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vol xxxi brooklyn n y january 1 1910 no.1 views from the watch tower the year ullo 0pl ns auspiciously upon a world which may be said to be nervous and doubtful if not fearful hope still holds the reins however money is the king in the present order of things everywhere his palace is entrenched a veritable fortress practically impregnable his interest from bonds-national state county municipal railroad-and real estate mortgages represents more each year than all the gold money in the world could pay hence the debtors must make good the deficiency with other bonds etc thus money owns and in the last analysis rules the world l 1oreover its debts are protected by most stringent laws and regulations and with armies and navies militia and police money could not be .better off than it is today indirectly money has noted the fat things of the world and has appropriated them and operates them through gigantic trusts and combines the smaller business enterprises money disdains to touch it leaves these to the weary and heavyladen that they may have some share in the property and be able to pay the interest on the bonds the smaller manufacturers of the world between satisfying the demands of trades unionism and paying the interest on their bonded debts find it impossible to say that the new year opens prosperously still they hope and as they read descriptions of their fellowmanufacturers in other lands they rejoice that business is no worse than it is and hope for better times a bountiful harvest has given foundation for a fair degree of prosperity amongst the people as a whole and everything considered america is a very favored land for a long time the wealth of europe has been largely derived from its trade with foreign countries king money in great britain has levied tribute on the entire heathen world to protect this he has the largest navy on earth and watches jealously any neighbor who might be a competitor king money in germany is growing rapidly rich and ha l great ambition he can produce more manufactures than he can use and he desires to share the trade of the british king :money to get this he is willing to spend hundreds of millions of dollars in building battleships the english king money fears that his suprpmacy of the seas would thus be endangered if the german king money were on an equal seafooting his servants the eng-lish pre~s of course are greatly interested and excited the whole british nation is aroused to excitement a ge rman war scare makes some fearful and some beligerent the c-laim is that a strong german navy would compe-te with the british take away her trade and starve her people by hlockading her ports tile argument advanced is that war should he declared against germany speedily while the british navy is so much stronger of the two and that with her navy di stroyed germany should never be allowed to rebuild one whiph would in any degree be a menace to that of great britain meantime the british and the gcrmans are impoverishing their treasuries with war preparations and latterly austria has become hent on being a sea power and is also huilding dreadnaughts with the amount of zeal everywhere manifested to serve king money it would not at all surprise us if there should be a cruel and dreadful war betwern the two great christian nations great britain and germany within two years how far-reaching would be the influence of such a war is difficult to guess india which has for so long been under british control and yiehled rich returns to king money is already in a ferment of revolution russia at such a time would be glad to free india from the domination of great britain and then would seek to grasp india as her own possession meantime china and japan are making wonderful strides in eiviliza tion-especially in war preparation soldiers are being drilled cannon are being manufactured-and in general these great heathen powers which have been dormant for so long are getting awake presumably they have their own king :money managing their affairs in the event of a war between britain and germany if russia should interfere with india japan as a british ally would attack russia with china as her assistant it would be easy for imagination to picture other nations becoming embroiled in the strife thus a great european war may be comparatively near many prominent englishmen have exprcssed themselves much more positively than this-that war cannot be long averted late advices from china and japan indicate great busi· ness prosperity there some who have been examining the fundamental causes for the industrial awakening tell us that tho basis of it lies in the fact that although gold is the nominal money standard of those lands silver is the real standard-the money in which the business is conducted doing business with the pheaper money practically gives china and japan a tariff wall of one hundred per cent and increasingly closes the ports of those great nations to european and american goods manufactured on the gold basis the demonetization of silver which was intended by king money to bring to him wealth from peoples a far as well as at home is gradually closing upon him the doors of heathpndom representing three-fourths of humanity the chinese and .japanese hope scon to be able to duplicate at lower prices the wares of europe and ameripa and those who ignore the imminence of me~siah s kingdom might well stand in dread of a pommercial invasion as well as a political one from oriental lands within a quarter of a century the peoplps of southern europe are fepling the influcnces of civilization and education and are arousing themselves from letharg j and bcginning to feel the gnawings of dis· content socialism is sprrading through the armies of europe and the various states are instrllpting their discontentrd millions in the nse of all the implcments of warfare and death rven while thrir national livrs arc threatened it looks as though five years more would see thr poorer plasses of europe awake and mad with pnvy and dispontent ready to pull down upon their own hearls thp social structures of the world in t.he vain hope th at thus they can gpt more of the coveted gold in our own land it is really surprising to see how cjuipkly and how thoroughly the millions of migrants from europe arc ahsorbpd and ameripanized and pivilized herr evprvthing is very quiet socially but occasionally we hav evidrncps that underneath the 8urfacr there is anger malice hatred envy strife-that the poor world as a whole ir not christianized it is really galvanized with a semblance of chris3-4 [4539j

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4-5 the watch tower brooklyn n y tianity in outward conduct and liable at any moment to manifest those characteristics whieh ~t paul describes as sensual and devilish certainly comparatively few have the fruits and graces of the holy ~pirit-mcekness gentleness patience long-suffering brotherly-kindness love at any time in any quarter of the world conditions might suddenly arise wlllch would convulse the financial world and through it the social world or vice versa ve cannot say that this might not come soon although we see no apparent causf of such a convulsion in this year 1910 the power of the labor unions all recognize the unionists well know that they could paralyze business and bring starvation or surrender within one month the religious world selves shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw away dlsdples after them ~uch tlungs are to be expected in 1910 let us not be surprised but on the alert to resist such besetments by increased humility it surely is a fact that those who once enjoyed the light of present truth and who have left it seem thereafter more deficient of decency reasonableness honesty manhood and womanhood than do worldly people or those who have never seen the truth one might know how to calculate on what the worldly foe might do or say or insinuate for they all have limits beyond which they would not think of going but as for these false brethren there is no calculating what they may do or say expecting such assaults we need not be disconcerted but trust in the lord and do good what manner of spirit are ye of strictly speaking the world is not religious yet so closely allied are nominal christianity of all denominations and worldly institutions of every kind that some name is needed to df>scribc the babylonish mixturf thank god there are still good people and apparently some of thf>m in every denomination but most evidently they not only arc not in thl majority but are a very small minority -quite unable to control the situation the outward forms continue in all denominations but they all seem to be honey omlw1 with unbelief highl r criticism evolution theosophy christian i 3ciencl psychic research etc have practically swallow d th m up and there is left only the form of godlinf ss without its power except in the small minority of consecrat d saints already referred to and those we are seeking for and shall seek for by every power at our command for they are all to be found and enlightened blessed ripened gathered before the end of the harvest time church ff deration on a large scale comes on slowly but the spirit of it is making great progr ss in various directions church federation is getting into practical shape in many citips undoubtedly it already is a force but we are still to expe t a still more formal organization or federation and the vitalizing of the same through affiliation with the episcopal system not until then will the image of the beast have powl r to speak to command to enforce its edicts rev 13:15-17 in some r speets the truth has never had a brighter or more prosperous outlook than at the present time it has never wielded as much influence as now for the enlightenment of the people never before have so many millions of intelligent thinking people been brought in contact with a knowledge of the divine plan of the ages and a knowledge of the effectiveness of the ransom price laid down on calvary never before has the trumpet given a clearer sound never before have the soldiers of the cross had the armor more completely at their command or been better versed in how to use the sword of the spirit which is the word of god never before have those who understand the truth seemed more awake to the responsibilities of the hour or more zealous to use them to the glory of immanuel vhat may we not expect accordingly in the year 1910 in the line of scattering the volunteer matter and puttin the bible keys into the hands of every bible student and the w atcr tower into the hands of everyone who manifests interest and the sel mons weekly into the bands of all our neighbors dear brethren what solemn resolutions or vows do you intend to make to the lord respecting your faith and zeal and self-denials in his service during the year beginning let us promise nothing rashly but after considering well our w«;mderful privileges llnd opportunities let us promise and do with our might what our hands find to do your adversary the devil outlook for the truth what we have said respecting the glorious opportunities for sf rvice and a good outlook for the work should not be understood to signify no attacks from the adversary quite to the contrary indeed if from time to time in the past our great enemy has assaulted the truth and all who wo?ld seek to be faithful to it what reason have we for supposmg that he would be less on the alert or less aggressive in the present or succeeding years on the contrary our expectation is that the battle for right for truth will wax hotter and hotter those unwilling to trust the lord and those who are confident of themselves might about as well surrender now as any other time be assured that only the faithful and the courageous overcomers will stand the testing of this evil day but this will not discourage us if we will trust in the gracious promises of our lord that greater is he that is for us than all that are against us the apostle calls particular attention to perils amongst false brpthren in our day and he particularly pointed us to the heady and high-minded and told us that of your own eighteen centuries ago when the 8amaritans refusrd to sell bread for our lord s company the apostles james and john in their loving zeal for the master said lord wilt thou that we command fire from heaven to destroy these men and their city but jesus rebuked them saying ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of the ~on of man came not to destroy men s lives but to save thrm luke 9:54-56 these words are to be the guide of all the lord s foiiowf>rs today as well as before ve are not to render evil for eni nor slander for slander but contrariwise are to speak kindly lovingly generously of those who as foretold will say all manner of evil against us falsely for christ s sake-because we are his servants and representatives and the more prominent our position the more virulent will br their attacks if we can remember that they are deludl d and that the attacks are really from the adversary it will help us to feel kindly sympathetically toward them instead of maliciously and hatefully ve urge upon the dear readers of this journal that during the year 1910 more than ever before they shall seek to walk very close to the lord-in meekness and humility in patience and love to the brethren and in love and zeal for the lord and for the truth although somewhat disappointed that we are not even able to report seven thousand names to the vow-not mare