate the exquisite sayings and and anti·law teachings are charged to the apostle paul the doctor fails to see the point biblical christianity teachings contained in the new testament if only from a litmakes no claim of being in antagonism to ancient judaism erary and humanitarian point of view there is but one answer find the right focus and the quite to the contrary it claims that holy men of old [jews spoke and wrou as they were moved by the holy spirit it colors and shades of the object in view will lead you in the claims however that the real force and the true meamng of direction of the one light we need no clear sky to see the those inspired words were not appreciated nor intended of god sun rise on the eastern horizon the clouds reveal rather to be understood until the antitypical sin-offering having been than hide the dawn of light so do the myths or legends that presented by the lamb of god the holy spirit was granted gather round a popular hero disclose rather than obscure the to all consecrated believers for instance we heartily assent existence of a personality impressing the people with its charm that the golden rule in thou shalt love thy neighbor as and power it must not needs be exact historical truth what thyself was delivered to israel as a part of the law sixteen we are told concerning jesus those beautiful and strange centuries before our lord repeated it lev 19:18 and our tales about the things that happened around the lake of galilord quoted it not as an original saying of his own but as lee show that there was some spiritual daybreak in that dark a teaching of the law matt 19:19 what we claim is corner of judea of which official judaism had not taken suffithat those words were never understood never comprehended cient cognizance that a movement was inaugurated then which until our lord jesus the great teacher sent of god and illu did not receive its impulse or its sanction from the regular minated with the holy spirit expounded them by his example authorities or schools it matters not whether we accord to and teachings more than this we claim that the jews and jesus the claim and title of messiah or christ or not whether the majority of professed christians do not understand these the people and authorities of judea did or not or whether words now that only such as have consecrated themselves to he himself assumed it at any moment of his life it is one of the most interesting historical and psychothe lord and have received the holy spirit are able to comprehend the lengths and breadths and heights and depths of logical studies of judaism to follow this movement through this and other deep things of god s teaching if any man all its phases from the moment the cry of the coming the kingdom of heaven was heard on the shore of the jordan will do my father s will he shall understand the teaching among the humble baptists until the fishermen of galilee -john 7:17 1 cor 2:7-12 respecting the writings of the apostle paul not only the carried the good tidings or good spell gospel as the watchjews but all others in proportion as they come into close word of a new faith triumphantly out into the wide world accord with both the letter and the spirit of the divine word all the written and unwritten records point in unison to john will find in them the keys of the mystery of god-supplied the baptist as the starter of the movement the prophei-like to the church by the lord that they may be all taught of preacher of righteousness whom according to josephus ant 18 52 herod the tertrach feared for the mighty power he god that the man of god may be thoroughly furnished unto every good work revealings of the whole counsel of wielded upon the multitudes following him to the jordan to god capable of elaboration under the spirit s guidance but purify themselves of their sins of course josephus writing for the romans took heed not to allude to that messianic mesquite sufficient for such elaboration john 6 45 2 tim sage of his-the cry repent for the kingdom of god is 3:17 acts 20:27 near that is to say the kingdom of rome the satanic power the extracts referred to follow there was a time when you and i were taught not even of edom has reached its end all new testament reports [2419]

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20-11 zion s watch tot¥er agree that jesus was among those who received the consecration of baptism from that popular saint of the time still between the simple messianic hope and promise of john thebaptist with his fasts and ablutions and prayers and the bewjidpring faith of the christians that the messiah has appeared lnd though crucified has risen from the tomb now to .lit at the right hand of god as his son-there yawns a wide ha m which no ordinary reasoning of either jew or gentile olild easily bridge over beneath the thick crust of the second century hatred which ejllea vored to malign the jew in order to court the favor of homan rulers we can still read the true story of jesus tragic t nd from his own bps as he on the road to jerusalem announceb his fate to his disciples saying that he shall be delivered to the high priests and the scribes and they shall condemn him to death and deliver him to the heathen to mock and to scourge and to crucify mark 10:33 matt 20:18 lukp 18 32 the priestly sadducees and not the people and tht lf pharisean leaders were interested in having jesus brought to trial for his open attack on the priestly misrule and from fear lest the romans might hold them responsible as caiaphas tlh high piiest actually says in the older record in john s go pl 1 il the anti-jewi~h utterances are the work of the pauli iii school every word uttered by jesus was the ring 1 ewish sentiment and betrays the originality of a religious gpuius we cannot close our eyes to the one great fact that this man .j esus must have made a wonderful impression upon his hearers by the thousand and one sweet and beautiful things he said no matter by whom they were uttered before or after or else he could not have been made the author of all these a generation or two after he lived sulliei it to say that this greatness consisted in belonging to no school he was a man of the people christianity says leroy beaulieu produced saints judaism sages i say christianity gave us sister of mercy judaism noble types