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SEMI-MONTHLY
VOL. XXX MAY 1. NO. 9
A.D. 1909—A.M. 6037

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CONTENTS

Views from the Watch Tower……………………131
Unrest in France…………………………131
Prominent Ottoman a Zionist……………….132
Passover and Atonement Day Sacrifices………….132
Heroes of Faith……………………………..133
St. Paul’s Illustrations of Faith………….134
“The Reproach of Christ Greater Riches”…….137
Questions on the Covenants……………………139
He Hath Perfected the Sanctified………………139
Faithful Over Few (Poem)……………………..140
Quarterly Review—June 20…………………….140
Meekness, Gentleness, Patience, Character………140
Yearly Requests for Pilgrim Visits…………….141
Western Convention Tour………………………141
Samples of Interesting Letters………………..142

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PUBLISHED BY
WATCH TOWER BIBLE & TRACT SOCIETY
CHARLES T. RUSSELL, PRESIDENT
“BROOKLYN TABERNACLE,” 13-17 HICKS ST.,
BROOKLYN, N.Y., U.S.A.

Foreign Agencies:—British Branch: 24 Eversholt St., London, N. W. German Branch: Unterdorner Str., 76, Barmen. Australasian Branch: Equitable Building, Collins St., Melbourne.

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Terms to the Lord’s Poor as Follows:—All Bible Students who, by reason of old age, or other infirmity or adversity, are unable to pay for this Journal, will be supplied Free if they send a Postal Card each May stating their case and requesting its continuance. We are not only willing, but anxious, that all such be on our list continually and in touch with the Studies, etc.

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PEOPLES PULPIT MONTHLY

We are surprised that we have not had a more general response for the above paper—intended to supercede the Old Theology Quarterly. Surely some of our friends fail to comprehend the situation. PEOPLES PULPIT will contain Brother Russell’s writings and be very suitable for use as Tracts. It desires entry as Second-Class Mail and to get it must be able to show its lists of actual subscriptions.

We shall be gratified if our Tract Fund contributors will send the Society postal-card orders for 10 copies to 100 copies, each for one year (according to the needs of themselves and neighbors), with instructions to charge the price to your Tract Fund contributions.

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THE NEWSPAPER EVANGELISM

The number of newspapers publishing Brother Russell’s sermons weekly continues to increase. We advise these be given the preference and every way encouraged. If any paper cuts down the space below three columns or fails to publish the sermon, write the editor a kind card telling of your interest in the sermons and that you subscribe for his paper largely on account of the sermons. If you subscribed through us drop us a card of explanation also.

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India “Studies” Vols. 4 and 5 temporarily out of stock.

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VIEWS FROM THE WATCH TOWER

UNREST IN FRANCE

THE Chicago Tribune prints a lengthy dispatch showing great unrest in France. Trades-Unionism seems to have gotten everything into its control, including the public service. Fear for God and man seems gone and General Selfishness to be in supreme command. Those who have been studying with us the teaching of God’s Word, which seems to indicate worldwide anarchy in A.D. 1915, will see in this report a strong confirmation of the date, so far as France is concerned. Indeed it looks as though the climax there might come much sooner. An extract from the dispatch follows:—

“The labor riots at Meru, which now lies quiet under martial law maintained by half a dozen squadrons of cavalry, have made a profound impression throughout France following, as they did, the great hippodrome assembly at which civil service employes announced adhesion to the program of the Confederation Generale du Travail and authorized a secret committee of twelve to prepare for a general strike.

“This has been a week of general depression which even perfect Easter weather and four days of feastmaking did not dissipate. Now it is generally felt and admitted that the republican government in its present form is going through the most critical period of its existence. That the tide of revolution has already risen above the danger point nobody denies.

“Conservative opinion is that while nothing immediately threatens, the situation is one which calls for the highest degree of sagacity and decision on the part of leaders of the nation. Unfortunately, neither of these qualities has been recently manifested by the Clemenceau government, whose truculence, before threats by the postal strikers, brought on the present wider and more serious unrest.