than one-third of the v atch tower list nevertheless we have many reasons for believing that some of the dear friends who have not taken the vow formally are striving to live up to its principles and striving thereby to have a share of the blessings which it seems to be bringing to all who take it in sincerity and in love of the truth and the principles of righteousness we urge all to beware of making the vow a test of brotherhood in christ leave every matter of personal liberty with the individual recognizing all who fully turn from sin to righteousness and avow full faith in the redeemer as the 8avior and a full consecration to him as members of his body vhat preference you should give in the election of elders to one who has taken the vow or to one who has not taken it is for yourselves to decide according to your own judgment just as the matter of the use of toba~co wou.ld not bar christian brotherhood but might be conslder d iii the choice of an elder of the church should any in opposing the vow show a bitter spirit a fighting spirit remember the apostle s words mark them which cause divisions and avoid them rom 16 17 nevertheless treat them not as enemies and think not of them as such and hope for their return to a better spirit let us each remember however that his own chief ground for scrutiny and criticism is his own heart and his own life let us each fight the good fight there and avoid in every pos~ible manner contentions and strife with the brethren except it should be unavoidable along the lines of some violations of righteousness or the spirit of a good conscience and then let it be with loving and peaceable desires and endeavors the new oommandment many of you have already obtained this year s motto card the low prices of which are mentioned elsewhere the texts for the year are most beautiful the first is the new commandment of the master given to those who will be his disciples-those who would consecrate their lives with his even unto de ath love one another as i have loved you unto self-sacritice fohn 15 12 the second text might be terme d an apostolic commentarv on this new commandment 8t ,john wrote to fe how-christians ve ought also to lay down our lives for the brethre n 1 ,tohn 16 following the example of our illustrious re deemer and glorified head if vou have several of these motto rards have one in each room so that you will think rontinually upon brotherly love assured that it is the final test of character in god s sight [4540]

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january 1 1910 the watch tower 5-25 not only keep the motto card in sight but keep the sentiments continually in mind thus striving together in the unity of the ~pirit and the bonds of peace and seeking to walk closely under the shadow of the almighty the year 1910 will assuredly be to us all a happy year it will be full of happiness however many trials and difficulties it may contain the lord knows how to make all things work together for our good 1910-greetings to pilgrims and colporteurs-j9jo beloved in the lord the opportunity for a christmas and new year s letter is again at hand .my heart goes out with peculiar warmth and interest to the six hundred colaborers whom i now address i feel that you individually and collectively are very close in my heart s affections it is right that we should consider appreciate and admire the christian likeness of the lord in each other-and i see so much of this in you dear friends your loyalty and faithfulness to the truth coupled with your zeal for its service are continually an inspiration i doubt not they also inspire many of the lord s dear sheep who long for some such service as that in which you are engaged but are denied the privilege because of other duties and responsibilities as i look over the various departments of the harvest work i perceive that every feature of it is being used of the lord for the blessing of his people and the enlightenment of the world the conventions and other public meetings are doing a grand work the printed sermons are influencing many minds the v atcii tower and the newspapers and the volunteering are accomplishing much but the colporteur work in connection with the studies in the scriptures seems to be pre-eminently uscd of the lord in the full deliverance of those who have been more or less influenced by the truth through other channels i inform you of this for your special encouragement well knowing of your many discouragements dear colporteurs you are awakening more than ever to an appreciation of your wonderful opportunities and i rejoice accordingly ~ome ypftrs ago the work was esteemed more as a business of late an increasing number appreciate the fact that thcy have a great ministry of the truth to serve no longer are they satisfied to sell the books-good as that work alone often is more and more the privilege is appreciated of watering the sepd sown-of calling back upon those who gave evidpnce of christian characters and spirit to see if they were reading and to help them wisely over any difficulties and later to assemhle thpm with others for chart talks which later on develop into dawn-bible-studies the kind word the h:tppy face the gpntle presentation of christian work in the encouragement of the study of the scriptures etc find tne hearts of those who are really hungering and thirsting after righteousness it finds some hearts that never before tasted oithe grace of god the spirit of the lord in the colporteurs magnetically attracts the wheat class and family relationship and oneness in christ is recog ilized the tired the troubled the soulhungry find in these angels which are flying through the midst of heaven mark 13 27 the sympathy consolation christian love ete which their hearts have longed for and nowhere he found the solace which they have bou~ht ill vain in thc sects they had reason to expect in the lord s followers but rarely found is it any wonder that such would be ready to hear the message of truth and ready to confess that they had long been burdened and perplexed with the error at the opening of another year we bid you god-speed for the new year dear fellow-pilgrims and colporteurs may the lord s blessing continue with you richly rewarding you not only in the life to come but also with large measures of blessing in the present time and if for your good grantmg vou to see some fn:itao e to vour labors one dear polporteur reports that during tl~e year by the lord s grace s~e h l bpen guided with the message to seven who have repeived it gladly it is not merely the planting of the seed but the vatering of it and the holding of it that brings it t fruitage we take this opportunity of calling your attention to the o re1t work that ir being done through the newspapers an tolunteer work you may not have great opportunities of assistino in either of these departments of service directly hut you can at least exercise a good influence in favor of them with other s there are many -cities and towd which have never heen volunteered v offpr the printed matter free very year hut the dear fripnris residing in or near these not i hut christ in lowly silpnt labor not r but christ in humble earnest toil christ only christ no shew no ostentation christ ~one but christ the gatherer of the spoil v-54 places have not yet realized what a blessing they are missing when they neglect this service cannot you give them suggestions and examples along these lines and thus add to the service of the truth and to their joy and spiritual hlessing through participation in the matter of the newspapers publishing the sermons vhere a paper in the county publishes mention the fact id your canvass it will help :rou effect a sale of the books and you may secure an order for the paper in combination make such price as you think proper you have the published prices in the peoples pulpit and this will permit you to give a clubbing discount as between the newspaper the vatch l owr a and the dawn-studies make such combinations as you please the one important thing is that no price eyer shall be quoted in the combination that would be less than the cost of the newspaper inform the friends you meet of the importanpe of sustaining the publishers of the sermons in view of the fapt that the adversary is ever on the alert through various channels to discourage them and to interrupt this form of spreading the truth rave in mind that the puhlishers of these newspapers have no interest in the truth hut merely in the circulation of their paper and in the profit advise friends not to attempt to write theology to the editor but to leave that to the sermons and merely to express their own pleasure interest satisfaction in the reading of them and that this constitutes their chief interest in the paper vi e invite the pilgrims as well as the polporteurs to send to us the addresses of such persons as desire the sermons but cannot afford the cost ve desire to send a little christmas token to eaph regular pilgrim in the service and to eadl regular colporteur by regular we mean such as devotc entire time to the work or at least one-half of his timp please accept one of the new gold cross and crown pins and advise us at your convenient e where we shall send it ileckon on its leaving here ,tanuary ii whiph will give us time to get through with our christmas rush ve will enclose one of the little booklets the sweet brier rose and trust that the sentimentfl of the po pm are those of your heart ve send also one of the heart bookmarks and trust that the sentiments thereon expresserl will find echo in your souls throughout the coming year kecp thy heart with all diligence for the lord and in his service and love which means in the love and service of all who are truly his thus doing undoubtedly the year l l0 will be to us a very happy and profitable onp as yoll look at the grape clusters on the bookmark let them remind vou of the master s words herein is my father glorified tlut ye bear much fruit fruits of the spirit of love still remember throughout the ·oming year as in the past that my christian love for you is ery rieep and very warm and that in all your difficulties i [lm afllieted and that if at any time you ?re in trouble i vonid have you call on me after you have first called upon thp lord vishing you a very joyous christmas and a very happy new year 1910 i remain as ever your brother and servant in christ c t russell the above was prepared as a letter but later concluded that as we are rushed in the offipe work it would save labor and reach you qually well through i m vatch tower ve conclude indeed that others might be interested also possibly amongst their new year s resolutions the dpar colporteurs will inclurle the following i to send us promptly the lists of addresses of those who purchased studies 2 that on eaph report shpet they will give thpir own name and address 3 that thpy will begin on the first page of report blank 4 that thpy will give at the head of each list name of the town and countv 5 that they will write very plainly le use these lists for sending samplps of our lit rature and have been ohligpd to d stroy many bepau p impprfef t a long some of the a hove lines christ only christ e er long ill fill my vision glory excelling soon full soon i ll seechrist only christ mine every wish fulfillingchrist only christ mine all in all to be [4541]

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give thee for a covenant thus saith the lord the redeemer of israel and his holy one to him whom man despiseth to him whom the nation abhorreth to a servant of rulers kings shall see and arise princes also shall worship because of the lord that is faithful ~nd the holy one of israel and he shall choose thee thus saith the lord in an acceptable time have i heard thee and m a day of salvation h~ve i helped thee and will preserve thee and give thee for a covenant of the people to establi8h the earth to cause to mhent the desolate hentages that thou mayest say to the prisoners go forth to them that are in darkness shew yourselves thl y shall feed in the ways and their pastures shall be in all high places isa 49 7-9 full often haye we maell application of this ~l npture to tanuly determinmg that they were out of covenant relatwl1s our lord the jtpad and the church his body e now call with god-imperfect unable to keep the divine rpquiremcnts attpntion partie ular!y to the featu c which dedares i will and therefore under death eundpnmation in due time god presl rye thee and give thl e for a coyenant unto the people sent forth his son with the ayowed object of reconciling the to l stabli~h the parth cb xotiee the hct that the people world jesus did not even attempt to do so lie confined his unci their earthly inheritam p arc here differentiated from the efforts entirely to the jewish nation and amongst them to the grl at mediator of thp m pnant through whom the people sepking for the lost sheep as many as the father would are ttl he hlc spcl our lonl has not yet received the heathen draw to him for an inheritance and the uttf rmost parts of the earth for having finished his ransom-sacrifice he ascended on high a possession he has not yet rega.thered and blessed natural and applied it not for the world lmt for those who should israel and made thpm the spec-ial channels of his blessings believe on him and become his followers by consecration the to mankind for more than eightren centuries he has been apostle was one of these as he explained tc others and inwaiting at the right hand of majesty ior his foe to be turned cidentally to