of wivee and mothers elevate and purify the church under the opprobrious epithet it s jewish what then would be the effect of the study of the chris· tian testament in the light of the jewish scriptures as indicated by dr k kohler certainly it will have an important influence it will not only disclose beauties of its own but also open jewish eyes to treasures in their own scriptures to which with the indifference of inherited spiritual wealth they have been hitherto oblivious this means the opening of the new testament to the jews -not willingly upon the part of the rabbis but by force of circumstances the growth of intelligence and the fact that the best people of the world have drawn their inspirations from it it was this same force of circumstances that compelled the roman catholic council of baltimore some years ago to grant roman catholics residing in the united statei liberty to own and to read the bible surely thi8 removal of the jewish ban from the new testament will mean the reading of it by the purest and best of that long blinded people and the reading of the new testament will mean the gradual turning away of their blindness so far as our observation goes nearly all the jews who have ever gotten their eyes opened to see christ as messiah have been converted by reading the new testament and not by tracts or other treatises-although other writings are lls necessary to them as to others as helps in understanding the divine plan of the ages after they have accepted jesus as messiah is not this the beginning of the fulfillment of our lord s words he that rejecteth me and receiveth not my words hath one that judgeth him [compare john 5:45-47 the word that i have spoken [directly and through the apostles the same shall judge him in the last day john 12:48 are we not entering the millennial period the last day and are not the blinded ones getting ready for the eye-salve they are still proud and their words are still stout against jesus as the messiah-it is merely their race-pride perhap8 which now leads them to acknowledge the great teacher s greatness because he was a jew but in the great time of trouble near at hand which will include jacob s trouble as well as babylon s fall the honest and humble ones will look unto him with the eye of faith and shall see him thus ane then will be fulfilled zechariah 12 10 zionism making progress · that doctor kohler is not merely giving expression to views of his own far in advance of the general trend of jewish thought is evidenced by the following comments on his lecture by the editor of the jewish exponent · dr berkowitz in discussing the lecture said that it could not have been delivered in other times because the lecturer s life would have been imperiled thereby there was another reason why this was true which is that there would have been no one to listen to it christians of course would have objected and to thl jews the new te~tament was forbidden fruit our ancestors regardl d the readlll of the new testament books as lh xt door to apostasy itself that jewish mothers should wish to be acquainted with its contents would have been unheard-of perversity all this has largely changed the jews have gone out into the world they meet christians on equal terms the dread of the christian religion has disappeared with the effort to forcibly convert .jews they have gone out into the full tide of christianity and behold they have not been swept away on the contrary the love of their own faith has ~rown it is an evidence of strength that leads the jew to wish to ascertain the true character of that literature so intimately connected with hifl own and yet so widely different so worl~embracing in its influence so potent in its effects upon his neighbors so freighted with consequences for himself w.hen before would rabbis have been found who would have lllvited their people and especially the women under any circum tances or conditions to read the new testament yet here it was done it need hardly be said however that such read1ilg must bc conducted with care and if possible under conditions which if not favorable to .judaism will be at least not hostile thereto but however the bible i read with whatever preconceptions it is extrl mely dillicult to escape the pervasive influence of its purity its strength its exaltation both of d~ity and humanity its powerful plea for righteousness its lllflue!1ce in the christian world is incalculable not go much in maklllg jews of cln istians as in retining and purifying christianity of its dros and bringing it nearer to the pure stock whence it sprung in every reformation of christianity the testament of israel has been thl starting point and the great foundation for the religious enfranchisement the trend of enlightened christianity of today is towards a rl turn to israel s simple and pure religious conceptions not a little of the antagonism felt towards the jews and their scriptures is due to the fears of christian relictionaries who would crush every attempt to zionist jews-those jews who are identified with the recent movement for a resettlement of palestine by the jews-report that the cause so near their hearts is not languishing their leader doctor herzl has recently had interviews with the sultan and the pope and with four prominent compatriots was present at jerusalem at the time emperor william visited that city and were kindly received by him dr herzl is reticent respecting the amount of encouragement given by these potentates but as one result of his vist to the sultan he bears a bad~e of the order of mejid~e which would seem to imply that the man and his plea were not disdained that the door of palestine will open to the jew and that shortly we have no question although it has been effectually closed for now nearly seven years-no jew being permitted to enter it except as a visitor whose period of stay is expressly defined and limited respecting doctor herzl s effortfl etc rabbi s wise hon secy amer fed zionists writes the exact tenor of the kaiser s courteous reply spoken in the presence of the minister of foreign affairs von billow has not been disclosed enough is known however to enable us to predicate that the kaiser is prepared to vouchsafe his benevolent sanction to the zionist movement calculated as it is to foster the agricultural life of palestine under the acknowledged sovereignty of the sultan the members of the deputation have since returned to vienna and have practically made thi declaration although they have couched their interviews which appeared in the official organ of the movement in terms of becoming reserve we do not ask that the holy places be committed to our exclusive keeping let these remain as they are now in the hands of those ho guard and cherish them surely the christian world requires no assurance on our part that every spot which christiana hold in reverence will be precious to us the jew shall not cease to honor true devotion to an idealleast of all in the land which his past has hallowed for all time not in vain do we place our reliance upon kaiser and sultan help and deliverance have come to us before through the grace of stranger kings two historic instances recur to us of israel marvelously saved and prospered with the help [2420]