NO TROUBLE ON MAY 1

“Revolutions do not announce themselves as a rule, so the wide circulation of the report that general strikes would be ordered by May 1 may be accepted as a guarantee that none will take place then. It takes time to organize a movement as vast as that contemplated by the Confederation Generale du Travail.

“But what is preparing for the future? There has grown up in France an authority which looms as large as that of the government itself—labor unions, and their powers, already developed beyond anything known in America, are now immensely augmented by consolidation with civil service unions. The story of the origin and evolution of Syndicate de Fonctionnaires is sure to be an important chapter in the future history of France. Under the law of March 21, 1884, various groups of public servants, school teachers, postmen, postal clerks, telegraphers, bureau clerks, government architects, engineers, mechanics, etc., began to organize mutual benefit associations, which have developed into the revolutionary army of today.

“Now we have the spectacle in France of the entire public service down to prison-wardens, who publicly promise to open the cells of any brothers committed to their charge, in the hands of organizations which are planning a universal strike and demanding the overthrow of the present parliamentary system. This can be described only as anarchy. At present it is a well-behaved anarchy. It is well behaved because the labor leaders believe—so easy has been their success thus far—that the revolution will be of little violence when the moment comes.

NEWS FROM MERU DISQUIETING

“But the scenes at Meru are disquieting. There was something so diabolical in the deliberation with which the strikers, wheeling barrows of stones, marched through the darkness to the factories they had deserted and wrecked and pillaged them and their employers’ homes that the people are recalling the sinister processions and sackings which preceded the Revolution. Not then could there have been more hate of the aristocracy than exists today toward the bureaucracy and the wealthy.

“‘We are animated by the same hatred of the capitalistic regime,'” cried Pataud, the strike leader, the other day at a meeting of clubs and workmen.

“‘We have no country save where we find a brother.’ ‘The republic is in danger; what do we care?’ ‘Why should the state be regarded as different from any other employer?’ were among the sentiments cheered by uniformed government employes this week.”

DANGER SIGNALS OF A GREAT WAR

While the world has been congratulating itself on the possibilities of an era of peace by means of the Hague Conferences and National Arbitration Courts the war trumpet is being heard. Men were supposing that they might usher in the time of peace without our Lord’s second coming and the Millennial reign. The Bible, however, seems to imply a very great war as the precursor of the great reign of peace at our Lord’s second coming.

Note the following extracts from the public press on this subject:—

“In Britain the House of Commons met last week to hear the most disquieting statement with regard to the strength of its navy and the progress of Germany ever laid before it. It was called upon to vote Navy Estimates

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showing an increase of only L.2,800,000. It met to consider a program of shipbuilding which provided only four Dreadnoughts and a sum of but L.10,200,000 for new construction and armaments. For one day recriminations were hushed by the sense of danger. The voice of patriotism was heard. But the effort was too great to maintain, and during the past week faction and ignorance have reasserted themselves. The danger is being derided, though on the showing of ministers Germany in 1912 may have seventeen Dreadnoughts to the British sixteen. The German number may be even greater than ministers allow. Three Dreadnoughts are to be laid down by Germany’s ally, Austria. Three more, it is believed, are to be built in Germany for foreign Powers. If they were added to the German force—and there is nothing to prevent this—then Germany in 1912 might have a force of twenty-three of these ships, a preponderance which would

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wipe out all our advantage in ships of the King Edward class, and which would foreshadow the loss of the command of the sea. But though such is the emergency, one member of the House of Commons demanded a rapid reduction in British naval expenditure; a second declared that the Labor party would unswervingly oppose a program of eight Dreadnoughts; and a third moved to reduce the small pay of our naval officers and to cut down the personnel of the fleet by 20,000 men. The parallel throughout is poignantly close to the attitude of Germany and France on the eve and outbreak of the Franco-German war.”—London Daily Mail.

“Germany believes that she need not wait for a paper equality or superiority. We hold that this fact is one which we are bound to take into consideration in making our calculations as to how to prepare against war. The more men dread an outbreak of war on moral and humanitarian grounds, the more necessary it is for them to do their best to make our preparations adequate. Only preparations so complete and on so vast a scale as to make even the ardent men who control German naval policy consider that the game is not worth the candle can prevent war in the future. That is our firm belief. We have still the time in which to make such preparations, but no time to waste in sleep or doubt.”—London Spectator.