us of the same class today the results of our over to him-for the time to c:omp whc n he shall take to himlord s appropriation of his merit on our behalf was our self his great power and reign the beginning of that reign consequent harmony with god and share in the reconciliation will be the binding of satan then the blessing and uplifting not done by our lord but in a measure committed to us of the groaning creation will follow gradually the world his members he says as above quoted god hath reeonwill hp prepared to resume covenant relations with god at ciled us to himself through jerus and hath given to us the ministry [service of reconciliation not the service of our the elose of the millennium why the dc lay yhy did he not begin the work at once own reconciliation which is already passed but the service of immediatc ly aftc r he ascended up on high the scripture making known to the world the great fact that through the answer is that in harmony with the divine plan he has been merit of christ s death whosoever wills may return to harwaiting for the members of his body to join with him in mony with god be reconciled to him our message is that sacrifice in the sufferings of this present time that they may this reconciliation is eventually to reach the whole world but rhare with him as his members in the glorious work to that at the present time it is intended only for him that which he has bc n appointed as the spiritual seed of abrahath an ear to hear ham gal 3 29 from this standpoint all the work of as ambassadors for god as members of the christ it god s peopla during this gospel age is so much of the ministry is our ministry or service in the world to carry the message of the world s nc w oovpnant-serving that new cov nant by to all who can hear it-to persuade men to encourage them getting themselves and eaph othc r ready for the future work of by word and example to be reconciled to god-to acpept his rlory at the expense of self-denials as respects earthly things terms and conditions and to submit themselves fully to his and the prc spnt life will this ministry or service in the present time affects note st paul s application of our text to the church he merely the gathering of the household of faith including quotc the passage as applicahle to the body of christ saythe elect but this is not the end of the service those inl ve then workers together beseech also that ye receive faithful in the present work of the ministry of reconciliation not tha grace of god in vain for he saith i have heard t.hee will be counted worthy by the lord of a share in the glorious in a time accepted [the antitypical atonement day and in work of the future the reconciliation of that time will the day of salvation have i succored thee behold now is the differ from the message of the present time now we perappeptpd time [when we iikfl our lord may sacrifice earthly suade we urge we entreat we lay down our lives for the rights and restitution privileges and thereby attain the spiribrethren ve s ek by word and example to encourage to t.ual hlpssing of our high calling of god in christ ,lesus entice them to the lord-to have fellowship in his sufferings h hold now is the day of salvation the great salvation to and in our ministry tho divine nature 2 cor 6 i 2 the ministry of the future will be entirely differentreading again the prophecy from which this quotation is it will be glorious instead of suffering and sacrificing and made-our tpxt-we perpeive that there is no room to question being rejected of men the future reconciliation work will be that the rntire christ head and body was given as a covenant accomplished on a plane of glory our lord and head glor,lfor the prople tile world to institute general times of restified will be the king of kings and lord of lords ve his tution of all things whiph god hath spok n by the mouth of humble followers will be changed by the power of the first all the holy prophets sincp the world began acts 3 19-21 resurrection and as members of his glorions body we will sit upon his th:one ~e will ~xercise under ~im the ve see in this connection also the appropriateness of our lord s speaking of his up of suffering and death which office of prophet pnest ki~g mediator between god and he invited his faithful to skue with him as being not only men the world no longer will men be entr,eated but on the his own blood shed for us but also the blood of the new contrary the law shall go forth from mt zion and the vord covenant rhed for many in which we are privileged to parof the lord from jerusalem isaiah 2:3 and the soul ticipatf those who see and who appreciate the privilege that will not obey that proi?het sha~l be destroyed from a:nong rejoice to be accounted worthy to have fellowship or particihis ppople after full fair warnmg and helpful advice.pation with christ in his sufferings and sacrifices that they acts :23 may have share with him also in his glories and work the this ministry of reconcil.iatlon committed to the ~h rchr blood of the new covenant i ignifies the better sacrifices now and hereafter is sometimes referred to as the milllstry by which god has bpen pleas l to arrange to bring the whole of the new covenant-the service of bringing isra~l in eove~orld anew into coyl nant relations with himself nant relationship with god anew these royal priests serve the new covenant by way of making ready under the g uidthe ministry of reconciliation ance of their read the sacrificing of their restitution rights if any man be in christ he is a new creature old things as underpriestl the duties and privileges of this royal are passed away behold all thing8 are bec:ome new [such priesthood are now a sacrificing service by and by a rei~are already back into harmony or c:ovenant relationship with ing restoring and teaching service as he was so are we in god and all [thc sc things are of god who hath reconciled this world l john 4:17 us to himself by jesus christ [brought us back to covenant verse 21 above quoted tells how our lord became the sinrelationship1 and hath given to us tl e ministry of reconciliaoffering for us the homehold of faith and that this is in order tion to wit that go,l was in christ reconciling the world that we might be made the right.eousness of god in him in unto himself not imputing their trespasses unto them and other words we his members may be the channels through h lth committed unto us the word of rc ponciliation now whom hh merit would be applied for the propitiation of the then we are ambassadors hi christ as though god did beworld s sins under the terms of the new testament or besel ch mpn hv us we pray men in christ s stead be ye request in his blood thifl is in harmony with the apostle s oncilc d to god for he i god hath made him [jesus to statement that god s mercy through christ will he extended he sin [offering for ufl rh im 1 who knew no sin that we to i sra ei through the church afl it is written hpy shall might become goel s rightl oll ness in him 2 cor 5 17-21 obtain mc rcy through your mercy it is god s mercy through the carc ful student will note in the words quoted four christ which will pass through the church to natural israel parts distinctly separate jod our lord jesus christ the to whom,loever wills of all the families of the earth thank c hurch and the world god and the world are in opposition god for the privilpge of this ministry of reconciliation com· divine sentence of condemnation passed upon all the human mitted unto us rom 11 :27 6-7 [4542]

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the last of the prophets iatthew 3 l-l2 january 2 golden text the roice of one crying in the wilderness prepare yo the way of the lord make his paths strqlight v 3 john the baptist was the last of the prophets and as the jews and gave him freedom of utterance whieh he might jesus declares one of the greatest to him was committed not otherwise have had at the same time theile peculiarities the honorable service of directly announcing the savior who made his message all the more striking to the minds of the said of him verily i say unto you among them that are people born of women there hath not risen a greater than john the as an illustration of his boldness he challenged some of baptist notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom uf the prominent religionists of his time who came to his preachheaven is greater than he matt 11 11 the last repreing and baptism he declared that they were the olfspring sentative of the house of servants he discharged the duties of vipers and that their repentance would not be considered of his office with dignity declaring jesus to be the long-promgenuine without certain proofs and that they might rid themised messiah-king who was about to select a bride class to selves of the delusion that they could inherit any share in be his jolllt-heirs in his kingdom the prophet recognized the kingdom merely because they were the natural children that he himself was not eligible to this class yet rejoiced in of abraham since god was able to fulfil his promise to abrahis privilege of announcing the bridegroom saying he that ham along other lines hath the bride is the bridegroom but the friend of the bridejohn s declaration that now the axe was laid at the roots groom which standeth and heareth him rejoiceth greatly of the trees and that all not bringing forth good fruit would because of the bridegroom s voice this my joy therefore is be hewn down and cast into the fire was merely a figurative fulfilled john 3 29 way of saying that the testing time for the jewish people the scriptures maintain a clear distinction between people had come that it was an individual matter and that only of god prior to pentecost called friends and servants of god such as bore good fruit in their characters and lives woulel and the people of god since pentecost called the sons of god any longer be recognized of the lord as israelites and identi· the latter are sons because begotten of the holy spirit to a fied with the kingdom all the remainder cut ott from those new nature-a spirit nature-to be fully attained by a share privileges would go into the fire of tribulation and destruein the first resurrection this important point is distinctly tion with which their national existence would cease marked by st paul after recounting the faithfulness of he was faithful in telling his hearers that his work and god s people of the past who had this testimony that they his baptism were merely preparatory that the greater teach· pleased god he declares all these died in faith not having ings and the higher baptism messiah would institute the received the promise fulfilment god having reserved some honor and dignity of messiah were so great that in com· better thing for us that they without us should not be made parison he was not worthy to be his most menial servant to perfed iicbrew 11 39 4u carry his shoes messiah s baptism would be of two parts the better thing for us i the spiritual part of the the one upon the faithful the other upon the unfaithful great abrahamic promise we are invited to become memo israelites indeed he would baptize with the holy spirit and bets of the spiritual seed of abraham-the christ the mes· subsequently the unworthy the non-fruitbearing would expe· i:liah prophet priest mediator king of which our redeemer rience a baptism of fire of trouble of national destruction our lord is head the work of this spiritual seed as king again he illustrated the character of messiah s work in and l 1ediator of the new c