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january 15 1899 zion s watch tower 22-23 of reigning kings in the year 538 of the pre-christian era cyrus took babylon and graciously permitted the babylonian exiles to return to their fatherland the momentous results whieh followed from the reestablishment of the judean commonwealth are part of-and the largest part of-the world s history a tree of two great branches flourished in time on the soil whieh the former captives by the rivers of babylon began to cultivate with all the ardor and assiduity of their nature-two branches the one the religion of ezra and the latest prophets of hillel and the rabbis the other the faith of jesus later become the christianity of his countless followers and all this came to pass as dr max nordau has aptly pointed out owing to the hardihood of a handful of the earliest zionists who availing themselves of the rights accorded to them by cyrus the noble chose to give up their peaceful and secure residence in babylon in order to live and labor in zion and rebuild its waste places the second exile is soon to end in the words of josephine lazarus once planted again upon native soil taking root downward as isaiah has it who can tell what upward flower and fruit the immortal branch may bear-what new birth of the spirit the undying spirit of israel may give to the world another king there was greater even than cyrus who like him befriended the jews in the course of his victorioue marches alexander visited jerusalem in the year 332 legends in great number have been woven around this visit picturing the manner in which this youthful prince who had come to scoff remained to pray whether it be true as rabbinic tale has it that alexander was so deeply impressed by the visage of the venerable high priest jaddua and the priestly train that he was moved to bow in humility and adoration before these whom he had set out to conquer and that he even caused sacrifices to be offered up to the most high in the temple of jerusalem we cannot tell we do know however that this macedonian ruler far from despoiling and violating the shrine as had been and continued to be the custom of earlier and later invading princes openly befriended the jews and treated them with the utmost consideration and generosity the date for t he memorial supper in the mterest of readers in the uttermost parts of the arth australia south africa russia china japan etc we give thus early notice that this year the date fixed by roman catholics and episcopalians agrees with the true date for the anniversary of our lord s death as reckoned by the old jewish method consequently thursday evening march 30 after 6 p m the beginning of the 14th of nisaa will be the proper time for the celebration of the memorial supper the next day good friday will be the anniversary of our lord s death and the jewish passover week should begin that evening-in exact accord with the record in the gospels but for contrariness sake to keep away from the christian date or for some other reason unknown the jews this year depart from their proper mode of reckoning and begin the passover week on march 26 which would really be the 9th of nisan instead of the 15th if properly reckoned tempt not thy neighbor a brother recently mailed us a letter containing a donation to the tract fund in money the letter was lost in transita person of weak conscience in the postoffice by practice possessed of a keen sense of touch recognized the nature of the contents and stole it the brother wrote subsequently that as the money was for the lord s cause he thought it proper to trust it to his care this was a mistake of the head not of the 11eart we are to do all in our power before expecting divine interpositions we are not to tempt providence thus see scriptural illustration of this principle in matt 4 6 7 on the other hand the command is that we shall love our neighbor as ourselves and lay no snare for his weaknesses covetousness we know is a general weakness amongst men and we should so far as possible guard and shield them from temptations of this and of every kind besides this is only business prudence postoffice money orders or express and bank drafts are safe and we advise that these be used during the month of december we received 3,997 letters and cards and have reason to think that about one hundred sent to us were stolen by some one tempted to dishonesty by reason of the touch of a bank bill or the bulky appearance of the letters by the way last month s mail was our largest-exceeding any previous month in the history of this work ye must be born again jan 22 john 3:1-16 nicodemus displayed both a noble and an ignoble dispo in themselves the nicodemus disposition seek immediately to sition in coming to the master 1 he had a nobility of mind overcome it and to get their hearts so filled with the love of which was able to discern distinctly that jesus was not an god and the love of his truth that it will make them free from impostor but a teacher from god and it was his desire for bondage to sectarianism and to fear of man which bringeth a the truth which led him to seek it from the lips of one of no snare perfect love casteth out fear whom the son makes reputation amongst the worldly wise 2 but he displayed free is free indeed l john 4:18 john 8:36 the ignoble element of his disposition by coming privately