“It is this public sentiment which constitutes the most dangerous factor in the present strained relations between Great Britain and Germany. Its peril lies largely in the fact that it is so unaccountable. There is no knowing at what time it will burst forth or what particular form the outbreak will take. That the kaiser, his responsible ministers, the principal statesmen, and the leading captains of industry, commerce and finance in his empire, are anxious for a war with England, nobody for one moment believes. But there has been so much talk in England of the necessity of smashing the Teuton navy before it is permitted to attain proportions large enough to rival the British supremacy of the seas, that both William and his people consider it necessary to provide for the maritime defenses of the empire and to endow the latter with a sufficient number of ships to admit of Germany being able to hold her own with England in all questions relating to the sea. The creation of a big German navy rivaling in size that of England is not necessarily meant for offense, but for defense of Teuton interests, and to enable the Berlin government to speak with the same weight and authority in maritime affairs as its magnificent army enables it to do by land.

“On the other hand, England, which always has regarded not merely her wealth and her prosperity, but even her national existence, as based upon her maritime supremacy, is naturally profoundly alarmed at the extent to which the latter is threatened by Germany. And there are many in Great Britain who, holding these views, insist both in speech and in print, that it is a mistake to allow Germany time to build the ships planned in her naval program, and that it would be much better to fight her now and to frustrate her ambitions of maritime supremacy before she had been able to realize them. They urge that, whereas England is now vastly superior to Germany in naval strength, she may not be so two or three years hence. In Germany, on the other hand, there are patriots who clamor for their government to take advantage of the present complete disorganization of the British army, and of the virtual chaos that prevails in England’s military affairs to precipitate a conflict for which the enemy may be better prepared in two or three years’ time.

“These opinions, voiced by the German press, are re-echoed far and wide, tending to excite popular sentiment against England to a dangerous degree. In fact, a favorite topic of discussion in Germany is the capture of London by a coup, possibly without a preliminary declaration of war, and it is pointed out that with the British metropolis in the hands of the invaders pretty well the whole vast British empire would be at the latter’s mercy. For London is not merely the capital of the united kingdom, but the administrative, and, above all, the economic heart of the whole empire, besides being in matters of finance and of trade the chief brokerage and exchange mart and center of the civilized and uncivilized world. England’s financial credit is at the present moment colossal; superior probably to that of any other nation in the world save perhaps the United States. But where would that credit be, with London, its headquarters, in the hands of a German enemy? What is to be feared, then, in the present situation, is not that England and Germany may deliberately and cold-bloodedly declare war upon one another, but that public feeling, perpetually excited by demagogues and by their newspapers, will be led to some excess, some outrage, some public manifestation of hostility, that the people on the other side of the North sea will find themselves compelled to resent. This, then, is the real danger of the present state of affairs, and it is all the more grave since it is impossible to foresee when and where it will occur, or how it can be averted, though it means war.”—Chicago Tribune.

PROMINENT OTTOMAN A ZIONIST

The below clipping is certainly a straw in the wind, as it were, and in accord with our expectations:

“Dr. Riza Tewfik, a member of the Chamber of Deputies and one of the foremost leaders of the Young Turk party, delivered a lecture on the Jewish question recently in Constantinople. … In reply to an inquiry whether a good Ottoman could be a Zionist, he replied: ‘Certainly, I myself am a Zionist. The methods of Zionism are exclusively peaceful. Palestine is your land more than it is ours; we only became rulers of the country many centuries later than you. A service would be rendered to our common fatherland by undertaking the colonization of that uncultivated land, Palestine. Your nation has incomparable qualifications for trade; your fellow Jews are sober and industrious. They would restore this desolate land. They would devote all their energies to the service of our dear fatherland, and I assure you that my co-operation will never fail you in order to attain this aim.'”—Detroit News Tribune.

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PASSOVER AND ATONEMENT DAY SACRIFICES

OUR recent celebration of the Passover has raised the question, Did the sacrifice of the Passover lamb on the 14th day of the first month represent the same thought as the sacrifice of the Atonement Day on the 10th day of the seventh month?