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the watch tower brooklyn n y applying these things to the atonement work of this gospie age ami the resulting restitution work of the millennia i age the matte.r is clear our lord as the great high priest ascended on high and applied his blood-the merit of his sacrifice-oil behalf of the church-the antitypical priests and levites immediatcly as shown in the type after making atonement for our sins the high priest appeared at the door of the tabernacle-amongst his consecrated ones waiting at pentecost in the upper room his presence was manifested amongst them by the holy spirit the sacrificing of the church made acceptable by jesus ulood uegan the work has progressed ever since with thosc who are spiritually seated with christ in the holies boon the last of the great priest s members will have sufierrd in the flesh now in the harve it time he is present to gather the sleeping onrs and to further test and perfect us who are alive and remain the high priest is doing no work outside of the holy of the antitypical tabernacle his presence is un known to the world boon bridegroom and bride will be ushered into the presence of the father in eternal glory the marriage supper of the lamb will be celebrated and then bride and bridegroom head and members complete in glory will come forth to bless the world that crowning day of joy to the church will be followed by our lord s apokalupsis and epiphania to the world he shall be revealed in flaming fire of the time of trouble but nevertheless with power and great glory and all his saints with him the great mediator of the new covenant will not be seen with the natural eye nor by any except as their eyes of understanding open and they begin to grasp the situation the first to look upon him whom they pierced will be the natural israelites brought into covenant relationship with god through the better mediator than mosesr they will be trained chastened blessed and uplifted by him during the millennium so that by the end of the millennium they shall be ready for the everlasting covenant condition of perfection in harmony with god jesus baptized and tempted ~rattlmw :3:1:3-17 4:1-11 january 9 that he himself hath suffered being tempted he is able to succor then that are tempted hebrews 2 18 ·john s baptibill ab we saw in a previous study was illhe wab not tempted as a father as a mother as a drunkard telllied merely as a sign of reformation there is no intimaas a gambler-and neither are these the temptations extion that either john or his disciples or others of the israelperienced by his followers of the weaknesses of the flesh he had none while his followers have many but the merit of ites indeed made use of it nothing in the jewish law rehis sacrifice is efficacious for the forgiveness of all the blemquired it eitlh r our lesson notes the fact that john objected to our lord s being baptized because he was not a sinner he ishes of his followers to the extent that they are unwilling unintentional faults their testing is not along those lines was holy harmless undefiled and separate from sinners even as his were not proper understanding of our lord s our lord s baptism therefore as intimated in his reply to john was a new institution which he did not explain at three temptations reveals to us that they are the same by which we are tested as new creatures his spirit-begotten disthe time but which later on he showed was a symbol of his ciples consecration unto death not as a sinner but as a sin-offering he thus consecrated as soon as he was thirty years of age temptation i hungry after his long fast our lord s flesh the legal age at which a priest could offer sacrifice the cried out for nouriehment and the tempter affecting a kindly language of his heart is told us by s1 paul la i come interest in his welfare suggested that having received the holy bpirit he now possessed the power of miracles and as in the volume of the book it is written of me to do thy will 0 god heb 10 7 there declares the apostle he should use it to transform the stones into food our lord began to set aside the typical sacrifices of the law covenant subsequently used this power in feeding multitudes but it would have been sinful for him to use it upon himself-to by beginning the better sacrifiees the antitypes sustain the human life which he had already consecrated to in symbol our lord declares that his perfect human will death he might use any ordinary means to supply his and all his earthly rights and powers were fully consecrated even unto death and that he was trusting the father s prom physical needs but the holy spirit was given him for another i~e that such an obedience would result in his resurrection from purpose-not for gratification of the flesh even legitimately tho dead to the spirit plane which he left in order to become our lord at once recognized the principle involved and man s redeemer this symbolical consecration to death was promptly refused the suggestion declaring it is written responded to by the father by the impartation of the holy man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that tlpirit as a beginning or start of the new spiritual nature proceedeth out of the mouth of god in a word if he would which he would enter into fully by resurrection after the deserve eternal life it must be as a result of absolute obedience completion of his sacrifice he was there bc~otten of the to the divine law to create and eat the bread for the spirit three and a half years later in his resurrection he nourishment of his life in opposition to the divine law would was born of the spirit the first born from the dead col be disobedience and that so far from meaning life would 1 18 an additional attestation of divine favor was the have meant death everlasting applying this temptation to our lord s subsequent career voice saying this is my beloved son in whom i am well and that of his followers the lesson is this obedience to the plcrsed divine will is paramount every way and holy privileges of the from a child jesus sought to be about the father s business and to know the teachings of the scripture respecting church in spiritual matters must not be bartered for earthly advantage the wrong course is symbolically prefigured in his appointed work his anointing by the holy spirit quickeneu his understanding and made all that he had learned much esau s selling his birthright for a mess of pottage heb 12 16 every temptation to sacrifice spiritual privileges or more significant at once he began to see lengths and breadths and heights and depths not possible of discernment previously violate spiritual responsibilities for the attainment of earthly because as the apostle declares the natural man leven advantages would be a yielding to this form of temptation though perfect discerneth not the things of the ~p~rit of temptation ii it is not necessary to suppose that our god neither can he know them because they are spirltually lord went to jerusalem and to the pinnacle of the temple in disc~rned but god hath revealed them unto us [christ person to experience his temptation on the contrary he and all of his spirit-begotten followers by his bpirit which was all the while in the wilderness and went to the holy city seareheth all things yea the deep things of god 1 cor merely mentally guided there by satan s suggestion that he 2:14 10 could bring himself and his glorious mission quickly to the this illumination heb 10:32 gave jesus such new views attention of all the people by performing a stupendous mirarespecting his work that he was thereby impelled to go asi~e cle-by leaping from the pinnacle of the temple into the into the wilderness to think and pray and study what his chasm below and then arising unhurt he could then explain course should be as outlined by the law and the prophets he to the multitude his heavenly errand and awe them to faith spent forty days thus fastmg praying studying when seeing that our lord had repulsed his first temptation by weak as a resu lt of these experiences the tempter was per quoting scriptures batan now attempted to support the second mitted to assault him with suggestions of ways and means of temptation with a text of scripture which on its face might carrying out his work which were far different from those appear to be properly applied by him the passage reads which he found in the seriptures which his perfect mind much as though it were specially intended as a suggestion to grasped completely having heard them read by course in the our lord to perform the very feat suggested for he shall synagogue from childhood give his angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy ways they shall bear thee up in their hands lest thou dash thy our lord s three temptations the three trmptations experienf ed hy our lord illustrated foot against a stone psa 91 11 12 our lord promptly discerned the fallacy of the argument all the temptations of his followers as new creatures he was tempted in all points like as we are yet without sin and the misapplication of the seriptllre whi h really belongs golden text in [4544]

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januai y i 191c1 the watch tower 9-10 to the feet members of the body of christ which is the church in this very time in which we are living when stumllmg-blocks to christian faith are in the way and when god is providing special light upon his word and special assistance to the feet members of the body of christ-that they may surmount the difficulties and receive blessing instead of injury it would have been sin for our lord to follow the course indicated b ecause although not misusing the divine power he would have leen tempting god to use divine power for his deliverance whereas this was unnecessary as he had not been called upon to thus hazard his life but rather was required to saerifice it-laying it down in the service of the truth and of humanity our lord s answer was directly to the point and was another quotation from holy writ thou shalt not t mpt the lord thy god in every case satan seems to have realized that he was promptly and fully met by the quotations and his temptation shown to be contrary to the divine instruction our lord s followers are tempted along this line alsotempted to presume on the goodness of god and by words or acts to place themselves in such positions as would test or tempt god in respect to his providential care of themalong lincs which he has never authorized in his word rhe wonder-working spirit is contrary to the spirit of humility anyway and if gratified would lead to spiritual pride and egotism god wishes his people now to walk by faith and not by sight moreover the call of this gospel age is along lines of faith in the promises rather than faith respecting the wonder-working achievements of others or of ourselves meekness humility faith all stand arrayed on the side of the question which our lord took and which his followers should take temptation iii again it is unnecessary for us to assume that there is any very high mountain in the wilderness in which jesus was being tempted for there is no such high mountain there nor is there a mountain in all the earth on whose pinnacles all the kingdoms of the world could be seen in a moment in this case also our lord was mentally transported to a high mountain to a great lofty kingdom overlooking and overtopping all earthly empires for in bible symbology a mountain represents a kingdom in a brief moment satan pictured himself to our lord as the ruler of all earth s kingdoms-as having the ruling empire of earth ontrolling all empires this is in accord with the scripture whi h declares that satan is the prince of this world this a~e and that he now ruleth in the hearts of the children of disobcdience thus ruling the vast majority after thus picturing his own power over the world-the power of a usurping prince imposing upon the ignorance and superstition of mankind satan s argument paraphrases thus i know well the object of your coming and the promisc that your kingdom shall bless all the world ami uplift the willing and obedicnt out of sin and death conditions i assure you that i wish you well in the enterprise as the ruler amongst men i deplore present conditions myself i suggest there tore that you undertake the work of reform amongst men as my lieutenant and assistant if you will thus recoglllze honor reverence worship me i will co-operate with you and turn the world of mankind over to your care you then will be their earthly king or ruler while i ~atan as a spirit-leing would still control after the manner of an over-lord this is the best you could do the matter is fully in my hands a.s you will judge from your prcsent view of human comlitions if you take any other course it will bring you disappointment scorn defeat shame if you take the course i suggest it will bring you prosperity and honor our lord s reply was get thee hcnee satan for it is written thou shalt worship the lord thy god and him only shalt thou serve the temptation passed successfully satan withdrew and holy angels ministered to our lord a similar temptation is sure to come to every follower of the lord from the same advcrsary in one form or another these are permitted by the lord for the testing of our characters even as in his own case the temptation is will we connive with and recognize unjust and sinful institutions because they have power and because to oppose them would imply their opposition and the braving of shame and scorn and death such temptations may come to the tempted through political or social or religious institutions saying serve us and we will assist you but in every case behind the temptation is the adversary those who have not learned to love righteousness and to hate iniquity-all who have not come to the point of a full submission of their will to the divine will-are in danger of falling in such a temptation but those whose hearts are loyal to the core as was the redeemer s will repulse the adversary and disdain his proffer of assistance on such terms or any terms our lord had no advocate to syn,pathize with him and to succor and encourage him in the hour of temptation of the people there was none with him with us however matters are different our lord as our great high priest by the merit of his own sacrifice for man s sin has ascended on high and has appeared as the advocate of all those who are now being called of god to faith in his blood and to walk in his steps and to be baptized into his death and to share with him glory honor and immortality in his resurrectian phil 3:10 this great advocate having been tempted in all these lines is able to succor us yet he waits for us to realize our needs and to apply for succor at the throne of grace as intimated by our text for this he did once such an high priest boca-me us who is ~oly harmless wndefiled who needeth not daily as those high priests to offer up sacrifice first for h!s own sins an then for the people s for this he did once 1chen he offered up hlmself heb 7 26 27 had st paul written this epistle for the purpose of exstandpoint could they unlerstand how we are tlle,l of g d plaining the typical and antitypical sin atonement he would to sutfer with christ that ly and by we his memhers may have written differently as heretofore shown he was merely share his glory-as his lridf combating the prev,dent thought amongst jews of his day that our text declares that christ our high priest needeth the law covenant and its priestly arrangements were divinely not daily [continually as those