evidently but a small portion of this conference between secretly at night whereas he should have acted up to hls jesus and nicodemus is furnished us-merely the leading fea· convictions fairly and have come forward to inquire of the tures evidently the questions which nicodemus asked related lord if not in public at least in daylight and openly there to the kingdom of god which john the baptist had declared are a good many christians of the nicodemus type they have was at hand and which our lord also declared to be at the a standing in the nominal church and a great respect for the door as a teacher amongst the jews nicodemus was surely honor of one another so general in it imbued with this hope of israel-that in due time god would some today for instance see something of the light of send messiah who would establish the long-promised kingdom present truth and are convinced that the meat in due season of israel-superior to all the kingdoms of the world and over now spread before the household of faith is from god s word them all-to bless all the families of the earth according to and not human sp~culations they will confess this much to the promise made to abraham not only might we infer that themselves and privately to some of the servants of present his question pertained to the kingdom but our lord s answer truth and privately secretly so far as their denomination plainly indicates this for he began at once to talk about the are concerned they procure and read millennial dawn and promised kingdom zion s watch tower-perhaps subscribing in the name of the great teacher s explanation respecting the kingdomclass must have struck nicodemus as totally new he had some one else for fear of the jews but although this is an ignoble course the lord does not refuse them the oppor been accustomed to think of all the nation of israel as being tunity they seek and like nicodemus they are made acquainted the children of the kingdom or if not the entire nation at with the truth .but as we hear little more respecting nicoleasi their most intelligent classes the scribes the doctors of demus so the nicodemus class of today very rarely develop the law and their holiness class the pharisees but here wa into true o.verc?ming disciples servants of the truth fear is a new thought-none would be in this kingdom sharers of its good caution is good when properly exercised but when glory and of its work of blessing all the families of the earth these are allowed to have any voice in dictating our course except they should be born again nay more the intimaafter ~e have fou~d the truth their influence can only be evil tion was that the kingdom would be an invisible kingdom that enslavmg deme!l;mng those who are thus bound by love of none could even see it except he would be born again failing human approbation and fear of the consequences of a public to grasp the thought of begetting and birth to a higher nature b?ld advocacy of the lord and his truth are not worthy of nicodcmus was puzzled to think how a person who had reached him as h declared he that is ashamed of me and my word maturity could ever be born again according to the flesh and of him will i also be ashamed we urge that all who find of our e lip wag right in considl ring that an impossibility iii-33 [2421]

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23-24 zionjs watch tower allegheny pa the new birth is not to be a birth acco ding to the flesh as our lord explains that which is born of the flesh is flesh but that which is born of the t;pirit is spirit the master s teaching was not that we should be !jorn again of the flesh but quite to the contrar.r that those who would constitute the kingdom cla s must be begotten and born of the spirit of god the spirit of holiness the spirit of the truth there is a great lesson here for many pre-millennialists who vainly think as kicodemus that the kingdom of god will be a fleshly kingdom that the kingdom-class will have what they are pleased to call glorified flesh our l 1aster s plain declarations thoroughly set aside all such expectations and to us as well as nicodemus he positively declares that none shall enter into the kingdom except he be born again the statement that that which i lorn of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the spirit is spirit is so unqualifiedly plain and proves so emphatically that the spirit-begotten and 8pirit-born class the little flock which will inherit the kingdom will not be flesh-beings in any sense of the word but splnt-being-s that there is no room for eontrover y or for misunderstanding on the part of those who have no will of their own in the matter but are seeking to be taught of the lord all recognize the meaning of the expression born of the flesh that it does not mean merely begotten of the flesh but a birth into independf-nt flesh-life as a result of the begetting and gestation and precisely the same thought should attach to the expression born of the spirit it does not relate merely to the begetting of the spirit through the word of truth which occurs during the present life and at the time of our consecration to the lord but on the contrary it implies and includes a subsequent birth to perfected spirit conditions-the entrance of the spirit existence in the resurrection -the result of the present begetting of the truth and the present period of gestation or development as new creatures 111 christ .jesus that this is the proper scriptural thought to be attached to this word born is manifest from other scriptures which declare that our lord jesus was at his resurrection the first-bor n flom the dead and the first-born amongst many brethren rom 8 :29 col 1 18 our lord was begotten of the spirit at the time of his baptism when the holy spirit came upon him the new nature there begun in the flesh developed during the three and a half years of his ministry in proportion as the flesh the human nature died thus as the apostle expresses it he was dying daily as the man chri t .je us but was being renewed day by day in the inner man the new creature the spirit being 2 cor 4:16 the complete death of the flesh with our lord was the ietory of his new nature which refused to draw back refused to save the flesh which had already been devoted to sacrifice as our sin-offering it was because of this