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Watchtower year 1900
La Torre di Guardia annata 1900
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yolo xxi allegheny pa .ja nltary 1 1000 no.1 views from the watch tower fallen from grace versus collapsed 110re evident does it become daily that our lord s d laration babylon is fallen doer not signify till outward eollaps of churchianity but that nominal chri tendom ha fallen from divine favor ju lt as til fall of nationa i .judaism from divine favor at the rejection and crucifixion of me siah at his first presence meant not the collap e at the moment of that religio-political system the collapse of .judaism came after it had been fau.en from divine favor for 37 yearr t l .· in a d 69-70 and during that interim god s true people israelites indeed were called out by the voice of the gospel dispensation and just so now the collapse of nomillal chri tianity christendom or babylon i not to hi p p l tl d until a d hh.j though fallen from favor inc·c· is,s thl eollapse will be sudden and awful when it doer c omc and hill only the few realize the fallen-from-grac condition of babylon in the present none will be ignorant of her c ollap e when it comes rut to know then will he too late 0 far a thl little flock of overcomers is t oih l rned thev an all ealled now during thl interim come out of her my people that ye he not partakers of her sins and that vi reccive not of her plagues punishment rev if 2-4 the collapse of babylon is grnphieally deserihl d by tlu reyelator as like the easting of a great millstone into the sea raying thus rsudd nly 1 with violencl shall that great city bah ion hc thrown down and h fouwl no moil at all he>r udcl n destruction is descrihed as a great conflagration and the declaration is made that it is iwcause the hour of hpr judgment [krisis 1 will have come that ~he will tlluh suffer ov rthrow or plagues ther forc shall her plagues come in olle dl1;y [prophetic time ir a day for a year death and mournmg and famme and she shall he utterly burned with tire for strong ir the lord god who judgeth her vhoever arl worthy the name my people will iwar and obey tl lord voice and come out of babylon and reeeiye not of 111 1 plagues because their obedie>nce 111 fleeing out as soon as thpy s~e babylon s rea conditi~n will proye that they wpre np pr m real accord with her rills thore who 1 c moill after 6peing babylon and her hlasplj mous doctrines in the light now 8hinin arl reekoned as endorsing thl blasphemies llnd dc serying the plagues moat thoroughly-ar mueh or mol l than the tare clasr of bllbvlolllan l ausp thcv have greatpr light iany err in not fleeing promptly when fir t they n alizp tllp true pondition of affairs solllp say i will use mv offic p or influen e in babylon and then ohpy tljp lord after 1 have gatherpd some of the wheat thl v for/rct that obedil n l ia better than all else in divinp estimlltion-bdtn eyen thlln sacrifiee are they wiser than god that they may ewn for a month advantageously 0 afel ignore hi yoi d latp on tlh y find that even the tarc class considpr thpm lis havin fo a time at least di l8embll d llnd misrepre pnted their own fal~h as well as mirrppre>aented tl faith of till denomination whh h ~hey had agrl l d to uphold thpir iili uel1ce whic·h at first might have lieen powerful for the tnlth hl eomes vitiutpd hy reason of tlwir neglp·t to olwv god s oic l hy tlll ir attempt to guide tll mse>lvl lind t:l ipan to the>ir wn undprstanding othpr8 say i am ine from bab;vlon in spirit god knowa although my name is still on the deuominatlonal rolls i take no interest in her affairs-my hympathies arp all with the truth and i rarely attend other meetings but is this rightto 1 half out and half in babylon iii this the obedien p required of an overeomer and pleasing and a l ptable to god surely not he publicly entered into a coi e110nt with tlw d·nomination when he joined it and he hould faithfully livp up to all the conditions of that covenant until he as i1i i,li rpllounces 1 cancels his m mhership others say i merely retain my membership in the chureh[close]
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4-5 zion s watch tower ai.l~gnllny pa heart unions they are the work of satan and not god s workmanship they tend to prevent heart-union and foster errors which otherwise would quickly die not until enlightened by tbe spirit of god s word are any prepared to exercise the liberty when with christ makes free indeed and to come out from all false christian unions or sectarian communions into that broad place which recognizes one lord one faith one baptism and one church whose ,wmes are written 1» herwen and only sueh are prepared for proper union on thp rflme basis ao that of the church of apostolic timer whrn therefore we from time to time in these columns alludp to tlh growing evidcnpes of a federative 1lf1ion among :til the great dpnominations of christendom and when we poilit ollt ell th si rip1nrpr illllipatp sl1rh a union ipt no one f,uppo 3p tll lt ithrr wp nr hip rr ripblrp 3 approl r of f.uph a union ol ell1l~i<1 r that it i inflllpnpe yill he favonhle to eithpr thp trllt11 or the f llnt quite to thp contrar:v the infhtpjh o will t,p !j n fnl hat ycr h encouraging or hplpful to bahylon is proportil lat p1 v ininrio11s to thc truc churrh the various s rjq {jf chri~t nr]nm rf di7p that many of the doptrinal trors i,idl have hcn tnforc hound thpir v otaries hplplessly ani m d lni lllv ill no iow~f>r hol,i as firmlv as bdore and thpy aro snpt·la ntinv rh p ith nrw bonas of bt r t1pvic 1ii low of re~p t:1 hili ty and prillp in d nm 1in ional n~m and prn~r ritv rt pari spirit anl instp~d of thp rlis reditl d dol tdnp l wlrieh can no longpr be linfnrkd a standard hut whiph mnst ho carril d along ti htly clo 3l d they arp rairing th rtan.jard of mon l and politirul reform the bannpr of a n w cru~adp no o j in rflv that thdr flipflop jg 1m pvil of itself and onlv the f w who arc spiritually mindrd thp trll dmr h in anrl ont of thpir sed fin so mupll a s e tllat moral and politirf!l rptorm j a worldly work rnrl nnt thp ommirsio!1 if 1hp hllrrh whj ll i 3 fltjoinh o to prf>a h not sllpll forms but the cross of christ and complete ng 1 rration of hel1·t rho ll ho 11.1 looking for a union in christendom in whil h denomination ll llamer and dpnominational lin r will bp 011literated are looldng for what they will n wr sf e lmtil the rreat polhp ll e0mpr and th entire chri~tendom system f-orial rdi iou politi ul and finan ial gops down in the great nnar hou 3 trollhl with whirh thp presl nt ag will ioce the m,io yhirh will h cpml ntl d will hp hr l lv one of common rc l tilt pnt and o-op ration in moral and po1itipal reforms anll this f lerative union fls air ndy pointpd out b gnn in ir·h in tl e orgflnization of th eyang il al ajiianpe we are hokin vparly for it 3 final imot to hp tied in rome mannpr th:lt will inplljlc with other protpstant lc nominntions the episeopal church and a tdorkinq agrcement with papaev thm tho irnaqe of the rl ast rf v ic!l will r l eive life -vigor pnl re:y-be made adi e and that aptivitv whil h will ri l m t l promisp gr nt things for rabylon and whil h wlij activply f upprpss libl rty and 1 wrtpd powerfullv ngainst the ~prl ad of the truths now ]1uhlisllni by lls will be but the ii ftip iip of til grf at millston prrparatory to it 3 bring violl ntlv and l]llir kly dp ltrovpfi for it will ronn be virlent that llph a 11 w union of ·jl1lri l1 ap/i statl wllollv diffc rrnt from that of th past will bc a llnion of thp larses again lt the ma ps nnd it will bf the ri~ing of thp ma ~s 3 in revolution that will ail god s agency hllrl the babylon system to utter destrurtion the time of opportunity is short 1 1ip motl l lp:l rlv f sr pn rl nt conclitions and foresee tlloqi npprolll hing thl morl it hould ftimulate our zeal to be and to do hill we hayl the opportunity-for a dark night appro,ll hl i wlll rein no 1 1:1il an work hoev r desires to lay iip tre 1~urf in heavpn ljy voluntarily sa rificing time moih v infhh 11l p and otlh r l ilrthjy 1 0nqi,i rations for the rpn if tl lore ]lv f.prviee of th lj dhren should bpstir ljimsc if l t tll han:l s t pa awl tll sllmmf r of opportunity f nd lid j1 finl that hi has frilpd to 011 r his sal tifire which ill pll ntt l1 to goll 1hl o1 l til a ily wlwn hi was hnptizl d into c hlht l tl llth and whl«v r 11aying llf eoml nominally a ml mhl r of till ro,a 1 pril sthood dops not offrr any sacrifice dllring tljis go i]1i day of ~al rifiep forfpits hi plal e as a mem r of t l it jllll t hoorl-lli nanlp wiji sllrely hp blotter nut and till town apportionl d to him on tl strength of hh ovl nlltlt to ~al rifil i will hi sl t o r to an01hpr who will apprel iate and 11 i the pr!t>lzegc of self-dpnial self-sacrifice luffering with cilrist the prospects for 1900 it is our opinion that tijp y ar jllst lwginning will be a very prosperous year for thl truth this is not merely a wiril fath r to the thought nor if it hf l anse thl good hopes alrea.dy sent in seem to giv promisf of fnnd 3 for a widcr spread of the truth for as an offset we have noticed that our paper the chief item of cost in our publication will cost us nearly double what it did last year-in other words a dollar will do only about sixty cents worth as compared to last year no but we have felt for several months past that churchiamty has reached and is at a crisis wherea e!l avage is sure to take place whlch will sc parate from her some true saints who hith rto have been perplexed re pecting the lord s will but who will not gradually become convinced tlmt babylon is no longer his mouthpiece but already spewpd out of his mouth rev 3:16 and that her evolutionary teachings are not of him but in radical opposition to his word and plan ve have confidence that god s time is ripe for present truth to be morp wjrlely madp known among hi 3 people ae a i alt of the gospl l whieh is eithpr a savor of lift unto lifp or of death unto d ath ye have co lfidenp too that all th monp apd all the cojaborers npl ssary will bp forthcoming v~d we fire arranf in plans accordingly tho~e wljo o-operate will sharp thp s rvil e and the h]i r~ings attf ndnnt thosp who do not u their privilpg s will hut mar tlh ir own hjes8ings hut shall not hindpr thl work tljat is rillp 10 iji rloj1p thn j m1 wi prnviilp 1 1 11 i f xpcl t tj lt f lll·h 1 11 now will notp rnpid sprf ilrl of till tnlth ulltll nlf rl p 1 i ~hllt until the work is intl rfc red witll frjreihlv hi jllt~illp inflllcnl s then we f hall llnder~tand that onr orl i 11 111 -tllat the pjert lwve all bf n spalcd and that 1101l ht 1 mains hut to stand and assist othprs to stano inl1f i l tlli l n 3 we all know is a rno~t important part of the prf nt for whilc othcrs are being reactird with the truth thosp r lre ll1v hl sed arc being a ssaulterl by the ndw rsarv so tha t [l n mny be tf tpd and only the faithful be able to stand rre epii lo-18 to him that hath used shall more be given rlle volunteer sptnt is ro llj tjh l j l 11 vi n l ej thus have be n blessed and ar !wl anxiolls for till ·olhl ll· t chan thpy wprp for the fir~t 1 j1l y look a llro:1d apcl f c t1i011r~ljls blinrlpd by th god of this worjr1 enl tillg to kilj and 1w killed and they read the reports if tl1 lrijll l wonlldl d and prisoners and the hardships enrlurpd and tne 1 ne8 to he borne and then thry say how small is th spryil r how slight the .h~rdship and e uffering and self-denial our gra iou king i willing to accept as rca.wnable scn-iec from us who have consecrated to him our all-l ven unto death-and to whom he has already given such rich rewards fls well as promisc ll u8 a share in his millennial kingdom we nr rpsolved that neither cares of tbis life nor pride nor f plf-e l sha ii hindpr us from engaging in this battle against darkne i5 and the infiu ncps of tile prince of darkne~s on tllc l ontrarv e will be y t more vigilant yet morc nthusiastic in planting the truth the stanrlard of our kin wl1 re it pan be spell by many now ignorantly fighting against him and it l t none think of the vohmtperl as illitprat hanrl-hill[close]