typical high priests to 01ler intended to be perpdual whoever so thought would be unup sacrifices-first for his own sins anti tlh n for the people s able to discern the fact that god intended a new priesthood for this he did once when he off red up himsf>il turning sy~bolized by melchizedek one combining the kingly with the to the record in leviticus xvi we find that the typical priest jlrle~tly omce until the jews could get this view of the malle two offerings the first for himself and his house mattpr they ould not properly understand and the second for all the remflinler of uh pe pl f isnwl 1 that the ,jewish nation and priesthood and sacrifices the first sacrifice was a bullock the re ihi was a goat and legal code must pass away these st paul elsewherp refers to as the typieal better 2 st paul would show them the divine intention of a sa rifiees reh !l:23 let us m t the question squarely new covenant with a new high priest and new underpriests hat is signifipd by thes two sacrifices-thc hullock and the and better sacrifices for its institution goat our opponents and inlped evpryh ly p18p say t hat the 3 only by so sef>ing could they comprehend the gospel death of our lonl .tesus is the antit pc of both-the slain message that christ the new creature is the high priest of bullock represcnts him ami th slain goat reprerpnts him a new order and that we his members are the underthey tell us that hoth sacrlfi c took pla e at the same time priests of that new order as spirit-begotten new creatures being finished at calvary only from this standpoint could they comprehend how the ve request them to cxpl:tin why two flnimals should be spirit-bpgotten jesus as the priest could put to death jesu killcd to repr s nt the one dpath of jesns hut th v cannot in the flesh and make him a sin-sacrifice only from this flnswer they merel rcpl at that thpy hdipve thp t~vo sacristandpoint could tllpy nnderstand how the members of christ fiel s were one and simultaneous-that the merely represented undf>r the headship of the glorified high priest could follow in two flspects of thl saul sacrifip ask if that he so why his footsteps of sa rifi f ancl begotten of the holy ~pirit as di,1 thl apostlf state tlw mfltt r so ditferplltly fir8 f r hi s new creatures pres nt tlwir hodies as living sacrifi es holy own sins and thpn for thp sins of th pl· plc vhy wfis tljis and acceptable to nod through the merit of the high priest sfltllf order distinctly marked in the ih of atonempnt type alr filv pntered into the most holv as their advo ate and th lpviti us 16 thev have no answer p ask them further fediator of the new covenant for the world only from this how thf>y understaitd the statement tlwt the high priest [4545]

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ll-ln the watch wa tower brooklyn n y offered saerifiee first for his own sins did our lord jesu haye in of hi own whieh needed a sacrifice vas he not huly hannle ami undefileu again they have no answer the an~wer to this question presented twenty-nine years ago when the pamphlet i alernacle :shadows of better :sacntiees was jirst puuli hed is the only answer consistent with the fad ami the testimonlcs of :scnpture those who now are opposing these teaehings onee beiieved the pre entations of tabernacle :shadows or claimed that they did now their llindnen is so hudden and so eomplete that they hesitate to admit that they evlt leiieved our presentations to begin· ners tlll y e ndeavor to make it appear that the vatcii tower has uddenly challgl d its teaehlllg on this subject e reeommelhl to a ii v atch fowjo.r readcrs a careful prayerful review ot the teachings of tabernacle shadows a re-examination of the fir t principles of the mystery of god l leantime we briefly rehearse certain feature of the teachings applicable to the text under consideration in the preceding verbe 26 the apostle declares our high priest loly harmles 3 and undefiled separate from sinners ve hould not therdore understand his statement in the 27th ver e t1mt je~us offered up sacrifice first for his own sins to mean thc contrary of what he had just stated-that our lord had no sins v should understand him here in harmony with his htatcm nt elsewhere to refer to the church as the body of christ the hcad was perfect but the hody was imperfect the head needed no covering during the day of saerifice but the body needed the white linen garnh nt ymlolieal of justifieation it is the church theretore that is referred to as himself his members for whom he ofiered the first ~aerdice his personal sacrifice finished at calvary thc lpvitil us a l olmt shows that this first offering was not for himself only hut also for his house in the type the houhe or tribe of levi in the antitype the household of faith the great company ve cannot think of any objection that any reawnable mind could offer to this explanation whieh is the only one that in any sense of the word tits the facts at one time we supposed that only these two classes were intended to he saved and as a matter of fact none others are yet saved in any sense of the word unbelievers have not escaped the condemnation that is upon the world the unregenerate have not recei d the mark of divine acceptanee of the holy :spirit the world lieth in the wicked one unto this day i john 5 19 the type shows us that the great priest not only sacrificed but additionally that he made appropriation of the merit of that sacrifice in the 1 1ost holy before he offered the second sacrifice the lord s goat how was this fulfilled we reply that forty days after our lord completed his sacrifice at calvary and arose from the dead he ascended on high appeared in the prpsence of god for us his members or body and his house he applied the merit of his sacrifice on our behalf and secnred for all consecrated believers of this gospel age full reconciliation with the father and full privilege to hecome dead with him to earthly interests and restitution favors and alive with him to the glories honors and immortality of the spirit nature the manifestation of the father s acceptance of the arrangement was given at pentecost the disciples and others about five hundred brethren had already exercised justifymg faith and had already consecrated to be dead witb him but this arrangement could not go into effect until it had the father s approval and god could not approve nor consider our sacrifice holy and acceptable rom 12 1 until our great redeemer the chief priest of our order had appeared for us and applied on our behalf the merits of his sacrifice-justifying us to restitution rights as soon as these were properly credited to us our sacrifice of them could be accepted and no sooner hpnce the pentecostal blessing ~ignifies first that our lord s sacrifice was every way acceptable to the father second that it had bpen applied to the household of faith including his proposed body third the church thpre waiting at pentecost was representative of the entire church and household of faith of this entire agp fourth the impartation of the holy spirit signified god s acceptance of the churph s sacrifice alrl ady tpndered-signified the killing of the lord s goat as repre~ented in the type thus the two sacrificps of the gteat anti typical high priest havp already been performed though the second one has not yet been completed the first one jesus made at jordan whpn he offpred up himself there the father s acceptance of his s:lprifir was indicated by the descent of the holy spirit upon him in the water that sarrifice he finished at calvary as we have seen his second saerifice the lord s goat offered at pentecost and acknowledged by the holy spirit this work of sacrifice in the vanous members has progressed for over eighteen centuries soon we helieve all the sufferings of the body of christ will be aceomplished already the members have begun to go beyond the veil and to he joined to the head soon the la t memuer will have eompleted hi share in these sufferings of messiah and shall have pass beyond the veil then a little while longer anu the speeial tnljui.ltions of the cl0se of this age upon the great company class will serve for the destruction of their flesh that they may attain spirit conditions on a lower planc than the hody of christ l cor 5 3 thus will be accomplished first the glorificatian of the head secondly the union of the members to the head will complete the glorious high pricst who as prophet priest and king will be the great l lessiah the great .l 1ediator of the new covenant whieh through natural 1srael will lless all the families of the earth the scapl goat clas will constitute the servants of the glorified priest do our opponents inquire why our text says this he did once after specitying two offerings first for his own sins and then for the people s e reply that when the apostle wrote these words the high priest had already made hath sacrili s and had sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high awaiting the time when the last member of ills hody shall have sutlereu with him faithfully unto death-awaiting the pnd of this agefor the inauguration of the great mediatorial kingdom which is to bless israel and the world once is here used iii the sense of already this he did already do our opponents inquire what is meant by daily in the statement vho needeth not daily to ofiei up sacrifice we reply that the word daily here is used as we frequently use the term in the sense of continually ve have already ealled attention to a similar illustration where danicl s prophecy speaks of antiehrist taking away the bily sacrifice we have shown that this signifies that anticllrist set aside the merit of the continual sacrifice of jesus see vol ill btudies page 25 as a matter of fact the sin-offerings here described were not performed every day but merely on a pcrtain day every year year by year continually or time a fter time on the appointed day of the year in this text the thought would be that our high priest nef>ds not to be continually rcpeating ills better sacrifices as did the earthly priest year by year repeat the types the once doing of this sacrifi ial work in the beginning of this antitypieal atonement day is suflieient for all time and as the high priest when the first sacrifiee was finished applied its merit for justification to his body and to his house so at the end of the seeond sal l ifice-the sacrifice of the lord s goat which typificd his member he will present the blood of that sacrifice to god on hehalf of the world but he will not apply it directly on lx half of the world because the world is in no condition to be reconciled to god hence we are shown that with the blood of these two sacrifices the high priest will scalar negotiate the new covenant with israel that under its terms all the families of the earth will have the privilege of its blessings-the mediatorial blessing in the type the blood of the goat was sprinkled upon the mercy seat or propiatory just the same as the blood of the bullock but for a different purpose as the first was for the body the members and the household the second was not for those but for all the people of israel other than those represented in the tribe of levi the antitype of this is clear and shows us that the great high priest will apply the blood of the anti typical goat on behalf of all the world of mankind who by restitution and instruction will be brought into relationship with god as his israel-under the terms of the new covenant both sacrifices were made by the priest not by the bullock not by the goat and when our lord shall present the blood of his secondary sacrifice the blood of his church holy and acceptable to god rom 12 i -he will be presenting his own blood not yours not mine our individuality was all surrendered to our lord at the beginning so that his faithful followers even in their earthly lives -are reckoned as his ml mbprs and their flesh as his flesh moreover since all the merit which justified us and made our sacrifice acceptable was appropriated to us by our redel mer-loanpd to us for the purpose of sarrificing it-is it not eminently proper that the results should be spoken of as his blood it snrely is take another view of the matter our lord at his con· secration surrendered up all his right to earthly things as a man as an art of obpdipnpe to the fatlwr s will he did not [4546]