faithfulness of our lord as the new creature in offering up his fle h as a sinoffering that the heavenly father was pleased to resurrect the new creature not the flesh which was man s ransom price the resurrection of the new creature in a spirit body glorious powerful immortal 1 cor 15 :42-44 was our lord s birth of the spirit ii s the first-born amongst many brethren a the head of the kingdom was thus begotten of the spirit and in due time born of the spirit so like ise must it be with tho e who will be members of that kingdom flesh and blood [human nature shall not inherit the kingdom of god cannot inherit the kingdom of god 1 cor 15 50 hence we who would be heirs of the kingdom must all be changed-made like our spirit-born head ere we can either see the kingdom or share its glorious work as members not only did our lord clearly state thl matter thus but he gave an illustration which is in absolute harmony with this understandin of his words but meaningless from any other standpoint he declared that as the wind comes and goes but i invisible to men so will all those be who will be members of the kingdom born again our lord illustrated this teaching in his own person after his resurrection although he was present forty days he appeared only a few times to the disciples in all apparently not more than seven and even on these occasions he appeared in a form of flesh as angels did during previous dispensations and communed with them for a few moments and then vanished out of their sight as the wind he came as the wind he went and they knew not whither invisible as the wind he was present with them taking note of all their affairs during all that forty days and merely appearing at the proper times to give the needed counsel and directions and assistance so it will be with all of the kingdom class when they are born of the spirit they will be able to go and come and attend to all the various functions of the kingdom without being visible to mankind thl y will be as the wind it will be within their province to appear as men ab the angels have done if there be neces lty for so appearing although we indine to think that there will be no such neces· ity as god ha already provided an earthly class as the representatives of the kingdom amongst men heb 11 :39 40 w i are in no sense denying or objecting to the ordinary thought that a work of grace takes place in the heart of the christian when he is adopted into the divine family as a son and prospective heir of god a new creature in christ jesus on the contrary we are affirming this as an absolute necessity to a share in the kingdom for whoever is not begotten of the spirit surely can never hope to be born of the spirit we are merely making the proper distinctions between the begetting of the spirit which is merely the beginning of the work of grace in us and the birth of the spirit which is the completion of that work when we shall be like the lord and see him as he is and behold and share his glory ve cannot wonder that nicodemus was astonished when we remember that the holy spirit was not yet given and that nicodemus was not a member of the house of bons but merely of the house of servants we wonder far more that some who have been begotten of the spirit do not readily comprehend this spiritual teaching for it is their privilege to understand the deep things of god 1 cor 2 10 as our lord said to nicodemus art thou a master in israel and knowest not these things we may with much greater point say to christians who cavil today are you begotten of the spirit and taught of god and yet ignorant of these things our lord does not even class this teaching as being specially spiritual but rather earthly such as the natural man in proper harmony with god should be able to understand and appreciate he says if i have told you earthly things and ye believe not how shall ye believe if i tell ou of heavenly things those whose minds are on so gross an earthly plane that they cannot appreciate so simple a matter as this are not in the condition to be inducted into the deeper things of god they are at most but babes and have need to be fed with milk instead of with strong meat heb 5 12 nicodemus unable or perhaps we should say because of prejudice unwilling to believe this message concerning the spiritual character of the kingdom was unprepared for any further teaching along that line-he was unwilling to receive the truth the only message which christ had to give although he was already persuaded that our lord was a teacher sent from god hence our lord says ye receive not our witness our lord s statement except a man be born of water and of the spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of god de· serves further consideration ve have scen what he meant by the expression born of the spirit dz born from the dead by the power of god as a spirit being but hat is signified by the expression born of water it is daimed by a very large number indeed that this refers to wau>r baptism and that those who are not born out of water will not have part in the lord s kingdom we are willing to admit the truth of this only to a limited extent we hold that the lord refers to the true baptism which is merely symbolized by immersion in water and the rising out of it we hold that the real thought is the burial of the old nature and the rising of the new nature to newness of life and that this is accomplished through consecration of the will to the will of the lord a burial or immersion of the human will to death as the neces· sary step to be taken in connection with the obtaining of the holy spirit the holy mind the mind of christ the spirit of christ which is the beginning in our flesh of the new creature which must be developed and made ready if it would be born of the spirit in the resurrection this same thought seems to be in the mind of the apostle when he refers to the bath of a new birth the making new by the holy spirit tit 3 5 cornelius evidently had this bath of the new birth the making new by the holy spirit before his baptism in water which was a symbol of it and an out· ward confession to others and so it is we believe with some christian people today they have had the bath of the new birth and the making new by the holy spirit and are thus genuinely new creatures in christ jesus without having had