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ja uary 1 1900 zion s watch tower 5-7 lord to keep their covenant of self-sacrifice even unto death becaust thry have the qcnume faith in the lord s promlscs which works by lm c and purifies the heart from pride and selfishness a fresh call for volunteers in the world s warfare defeat leads to fresh calls for soldiers with us success calls for more volunteers and more succrss and more blessing rlehes of grace with possibly more persecution and slander and by and by a far more exc eeding and eternal weight of glory there is more much more work to be done and we are desirous that many more of the lord s onsecrated people should share the heart·cheer and c hara ter-strengthpning which this service afford herl is the very opportunity for which you have prayedan opportunity for servmg the trllth and the lord and the hrtthr li you wi hl d and prayl d for the needful talents to prl ent thesl good tidings and you hoped and prayed for opportunztlrs and for meu11s and now behold i the lord has provided you all these in this volunteer work notice that it is a rpasona ble qerv1re as no othl r is becausei it is not an unreasonable misrrpresentation of god s character and plan and methods with drum and tamhourine and singing of hymns to concert-hall tunes misnamed divine worship and service 2 it is not the unreasonable misrepresentation of the dh-ine charartrr and plan as preachl d in one-half the 200,000 pulpits of christendom which blasphemes goel s chararter and misn presents his plan by declaring that only the satnts of the present time will ever be saved-far less than onl out of every thousand of the world s population and that the great mass both of the livmg and the dead will spend an eternitv in torment indescrihable i t i not the unreasonable misrepresentation of fod s charac ter and plan prl sented in the other half of the pulpits of christendom which llshamed of their hell fire and damnation c reeds hypocritically acknowledge them while ac tually they deny them and preach onother gospel of evolution and higher criticism which makes void the word and plan of god and repudiates the cross of christ and all neces~ity for his atoning sacrifice 1 it is a reasonable service because it appeals only to reason and scripture as no other gospel message on earth or known among men appeals to these and to no other authoritie and standards and it does this too in a most reason· · one in a thousand of the world s population would be 1,600,000 that many samts would be a power for good able manner not taklng vows in order to get into pulpits and into college professorships and under good salaries to capture the sects creeping into houses and leading captive silly women but by kimll proffering without monr and without price the priceless jewel of ro 1sisten t tru t h which from our own experience we know will ble~s evl ry true recipient nor has the lord given us cause for shame respecting the form in which our mt ssager are delivered-they are neat creditable to the most refined who engage in the service and in turn the adornment of a meek and qll1et spirit whiph the lord s faithful take to this humble service laying down their lives for the brethren i one of the strongert ~ermons or episilt s of christ-likent ss that can he presented to those we may hope to interest and it already hail spoken loudly to thohe who at first were too prejudiped to read i coulrl there be a more hlersed or a more reason· ahle srrviee than this :kav verilv ye can fancy indeed that the heavenly anaels lo ok dow n upon our privileges and opportuillties llnd foi;dly de~ire that in divine providenee it might have hre n their privilegl to join with u in this most reasonable mort honorahle and mo~t hl rrpcl service the plan of campaign for 1900 confident of the reenlistment of the veteranh of 189 we have prepared for thcm a new campaign whidl we believe they will heartily enjo;v we will get relldy for spring c~m paign hundreds of thousands of pamphlets whiph we helieve you will enjoy u~ing we will call for yolunteers and reenlistments about mardi so please be ready ieantime most of the volnnteers have plenty of work for the suitable weather between now and spring and the spirit of the lord-the spirit of love for the lord love for the truth and love for the brethren is conrtantly constraining frt sh volunteers for plapes not yet served with thl bookle btble rs erolution and we are printing ami will continu to print plenty of these to supply the dem~lllll the new booklets will be supplied only for the fields where the other distribution has been made this free offer for this spepjn i work will not affect the regular reiling price of the booklets they are not free for any other kind of sl rvice tho all are supplied at very low rates we hope that we may have many and prompt responses to this call for gideon s bllnd armed with the ,tnlnlee trumpet to give the lovful sound and with lights in their vessels ready and willing to break the vessels to let the light shine out while they cause the joyful sound of the real good tidings to sound throughout the land see judges chap vii a postoffice thief is still robbing our mail we specially request that no money be sent by mail altho this is mentioned in every issue quite a number fail to hepd it tiipv thus not onlv lo~e the monev sent but cause them~elv s and us trouble and postage writitig about their 10sres furtht rmore they trouble others who properly send postal orders draftr or express orders for the mail-thief frequently by mistake takes thert which he cannot use and must destroy lest they betray him henc the many who do right in this matter are put to trouble even tho they suffer no financial loss if all would ob~erve the proper rule the thi f would be spared temptation and he would soon eease to rifle letters addrt ssed to us-finding no money therein one dear brother sent a donation in money which went astray he wrote subsequently thllt his thought was-this is the lord s money and for the lord r rat/se and he will protect it he erred in this failing to realize that his course wasil jl mpting of providence thou sha it not tempt the lord thy goll or i ohonld we tempt onr wpnk in llpll fellow i ea tnres the word was made flesh jan 7 luke 2 1-16 thou shalt call his name jesus for he shall j rus is the topic of the international sunday school le8son 0111 ~e for the entire year 1900 it should be a very profitablp study for the more intimately we know our dear redeemer in the light of the scriptures the more we shall apprpc iatt illm love him and seek to copy him ~o other hfe than hi could bear so continual and close a f crutiny yet always he full of frerh revelations of moral dignity and eharapter-any other life similarly f tudied and eriticised would reveal its seamy side of weaknerr sin and ignohility of th four records only john s attempts to trape our lord s g-enealo to the heavenly sour t and to show 11 that before h was made flt rh he war a spuit bemg with til father and a sharer of his glory-a god with the god but all of the eyangelist are clear in their statement that he wa h;a8 made flesh not that he r maint d a spirit being and arsl1med flesh as clothing in which to appf ar to men but however explainahle that the lifp power of the spirit being the logos became the lifp power of the human being horn of a woman and under the law subject to all the conditions and circumstances of the jews matthew traces joseph s genealogy for altho the statement is clear that jesus was not the son of sare his people from their sins iatt 1 :21 joseph nevertheless being allopt d by him as hir son he might without impropriety inlwrit throu~h him luke shows the genealog;l of mary hy whl h our lord wa aetually reo lated apcording to the fle~h to our race and to the roya family of dayitl through the linp of nathan the time of our lord s birth war an am,pic·jous one in several respects and very evidently divine wif dom had exer· cised itself in respect to the world s affairs hy way of preparation for this important t vent i the f pnit of world· conquering that began with nebuehal!ne:r,zar s kingdom was fllvorable to it in the sense that it hrought the various families or nations of mankind into clorer eontaet with each othrr broadening tht ir ilea 2 this poliey had rerulted in th tnm,planting of peoplps from one bnl to another and thus had made them more e osmopolitan in their spntiments 3 i~rael and .judah thus transplanted m their captl ity to babylon became so attached to the new conditions that l omparatiycly few of them availed themselws of the offer of cyrus to return to their own land only about fifty thousand of all the tribes out of spveral millions the j ewh among tlh see mill£nnial daw vol v chap 6 [2555][close]
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8-9 z j .1 s tva tell to tv e t gentlll wel in 110 iil1 alh lo~t alld had by no medii ahandonl l .iil of tlh i !iopl in thf inahallli ovenant nor all of their faithflllllp to til io ai law-altho they were lax in thl h m,lttl r and too illil of a 10 l of g.tin and eal c to eult!vatp tilt int of i ral litp 11l1h pd p erthl ll they hacl their influpn,·p ajllo!lg t all the nations with whom thpv dwelt and wen ltll.· c to thp hoppl of ll fael ill tlll one jocl and iii a i oming ip iah the lon of god to be thp world s deliverpr t i tilt ttjllmph for a time of the frcek empire had hrought to thp ,·i j1jl pd world a highly developpd literature-titp rel j langmlgp had rpa hed its 7,pnith and wa the iitprar.v langmlgc of til c i iil d world the roman emplrp had oihlu r 1 till orlcl ajli was in the height of it powp alln a .i · lilt there a a time of universal ppal and iipllt f a jlion fa ult[close]
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january 1 1900 zion s watch tower 10-11 time have heard this true gospel message not merely with the outward ears but truly with the ears of their understanding-comprehending it how false and how sad has been the understanding of this message by many of god s people as it has ephoed to them down the ages how few have heard it gladly appreciatively how remarkable that nearly all of the different churches and their thousands of ministers and hundreds of thousands of sunday rc}1001 teachers should unite in a complete contradiction of thi mpssage of the angels-a contradiction which not only wounds thpir own sentiments and grieves their own hearts but which robs our dear saviour s mission of ninetpnths of its maje~ty and thoroughly dishonors and maligns thp name of our gmciou heavpnly father by its misrepresentation of the salvation which he has provided in christ jesus some prrhaps may be surprised and even shocked at buch an arraignment of the mes~age which thry and other wellmp,li1ing but hlinded christians are delivering in the name of the gospd-for the word gospe i i de rived from the words good tidingb vi i are quite ready to believe that the vast rna iority of those who promulgate the had tzdings of eternal mlspry as being the divine me s age and sente nce to the vast milloritv of mankind art wholly unaware of how seriously they misrqjresent the divine charaetpr and government in the me iage whiph thpy purry to men they misstate the gosflel not of intpntion but of hlimlne s the very blindnt>ss mentioned hv the apostle as originating with the great adversary -the blindness by whiph he blinds the minds of the vast maiorjt to hindpr them from realizing the glorious light of gofl s goodness revealed in jesus christ our lord 2 cor 4:4 oh if wp could only get all true christians to rtudy this tenth verre of our lerbon and to ree the depths of its r ignifieanpe it woulll quickly revolutionize the teachingb of 111 i,temlom tint as our lord declare d some of the deep thillgb of the divine plan are hidden from many of the wise and prudc nt according to the course of this world and are rp pil!l d only to the humblt the ba bes nevertheless the tp,tlmony of god standpth rure and all whose understandings ha p lll en openpcl and who have been enabled to comprehpihi romp of the lengths ancl the breadths and the heights 8n,1 the d pths of god s love may rejoice that the ignorance of the worl in general on thir subject and the opposition of the grpflt ad cr~ary who ir hlincling them cannot continue forenr imt must soon give plape when the lord r clue time sha ii eome when he who died on calvary for the world b redpmption rhall begin his glorious reign by binding that old rcrppnt til clpvil satan that he should deceive the nations no morp for thc tholl«and years of the millennial reign then all rhall see out of obscurity then all rhall dircern what at prpspnt i thp pnvilpge of only the favorecl few to see resppetmg the dh 1i1t charactt>r and plan-that the message of tllp [1ngcl was true every worcl of it-that the grand results to flow from the birth of the saviour in bethlehem justified the mer«age bpnt by the great jehovah a goocl message of grrat joy whiph c ventually shall be to all