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january 1 1910 the watch tower 12-13 appropriate those earthly rights to the world or to anybody reb 9 14 those earthly rights therefore were to our lord s credit in the heavenly accounts-at his command to be used as he might please when the father rewarded his obedience with high exaltation to a spirit nature in his resurrection it left him with those human rights to his credit for his disposal he had not disposed of them to anybody up to the time that he ascended up on high then he appeared in the presence of god for us-as our advocate he applied those earthly rights to us-not thereby giving us heavenly blessings but restitution rights represented in his sacrifice of the earthly things but it was not the divine plan to give the elect those earthly restitution blessings to keep and thereby to cut out natural israel and the whole world from restitution those restitution rights were given to us conditionally or we might say they were loaned to us or made ours reckonedly for a time and for a purpose the purpose was that we accepting these by faith might consecrate them to the lord unreservedly-even unto death-that thus the merit loaned to us would go back again to the credit of our redeemer in order that he might use that merit over again applying it the second time for the release of natural israel and the world from condemnation and death meantime the blessing granted to us through this loan or imputation of restitution earthly rights secured by our lord s death gives us the privilege of sacrificing those earthly rights as members of the body of christ and this in turn gives us the right the privilege of sharing with him in his glory for if we suffer with him we shall also reign with hlm if we drink of his cup and be baptized by baptism into his death we shall thus share life and blesoings on the spirit plane and sit with him in his throne 2 tim 2 12 drinking the lord s cup are ye able to drink of the cup that i shall drink of matt 20:22 the cup which my fathcr hath given me shall i not drink it john 18 11 the cup of blessing which we bless is it not the communion [koinonia partnership or participation-strang s conc0rdancel of thc blood of christ l cor 10:16 st paul knew of only two cups-the cup of the lord and the cup of devils l cor 10:21 did our lord drink of his own cup and was it his cup which ho passed to his disciples and is it not this cup in which we must have participation if we would sit with him in his throne and share also in due time his cup of joy in the kingdom if our lord did not participate in his own cup but gave it all to us his church to drink in what sense would it be his cup which the father poured for him and in which he allows us to participate let no man beguile you from the prize by voluntarily without reason submittmg to and reverencing as messengers of truth those who thus far have given no evidence of teaching ability in that god never sent you any message through them they are merely intruding into what they admit they have not seen their fleshly mind being vainly puffed up they fail to hold the headship of the lord and the mpmben;jlip of the church as his body they fail to recognizp that uod hath set the various members in the body of christ hence they fail to see that the body having nouri hment eating of the liying bread and drinking of the cup is knitted together and increaseth with the increase of god -col 2 18 19 some rkar friends think that we are laying too much stress on the importance of our drinking of the cup of which our lord drank the above quotation shows that our lord laid similar stress on it neither james nor john nor any one can sit on his throne unless he drink of christ s cup our opponents make a serious error in thinking that the lord s cup symbolizes justification on the contrary only the justified by faith are privileged to drink of his cup the cup symbolizes the means of our sanctification by which we exchange our justified earthly rights for the heavenly inheritance and joint-heirship the apostles when invited to drink of the cup were already justified by faith-counted like abraham and others of the past worthy of actual restitution under israel s new law covenant when the due time should arrive but they could not actually drink of the redeemer s cup and be baptised with his baptism into his [sacrificial death until he as their advocate should appear in the presence of god for them then the holy spirit at once came upon them recognizing them as christ s mem bcrs his brethren his fellow or joint-sacrificers who h,we a share or partilipation in his cup all the sufferings of christ are sacrificial as he is so are we in this world 1 john 4:17 the sufferings of the head are the sufferings of the body and the sufferings of the body are the sufferings of the christ as a whole if one member suffers all the members suffer with it our opponents who are losing their sight on this subject answer that our sufferings are not like those of our lord because his were sacrificial whilst ours arc expiatory or because of our sins and weakneoses nay we answer ~t peter says that some indeed suffer as bu ybodies and evildoers rut he declares if any man suffer as a christian let him glorify god or this behalf a christian sutfers as christ suffered not for his sins but for his right-doing jesus was just we are justified by faith he consecratcd his just self to death in obedience to god s invitation vein obedience to the same invitation consecrate our justified selves to be dead with him to be baptised with his death-baptism to drink of his sacrificial cup and by partaking of it to become his members in glory and participators in the work of his mediatorial kingdom the wedding garment de r brothl r rl:ssell:i haye read with interest and profit the tower of decpmb r 1st i wa esppcially interested in the article on the vedding garment and would like to ask you a question concerning it is it your thought that only those who consecrate are ever really justified-have the robe of christ s righteousness imputed to them covering their sins and reckoning them perfect that other believers have only the blessldg of the knowledge of provision of justification which will be freely given them only on condition that thpy sacrifice in the footsteps of our redeemer vith much christian love i remain yours in the one hope clarenm e fowler in reply ve understand the scriptures to teach that there is a difference between a faith-justification and an actual-justification the world during the millennial age under the processes of restitution will have full grand opportunities for advancing from sin and dcath conditions to actual justification rightcousness covenant relationship with god in the past the ancjpnt worthies because of faith in god were esteemed bv him and trl atprl as in hrrrmony with him in covenant relationship hy faith as though they were perfect but more than that faith-justification they could not attain until after thf mf>rit of christ s flacrifice would be appropriatecl for them christian believers of this gospel age are in a still different position they are justllit d ily faith in the same manner as were the ancient worthie>s but additionally christ having now malle a special application of the merit of his sacrifice on thpir behalf under agreement that thcy will not keep it in a restitutionary sense but that thl y will s~1 ritice it-after the manner shown us in our lord s example so then at the brginning of our christian l xperience we are granted fellowship with gall through a faith-justification which continues available for a reasonahlp time to permit us to come to a knowll dge of the grace of god it permits our coming to a knowledge of our privileges of sacrificing with our redeemer in becoming dpad with him to all earthly interests as well as dead to sin the taking of this stand of consecration-self-sacrificc-brought to us divine acceptance manifested by the begetting of the holy spiri and from that position as new creatures we must progrcss anci make our calling and our election surp those who aftcr coming to a knowledge of the truth and to an opportunity of consecration to sacrifice unto death and thl n fail to respond obediently lose their justification in the sense that it fails to h come vital-divinely approved surh rereive the grace of nod in vain-they rereive a knowledge of god s mercy and of their own privileges without profiting thereby-without accepting the only call of this age eph 4 :4 our conclusion or summary then is this there is a justification by faith which for a time gives a reckoned [4547]

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13-14 the watch tower brooklyn n y standi~g with god in his favor during this age but in order for this to become vital justification it must be followed sooner or latl

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january 1 1910 the watch tower 14-19 3 your argument is not logical if our lord had finished his work of sacrifice he could not give his footstep followers a share therein the ~criptures nowhere say that our lord sealed the new covenant with his blood neither was it necessary for him to seal the new covenant before he would be its mediator he was thc mediator of the new covenant in the ii vine purpose and promise centuries before he became the man christ-jesus he was the mediator of the new covenant when born in bethlehem in exactly the same sense that he was then the ~avior of the world not because he had sealed the new covenant nor because he had saved the world but hecause he was the one through whom the world s salvation and the new covenant for its blessing were eventually to be aceomplished our lord has not y t saved the world nor has he acted as the mediator of the new covenant but he will accomplish both purposes during the millennial age and at its conelusion the prophecy will be fulfilled he shall see of the travail of hi soul and shall be satisfied our lord was privilpgpd to olfer his church a share with himself in his ~rediatorial kingdom on condition that she would share in hi pup of ,mitering and self-sacrifice-share in his baptism illio his dp:dh ~o doing she shall share his reward of glory !toil or awl immortality in his resurrection phil 3 10 awl ~haril!g his glory and throne as his joint-sacrificer and joillt-llpir of the promise she would be with him jointly the ~rediator hl twppn liod anti men-the world-during the mil1 llilial a,gp-thc work of reconciling the world or so many of thcm lui may pro e willing to receive the blessing of regl}llera tion i iou arp not right there is a difference between a co pllant and th law of r covenant god s law given to tsr.1el sllilllllarizhi was thou shalt love the lord thy god with all th hpari with all thy mind with all thy being and with all th strength ancl thou shalt love thy neighbor as thy elf that law is perfect and will be the basis or law of thl npw covl lhlllt 1 io es as a mediator under his covenant p lrpospj to ih p ts1 1pl to keep that law and god covenanted to ~i · them ptpi iml life if tllpv would do so but they were llll:lhip to kp 1 th lt law perfrctly in act and thougl~t and w nt :111rl hl h p thp~· reapell its condemnation of death and not its p1 oltprpd hlpssings of life under th~lt covenant ro~l s wll privilegpd to arrange sacrifices an,l offerings for in :1ihi thlh par h vl 11 to cle:mse the people for a ynlr at a timp from tlh ir original eonrlemnation but he had no ml ln of ad il lll blotting out their sins and no pow r or ri~ht il :1l·tllnlly reston t1lpm to perfection and ability to kepp that law th pw co l nant will havp the samp law exactly but th 1 tl lintor llaving hy t1lpn paid o r to juiitil f the ransompril p of thp worl,1 s l ured hy his own sacrificial death will then have full charge of mankind and be fully empowered to deal mercifully with their imperfections and to help them step by step out of their sin and death condition back to perfection and to cut ott the rcbellious in the second death at the close of the :millennium he will present the willing and obedient to the father actually perfect thus it will be seen that god s dealings with mankind under the typi al law covenant and under its anti type the new covenant is along the lines of actual obedience to the divine law and not along the lines of reckoned obedience through faith as obedience to the old law covenant held the reward of human perteetion and life so the rewards of the new llaw covenant w111 be similar-eternal life or eternal death quite to the contrary of both of these arrangements the church is now called to a heavenly ailing under the ahrahamie covenant-to be members of the bodv of christ who with jesus her head will constitute tlte mediator of the new covenant the church is not under law but under gra e not judged according to the flesh and earthly restitution but judged according to the heart and intention and required to sacrifice restitution rights to the attainment of the high calling life and glory on the spirit plane as members of the mediator of the new covenant 6 no tll