the symbolical immersion in water-because being mis· taught as a result of the errors of the dark ages they do not discern the beauty of the symholic baptism in water and the scriptural command thereto and this ignorance and disobe· dience god evidently has passed over with many of us for years but when in the abundance of his grace a knowledge of his will on this subject ultimately reaches us there should not be one moment s hesitation-there will not be one moment s hesitation if the will of the flesh is entirely dead and the mind of christ fully in control the oldest greek 1 iss the sinaitic and the vatican omit the last four words of verse 13 witl evident propriety for 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january 15 1899 zion s watch tower 25-26 altjlough our lord is now in hea en he was not in heaven at the time he addressed nicodemus the words in this verse were intended to remind nicodemus that he need not look to fellow-human creatures for information respecting heavenly things as they could not know them any more than himself but incidentally this verse teaches us something more viz that no man has ever been in heaven except our lord jesus this not only agrees with the statement of peter on the day of pentecost david is not ascended into the heavens but it also agrees with the apostle paul s statement flesh a111 blood [human nature 1 cannot inherit the kingdom of god 1 cor 15:50 acts 2:34 the only ground for hope that any of the fallen race of adam will ever know anything about the heavenly condition is then stated by our lord to depend upon his own justifying work on man s behalf he must be lifted up ae the great sinoffering the antitype of the brazen serpent which moses lifted up in the wilderness the antidote for the bites of the fiery serpents which represented sin our lord s reference to the results gives the thought of the wideness of god s mercy and of his provision for our race although now this mercy is confined to the elect church even as many as the lord our god shall call it is in due time to be world-wide and a blessing to whosoever believeth on him then the grand gospel provision is briefly stated in few word -god s sympathetic love for the world his provision of the ransom in the person of his son and that provision made not merely for an elect class but for the world of mankind in general-wllosover believeth another thought god s provision is not to rescue any from the flames of hell from an eternity of torment but to rescue them from death from destruction from perishing from nonentity and to grant everlasting life to whosover is willing to have it on the conditions of the new covenant the water of life jan 29 john 4:5-15 vhosoever drinketh of the water that i shall give him shall never thirst john 4 14 early in his ministry in sending forth the apostles to ritans as of different classes or castes is clearly shown in the preach the kingdom of god at hand our lord had instructed woman s surprised reply to our lord s request not that the them that they were not to go amongst gentiles r or to sa samaritans were averse to having fellowship with the ,tews maritan cities to deliver their message it was easy to avoid but that the jews imbued with the thought that the promises the gentiles becawle comparatively few of them resided in of god were to the seed of abraham exclusively would have palestine the governorg of the land herod and pilate the no dealings with the samaritans would ask 110 favor of centurions and the soldiers were probably the only gentiles them and apparently would grant few favors to them while thl were likely to meet and these they were to seek to avoid our lord wag bound to act in line with that truth that the a tile message of the kingdom wag not for them but it was seed of abraham and the promises made to it were distinct a difficult matter to avoid the samaritans for the district and separate from all others yet he was not influenced by called samaria lay between judea proper and galilee and was feelings of pride caste etc and in thig instance he pursued a necessarily pas~ed through repeatedly hv our lord and his policy in harmony with the apostle s admonition-that good chospn twelve be done to all men as we imve opportunity-preferably to the the samaritans it will be remembered were not jews household of faith gal 6:10 for the time our lord was although the wpre worshipers of god and had com largely not in a position to speak to israelites to do them good and undpr the influpnc of the teachings of the law they were he was prompt to emhrace the opportunity to do what good he de,rc ihlants of tho,e mixed peoplps whieh were plar d in pos ould to pll a samaritan woman and therein is a lpsson hes ioll of the land of israel ae colonists when the ten tribps for all of his followers today we sllould servc the housphold werr liken raptiv and colonized amongst the gentiles a of faith wherever possible but when tllis is impossible and thp israelites in a foreign land took up with the religious an opportunity offers we should seek to do some good to otheh customs of those lands to a large extent so these gentiles -to speak words which may help them by and by if not in transported to palestine took up with many of the religious the present time or age customs tc related thereto but their .belief in go.d and the not entering into a dispute with the woman nor into explafact that tl~ey worslllped the true god ~id not constitute them nations of the distinction between the seed of abraham and p.r?ppr subjects for the gospel call which was con~ned exclu others our lord proceeds to talk of something much more imsnel to .the natural seed .of abrallam up to the time of our portant to her and in this also sets a good example to all l~rd s rejecbon th l their house was left desolate and the those who would speak his truth in his name in his way mld:lie wall of partition betwepn them and other natlons was wisely he told the woman of a more important matter-that br.oken down ~nd the gospel of the kmgdom was sent fort.h he alone could give the water of life while physically he was without restral.nt to whosoever woul ha.ve .the ears to hear.lt weary and needed the natural water yet in a higher sense the it was while ol~r lord and hls disciples were passmg woman was the weal y one heavy-laden