people-whose enlightenment and blerring shall have no hindrance no restriction [li1l1 a l a rrsult all shall come to a knowledge of the truth and to an opportunity of availing thembelves of the graec mprry and peare provided for all in the great salvation spcllred by the ransom-sacrifice of our lord jesus the angel further explained his great gospel message l howing it basir and declaring that all the good things mpntionnl should porni to pasr because the saviour messiah had lwen born-the one so long looked for in israel the promised seef of abraham in w110m not only israel should be hlrrsecl and exaitecl to honor dignity and co-operation but in whom also all tht families of the earth should be blessed and let ur hrre remark that the order of presentation u~ed by the heavenly mebbenger and evidc ntly divinely ordered is the propt>r preflentation of this subject whil h should be acloptl cl by all who seek to he ured of the lord as his ambasrador l in the calling of the elect church first there is the grand pronounpement of divine favor and blessing that it is a cause for joy and that ultimately it shall extend to every creature secondly there is the specific explanation of how all this is to be accomplished-through a saviour a deliverer who as stated in our golden text in order to de liver his people from the wages of sin death into eternal life and blersing murt first of all bave them from their sins and we see from othrr scriptures that this salvation from our rins bignifies not only the payment on our behalf of the pl nalty for adamic sin but alro subsequently man n instrurtion in righteousnl sr and lifting out of sin in which uplift each one is required to co-operate to the extent of his will and of his ability so all teaching of the grace that is to come to mankind should be coupled with the pllllo lophy of the lalvation-the saviour made flesh and the tle«h de oted or sacnficed for our sins and the saviour glorified that in due time after the spleetion of his church he might with her according to the divine plan establish his kingdom of righteourticss for the uplifting of the world of mankind out of ignorancc sllpprstition and general degradation into which the grpat aelh l sary had gotten them through the fall ancl throu h hi -ubsequcnt blinding and misleading in this connl dion it i well to remember that our lord s name jrslls si l1lfipq sat io11r ancl that all who would be of the elect churl h lllubt have the rpirit of the bridl groom as well a bv faith b coverrd with the garment of hi imputed nghtc ou-ylpss ancl that his spirit ir one of opposition to sin to the f j trn t of srlfsacrifice ye also are to re list unto blood [dpathl strlpliz,9 against sin heb 12.4 then the angel g-ave the shepherds an intimation of the humble conclitions under which this great king of t>urth was born into the world-as a hahe wrappl d in rwaelf!ling hflnds and lying in a manger this w ls nprp ary not onlv to tllpir iclentifil ation of .re~us but nerp«rary alro to hring clown thpir thoughts from the great and grand results to its hllmhle heglmmuls iprt they shoulcl be mislpd in their exppdation l an,l as it is with every part of tht divine plan so al~o it shollld hl in rerpect to all of our proclamations of the same ye are not only to tell of the future glory and greatne~r and grancleur but we are to tt>ll also of the prespnt humiliation-not only of our saviour who humhled himself to take a low l state amongbt men and to die for our rins but al o to point out that the elect are calleel to walk in hir footrtl pr unf!t>r rimilarly humiliating eirpum tanpps-to buffer with him if they would reign with him to die with him if they would live with him and thus alro tile prophet spoke not 011 l of the glory that rhoulcl follow but also of the suftl rinl r of christ head and body whirh mu t preet>de the glor 1 pet l ll the lesron to everyone who has enrs to hpar it ir no crors no crown let ur then humble our«plye undt>r til mighty hand of god and rejoire in ewry tep of the humiliation that he may exalt us in due timp to share the glories of his son our lorcl and to bhare with him the grand work of blessing all the families of the earth it was a fitting climax that aftt>r the one angel had tom the surprisecl shepherds of the good tidingr of grea t iov for all people and was re ldy to depart he should be joined bv our angelic hort singing glory to god in the high t and on earth pearl good will toward men thi w l ijnt a reiteration of the gosppl mps a£re already dplivprpd it declarecl that the work which houlel be acc~mplishpd by the babe just born rhould rpclound to the highl st glory atili !1cnor of .tehovah god his father it declared also that throuo l this work to be accompli hed by jesus should pomp to p nth divint good-will and eonrf qupntly pf ace-and all thnt tlw3 oulcl imply in the way of blessings of rebtitution ancl privi1p p of attaining everlasting life but how murh in conflirt with all this are the erroneous theorier whieh havc gainecl rrnlrll e in christt>ndom which teach that notwith«tanding tht ransom which our lord jesus gave and notwithrtanding the turning asicle of tne original sentenf c upon ollr r.1·p a« til rt>sult of the propitiation for our sins aceeptc d by the fathpr the vast majority of the human family will npvt>rthelprs to all eternity be in rebellion againrt god ancl in torturp will continually blarpheme his name ancl that without f yl r having had a full rl aronable opportunity to know thp f aylour or to arf ept his salvation how rtrange that anv houl.l think that such a plan would be glory to god in the higllp it how strange that any rljould rdll e to 8 thc wry plain statement of the scripture that god has provi[close]
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11-13 zion s watch tower allegheny a the violation of any man s will but merely the offering through chri~t of an opportunity for hlq everlasting blessing and peace or his cutting off in the ~econd death if he fails to appreciate the divine offer the shepherds having heard of god s grace manifested their interest by visiting and paymg their holnage to the saviour and so each one who has heard of the grace of god with an appreciative heart can do nothing les8 than seek the lord and do him reverence and serve ills cause by proclaiming the gracious message with which he has been favored let us each do so and thus more and more increase in our hearts the ,l0y l of the lord and our appreciation of his grand go~pej galatians 3 8 16 2l.l respecting the date of jesus birth we hold that it was about sept 25th to oct 1st b c i and that the annunciation luke 1 28 was nine months earlier namely dec 25th b c 2 the evidences re this position are given in detail in millennial dawwn vol n pages 54-62 jesus increased in wisdom and stature jan 14 luke 2:41·52 and jesus inaroosed in wisdom and statwre and in favor u:nth god and man tu h pceuliar spe ulation haq !j cn indulged in respecting noble character vhom the lord uses we may safely estcem the childhood boyhood and young manhood of our lord jesus honorable with whleh we have no sympathy whatever the bible although the jewish law dor not so stipulatl tr:ldition studrnt shoulrl confine himself to the bible record and not informs u that it was the custom to consider every hoy who give loose rl in to imagmation and ~pecujation more likely had fulfilled his twelfth veal as a son of the law and to to he nntrue than orrp 1 had the lnrd forpsecn necessity for a certain extent from th~t age amenahle to the rerlulrements information rc specting this periorl of our savlour s career he of the law and the narrative of our lesson scrmq to confirm undoubtc dly woulrl haw pro ilerl for it in the inspired recthis tradition telling nq that when .j su wa t h years of ord this lo q not imply that thrrp wa nothing noteworthy age ill his thirteenth year he accompamed thc family to the or commendahlc in our lord c arher hfl hnt rather that by pas~oycr feast at jrrusalem is there not a lesson hrre for comparati ply ignoring tljir the lord would point us more all godly parents suggesting that the training of the infancy particularly to the thrre and a half p~ur of public ministry period should be of such a character as to prrparp thc hilc iollowin lll hal tl~lll in .fordjn and hy the holy spirit in for the consideration of sober and religious mahrrs at the a word the lord thm ijoints ont that it was not the man prv threshold of bovhood vi think there i and we jesus who~e words and ads were valuable to ur and lessons think it a serious rriistake made hy some well-intentlonrd for our l mula tion hut the wordq and ads of chrzst jesus parents when they conclude that their childrl n of twelvp yca is the iinom d .jl lh je~us after he had been anointed with have sufficient mind to have grasped the elementary prmclples thl h,d.1 jlliit it 11i1nt mpa ~urr xe ertheles l keeping rtrictly of a secular education and to be prepared for highl r studies within thl lines of thr littlr that is written in the scriptures of a secular character but unfit for higher rpliglous stuule we may draw ~ome vajuahlp and ih lpfui les~ons from the the cl1l1dren who are ready at tnat age for illghrr ~c nlar hoyho jd and young manhood of our ~rastc r studies have already heen carefully lllstructed along r!ementary nothmg if known rc prr·tlllg the fir~t twelve years of our lines and if any are unprepared for higher studies in rehgwus lord s life l c pt that unrler dh inp dlrel tlon his mother and matters it is at least pos~jble that their elementary rehgious fostpr·fathl r tonk him down into egypt out of the reach of training may have been neglected by their divinely appointed herod wllprc thl v l t mained ith him for a few months until instructors-their parents no christian parent can avoid aftl r it wd s d flth rpturning then to their home city nazathis his natural reqponsibility toward his children-ill moral reth in galilee it will be remcmhered that the occasion of and religious training a l well as in the secular and ph lcal the flight into egypt was herod s icar that a king should the feast of the passover continued seven davs but it was ansi in the familv of david in harmony with the jewish the custom for many of the pilgnmf from dis blllt parts to traditions itlhi that thm herod s own family would be ousted remain over only two days until after the principal cerefrom thl kingly position herod was not of the family of monies it if probable that ,joseph and mary iii company dayid nor a jew at all-he was of the family of esau .jacob s with their kinsfolk started on the return journey on the third hrother the story of the wise men coming from the east day of the feast it was customary for thl wnmen pi a cara· seeking a new-born king of the jews will be rememberpd and van to move on ahead the men coming after and a boy of now 11 ro,l learning of their mission urged that when they jesus age might be with either of the parents and not be had found the infant they sought they should inform him missed until nightfall and so it seems to hayr hprn in this herod fl lgnlllg that h also desired to do homage to the new case as one day had been spent in the journey so another king but the wise men under divine direction ignored day was spent returning and a third day in searc hini throug-hherod s request rubsequently learning some of the particuout the city finally they found jesus in the tpmple sittmg lars rp~p tltjg tlip birth at bpthlchl m herod caused the death with the teachers of the law the doctors this was not so of tlip rna ir-dlildren of that city of two years old and underunusual as might at first appeur for at that time information thus endeavoring to insure the death of the newborn king was gained less from books and more from oral teaching and it is not at all probable that the number of babes slaughtered the doctors of the law were supposed to br ready to instruct under this lc prc e was great as the population of bethlehem all who desired information especially during the holy passwas small the number of male children of such an age would over week many young men availed themselves of such opnecessarily be few portunities and the custom seems to have been for the doctors the g~1den tl xt informs us that jesus grew like any other to sit on a special semi-circle of seats while before them were boy-that hi dcvdopment was gradual both as respects ph.ys· low benches for the older students the younger boys sat on ical and intelleetual stature vi are not therefore to thmk the ground literally at their feet thus