We answer, No, not exactly. These two types were put at opposite ends of the year; the one at the beginning of the religious year and the other at the beginning of the secular year. The secular year began in the fall and the religious year in the spring. The Passover sacrifice in the

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beginning of the religious year represented particularly the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus on behalf of the Church only, while the Atonement Day sacrifice in the beginning of the secular year illustrated the sacrifice of Christ and also the sacrifice of the Church, the “royal priesthood,” and the broader work thereby accomplished “for all the people.”

The Passover lamb did not represent Jesus the Head and the Church his Body. It represented specifically our Lord Jesus, “The Lamb of God.” It was prophesied of our Lord that not a bone of him should be broken. And the same was commanded respecting the Passover lamb. It was to be roasted whole, and not a bone of it was to be broken in the eating. Furthermore, the Passover lamb and its blood affected, preserved, “passed over,” the firstborn ones only, representatives of the Church of the Firstborns only. The deliverance of the others is no part of the Passover picture.

In the Atonement Day sacrifice, there is a distinct difference. Two sacrifices were offered—one for the high priest’s body and his family and the other sacrifice “for all the people.” The first, as we have already seen (in Tabernacle Shadows, published twenty-nine years ago), represents our Lord’s death on behalf of the Church and the entire “household of faith.” The second sacrifice on the Day of Atonement represents the death of the Church as the antitype of the Lord’s goat “for the sins of all the people.” The same high priest offered both, and typified our Lord Jesus and his work of first performing his own sacrifice; and secondly offering us, whom he accepts as his members.

In the account of the consecration of the priests a bullock only is shown as the sin-offering (no goat, because it was not “for the people”). Then a burnt-offering is shown, which represents both the Lord and the Church in their united and yet divided position and relationship. A ram was killed and divided into pieces and washed, and then the pieces were laid in order, in relationship to the head, upon the Lord’s altar; and the entire lamb was the burnt-offering. This represents the relationship of the Church, the members of the Body with the Lord, the Head of the Body.—Ex. 29:10-18.

“BURNED OUTSIDE THE CAMP”

Another item connected with the sin-offering of the Atonement Day sacrifice is well worthy of notice as totally different from that of the Passover; namely, that they alone were to be burned outside the camp. The bullock

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was burned first and secondly the goat. (Lev. 16:27; Ex. 29:14.) The burning represented the gradual destruction of the flesh. Outside the camp signified ostracism, rejection of men, dishonor. The Apostle says that our Lord thus suffered outside the camp and that we should arm ourselves with the same mind, with the full intention of suffering with him as his members. St. Paul emphasizes this fact saying, “For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin (offering), are burned outside the camp. Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate. Let us go forth therefore [as the Lord’s goat] unto him outside the camp, bearing his reproach.”—Heb. 13:11-13.

Notice that here the Apostle is pointing back to the typical sacrifices and comparing them with the better sacrifices of Christ and the Church; and that he exhorts us to share in Christ’s sacrifice—to recognize ourselves as members of the Lord’s goat class who go through experiences outside the camp similar to those which our Lord endured—he typified by the bullock, we by the goat.

Some who were once of us, but who have gone out from us, are doing all in their power to shake the faith of any with whom they have influence. Although they have professed for years to see eye to eye with us (the fulfilment of this type and the fellowship of the Church with her Lord in these very sufferings of the present time), they now seem to have gone blind as respects these things and to be anxious to blind and confuse as many others as possible. What we have presented above is what we have been presenting for the past twenty-nine years to the best of our ability—showing, proving the Mystery of this Gospel Age to be that the elect Church is privileged to suffer with Christ as his members, and, by and by, to be glorified with him as members of the one Body, of which he is the Head.

Nothing in this, nor in anything we have ever written, controverts the idea that our Lord Jesus gave his own blood as our sacrifice and that he finished the sacrifice for us at Calvary in his own Body on the cross. Then it was, according to the Apostle, that the time came for his exaltation to be the spiritual Head over the spiritual Body. He was not that spiritual Head in the flesh. It was after his resurrection that he became the Head of the Church, his Body. And the Church become his members only as spirit-begotten New Creatures, when their mortal bodies have been presented in sacrifice and accepted. In accepting us as New Creatures the High Priest accepts our sacrificed wills and then tests us respecting the accomplishment of it, counting the blood of our sacrifice as his own, because it was his that justified ours and made ours possible.