with sin who needed through this samantan terntory between gahlee and judea the invigorating water of life of which the lord himself is that coming to one of the cities of samaria he was refused the fountain entertainment and .tames and john inquired yilt thou that the tho.ugh 111 the expr~s lon hvlllg waters .1s that of we command fire from heaven to destroy them and jesus a fresh sprlllg iii contrast with stagnan waters which become refused saying that hi mission was one of salvation and not of degtruction the samaritans did not refuse entertainment cont~mmated and foul the water which our l~r propos~d because they were opposed to the lord and his teachings for ~o g~v the woman was ce.rtamly not the holy s~ult for ~hls quite to the contrary they apparently would have been very is dlstlllctl:r t~rmed the gift of the fa~her and is symboh~ed willing to receive him recognizing him as a teacher sent from by the anomtmg oil the water o hfe ls .the tntth which god who performed many wonderful works their refusal to both clean~es and refreshes a portion ~f this our lord co~ld entertain him was because he did not purpose to stop with properl,y g.lve to the samantan .w0d.jan if she ~ere hu!1genng them to teach them perform miracles in their midst heal their and thustmg after it and he did give her a drmk of it the woman classed herself as a daughter of jacob and sick etc but was merely passing through in his journey to perform his miracles upon and teach the israelites thus implied a hope on the part of samaritans that notwithit was while our lord and the apostles were similarly standing their rejection by the jews from heritage in the passing through samaria again that weary with his journey abrahamic covenant they nevertheless trusted in some blesand probably not wishing to appear unkind nor to be similarly sing and indeed there was a mixture of israelitish stock repulsed again jesus waited beside jacob s well and rested amongst the samaritans for certain poor israelites had not while the apostles went to the city of sychar to replenish been deported to foreign countries and these ignoring ~he their stock of provisions and in the interim a woman of strictness of the abrahamic covenant had inter-married with samaria met jesus at the well when she came to draw water the gentiles and in general had abandoned circumcision and it was evidently with less of a desire for the water for his the other conditions of judaism and hence could be no longer own comfort than from a desire to teach the woman that our recognized by the lord as in any respect different from the lord asked her for a drink while he could not invite her other nations gentiles so too it was with many of the or any other samaritan to a place in the kingdom which was israelites who were deported they mixed and mingled with the central thought of his gospel he could nevertheless appro the gentiles abandoned the sign of circumcision in the flesh priately give her some food for thought which later on might and in general all the provisions of the lord s covenant these do her good and prepare her to have a hearing ear against in every sense of the word ceased to be israelites and had no the time when the gospel call would be unre tricted-for whofurther hopes under that covpnant being as much strangers 80ever hath an ear to hear and foreigners to the promisl s of the covenant as any genthe completl ness of separation bptween the .jews and sama tiles [2423]

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p. 15

27-28 zion s watch tower thus from our lord s treatment of the samaritans we can readily see the baselessness of the expectation of some who style themselves anglo-israelites and claim to be the decendants of these deported israelites who abandoned circumcision and all the features of the law covenant given to israel those who lean on such a prop lean upon a broken reed the only israelites who can hope for any mercy and blessing at the lord s hands under the law covenant and as the natural seed of abraham are those who have a sufficiency of abrahamic faith to at least maintain the outward signs of the flesh and an outward attempt at obedience to their law covenant as for the others whl become part and parcel of the gentiles they have neither part nor lot any longer with israel they may however through christ come under the still more beneficent terms of the new covenant sealed with his precious blood but the blessings of the two covenants cannot be mixed and as the apostle paul distinctly declares whoever hopes for justification under the law covenant and unner the new covenant is making a great mistake and is falling bptween thpm both whosoever he be christ profiteth him nothing he is yet in his sins and not an heir neither as a member of the natural seed nor yet as a member of the spiritual seed gal 5 2 the woman s slowness of comprehension is striking and yet so it is with all of us when first we came in contact with spiritual truths our lord s patience as a teacher with a congregation of only one and that one a woman of a low caste should be a lesson to all of his followers who seek to distribute to others a taste of the water of life our lord s explanation of the peculiarities of the water of life of which he is the fountain for mankind is very beautiful but its force can be appreciated only by those who have received this blessing at his hands-only by those to whom he has communicated his truth and who have been sanctified by that truth set apart as his disciples-as fountains of truth for others errors falsities may satisfy temporarily the craving of those who have never yet tasted of the truth the water of life but nothing can give permanent lasting satisfaction except the truth and our lord himself the word the logos the message of the father full of grace and truth is the embodiment and representative of this satisfying water of life whoever receives the lord as his redeemer and leader and teacher through whom all the gracious promises of god are to be ful· filled whoever receives this water of life receives a satisfying portion and will never be found looking for truth in other directions it will satisfy his longings as nothing else could do and so abundantly as to leave no appetite for strange waters the saints the body of christ the prospective bride