paul as a youth of jl sus in boyhood r days as a sage a teacher a healer etc was a pupil to gamaliel or as the recurd reads sat at the as we find him subsequent to his anointing with the holy feet of gamaliel to learn of him gamaliel was one of the rpirit prthclrss 1 may properl suppose that the perchief doctors of the law in his day feet boy would in maily respects be ke.ener and .brighter than ve are not to understand that the boy jesus was bold the average boy who inherits sundry imperfections from the and that he went before the learned men of his day to de· fall nounce them as ignorant and as incapable teachers and to the tc stimony rl specting mary and joseph leaves no doubt show himself off as some precocious but ill-trained youth of that thry were pious pl opll and this is confirmed by the first today might attempt to do on the contrary we are to supverse of tills lesson which informs us that it was their custom pose the boy jesus to have a well-balanced mind which probto go e cry y ar to the f ast of the passover this require ably recognized the fact that he had lived but few years in mmt of the law was ol!sernd by the most devout .j ews only the world and had comparatively small experience in lifr and it is as imnc ccssary as it ir improper for us to go beyond the that he by no means knew all but recognized many questions scriptural dc clarations on this subjert and to assume as some upon which he would like to have further information and do that mary hrrself was miraculously conceived and born that he asked his questions honestly with a desire and hope of frre from sin indred if w had no record testifying to mary s obtaining satisfactory answers from the teachers who sat in pic ty the f:ll t that she was honored by the lord above all moses seat other women in that she was chosen to be the mothl l of jesus the nature of the questions is not stated but the time and according to the flesh would prove her nobility of character surroundings would seem to indicate that they were of a and purity of heart for it is not even supposable that the religious charaetr and that the mind of jesus was already lord would so specially honor blc ss and use any other than a grappling with the gr at questions which properly belonged to see millf:nnial dawn vol v chap 4 him as a member of the jewish race to which god had made [2558][close]
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january 1 1900 zion s watch tower 13-15 certain great and precious promises as the seed of abraham -promibes of divine blebsing under mebbiah of exaltation to be the chief nation of the world and of the subbequent privilege of blessing all nations and of being the medianes through whom all mankind might be brought to the knowledge of god and to hib service from what we know of the operationi of our own minds at the age mentioned we may presume that jesus was brimful of que~tions respecting the hopes of ibrael and no doubt from his mother he had received some intimation at least that divine providence had indicated th~t he himself was to bear some important part in connection with the fulfilment of the scriptures and he was seeking t.o know th part marked out for him by the heavenly father iii the testimony of the law and the prophets although he did not have a bible in his hon;e that he could consult respecting the divine t~stimony he did have the common pnvilege ot the youth of his day of at~endmg meetings m the one little synagogue of nazareth which was but a small country town then from sabbath to sabbath he heard til la read and to some extent commented upon bometimes abo the psalms and prophecies with these sources of information the eager mmd of the boy had grappled and now on the occ a8ion of his first visit to the great city of jerusalem notbmg attracted him so much as the temple and its sy bolie al services and happening upon a court or chamber in whieh the great questions of the law and the prophets were hping discus~ed by the ablest teachers o the ti ne jesus became ~o deeply interested and enthused m the bible study that ~eem1l1g1y he forgot all earthly thi~gs s intent was he in studying about the heavenly father s bu.sm~ss-the plan of god in which he himself was to be so prmclpal an actor aturally his questions would be deeper and more logical than those of other bovs of his age and naturally the doctors of the law would be deeply interested in him because of this in conjunction with the modesty which we may be ~ure accompanied it and flr during thebe feabtb great h~spltallty was exercised especially toward strangers from a distance jesus war prohahly entertained by one and another of these newfound friends the narrative records that when found by joseph and ~rar .te~u was both hearing the do tors and asking them que;tlons there is a valuable lesson here .for all young p~r rons rerpecting their conduct toward their elders ~nd lll~h l1cl r ho hfl erent the thought we get from this state1l1pnt than ie ould have gotten had it read that they found .jesu lnstl llrtlllg the doctors or attempting to teach them ye do not douht for a moment that the doctors were as much instru ted hv .tebub as he was by them possibly more so on somp pointb at leabt nor do we doubt that if they were tl ly great men they would be humble-mmded .enough .recelve instruction i from anyone-even from a clnld and it is even intimated in the context that they asked j esus ~ertam que tionr and were astonished at his understandmg and his ans1 crs in both cases the proceeding wab that ~f deference to the other as implied in the asking of the questions j esub haymg defer~ed to the doctors and asked them quebtions wh~ch manife~ted htr depth of mind and clearnebs of underbtandmg and logical rea boning led them in turn to ask questions of him thib question plan we commend to all of the dear friends of the truth ab a wibe and proper one no less to us of today than to the boy jebub and to the doctorb of the law we have seen inbtances in which some of the lord s dear people have greatly injured their influenc e in the truth by ~isplay of too large a degree of belf onfidcnce self:as81irance in speaking of the divillp plan to others-espec.lally t the le~rned meeknebs is a jewel whereyer found and is especially desirable as an adjunct and sling for the truth let the trut be shot forth with all the force it can carry but always with meeknes and humility and the question form of suggesting truth will often be found the mobt foi ceful naturally joseph and mary were .a~tonish to fi.nd their little son in the company of and recelvmg conslderati?n from the greatert teachers of their d.ay and pro.bably .nothmg was li lid to jesus publicly respectmg their dibappomtment and their bubsequent search for him pro.bably when alone mary upbraided him for his neglect to be with the caravll;n yet she did this in a very kind and moderate manner which s~em~d to indicate that it was a very unusual occurrence which iii turn speaks to us of parental obedience on the part of jesus mary s expresbion behold .thy father and i h3;ve sought the borrowing has been questioned hy some as bemg a confession that joseph was the father of jesus but we answer not so it would be unreasonable to suppose 1 that luke would particularly trace the genealogy of jesus through mary and ignore joseph and subsequently imply that jobeph was the father of jebub 2 joseph having accepted mary accepted also her son jesus and became his foster-father and under just such circumstances today the child would be taught to consider such an one a parent and to call him father 3 it ib not at all probable that the btory of the immaculate conception of jesus was ever made known to any but the closest members of the family and it is highly improbable that the subject had ever been discussed with the boy jesus only twelve years of age nor would it .have been proper to do 1 0 mary s language therefore is entirely conblstent with all the facti set forth in the gospel narrative quite po sihly the mind of the boy jesus while investigating the bubject of hib own l ebponbibilities toward the heavenly father and hib plan had wondered whether or not his mission might not in some degree begin with his thirteenth year since at that time he was rec ognized as a ron of the law quite possibly some of hib quebtions before the doctors of the law were along this line and quite probably he had finally about reached the conclusion that the typeb of the priestly office indicated clearly that his n:isbion would not begin until he was thirty years of age his reply to mary s chidin was along this line did you not expect me to be about my father s business did you not know that i had reached the age when i am a on of the law .and that therefore certain responsibilities have come upon me iii respect to the heavenly father and hib word ~nd his plan ~nd then as thou h remembering the conc lmnon that he had jubt reached in di~cussing the subject with the doctors he broke off the conversation yielded himself to their wishes and accompanied them :nazareth making so far as recorded no further suggf stion of any other than t.h e ordinary co~ir~e of life until he had attained the age of thirty years this is expressed in the words and he was subject unto them joseph and mary realized clearly that the boy wab more than ordinary very extraordinary indeed yet they did not ful~y comprehend the situation nor fully grasp the import of his words neverthelebs mary treasured this with the other pe uliar testimonieb respecting him in her heart and doubtless it was from her lips that luke received the information contained in our lebson tradition de lares that joreph dif d while ,jesus was yet young and that the latter took up the carpenter s trade and became the support of the family this findr some support in the scriptural testimony where j esub himself ib called a carpenter and his mother and brethren are mentioned but joseph is ignored mark 6:3 furthermore no reference is made to joseph in connection with our lord s ministry though his mother and his brethren are beveral timer mentioned it is quite probable then that the long period of eighteen years of our lord s life from the time of the incident of this lesson to the time of hib baptism was spent in the performance of the ordinary duties of life what a thought this gives us with respect to our lord s development of patience-patiently waiting until the father s time should come and he should begin his ministry patiently studying meantime as best he could to know more and more of the father s will and plan patiently waiting for the baptibm of the holy spirit which would enable him to fully comprehend the situation and his own personal relationbhip to it what a lesson there is here for all his followers and everyone of ub may well realize the truth of the words ye have need of patienre and again lpt patipn e haw· her perfp t work that a le~ron there is for us also in thf thought that wr are not to attempt to hasten the divine plan hut to wait patiently for its unfolding-not to attempt to begin any work for thf lord unlesb we are sure that his time has come and that he has railed us to do it then like our lord to he instant in season and out of season whpn convenient and when inconvenient under favorable and unfavorahle conditions to do with our might what our hand has found to do and we gather thf further thought that the most humble forms of lahor are honorable when they are ours in harmony with god s providpnce te t:o happily for us we are not born undf r th law nor under the limitationi which hinder us from rereiving the call and responding to it before thirty years of agp on the contrary under the new covenant of grace it is our privilege to present our bodies living sacrifices to the lord s service at as early an age as our knowledge of divine things and our enlightened judgmentb will permit we instead of waiting to grow to the fulness of stature mental and phvsieal are permitted to begin at once as members of the royal priesthood and to be growing at the bame time we are serving but let ub not forget · see june 15 1919 lssue for critical examination of covenants [2559][close]