Here we perceive the advantage of those who have wisely improved their time in the study of these truths which God caused to be prepared for their nourishment. Those who have been faithful in the study, and who lived according to it, are now strong. Others are now weak and liable to be carried about with every wind of doctrine. We cannot too strongly urge, dear friends, the necessity for spiritual nourishments—through meetings and particularly through reading. No amount of hearing can take the place of reading. Moreover, we advise connected, consecutive reading—especially the six volumes of the Dawn-Studies. We remind you afresh that many are now following the suggestions of a mother and her daughter who some time ago wrote a letter to the Tower telling that they had found that they could read the entire six volumes within a year by reading twelve pages per day. They had followed this course for one year and had begun it for the next. The suggestion has been taken up by several with excellent results and we commend it to you all. Our minds are leaky vessels and many who have read the Dawn-Study series several times find that their later readings reveal to them matters which they did not see earlier.

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HEROES OF FAITH

—HEB. 11:1-40—JUNE 13—

Golden Text:—”Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”—V. 1

IN preceding lessons we have been discussing faith and works as the subtle power for good or evil wielded by the tongue. In this lesson we more particularly examine faith to learn of its importance as a motive power to good thoughts, good words and good deeds.

The chapter under consideration is one of the masterpieces of holy writ. Indeed, the entire book of Hebrews occupies a very commanding position in the Bible. Some, indeed, have questioned its authorship, but to us there seems no room for doubt that it was written by St. Paul. It is marked throughout by his masterful logic, reverence and personal humility. It gives insight into the Divine Plan of the Ages, which fully comports with St. Paul’s other epistles and which far transcends in this respect all the other writings of the Bible. It has been noted by some that its style is more lofty than that of some others of St. Paul’s epistles; but this may

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be easily accounted for. Those other epistles, although full of sound reasoning and logic, are written in a simple and fatherly style for the general reader. This one was written particularly for the benefit of the other eleven apostles and other learned Hebrews who were slow to discern the change of dispensation. Naturally, therefore, it was St. Paul’s masterpiece, because upon it he evidently expended the greater labor—demonstrating the typical character of the Jewish Dispensation and indicating the antitypes of the Gospel Dispensation, as well as some reaching well into the Millennium. The references in the thirteenth chapter to Timothy and the statement, “They of Italy salute you,” imply that St. Paul wrote this epistle from Rome, where he was in prison.

It should not be thought strange, however, that the Lord used this great but humble man, St. Paul, as his mouthpiece in presenting many of the “deep things” of the Divine Plan. His early education and his association with the Gentiles combined with his deep spirituality—and fulness of consecration to the Lord well qualified him to be, as was foretold, the Lord’s “chosen vessel.” Let us remember, too, the order stated:—

(1) To bear my name to the Gentiles;

(2) And before Kings;

(3) And to Israel

St. Paul’s missionary efforts were first directed of the Lord to the Gentiles. It was later on that he stood before King Agrippa and other notables of Palestine—still later that he was sent a prisoner to Rome, and to some extent doubtless bore witness there before the Court. Later through this epistle to the Hebrews God’s message through this Prince of the Apostles did much for “Israelites indeed” who were trammeled by the things of the Law Covenant and unable to disentangle themselves so as to rightly discern between the shadows in the types and the eternal verities antityped in the Christ, Head and Body, and his great work as the “antitypical Priest,” “antitypical Prophet,” “antitypical Judge” and “antitypical Mediator” of the New (Law) Covenant.