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20 21 the watch tower baooltlyn n y our race who certainly would be much better off perished like the brute beast than to be preserved in torture as the majonty uelieve e thank our agnostic friends for the courteous reply hut tee that the aus 1 er is not satisfadory either to our he tus ur tu our hearts whidl cry out that there must or shoulu be a i ut.ure life that the creator made man with powers of mind and heart so supenor to the brute that his pre-eminence in the ulviue plan should be expected furthermore the urevlty ut the prescut life its tears its sorrows its experiences its le~s n will nearly all be valueless useless unless ull re be a future litt an upportunity for making use of these les~olls ve must look furlher fur some more satlsfal-tury answer to our question the heathen answer to our query edge of catholic doctrines and those who have wilfully and dellberately opposed them-these alone meet the awful hope· le~s fate millions to purgatory dince threc-fourths ot tile wurld are heathcns the weight of numbers iilli i s that till s next should ue askell tor then solution to the q iw tllln here are the dead heathenism gives two general ~lil~wer i l romincilt are those which hold to transmigratwn thesc rpply to us uur view is that wih-ll a man ules he does not die but merl y dmnge i his form hi future estate wlll oitl sponll to his pn nt liviug and give him either a higher or a luwer po itiull e belic c that e lived on earth uetore perhaps as eats uii micl elephauis or what not and timt if the pn,sellt !jf· has lji u wlsl y u~ed wc may reappear ns men of nuulpr ta1l nh as philosophers etc but if as usual life has ul cu mis ih-nt at dl ath we will be remanded to some 10wl fllrm uf ijeillg-an ell phant a worm or what not it is bee,llhe of this b lid that we are so careful in re peet to our tn atmellt of the lower animals and refuse to eat me,lt of any kind j e we to tramp ruthle~sly on the worm our punishmpnt might jj a torm in which we oursel es would ue treatecl ruthh sbly aftcr thc ehange whic h we call death 2 the othpr large class of heathen !jelieve in a spirit wurld with happy hunting grounds for the goorl and a hell of dilferent tunupnts fur the wickcd ye are told that when people sepm to die they really uecome more allve than ever and that the very minute thcy cross the river styx they go to the realms of either the ules d or the ever doomed and that there are st ls or dpgrees uf pullishment and reward ve imjllire here di,1 you receive these views the answer is they have iwen with us for a long long time ve know not where tlll y came from uur learned men have handed them down to 11 a truths and we have accepted them as such but heath,mism s answer is not satisfactory to our heads and hearts e lllu t look further e must no>t trust to spl eulat ion e must look for di i ine revclation the message from him with whom we have t.o do o11r creator the catholic answer to our question fuming iroill ill athpni lll we address our question to that intplligent une-fourth of the world s population idlown a chri~lc·lldolll p ay chrislp]hlom hat is your answer to the ljlpstion l j hp r jly i yc are divided in our opinion marc thau hlll-thircl 01 us holding the catholic and nearly onp-thilll the c lipral prote tant view let us hear the catholic vipi re c j and l{oman first then bccause age as well a nlllllhc-r sl1ggests such precedent ea t.holic frlpnd l~ive 11s please the results of your labors linu tul[j s the clml u ions of your ablest thinkers and theologians in j sp ct to the hevllation which you claim to have from god on this subjcct where are the dead ve will hear you thoughtfully patiently unbiasedly our catholic fril ihb respond our tca ehings are very explicit along the lines of your qup,tion ve have canvassed the subject frolll every standpoint in the light of divine revelation our conelusioli and tpaehing are that when anyone dies he goes to one of three places first the saintly of whom we claim there are but a few go imn liately to the presence of god to he lnu these are referred to by our lord saying vhosoever doth not !jcar his cross and come aft r me cannot be my llisciple luke 14 :27 those who faithfully bear the cross are t1w little flock the elect respecting these jesus say trait is the gate and narrow is the way that leadeth to life and few there ue that find it matt 7 14 these saintly do not include our clergy not ev n our bishops cardinal and popes for you will find that wlwn any of these rlie it is a custom of the church that masses be said for the repose of their souls vc would not say masses for any we bdieve to be in heaven because there surely is r pose tor evcry soul neither would we say masses for them if we believed them to be in eternal hell for masses could not avail them there ve might remark however that we do not teach that many go to the eternal hcll it is our teaching that only incorrigible heretics-persons who have had a full knowl the dead in general aeeorjing tu our teaching pass immediately to purgatury which is as the llame indicates a place uf purga liun from slll a place uf penances burrows woes a!lgul~h mdeed but not hopeless lhe penud of confinement here may be centuries or thousands of .years according to the deserts uf the individual and the alleviations granted if you would knuw mure particularly the catholic teaching 011 this 1mbject we refer you to the writings of one uf our great cathoiies the lloted puet dante a loyal catholic at une time an aluot who died iii a monastery with the tull rights of the church dante s poem inferno graphically describes the tortures of purgatury as we understand tlle matter luu can l roeuro at almust any lilrary an illmtrated eopy of this grpat catholic poem dore the artist was aho a prominent eatholic and he portra.yed dante s poem vividly and truthfully the illustratiuns show the tormc llts of purgatory vividly-huw the demolls chase some until they leap over precipices illto loillllg water they ply others with tiery darts uthers are lunlcd with heads downward others with ieet downward in pits ome are bitten uy serpents :stlll others are frozen etc ye advise that you see dante s work in· ferno uecause it gives our catholic dew of the propel aus er to your question where are the dead the vast majorlty are in -purgatory the !jillions of the heathens are thcre uee use ignurance does not save does not qualify for the heavenly condition all who enter heaven must previously have uccn fitted and prepared in a manner impossible to the heathen millions of protestants are there they could not enter heaven except through the portals of the catholic church neither would god deem them worthy of eternal hell because their rejection 01 catholicism was due to the confession of faith under which they were born and environed nearly all catholics go to purgatory also ljee wse notwithstanding the good olliees of our church our hol,y water contessions masses holy candles consccratej burying ground etc nevertueless not having attained to saintship of character they would be excluded from heaven until the distre sing experienec ot purgatory woulll prepare their hearts for heaven 0 c !lold however that for the reason stated catholics will not need to remain as long in purgatory as will the protestants and heathen ve can thank our catholic friends for so kind a statement of their case ve will not ask them where their purgatory is nor how they obtain the details of information respecting it because such questions might offend them and we have no desire to offend we merely wish for their ripe8 clearest maturest thought respecting our question y e regret to say that the answer is not all that we might have hoped for in clearness and reasonahleness and :scnpturalness uur hearts are heavy with the thought that our poor race by reason of original sin is already as the apostle says a groaning creation and the present life of a few years is full of trouule it is saddening discouraging to all of u to think that when present trials and dilliculties are past of !jping obliged even for centuries not to mention eternity to have such awful experiences as dante portrays even though those centuries ot anguish would purge us and fit us for the divine presence ot heavenly glory it may seem ~trange to some theol?gians but it is nevertheless true that the answer of cathollsm to our question is not much better than the answer of heathl ndom neither our heads nor our hearts are yet satisfied it cannot be wrong to look further for something more satisfactory the protestant answer to our question i class myself as a prote tant without thereby meaning any disrespect to anybody else i assume that the majority of my audience are protestants i remind you that many ot us in times past have been inclined to boast a little of protestant breadth of mind intelligence education etc may we not reasonably expect from protestants a clear logical satisfactory answer to our question having found all the other answers unsatisfactory and having now come to the one-twelfth portion of our race which has had most advantage every way we might reasonably expect to find in its answer the quinteseence of wisdom and proof from every quarter and from every age but what do we find dear friends with shame i say it we find the very reverse we find that the voice of protestantism as a whole barring numerically insignificant denominations giving the most absurd answer to my question that could be conceived-an answer which is put to shame by the catholics the heathen and the agnostics is not this marvelous can this be it [4550]

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janl ary 15 1910 the w ate h to tv e r 21-22 is written faithful are the wounds of a friend bear with me therefore while i expose to you the wickedness of our position as protestants not with a view to our vexation and shame but with the thought that our intelligent investigation of the subject can be turned to our advantage and enable us to know the truth and to lift the true divine standards before the people to the intent that we and all may come to clearer views of our heavenly father s character purposes and future dealings with our race permit me as gently as possible to touch this sore spot the removal of the bandages and the cleansing of the sore may cause us pain but the investigation should be helpful nevertheless we got our name protestants from the fact that our intelligent and well-meaning forefathers who were catholics thought that they discovered inconsistencies and unscripturalness in catholic doctrines in which they had been reared they protested against these and hence came the name protestants we cannot defend all that they did to their enemies nor all that thcir enemies did to them one of their points of protest was that our forefathers could find nothing of purgatory anywhere on earth nor any dpclaration resperting it in the bible with a simplicity that is certainly marvelous to us they concluded that they would merely pirk up their views of purgatory and throw them away forever this left them heaven and hell into one of which they ,said every men,ber of the race must go at death and there spend his ctcrnity quite evidently these well-meaning forefathers of ours were not as long-headed far-sighted and logical as we might have expected them to be when they did not perceiv the difficulty into which they were walking rath r we should say perhaps that they did see something of the dimf ulty but viewed matters differently from what wo do the theory of calvin and knox prevailed at that time amon~st protcstant and led earh denomination to hope that it wa god s elert and that it would constitute the little flock who would go to heaven while all the remainder of mankind woula be ronsigned to an eternity of hellish torture no longer does either catholic or protestant pray god bless me and my wife :my son john and his wife us four ana no more both catholicfl and protestants looking back to that period whieh we often term the dark ages have reason to give thanks to gofl for the anointing of the cyes of our understanding whirh enables us we believe to think more logically than our forefathers even those of us reared under the doctrine of predestination have lost the idea that the heathen were pas~ed by b ca lise they were predestinated to damna tion instead those who accrpted the vestminster confession of faith are today the most zealous in the preaching of the gospel amongst the hcflthen by missionary effort we are g-lad of this it is a sig-n that our hearts are in truer and nohler condition even though our heads have not yet gotten into proper adjustment with out hearts and we still look at crooked doctrines and endeavor to imagine them altogether straight theoretically protestant doctrines stand with the bible and with catholics and declare that heaven is a place of perfection that there can be no change to any who enter there j hence that all trial all refinement all chiseling all polishing of character must he aecompliflhed in advance of an entrance into the abode of the saints in a word we agree that only the saints will ever enter there the pure in heart the overeoml rs the little flock who now walk in the footsteps of jesufl vhat ahollt the remainder of mankind ah thl re is the diffirulty our larger hearts will not conflent that all f f ept the !3aintfl muflt spend an eternity of torture though tlds ifl the logic of ollr creeds our hearts protest saying that thre c-fourthfl of humanity today are heathen and that fullv that proportion of humanity altogether have never heard of god and the terms of salvation the best of people perplexed mony with god and attain everlasting life through christ i believe that it is necessary to press this point of the unreasonableness of the eternal torment doctrine nevertheless i will remind you of what our prominent protestant theories are on the subject 1 the calvinistic thought is that divine wisdom and power planned for mankind in advance-knew of the fall of man in advance and prepared therefor by the creating of a great place ealled hell and the manning of it with fire-proof devils for the torment of the race-all except the little flock the elect love and justice were left out of this calculation 2 the other prominent protestant theory the arminian held today probably by the majority in~ists that both love and justice created the world and arrangcd the tormcnt and that wisdom and power were not consulted hence that god has gotten into difficulty while endeavoring ~o do justly and lovingly by his creatures because lacklllg m power ~o render the needed aid the entire difficulty dear friends 18 that in our reasoning on the subject we have merely asked the opinions of men and have not sought the word of the lord i shall surprise you i f~el sure when bring ~o your attention now the clear plam reasonable just lovlllg and wise program of our heflvenly father ~t has bcen 80 lon overlooked so long burit d under the rubbish of human tradition of th dark ages that today truth is stranger than fiction well did our lord throngh the prophet dt clare as the heavens are higher than the i arth so are my ways higher than your ways and my plan higher than your plans isa 