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15-16 zionjs watch tower allegheny p the necessity for growth adding to faith virtue and to virtue knowledge and to knowledge self-control and to self-control patience and to patiencc godliness and to godlines brotherly kmdness and to brotherly-kindnp 1 see 2 peter 1 :5-8 in malice be ye children but in understanding be ye men l cor 14 :20 interesting letters dear brother rcssell in regard to the work here in boston the report is good the volunteer work is blessing all who engage in it and goes on grandly scarecly a sunday but that we distribute the tracts at some church where the preacher s thpmc is evolution two sundays ago the pastor of tremont temple preached a sermon advocating the doctrine of evolution this is the largest protestant church in new england congregation of 3000 :ltld over and the pastor is the gentleman who notified police headquarters last june to have a stop put to further distribution of our tract but he did not succeed vi are finding more work than was at first anticipated and are giving more books our report for month of november is as follows nov 5th in dorchester 11 dmrches 1024 booklets nov 12th in w roxbury and jamaica plain 14 churches 986 booklets kov 19th in don·hestel and rorlindale 18 churches 1269 booklets nov 26th in newton 13 churche 1444 booklets also in brookline during month 4 churehes 154 booklets total of 60 churches 4877 hooklets average 81.2 we find churches larger than wi anticipated quite a number with congregations of from 300 to 600 which accountr for our using more booklets than expected as well llr the larger average vi still have 25 to 30 i brcthren awl sistc engaged in work and though we hay accomplishpd a good work the end is not yet vi are anxious to do all the important towns accessible hy electric cars provided you pan keep us supplied we leave that part for you to decide pnquestionably all who work are receiying blessillgr and al l being huilt up in zeal and love in thl lord ~pryice this is exactly right because it went so with me and i shall be happy in the hardest of earthly troubles your remark that each should build the walls near his home has opened my eyes enough to see that i was in the wrong because i do better in school and away from home than i do at home now i will try to do the best i can at home but will not lose my good part away from home i felt like opening my whole heart to you and i have done it with the best intentions i hope that your anrwer to this letter will come soon aml b fillings that will do mp good yours sincerely hugo kuehn ol110 [reply i am always deeply interested in the young who give their heart8 to the lord my christian lifl bpgan at about the same age a8 your own 13 and i know how great a blessing it is to be ome a soldier of the cross at an parly age at no time do we more need divine wisdom and graep than in boyhood and entering manhood and how eomfortmg it is to all such to be able to realize that having eommitted their all to the lord he is caring for them guiding and rhapin their affair8 in the eour8e which will be most to their advantage as respects the present and the eternal life in 1 1 the rude youth disposed to attack you with stonl :my advice would be that you go to play in another quart r and that generously you eon sider that the man may he just a much unbalanced in mind or as soured in disposition as romp who in the languag of scripture shoot out arrows c 11 bitter words at the righteous psa 64 3 on thl whole 1 believe that those who throw literal stones are much less dangerous than some who are outwardly more decorous who ha p the poison of asps under their lips rom 3 13 and ho backbite speak evil of and slander others-even the lord brethren let us thank god that the time is eoming when there will no longer be in the world any except those who have the spirit of a sound mind the disposition of thp lord 2 tim 1 :7 respecting your attendance at a gymnasium and the hearing of lectures it would seem to me that no edl need result from merely availing yourself of these privileges and should addse that you do so unlesr there would be something in th way of a bondage connected with this-some obligations-and quite likely there are none that would be objectionable in sueh a club vith much christian low your brother and servant in the lord th editor.l watch tower bmlf tract society dear brethren the volunteer distribution of the booklets the llible 1 ci su8 the evolution ti:tory has been completed in the district of columbia after a eampaign lasting seven months fourteen volunteers-brother8 and sistersvirited l!i4 elmrcher and distributed 10,934 booklets bcsldes other tracts the pongregations in the various churches varied all the way from 400 down the average attendanpe being 71 this work was taken up in aceordancp with the offer made in tower of april imh 99 it being our desire in tljis manner to show our love and appreciation of the lord and his truthby engaging in a work which might result in the blessing of his true brethren the work has progressed with perfect harmony of hearts hands and a willingness to serve in any ehannel however humble and has most evidently been under divine direction for we have had many indications of providential guidance in sebction of churches to be worked etc we have been greatly blessed in this work whieh has given us many opportunities for letting our light shine for the master upon some occasions the brethren being invited within the church building to explain the object of the visit and something of god s plan as testified to in the literature distributed ve were well received on the whole notwithstandmg some cases of opposition ve are thankful to god for these great privileges of rerving his truth and also to brother russpll and the tract societv as instrumentr in his hands ye are still volunteers and ready to carry the good warfare into the acljaeent towns with the booklets still on hand with love to all who are similarly engaged in the vohmtl pr work your fl llow soldiers thf church at ashington d c sr g derires to be remembered your brother in loy .1ild service of our redeemer alexa ider m graha massachusett8 [we arp filling orderr right along let the good work procepd god bless the volunteers editor dear brother russell i am glad that at last i have lonpentratpd my mind enough to write to you kot till mrs boehmer was here did i read and rtudy anything in the truth ~o much a to do me any good hut while she was here my hole attention was turned she gave me vol 1 of ~l dawn but at first i could not read it without a grl at deal of ill power i read it only to show her i usl d the gift-it eemed so unintererting but at last it grew more interf sting and i devoted most all of my time to reading it and i gave up almost all of my play especially with everybody imt my iirother and sister do you consider thlr wrong on my part nd i went to all the dawn circles and meetings h rf while she was with us and mamma said the holy spirit was upon me when rister boehmer left us all of my holy interl st seemed to die out of me i could read nothing scriptural so that i could remember it or act upon it in my daily oursi of life i think the reason why god ll t it happen so was liecause i got to thinking i was far ahead in the raee and looked boastfully down on my neighbors don t you think ~o too rut i went to meeting every sunday and learnl d o ~o much good from brother wright and i think he b the hest leader that could be chosen-that is a human leader but i could remember nothing through the week now here i another case a largf tough is always trying to catch us for no reason at all hut he claims for an p l:cuse that we throw stones at him but we did not t wrotp to bro boehmer about it and he said i should avoid him as best i ouid and in doing thir i am obliged to run sometimer or get hit xow do you onsidl r this right or wrong twil we stoppell and a kl d him what he wanted hut he only hit us hen hlo boehmer as hp1 e he raid it would do me good to enter a gyll1narium whieh i did the 1st of kov it ir in a congregational l inu eh 1 am alro entitled to a pjin ge of boys club and six lepturcr do you think i will fall into wrong there 9 here is ;f:1 whieh will at least be nough to makf on vatch tower which will help some one along .just like til tower of nov 1 issue helped me along esppeially the articles about nehemiah wlueh induced mp to write so many things fit my case pxactly like where it says while we are in the truth we will be as8ailed the most and when we get drows and lazy aljout stud:dng the truth w will not bl aqsailed [2560][close]
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vol xxi allegheny pa january 15 1900 no.2 views from the watch tower ian maclaren his literary nom de plume wrote for publication recently that in his judgment the churches of various denominations are rapidly becoming social clubs-ceasing to appreciate or use the place hitherto considered the true position of the church tile text for his criticism was found on a printed postal card sent out by an american y 1 1 c a which read word for word as follows no not forget the next social the next candy-pull the next entertainment the next rong service the next gospel 1 l ting the next meeting of the debating club the next chicken-pie dinner the next date when you ought to make the secretary happy with your cash commenting upon this card he says this remarkable list of operations combining evangelistic zeal creature comforts and business shrewdness requires no ommentary the item give us a convincing illustration of an up-to-date religious imtitution-a veritable hustler of a y 1 1 c a the christian church and a y m c a are of course vel v different institutions and the latter is free from any tradition s of austere dignity but one is not surprised to find that the dmrch has also been touched with the social spirit and is also doing her best to make religion entertaining one enters what jg ailed a place of worship and imagines that he is in a drawiug-room the floor has a thick carpet there are rows of theater-chairs a huge organ fills the eye a large bouquet of 1i0wprs marks the minister s place people come in with a jaunty air and salute one another cheerily hardly one bends ill head in prayer there is a hum of gossip through the building a man disentangle himself from a conversation and bustil s up to the platform without clerical garb of any kind a likply as not in layman s dress a quartet advances and facmg the audience sings an anthem to the congregation inch does not rise and later they sing another anthem also to the congregation there is one prayer and one reading from holy scripture and a sermon which is brief and bright among other intimations the minister urges attendance at the oyster supper when as is mentioned in a paper in the pews there will be oysters and meat-turkey i think-and ice-cream this meal is to be served in the church parlor no sooner has the benediction been pronounced which has some original feature introduced than the congregation hurries to the door but although no one can explain how it is managed the minister is already there shaking hands introducing lwople getting off good things and generally making things hum one person congratulates him on his talk new name for a sermon-and another says it was fine efforts have been made in england also to make church hfe really popular and in one town known to the writer with some success of its own kmd one church secured a new set of communion plates by the popular device of a dance vanous congregations gave private theatricals and in one case had stage property of their own bible classes celebrated the ouclusions of their sessious by a supper on good friday there were excursions into tlle country accompanied by a military band and a considerable portion of the congregational income was derived from social treats of various kinds this partirular town is only an illustration of the genial spirit preading throughout the church in england one minister 11 a magic lantern to give force to his sermon another has adupd a tavern to his church equipment a third takes up the latest murder or scandal a fourth has a service of song a fifth depends on a gypsy or an ex-pugilist if this goes on the church will soon embrace a theater aud other attractions which will draw young people and prevent old people from wearying in the worship of god [contrasting these modern and irreverent and unscriptural methods with those of the past dr watson continues perhaps it may be the perversity of human nature which is apt to cavil at new things and hanker after the good old times-which were not always good by any means-but one is not much enamoured with the new departure nor at all convinced that what may be called for brief the candy-pull system is any improvement on the past after a slight expe· flence of smart preachers and church parlors and ice-cream suppers