“THE FOUNDATION OF THINGS HOPED FOR”

Strictly speaking hope is unsubstantial—not a reality. It furnishes no genuine foundation—it is merely a hope. It will not sustain weight. But faith is more than hope. Faith implies a promise. And when a promise is made by the Almighty God, who changes not and who is as omnipotent as he is unchangeable, then faith can firmly trust him, come what may. Hope finds a foundation—finds in faith a substance, because the faith rests upon a Divine promise. Whoever, therefore, has hope that is without such a Divine promise has a foundationless hope. Thus we see the heathen with hopes and fears full of uncertainty; yea, many Christians, hoping for certain things, have uncertainty, fear and doubt, because they have not faith. And they have not faith because they are hoping for something which God has not promised and to many of them the things which he has promised are not known, not understood, and, therefore, not a basis for faith, nor a foundation for hope. Realizing these things, how careful we should be that our hopes should not soar away to uncertain fantasy, but build solidly upon the faith foundation of Divine promise. Such as have this proper faith must of necessity be students of the Divine Word and the greater their studies the more their faith; and the greater their faith the more their studies of the promises.

The Apostle brings before our minds from the past a galaxy of faith heroes. He holds them up for our admiration, so that they shine and sparkle and excite our admiration and, we trust, stimulate us to similar faith-heroism. None of these enumerated by the Apostle was a heathen vagarist feeling after God and hoping against hope and soaring off in imagination. They were all positive, forceful characters, who knew in whom they believed and testified their faith by their obedience to God.

JOHN CALVIN DEFINES FAITH

“Eternal life is promised to us, but after death. We are told of a blessed resurrection, but we meantime become the prey of decay; we are promised righteousness, and yet sin dwells in us; we hear ourselves called blessed, and meantime are overwhelmed in infinite miseries; we

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are promised affluence of all good things, but are all our days in hunger and thirst; God proclaims that he will be ever present to help us, but seems deaf to our cries. What would become of us if we leaned not to hope, and unless our mind, guided by the Word and the Spirit of God, emerged through the midst of the shades, above this present world?”

The Apostle briefly sums up the matter of the Christian’s present lessons in faith, saying, “We walk by faith and not by sight.” The more carefully we walk with God the more peaceful and the more joyful may be our Pilgrim journey towards the New Jerusalem. Outwardly the world, the flesh and the Adversary may harass us, but no grief, no tribulation can shake our inmost joy, if it be well founded upon the faith foundation of Divine assurances that we are children of God, in touch with the Infinite, beloved by our Redeemer, who assures us that “The Father himself loveth you,” and the Apostle, that “all things shall work together for good to them that love God, to the called ones according to his purpose.”

ST. PAUL’S ILLUSTRATIONS OF FAITH

“By it (faith) the Elders obtained a good report.” Not all the Elders or ancients received a testimony that they pleased God—the “report” here referred to. No, the number who received this witness of God is comparatively small, and, in every instance, they were commended, not for perfect works, but for their faith. Their “faith was counted unto them for righteousness.” The Divine intention was that those whose reverence for their Creator and obedience to his Word of promise shaped and moulded a human life under present conditions of imperfection and world-enmity to God thus implied that they had hearts so full of trust and the proper spirit that God could count it righteousness, count it perfection; because when in the resurrection such should receive perfect bodies under perfect conditions they would surely do the Divine will thoroughly. Hence their faith in God and his promises, attested by imperfect works, justified them to that Divine fellowship which they will fully enjoy when the things hoped for shall be realized.

Thus in few words the Apostle summarizes what he afterwards proceeds to amplify respecting the Ancient Worthies. Then he begins a specification of faith. By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God—in obedience to Divine direction. We believe this equally true, whether we understand the seven days of creation mentioned in Genesis to be twenty-four hour days or to be longer epochs—seven-thousand-year days. The fact that Divine energy is exercised through various channels and agencies and that worlds are not spoken into existence in a moment of time matters not. While God could speak worlds into existence, as our Lord by his word turned water into wine, as a matter of fact this is not his usual proceeding, even as the fruit of the vine is usually produced by sunshine and rain falling upon the earth in which the vine has been planted. It is, nevertheless, a matter of faith with us that what we see was miraculously formed, even though gradually.