55 9 what say the scriptures our creeds perplex us for as our heartfl will not permit us to think of these poor reatures going to an eternity of miflery neither will our hearts prrmit us to say that they are fit for heaven inderd it would be at variance not only with the scr~pture hut also with reason itself to suppose heaven with three-fourths of ib inhabitants unregenerate in every sense of the word our forefathrrs merely spoiled things for ufl when they threw away purgatory and kept the remainder of the a rrang-emcnt if wc must objl t to purgatory as being unsrriptura i murt we not equally object to the eternal torml nt of all the familil s of the earth as being unscriptural esperially when the bible declares that all the families of the eflrth shall be blesst d through christ-blessed with a knowledgt of thp truth and opportunity to come into heart har all of the foregoing theories be it notired are b~sed up~n the assumption thllt death docs not mean death-that to die is to become more alive than before death in eden it was goo who declared to our first parents ye flhall surely die it was satan who declared ye shall not surcly die notice that the heathens afl well ail the christians have accepted satan s lie and eorrespondin~ly rejected god s truth do they not all agree with the serpent s statement ye shall not surely die do they not all claim that the ead are a~ive much more alive than before thev dll d thlfl dear fnends has ben our common point of mistake ve have followed the wrong teacher the one of whom our lonl .said he abode not in the truth and that he is the father of hl fl john 8 44 these false doctrint s have prev:1ilell amollg-st the hcathcn for many many ct nturies hut thf y gained an asel ndency in the chureh of christ during the dark ages and had much to do with producing the darknpss thereof if our f~r athers had believed god s testimony thou shalt surely dle there would have been no room for the introlluction of prayers for the dead masses for their sins frightful thoughts respecting their torture the scripturcs agrre from firrt to last that the dead know not anything erc !l 5 anll th:lt their sons come to honor and they know it not thf y rome to dishonor and they perceive it not of thrm job 14:21 it is the scriptures that tell us wht rr the drad are and their condition j that they are experiencing neither joy nor sorrow pleasure nor suffering that thry will have no knowlellge of anything done undt r the sun until thl ir awakcning in the reflurrection i rrmind you of the wire man s words 0 with thy might what thy hand findl th to do for there is neither wisdom nor knowledge nor device in she ol the grflve whither thon goi t err 9:10 i remind you tllflt both in the old testament and in til ncw testament it is written of both the good and the had that thry fell a crp in df ath i remind you that the apofltle sprukfl of those who sleep in jesus and of those who havr fallen fl~lerp in christ who he dec1arefl are perishl d if tlh re be 110 resurrection of tht dead could they periflh in he,1 l n or in purgatory or in 11 hell of torment a~suredly no one so teachrr they are already in a pcrishpd condition in the tomb and t.he perishing woultl be ahsolute complete unles a resurrection be provided for their deliverance from thp power of death lienee we refld god flo loved thf worlfl tliat he ~ave his only begotten son that whosof ver b lievef.h on him should not peri~h but have eternal life in a word thl n the bible tl l hing ir that man was made ~ul rior to all the brute rreation-in the imagf and likene g of his creator that he possf ssrd life in a perfect degrf e in edrn ami might have l rbinl d it hy full o!jl dipllcl rut in his trial hir testing hi failf ll and ramp llndl r thp drath flcntt nre in the day that thou eatl st therro£ dying thou rhalt dip gen 2 itl there the dying bpgfln whirll after nine hundrl d and thirty yt ars hrought father adam to the tomb and involved all of his children in his weaknesses and death [4551]

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22-24 the watch tower brooklyn n y sentefolce he died in the very day which the apostle peter explamr was not a twenty-four day but a thousand year day saying one day is with the lurd as a thousand years 2 1 pt :3 g during six of these great days the death sentenee has brought man down in some respects to the level of the hrute and lpft him without hope of future life except as god might take compassion upon him and bring him some relipf this was hinted at in the statement that the seed of the woman shuuld bruisp the serpent s head it was yet furthpr elnhoratpd to ahraham saying in thee and in thy ~eed shall all the familips of the earth be blessed gen 2r ]4 of reward will be meted out to all but our eternal destiny can be settled only by ourselves by our individual acceptance or rejection of the grace of god the ~criptnres clearly inform us that every sin in proportion to its wilfulness brings a measure of degradation which involves stripes chastisements corrections to regain the lost standing thus the more mean and more wicked -a man or woman may be the greater will be his or her di-sadvantage in the resurrection time and the more he will then have to overcome to gct back to all that was lost in adam and redeemed by christ and the dead came forth but not until four of the great thousand-year days had pass d did od splld forth his ~on to redeem the race by payiiig fathpr adam s ]h nalty hy dying the just for the unjust that hp might ijring us to god pet 3 18 as a result ot that rcdempti e work ap omplishl d at calvary there is to be a resurrp ion of til dl ad hoth of the just and of the unjust a rpr ovl ry from the dpath spntenee from the prisonhousp the tomh death not torment the penalty kote wpll the mistake made in arsuming eternal torment the wagps of original sin when the ~eriptures expllcitly deelarp that the wagps of sin ir dpath not eternal torment rom 6 :23 ye rpan h thp gpneris aceount of man s fall and ~he spnt nr p impoq d hut find no suggestion of a future punishmpnt but mprply of a dpath penalty repeating it the sepond time thp lord said dust thou art and unto dust shalt thou rdurn lpn 3 in but he said not a word respppting rlcvils tire and tornwnt how then did the adversary dpr jyp our fatlh rs during the dark ages with his prrors whil·h th apostle stylps doctrines of devils note th far·t that nonp of the prophpeies mention any other than a death ppn:dty for sin note that the new testament likewi,sp l 1arps thp samp rt paul who wrote more than onehalf of th npw tpstampnt and who assures us that he did not shun to r clare thp whole counsd of god acts 20:27 says not a word ahout torm nt on the contrary discussing this vcry mattpr of sin anrl its p nalty he s,ays vherefore as hy onc man sin ntercd into the world and death by sin and so death parsell upon all men for that all have sinned rom fi:12 note that it was not eternal torment that passni upon one man nor upon all men but death if some onp suggpstr that {l ath would not be a sufficient penalty for sin all wp woull ncpd to do would be to point him to the facts and thus prove his suggestions illogical for the sin of r!isohplienr-p adam lost his panidisaic home lost eternal !ifp and divinp fellowship and inrtcad got sickness pain sorrow dpaljh additiona lly all of his posterity reasonably estimatni at twf ilty thousand millionr disinherited so far as the hlpssings arp onpprn d have in1writed weaknesses mental moral am physical and ar as the apostle declares a groaning creation rom r 22 god s penalty a just one let no one think the death penalty unjust and too severe jorl could have blottpd out adam the sinner thus fulfilling tho spntpnce he could havo blotu d out the race instantly but would we ljave preferred that asrurcdly not lif is fhw t p pn amidst pain and suffering besid s it is the divine purpose that prpspnt trials and experiences shall prove useful as disciplines to pn pare us for a wis r course than father ar!am took when we shall be privilpgcd to have a further itlr!ividual trial our race would have been without hope of future pxistcnce jnst as agnosticism claims had it not been for divine compassion and the work of redemption notice again why our lord died for our redemption and sce in that another pvidpnce of thc pcnalty if the penalty against us had hppn ptprnal torment our r d mption from it would have cost our lord that price he would have been ohligpd to suffer tprnal torment the just for the unjust hut pternal tormpnt was not the penalty hence jesus did not pay that ppnalty for us dcath was the ppnalty and hence christ dicd for our sins by til grace of god he tasted death for pvpr man yho vcr pould pay adam s penalty could settle with divine ju tice for the sins of the whole world because adam a lonp had b n tripd-adam alone had been condemn d yp his phildrpn w fp involnd through him behold the wisdom and p onom of our crl ator l he ~criptures assure us that hp ponde>inned the whol world for one man s disohpdicncp in mdpr that hc might han mercy upon all through thp ohpdipll e of anoth r christ ve w re cond mn d to dpath without our conspnt or knoli l dg ve were rede med from dpath without our conspnt or knowledge homp one may inquire are we therefore without responsihility will th rp hp no imlividual penalty upon us for indivirlual wrong doings ve answer a just recompense at his first adnnt our lord s mirarles foreshadowcd the great work which hg with his glorifipd church will accomplish for the world during the millennium-then all the sir k lame blind and dead will be revived and if obedipnt will be brought ultimately to full perfection the disobedient will be destroyed in the second deat.h the most notable miracle which our lord performed was the awakening of lazarus his friend jesus was gone several days whcn lazarus took si k and of course knew about the mattf r nevertheless martha and mary sent him a special mes-sage saying lord bchold he whom thou lovest is sick john 11 3 they knew of jesus power to heal even by the word of his mouth they had faith that if he could help strangers he would surely be glad to assist his friend but jesus remained where he was and allowed lazarus to die and a rude shock to corne to the dear sisters then he said to his disciples our frh nd lazarus slcepeth john 11 11 then coming down to thpir comprehension he added i~azarus is dead and i am glad for your sakes that i was not there john 11 14 15 he was glad to let his fri nd fall aslep in death because it would provide a special opportunity for a special miracle then with his disciples he began the three-days journey to bethany we cannot blame the sorrowing sisters that thpy felt hurt that t:he messiah should apparently neglect their interests they knew that he had the power t.o relieve them :uartha s gentle reproof was lord if thou hadst been here m brother had not died jesus said unto her thy brother shall rise again martha salth unto him i know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at t.he last day john 11 :23,24 kotice t.hat our lord did not say thy hrother is not dead thy brother is more alive than he ever was he is in heaven or in purgatory nothing of the kind purgatory had not yet been invented and he knew nothing of it and as for heaven our lord s testimony is in our text no man hath a,seended into heavpn but he that came down from heaven martha was also well informed the errors of the dark ages had not yet supplanted the trut.h her hope for her brother was the scriptural one that he would rise in the resurrection in the last day the l 1illennia day the seventh of the great thousand-year days from creation our lord explained that the power of resurrection was vested in himselt that he was there with hcr and could give relief to them without waiting martha told our lord that it was too late that putrefaction had set in by this time but jesus insisted on seeing the tomb and when he arrived at it he said lazarus come forth and we read he that was dead came forth john 11 :43 44 mark well that it was not the living that came forth but that lazarus was r allv dead mark well that he was not called from heaven nor from purgatory all that are in their gra.ves what jesus did for lazarus he intimated he would ultima tely do for adam and his entire race note his words the hour is coming in the vhieh all that are in the graves shall hear his voice and shall come forth john 5 28 29 does this astonish us if so the reason is not far to seek it is because we have gotten so far away from the teachings of the bible-so fully immersed in the doctrines of devils so fully to believe in the serpent s lie ye shall not surely die so blinded to the lord s declaration ye shall surely die and the wages of sin is death the remainder of john 5 29 explains that there will be two general class s of the dead to corne forth the first those who have had their trial and who have passed it successfully the second all the remainder of mankind who have thus far failed to have divine approval the approved will come forth from the tomb unto a resurrection of life-perfection the disapproved will come forth unto a resurrection of judgment see revised version the coming forth is one thing the rcsurrection is another the apostle explains that they will com forth every man in his own order 1 cor 15 :23 on thus h ing awaken d the privilege will be theirs of rising up lip up out of present degradation mental moral physical to th gloriolls perfcetion which father adam enjoyed in the [4552]

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