and picnics one remembers with new respect and keen churches as social olubs rev john wat~on widely known in orthodox circles as apprecia~ion th.e minister of ~ormer days with his seemly dress his dignified manner his sense of responsibility who came fro the secret place of divine fellowship and spoke as one carrymg tlle message of the eternal he may not have been so fussy in the aisles as his successor nor so clever at games nor able to make so fetching a speech on lo e courtship and marriage there are no doubt many points in which the collgregahon of the present has advanced on the cono reo ation of thp past but it has not been all gain for the cilier note in the :vorship of the former gencration was reverence-people met m the presence of the eternal before whom everv man is ii s than nothing ami the chief note of their children who meet to listen to a hoir and a clever platform speak~r is selfcomplacency -thp ladies home jj~rnal ve have frequently pointed out these same tendencies but we are glad to be able to quote the words of another-of one who stands so high in churchianity but dr watson will ere long find that ill must not criticize babylon and that if hp persists he will lose caste with the lm ds thereof so conservative a journal as the advance has already intimated that candy-pulls and other modern methods of making christianity attractive must not be interfered with by old fogies and so say we let the innovations proceed-thev an essential to the very existence of babylon and beside s the sooner the social churchianity clubs act out their real sentiments all along the line the better it will be for true christianity whose separation from churchianity is now due to be accomplished in this harvest time wheat from tares th !l!0r it becomes apparent tha,t with the vast majority religion is merely a form of godlmess the more will those who have the power of it as well realize the width of the gulf which really separates the two classes in divine pstimation the louder grow the revelry and irreverence and the scoffing at god s word by higher critics and the boasts of evolution the louder in the ears of the lord s true saints will sound the master s command babylon is fallen is fallen come out of her my people that ye be not pflrtakers of her sins and that ye receive not of her plagues rev 18 :2 4 the editor of the washington city times gives his opinion of some of the methods of churchianity thus a ,sensational brooklyn preacher lately discoursed on sub.jects like these would christ belong to a labor union vould christ go to a brooklyn theater and so on it is rather difficult to conceive the moral status of people who actually approve of sermons of this sort undoubtedly a large part of the audiences which they attract come from mere curiosi~y as they might come to any other sort of show and they might as well be at the theater for all the good that it is likely to do them one of the most deplorable features of modern american life is the tendency toward sensationalism in the pulpit it is bad from every point of view it excites emotions which are in no way religious and are all the worse for passing under that name it is in execrable taste it misleads people to a sort of contempt for religion and it makes the churches which indulge in it odious it has grown out of another bad featul i of ollr modern life-the plutocratic ideal any sensible person may easilv understand that when the attraction of a church for fts membel s depends on this sort of thing and on the ability of the people of the church to dress well and pay for a handsome building and a showy choir there is no more real religion in the whole business than there is in a cirpus it would be murh more to the pomt for the sensational preacher above quoted to ask himself in private whether his church is the kind which christ would be likely to approvp or if it is full of money-changers and the sellers of doves it is time that sensible and thoughtful religiou people in this country understood what a church is really intended to be it should not be a bad imitation of fashionable society with all the meannesses caste distinctions pettiness and jealousy of that society veneered over with a coating of formal religion christianity in japan not long since japan was considered the brightest example of progress in christian missions and with good reason everything coming from europe or the united states was looked upon with favor-the christian religion included in a few years the number of converts to various shades of nominal christianity ran up to 40,578 in 1878 however a great change has occurred there and within the past two years the total converts claimed by all the sects is only 403 19-20 [2561][close]
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21-22 zion s watch tower allegheny pa the beginning of this change of sentiment seems to have dated from the time that the different denominations began more or less to compete it would seem that at first denominational and creed differences were considerably hidden from the japanese and they seem to have embraced christianity in something of its simplicity of spirit if not of doctrine however when they began to send some of their young men to american and english colleges the fact of the great varieties of contradictory doctrines all claiming to represent christ s teachings became known and was naturally followed by denominational reapings chiefly we believe presbyterian thl japanese are a practical people and concluded thllt if christians of the vest were so confused and divided respecting the teachings of the bible the japanese could properly cxerf ise their own judgment l on the subjcch also in doing so they are rapidly tending toward agnosticism doubt uncertainty unbelief just as thinking people everywhere are doing expept as they get the truth and with it the spirit of a sound mind how we would like to put into the hands of these japancsl and all truth-seekers the light of present truth showing forth the divine plan of the ages we are on the lookout for the lord to bring forward to the light some earnest fully consecrated .japanese capable of presenting the plan by tranrlating dawn vol l pre lenting it to his christian countrymen we thought we had found the one two years ago but it proved otherwise christianity was unpopular but the truth much more so-too unpopular for him rev dr christlieb for years the representative of the evangelical protestant mission society of germany discussed the rpt-back in japan in a volume just published entitled the tendencies of japanese civilization and chris· tianity in which he explains the opposition now generally entertained by the japanese against the christian church is due to the changed attitude which they have in recent years developed in so marked a degree to all influences from abroad-a conservative reaction of a pronounced type this return to nativism is largely due to the easy success in the war with the chinese this reaction from the former enthusiasm for innovation has assumed a particularly determined character the japanese have reached the conclusion that they had been too hasty in discarding the old in favor of the new and this spirit has found its way even into the christian elements of japan which aspired to the establishment of a church independent of the churches in countries that had been christian for centuries although the japanese have known christianity only for thirty years and there is scarcely a single adult native who har been a christian since his childhood yet they began to regard themselves more capable to develop a christian culture and life than thore who brought them the new faith these ideas and ambitionf:l are largely due to the fact that attempts were made to build up a christianity wholly divorced from the national character of the people the reaction is to a certain extent the result also of the radical antijapanese type of life that representatives of wertern chris· tianity aimed to develop completely ignoring the many excellent traits that make up the national character of the people still another element that has entered into tllis reaction is the fact that the japanese who is naturally not too deep intellectually and who is but half civilized has been made acquainted with estern agnosticism and atheism us found in the writings of schopenhauer and herbert spencer through these a certain dangerous contempt for the supernatural has been developed especially among the younger generation all these factors and others have united to produce the modern opposition to christianity in the japanese empire preaching of john the baptizer jan 21 luke 3 1-17 prepare ye the way of the lord doubtless manv commentor l on this lesson will claim that john the baptize s ministry began with the year a ·· d 26 and hy positiveness of assertion seek to make up for tl~elr l~ck of evidl nce on this subject let all therefore bear m mmd that such a dating of john s ministry will be purely arbitrary to make it conform to the erroneous view which prevails among scholars in respect to the date of our lord s birth it should not be forcyotten however that although it is well established from the scriptures that our lord was six months younger than his second·cousin john there is no other scriptural date which so closely and definitely eonnects the history of our lord and of john the baptizer with general history ~s do.es the statement of this very lesson that john began his milllstry when hi was thirty years of age in the fifteenth year of the reign of tiberius c~sar those who claim that jesus began his ministry a d 27 instead of a d 29 claim t~at joh!1 s ministry began in a d 26 and in order to make this fit with the statement of the first vprse of this lesson they are obliged to count the reign of tiberius cresar two years before its admitted date for a particular discussion of this subject however we must refer our readers to millennial dawn vol ii p 54 of john it is written that he was filled with the holy spirit from his birth but we must not misunderstand this to mean that he was begotten of the holy spirit in the sense that christians are begotten of it for he lived before the time of spirit-begetting-in the jewish age no.t in the gospel or christian age thus our lord said of him that although there had not arisen a greater prophet than john nevertheless the least in the kingdom of god is greater than he the least one in the house of sons is on a higher plane than the greatest one in the house of servants matt 11 ii heb 3 5 6 the apostle again explains that the holy spirit was not yet given because jesus was not yet glorified john 7 :39 i:p harmony with this we must understand that john was filled with the holy spirit holy power or influence from god from his birth after thl same manner that the other prophets throughout the jewish age had been under that holy spirit the expression would lead us to understand that although john was not born immaculate as was jesus he nevertheless was well born under holy influenees which tended to develop in him natural characteristics suitable to the mission he was intended of god to fulfil this does not involve the thought of divine interference with the free will of the individual for paul tells us that he also was chosen of god from his birth to be a special servant to do a special work gal 1 15 nevertheless the lord did not interfere with his exercising his own free will even permitting him to go so far into blind error as to become the persecutor of the church and eyen when the lord rebuked 11im in the way to damascus that was not an interference with his wtll or nature but merely a removal of hi l blindness his ignorance permitting his true will to come into exercise and so no doubt others of the lord s people from time to time have been from earliest childhood special subjects of divine providence which has gmded and shaped their experiences without interfering with thpir wills so as to make of them .special instruments for the accomplishment of divine purposes of john s life from infancy to manhood we know nothing except the bare record the child grew and waxed strong in spirit and was in the desert until the day of his showing unto israel luke 1 :80 not in the sandy deserts but more properly in the wilds the uncultivated regions perhaps in the hill country where his parents resided at the time of his birth possibly a part of the lord s providence in respect to john s training for his work consisted in the ordering of the affairs of his parents so that possibly they were forced by circumstances to reside in such a wilderness-home where they would have comparatively little intercourse with others and where john probably as a forester would have the experiences which the lord saw would best fit him for the work intended all christians should learn to trust to the heavenly father s guidance remembering his special promise which is applicable to each one who is in christ viz that all things shall work together for good to them that love god and remembering this they should be content with the lot which providence seems to mark out for them-not indolent but content when they have done all that their hands find to do not restless peevish dissatisfied complainers against god and his providence trust in the lord and do good it may be that the lord is fitting and preparing us individually for some special service and that the permitted experiences alone will prepare us for that service indeed we know from the word that god designs his elect for joint-heirship with our dear redeemer in the glorious millennial kingdom and we can well realize that because of our imperfel tion we need much moulding and fashioning chiseling and polishing to make us meet for the inheritance of the saints in light we are to remember also that we are incompetent to judge of our own imperfections and hence incompetent to judge of the experiences which would be most helpful to us it is difficult for us sometimes even to see ourselves as others see us much more difficult undoubtedly it would be to see ourselves from the divine standpoint here faith in god comes to the front this is the victory which overcometh the world even your faith the time of john s showing or presentation to israel [2562][close]