The Genesis account of creation does not go back to the forming of our world out of the elements, but begins with the statement, “Now the earth was, but was without form and void (empty).” As the seven days or epochs were consumed in a gradual lifting of mountains and sinking of oceans and bringing forth of fish and reptiles, fowl and beast and herbage, so we may well suppose that the formation of the earth itself was a gradual accomplishment of a still more remote period in which the

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various strata of the earth’s surface were formed—limestone, shale, coal, etc. A godly man wrote, “Ever all things are Divinely directed, and in the uniformity of nature we see the work of God; or (else) we see about us that which is impossible, unthinkable,—power, wisdom, a plan without mind; infinite intelligence in a godless, scopeless world.”

Well did the Psalmist write, “For the heavens declare the glory of the Lord. Day unto day uttereth speech and night unto night showeth knowledge. There is no place where their voice is not heard”—by those who have a hearing ear.

“HE BEING DEAD YET SPEAKETH”

Particularizing the heroes of faith the Apostle begins with the first martyr, Abel, who is mentioned four times in the New Testament and three of the times particularly styled “the righteous.” It was in his death that he spoke—in the fact that he died because of his devotion to the Lord. And has it not been so with many of God’s saints—that their lives spoke more earnestly to their neighbors, friends and children after their death than while they lived? We know of many instances which have exemplified this. So Abel, the first martyr for righteousness in the world’s history, yet speaks of his devotion to God and to principle.

Figuratively his blood is said to cry out to God for vengeance. Divine Justice is supposed eventually to see to it that every crime, every injustice committed shall somehow and somewhere receive a just recompense of punishment, whether in the present or in the future life. The Apostle calls our attention to the fact that the blood of Christ, on the contrary, speaks the very reverse, and, instead of calling for justice, vengeance, upon those who crucified Jesus and have persecuted the members of his Body, will eventually call for mercy. Our Lord was the great sin-offering for mankind, and all whom he accepts as members are specifically styled sacrificers—on behalf of sinners—to seal for Israel the New Covenant, through which all the families of the earth may receive the blessing of Divine forgiveness.

ENOCH WALKED WITH GOD BY FAITH

The testimony respecting Enoch was that his was a life of faith; that he walked with God and not with the world; that he sought to walk righteously, in harmony with the Divine will. The testimony is that all that approach God must believe that he is (else they would not seek to approach him), and must believe that he is a rewarder of those that diligently seek him, else they would not deny themselves the things highly esteemed amongst men and seek at the cost of sacrifice to do the things pleasing to the heavenly Father. The record respecting Enoch is very meager, but we do know that he was a prophet and that through him the message came that Messiah would come eventually with ten thousand of his holy ones to execute righteousness, judgment, in the earth—to overthrow sin and set up Divine standards amongst men. “Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his saints, to execute judgment upon all.”—Jude 14,15.

Enoch not only prophesied this but he believed it and it stamped his entire character and made him separate from the world and drew him nearer to the Lord. Similarly faith in the coming of our Redeemer and the establishment of his Kingdom and the reward of his faithfulness and the judgment or trial of the world during the Millennium, in which every man will receive a just recompense of reward, whether good or bad—this faith still has a sanctifying power. Let us cultivate daily, hourly, the setting of our affections on things above, the things which God hath in store for them that love him, for which we pray, “Thy Kingdom come.”

“HEIR OF RIGHTEOUSNESS”

Noah is the third of these faith heroes held up for our inspection. None of these was righteous in the absolute sense, for the Scriptures declare, “There is none righteous, no, not one.” Of Noah it is written, “Now Noah was perfect in his generation”—he and his family were separate, free from the contamination of their time, from improper intercourse with the angels, which kept not their first estate.—Gen. 6:4.

Noah’s faith in God was manifested in his building of the Ark in obedience to the Divine instruction that a great rain and flood of waters would come, which would destroy every living thing and wipe out the corrupted race. This was no slight test of faith either, for we are to remember that the Scriptures declare that up to that time there had been no rain on the earth. It was moistened by irrigation and by mists and fogs. “For the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth. … But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.”—Gen. 2:5,6.