are the only ones who receive this water of life in its fullest and completest sense during this gospel age and of them it is true that this water is always fresh springing up within them everlastingly and when these many well-springs shall in god s due time be brought together in the kingdom then will be fulfilled through them unitedly as the body of christ the prediction out of thy belly shall flow rivers of living water -john 7:38 this river of water of life does not flow at the present time it cannot flow out to the nations until all the little flock as well·springs shall be brought together in the king· dom and thus it is pictured in revelation that after the throne the kingdom is e ltablished from under it shall flow the river of water of life clear as crystal truth will then flow as a mighty river refreshing and blessing the whole earth and causing the trees of promise to bring forth leaves for the healing of the nations [the heathen and then shall be fulfilled a promise of the scriptures which is misapplied by many to the present time the spirit and the bride say come and let him that heareth say come and let him that is athirst come and whosoever will let him take the water of life freely rev 22 17 the bride cannot say come in this sense of the word until she becomes the bride when the marriage of the lamb is come and the new age has fully opened neither can she invite the whole world to come to the river of truth until she herself ha l been glorified and until that river of life flows while looking forward to that glorious day when grace shall be free to every creature we nevertheless rejoice in the election of the present time in which the gospel call is intended not for everyone but for only those who have ears to hear even as many as the lord our god shall call acts 2 39 faith rewarded thy son liveth feb 5 john 4:43-54 jesus said unto him thy son liveth and himself believed and his whole house john 4:53 two days were spent preaching to the woman of samaria with which we are intimately acquainted distance lends enand completing the journey into galilee etc ere the noble· chantment to the view when one sees a mountain at a man s son was healed galilee was a part of the territory distance its outlines stand out with boldness and symmetry which formerly belonged to the ten-tribe kingdom of israel but when he comes close to it the beauty and grandeur are and the district called samaria lay between galilee and judea apt to be marred in his estimation because his eye rests it will be noticed that while our lord journeyed hither and upon the smaller fragments and the silt and soil and tangle thither he never went outside the territory occupied by the of common weeds nevertheless the view and thought from twelve tribes it will be remembered that jesus was born in a greater distance are the truer ones the proper ones so bethlehem of ,judea not far from jerusalem and that his par too some of earth s characters who are highly esteemed today ents rhortly after his birth fled into eg-ypt under the lord s were much less esteemed by those who came most closely in direction before the slaughter of the babes of bethlehem and contact with them in their day not that the present view is on the return from egypt instead of returning to bethlehem the false one but because those who were closest to them they located at nazareth in galilee that he might be called and who were affected by the commonalities of daily life a nazarene and that thus odium for eccentricity might at failed to rightly appreciate them this is often true in the tach to the lord as an offset to his wonderful personality households and family connections of the world s notables and the gracious words that proceeded out of his mouth the little things of life are seen and the character is measured such as never man spake before or since to the intent by these rather than by its larger features which alone are that only the rc;raelites indeed might hear in the true sense seen in the distance for instance julius cresar who by all of the worn and be healed and accepted as sons of god under the world is acknowledged to have been a great man was the new covenant of grace lightly esteemed by cassius his intimate friend and servant it will be remembered that our lord s disciples were who once saved his life from drowning and who was with known a l galileanr and himself as the galilean and him when sick and who measured him by the weaknesses of recognizin thl truth expressed in the proverb a prophet these occasions and others rather than by the largeness and is not without honor save in his own country our lord greatness exhibited at other times he for instance called did not begin his ministry in galilee but in judea it seems attention to the fact that when creesar was sick he cried probable that after his first miracle at cana he with his give me some drink titinius like a sick girl his losedisciples went to .judea and was present there at the time ness hindered him from seeing the greatness which other lefls of the feart of the passover and at that time performed many close could readily discern and thus he says notable miracles on account of which his fame went abroad it doth amaze me not only throughout judl a but also into his own country a man of such a feeble temper should galilee for it war the custom for large numbers of the devout so get the start of the majestic world jews to go to jerusalem to the feast of the passover every and bear the palm alone year and there from galilee had brought back word of the so it was with jesus neither did his brethren believe on works ann .fame o their countryman hence our lord was him which expression in olden times signified kimofolk in· now returnmg to ~is own country a great prophet because of cluding cousins as well as brothers they knew mary his the fame firc;t gamed elsewhere mother they knew his brethren they knew joseph the husou ~ord s e;cperience was no excep~ion to the gen~ral band of mary and apparently they knew also that jesus was rule it is a trait of human nature to lightly esteem thmgs not the son of joseph but was conceived before joseph had &le june 15 1919 for critical examination of covenants taken mary as his wife matt 1 18 for this was the evident [2424]

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