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january 15 19co zion s watch tower 23-24 manifestation of the sons of god for the deliverance of the was undoubtedly the time when he reached the legally required thirty years of age and then it was that the word of the groaning creation rom 8:17-19 thus the second advent of lord came unto him causing him to begin his mission ve christ the head with the church his body will be seen to be are not to think of this expression as having to john the same on a very much higher plane than was the first advent of our signification as it has to us who are of this gospel age the lord in the flesh although the first advent was all-important word of god came to john as a prophet for our lord de· in that without it and its sacrifice for sins there could have dared there hath not arisen a greater prophet than john b~en no second advent of jesus the head in the glory of the baptist the lord made clear to john that the time had kmgdom power and there could have been no glorified memcome for the beginning of his ministry not merely by an im· bers of his body to be associated with him pression or surmise but with positiveness as in the case of after thus noting the relationship of the two events it is all the prophets in harmony with his commission he went to proper for us to note also that as the blessings of the first the thickly settled regions in the vicinity of the river jordan a vent were offered to nominal fleshly israel so the presentapreaching repentance-that the people should reform-and tion of the blessings of the second advent will be to nominal baptizing in the jordan those who professed a reformation spiritual israel christendom and as a forerunner or for this reason john sought the pools or deep places of the herald was appropriately sent to fleshly israel to prepare river for instance he went to enon near to salem because them for ~he first advent likewise it would be appropriate that there was much water there a pool sufficiently deep for the a proportionately greater forerunner should precede the secpurposes of immersion ond advent and seek to make ready therefor all nominal ve are not to fall into the too common error of supposing spiritual israelites as we have already shown this greater from the record that john preached to the people that elijah who heralds the spiritual christ is composed of many repentance and baptism would work for them a remission of members jesus in the flesh was himself the head of this their sins to so interpret these words would put them in elijah class and all of his true followers who will be when direct conflict with the entire testimony of the scriptures glorified with him members of the glorious christ will have which is to the effept that without the shedding of blood there previously been in their earthly lives members with him of the is no remission of sins the usual representation of this subelijah class whose mission it is to show forth the principles ject is thcrcfore clearly in error to the contrary we are to of righteousness and true holiness and to exhort both by understand this verse to mean that john preached a baptism word and conduct all men to repentance and to preparation signifying repentance llnto or preparatwn for a remission of for the seco d .adv~nt-the glorious appea~ing the setting up sins the time had not vet come for the blotting out of the of t~e me~slamc kmgdom the actual blottmg out of sins the sins and john neither hrid nor could have obtained authority stra~ghtenmg of every crooke way the leveling up of deep to def lrlfe sins remitted because of repentance and baptism crevices of character the leveling down of the hills of pride to had it been possible for him to have made such a proclamathe proper level of humility and in every sense of the word tion truthfully it would have proven that there was no neseebng to prepare all flesh to see the salvation of god cessity for the coming of our lord jesus to gi t e himself a nev~rt~eless we are to r;member that the scriptures disravsom for israel and for all the families of the earth if tmctly mdicate that the te timony of this greater elijah will repentance and immersion in water would bring the forgivebe equally unsuccessfu.l with that of the lesser antitype of ness of sins the 8aviour and a great one whom god had elijah john the baptizer the church in the flesh has not promised to israel for so long would have been wholly unnecsucceeded in making straight the paths of the lord for a essary but when we view john s work and preaching as triumphal entry to his kin lom upon the earth a few have merely a preliminary one to make ready a repentant people hea~d but tile message has utterly failed a respects the vast desiring to have their sins forgiven desiring full at-one-ment majority even those who prf fess respect for and to be waitwith god and expecting a saviour to accomplish all this,in.g for th kingdom ne crtllp]ess all god s good purposes then all is harmony will be ultimately accomplj hed though nef essarily introduced and this thought that the remission of sins was a work by troubles calamities distress upon chdstendom in the futur from john s la a work to be accomplished by christ end of this age or harvest time similar to those troubles is fully borne out by the succeeding context a quotation from whi?h came upon fleshly israelites who were unready for the isaiah thp prophet which has not even yet been fulfilled but saviour and knew not the time of their visitation at his includes the entire work of the millennial age that age will first advent all this unreadiness however shall not hinder be one for rem i sion of stns and blotting 01lt of sins and the the work ,of t~ie messiah as at l~is first advent he gathered full reconciliation of so many as will accept god s grace in all israeliter mdeed to the new hspensabon so now he will christ under the new covenant compare acts 3 19-21 in gathe his el~et little flock to himself his kingdom will be that time under those favorable conditions and not before esta?lishe it shall rule over all it ~ill accomplish the will the statement be fulfilled all flesh shall see the salvastral~htenmg of every crooked path it will level up tile path tion of god of righteousness and holiness and mak of it a highway ve are to bear in mind that john s work as a messenger f;eed from stumbling blocks o error and from satan s decepwas exclusively to israel and had nothing whatever to do tion isa 35 !l all man,kl,nd then hrou~ht to a knowledge with any of the gentiles to israel he acted as the elijah or o the trllth will have the privilege of progressing through the forerunner of messiah in the flesh seeking to induce that times of restitution up this grand hi;rhway of obedience to the nation in tts harvest time to accept the formal offer of god s kingdom by accepting jesus as the king but john s grand perf~ction lost for himself and his rac hy father adam s tran~gresslon but re~eemed for adam and his race by the mission was not successful to his nation and profited only a precious blood of christ all flesh indeed shall see the salvafew of the people those few who believed john s testimony tion of our god and so many as will may share therein for and received it into good and honest and repentant hearts this is the blessing which god has provided for all the famwere prepared to rece~ve jesus and to appreciate and receive ilies of the earth through the true spiritual seed of abraham the remission of sins offered by god through him the remainder of that nation rejecting john s teaching and being -christ and his elect church gal 3 16 29 it would seem that .john s ministry at first was somewhat in an unrepentant condition of heart were not properly exercised were not ready for jesus and did not appreciate the popular notwithstanding his probably uncouth backwoods offer of remission of sins through his blood as a consequence appearance and great plainness of speeeh so that great multiand as a nation were rejected of god and wholly overthrown tudes came to him amongst these were some who seemed to while john thus acted as the eliiah in introducing jesus john to be .so vile that he could not properly accept them until in the flesh to fleshly israel and gathered out a certain class they had given some proofs of reform these he d nominates who were ready to receive jesus and who were blessed by c,hildren of vipers very harsh language we would be inhim so we see that in god s plan there is a greater antitvpe clined to say ve are not to understand that such language of elijah than was john as there is a greater christ than is proper to be copied by the lord s people of torlay we are r~ther t.o suppo e t.hat there were special conditions at that was our lord jesus the greater christ is the spiritual one the lord from heaven now the lord is that spirit time which made this language appropriate and that john as and this glorified spirit lord is the head of the church which a prophe war divinply guided into giving this sharp reproof is his body and this body of many members will in the first the lord s people of the gospel age are instructed on the conresurrection be made like him and to share his glory :lnd trary to speak ith meekness gentleness patience longwith him and under him constitute the great messiah who suffermg etc m meekness instructing those that oppose shall take unto himself his great power and reign establishing themselves reproving with all long-suffering the lord s people of today are under general instructions of god s word god s kingdom amongst men and causing his will to be done on earth as it is done in heaven matt 6:10 the coming as regards all their conduct and are not to depart therefro into power of this great christ the spiritual christ head unless it would be under special divine direction as were the lnd body constitutes the second advent to mankind the m1llennial dawn vol ii chap 8 [2563][close]
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24-26 zion s watch tott er prophets of old-such as is not given to any at the present sympathize with them in the fact that their condition necessitime 80 far as we are aware tates that the introduction of the kingdom shall be wiih a time of trouble such as was not since there was a nation and when john speaks of his hearers fleeing from the wrath thank god shall never again be dan 12 1 matt 24 :21 to come we are not to get the thought that he preached or that the people believed in the doctrine of eternal torment and john proceeding with his discourse points out to his that the words refel l ed to this quite to the contrary there jewish hearers that the time of judgment had come upon is no ~mch teaching in the scriptures the wrath to come thei1 nation the axe was laid at the root of the trees every lefelted to by .john proph tically was the trouble that wa israelite who was not an israelite indeed was to be overthrown and to be cast into the fire of tnmble with which that age about to come upon that nation unless they would receive 2 iessiah ,vho had not vet be n offered to th m hut who woum and national polity terminated the three and a half years of our lord s ministry to the jewish nation and their final shortly apppar and fo r hose appearance they were to make rejection by him are represented by the barren fig tree parar ady by true rep ntal1 p ami baptism the wrath to come did come upon thp nabon iin ause of its rejection of :messiah ble in harmony with the statement of john foregoing see luke 13:6 j as our lord and the postlp panl sp eially testify see luke 21:23 h0111 !j:22 1 thes 2:16 tt imrned fi rcely against .tohn evidentlv struek the chord of fear to some extent them in the in cat time of trouble hith l d to the collapse of hut he struck it ·properly there is a proper presentation of tlwir national polity in ii[close]
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]anl ry 15 1900 z jon s tva t c h to tv e r the nation and of establishing order there and the roman army went not to destroy them but to establish peace in their midst but the lord had declared that the fire of trouble ~hich he enk~ndled should not be quenched by any power that it sbould do its work to the full and it did likewise it will be with the great fire of trouble with which this gospel age shall end and into which the tare dass of christendom will be cast it will not be an utter d truction of life although many lives ill perish in the great tl ouble of thi day of wrdth but it i iii lompll t consume earthly governments and churchianity in a fire of anarchy nothing shall quench that fire or hinder that utter destruction of present systems but praise god that when this fire shall have consumed the stubble and the falsities and deceptions of present institutions it will have but prepared the way for ~he gr~at bl~ssing which .he has designed and provided for m his commg kmgdom this fire and the bles~ino to follow it are particularly referred to in z@ph 3 s 9 consecration followed by temptations ius is my belored son jan 28 matt 3:13-4:11 in whom i am 1lcll pleased after john had been preaching and baptizing for about six months about september a d 29 jesus who had been residing in galilee and was nearing his thirtieth birthday set out to find john and to be baptized of him and to begin his public ministry at the earliest possible moment he was to be a priest as well as a king for his people a priest forever after the order of melchisedec and the law required of a priest that he be at least thirty years of age hence jesus ministry was hindered from beginning until this age was attained but he was free to begin it at the earliest possible moment after that time he was of course acquainted with his second-cousin john the baptizer who evidently well knew of his upright life and unimpeachable character and who was astounded to have him apply for baptism whereas the class john was seeking was the renegade and sinful according to the original reading .john would have hindered him saying i have need to he haptized of thee and comest thou to me realizing that .jcsus had no sins to wash away it seemed to john inappropriate that this cpremony should be performed upon jesus for we are to rrmcmber that john s baptism was merely a baptism nuto repentance-reformation-and not christian baptism.hee acts 19 :4 g our lord did not attempt to explain to john that he was introducing it new baptism not for sinners but exclusively for holy ones ancl not therefore in any sense of the word symholic of the cleansing from sin but symbolic of a sacrificial death for the sins of others it was not then due time to pxplain christian baptism and to have done so would merely have confuked .john and thosr who might have heard without profiting him any because the new baptism belonged to the new dispensation which did not begin until pentecost except in the person of our lord jesus himself and in anv case the forc and meaning of the symbol is merely what is ilnderstood by the baptized one it is perhaps well that we call special attention to this point in view of the fact that a large and influential body of christian people are even today practicing .john s baptism for the remission of sins wholly failing to realize the import of the new baptism-christian baptismfirst symbolized by our lord jesus himself our disciple friends will not dispute the scriptural 1tatement that our lord jesus was holy harmlebs undefiled eparate from sinners and hence that he had no sins to wash away and consequently that for him john s baptism of ref· ormation would have been worse than meaningless it would have been a contradiction of fact and contrary to faith and whatsoever is not of faith is sin hence it would have been wrong for our lord jesus to have been baptized for the remission of sins-jolm s only understanding of baptism we may be sure therefore that since in him was no sin his act of baptism was the first of a new order of baptism practiced by his followers after pentecost acts 19:4,5 we here note the fact that christian baptism is only for believers in christ -not for unbelievers not for sinners faith in christ is the justifying power we are justified through faith in his blood when justified w.e a~e ready for christian baptism and not hefore but when lustified we have no sins to wash away being justified freely from all things to the christian believer baptism symbolizes precisely the same thing that it did to hi lord viz consecration-the full surrender of his will his life his all to the heavenly father s will by such a ~urrende o his will he becomes dead to the world to eart~ly hopes and alms and becomes alwe toward god to walk m newness of life and .by and by ~o have th~t newness of life actually as a harer with jesu8 his lord his redeemer in the first resurrection all thi8 i8 symbolized in the proper christian baptism our lord being free from sin required no justification bv another and when he had reached manhood s estate pr 1entc;1 the christian denomination otherwise termed disciples iii-42 himself wholly unreservedly to do the father 111 at tile mo~ent of consec ation hi8 earthly hfe was yielded up as a sae~ifice for th sms of the whole worid and this was symbohzed by ius immersion in water the remaining three and a half years of his life were already on the altar and he merely waited for his sacrifice to be consumed erving with hi last breath it is finished likewise he has indted all of his fait~ful elect churell to become joint-sacrificers with him and ul~lmately to become ~lso his joint-heirs in the kingdom to be given to the royal pnesthood as jesus baptism therefore s~gn.ified his death sacrificially fol sins so the baptism of chnstians symbolizes their participation with the lord in his sam ifice after they have first been justified by faith freely from all things by the merit of his blood in our lord s ease the consecration was quickly followed by the symbol and with his followers the consecration should he followed by the symbol as ,quickly as they recognize the meaning of the symbol,winch for centuries has been beclouded and obscured .quickly following our lord s consecration and its symbolil lltion camp the evidence that hir sacrifice was accepted of g.od the heavens were opened ll~to him this probably sigil~fies !hat he was .granted it islon of heaven confirming to ~nm .his rel~bonshlp to the father and connecting up thp i~tenm of his experience as a mun with his prehuman expcnences and there came a voicl declaring him to be god well-beloved ~on a~d he as we.n as ,john john 1 :34 witn~sse a mamfestation of the dlvme ble~sing descending upon lllm hke a dove ve are not lllformpll that the people saw thl heavens opened heard the voiel and flaw the dove on thl contrary the records seem to indicate that only j~sus and .jo~il saw and ~eard and that thp latter was granted thl pnvilege to the llltent that ill might bpar witness to the fact a dove was a favorite figure with tile jews as an emblem of peace and salvation indeed ~oah dove with its olh l branch seems to hav become a symbol to .all civilized peoples it was most appropnate therefore that smce some figure wa to be used as an outward evidence of divine blessing tile dov should .b ~hat figure yet we are not to suppose that thl holy spi~lt 15 a dov nor that it l~as bodily shape like a dove but as mstructed m all the scnptures that it is a divinl power .or in ence t~e dove reprl sf nted fittingly the meek and qmet splrlt which is one of the striking ornaments of all those .who possess the spirit of holiness unto the lord such expe~iences as these which our lord enjoyed are not granted to his followers nor to be expected today neither the voicl no .the opened heavens nor the don the coming of the holv spuit to the church at pentecost was signalized by an outwar;1 demonstration which sen1es thc entire chllrph throughout thr a~e such outward demonstrations wen e~sential at the begli~m!1g a.s a~sl1ranees to us that we are not following some vam imagmat~o~s of our own or other mpll mind in respect to the holy splrlt and now we merely han the realities whieh at first were s1m.bolized or represen ted in tangible for all ho after behevmg unto repentanee arp justified from their sms and subsequently present themsl lvl s to 1.hr lord to bl haptized into his death rom 6 q recl ive :tn opening of th.e heavens before them m tile srnse of an opening of their mmds to see heavenly tlungs to appreeiate spiritual matters as ~he apostle ~e~lares god revpa,is them unto us by hi splrlt r th splrlt searcheth all tlling-s yea the deep things of god -thmgs which eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither illlth entered into the heart of [the natural man i cor 2:10 they also by faith llear the voice of the father speaking unto them saying that having thus come unto hi through .jesus and having thus consecrated their lives to him they are now beloved soils accepted in the well-beloved one t~ey also rec~ive th.e hlessing of the holy spirit in the sheddlllg abroad m their bpurts of the peace-giving meek and gent.1e sp~rit of holiness and this becomes more and more a reahty with them a o thp~· hepome mor allf more filled with the spirit [2565][close]
p. 15
~28-29 zion s watch tower allilgheny pa jesus was led of the spirit-his own spirit illuminated by the spirit-baptism winch he had just received-t go apart from john and the concourse of people into quiet solitude and for thlr purpose he chose a wilderness place mark says he was impelled or driven of the spirit into the wilderness the thought we get is that there was a great pressure upon our lord s mind at this time in a prevlous lesson we noted hi study at jerusalem at an early age respecting the fa,ther s business and how he should go about it ve found the law instructing him that it would not be proper for him to engage in the father s buriness until he was thirty years of age and that m conrideration of this fact he desisted and served his parentr the momentous time for which he had been waiting for eightepn years had come he hastened to present himself at the earliest moment that hir service should not be delayed but now under the enlightenment of the holy spirit instead of beginning his ministry precipitately he felt that he must know definitely the proper course to pursue he must not make a mirtake at thp very outstart of his service he must know the fath.er s will that he might render his service in harmony therewith such motives impelled him to seek solitude for thought and prayer and for reviewing the various scripturer whieh hithl rto he had studipd and hut imperfectly comprehended but which now began to be luminous under the infll1pih of thp holy ~pirit hich he had received liow proppr it would bc that all of the lord s people when tlh y have made a consecration of the~selves to the d.ivine ervic rhould be lmpellpd by the new mmd the new spint to go apart firrt and to eommune with the father ~nd to study his ord resppeting how they should render then lives most ar,pppt hlp m hir rprvlce vere this courre pursued how many livcr would be totally different from what ~hey are how many failures and changes and turnmgs hither a~d thithpr would hi avoldcd our lord expressed the matter m onp of hir parabler whpn he said that anyone taking up his cross to follow him shou1[close]
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