For a long period Noah’s faith was tested even unto the entering of the Ark and the closing of the door before the rains descended and the floods came. Of him it is well declared, therefore, “He became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.” God is pleased to call Noah and all others who thoroughly, genuinely trust him, friends. He recognizes them as separate and distinct from the world in general. Their faith is their distinguishing quality. Nevertheless a manifestation of the faith and the testing of it by works of obedience is required. Blessed is the man who has much and strong faith in the Lord, which will stand trial, testing; for subsequently will be granted to him a corresponding blessing. Nay, more than this, the Lord has guaranteed us that he “will not suffer us to be tempted above that we are able” and he informs us that he knoweth our frame and remembereth that we are but dust.

HE LOOKED FOR THE CITY OF GOD

Next in the list of Ancient Worthies is Abraham, styled “The Father of the Faithful”—not because Noah and Enoch and Abel had not been faithful, but because with Abraham God started a faith family to whom were given many and great promises. That family became known as the nation of Israel, and latterly as Spiritual Israel. Again, Abraham was the father of the faithful, because while the heroes that preceded him exercised faith in

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God, it was more along abstract lines, whereas the Divine revelation to Abraham was the Gospel, the good tidings in definite form—that in and through his Seed all the families of the earth should receive a blessing. Thus the Apostle declares that God preached in advance the Gospel to Abraham, and thus all who believe that Gospel, of which redemption by Messiah is the essential, all such are called “the children of Abraham,” and he is spoken of as their father, the one through whom this Gospel hope was caused to descend.

But in still another sense Abraham was the Father of the Faithful: in the sense that he typified the heavenly Father, as Isaac typified our Lord Jesus, and as Isaac’s bride, Rebecca, typified the elect Gospel Church.

Abraham’s call of God was the result of his having faith in God and because he lived at an appropriate time for the Divine purposes to begin to be expressed. First his faith was tested by the Divine command that he leave his native country to wander up and down through Palestine as a shepherd, dwelling in tents without any fixed habitation, without any attempt to take possession of the land and to establish himself in it by building fortresses, etc. The promise was that in after times God would bring his posterity to this land and give it to them for a possession.

The promise went further and declared that if obedient the Lord’s blessing would continue and that the seed of Abraham would become great and influential and that through it all nations would receive a blessing—and by implication all would come under its control. It required great faith to believe all this under the circumstances. And the test continued, as, year by year, Abraham’s wife

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grew older, until the time of motherhood was long past. Still we read that Abraham’s faith “wavered not.”

Still later, after Isaac the son of promise had been born and had grown to manhood, the Lord tested the faith of this wonderful man by telling him to offer his son as a sacrifice. We are not to assume that this instruction was given by any mere impression of the mind, nor would it have been proper for Abraham to have accepted and acted upon anything short of an absolute demonstration of the Divine will in such a matter. The father love, the hopes of years, and apparently the Divine Word and Oath were all about to be wrecked. Yet his faith “faltered not,” for he accounted that God was able to raise his son from the dead and that surely God would fulfil his every promise to which he had bound himself, not only by his Word, but also by his Oath.

While we exclaim, Wonderful faith! let us remember that this was the very quality of Abraham which specially commended him to the Almighty as his particular friend. And let us remember that if we would have the particular friendship and blessing and fellowship of the Lord this is the channel through which it is to be sought—the channel of faith, of trust, of obedience. “Without faith it is impossible to please God.” The more faith we have the more pleasing we shall be in the Lord’s sight and the more we may be used of him as channels of blessing to others—however imperfect we may be in other respects.

And here it is worthy of note that Abraham was not perfect in every respect. On two occasions he was reproved by heathen kings and shown in some respects to have less lofty ideals, in one particular at least, than they would have given him credit for. Nevertheless, God did not reject Abraham because of those imperfections. Indeed, possibly those imperfections were partially the result of Abraham’s endeavor to hold on to the Divine promises and to do everything in his power to bring them to fruition. He knew that the Divine promise was that his child, who should be the channel of God’s blessings to the world, would be the son of Sarah; hence he felt that he must not jeopardize either her life or his own. This very desire to do nothing to interfere with the Divine promise may have had something to do with apparent weaknesses.—Gen. 20.

“THE CITY WITH FOUNDATIONS”

When the Apostle declares that Abraham “looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God,” we must not think this to mean that in his journeying throughout Palestine, he expected some day to come upon a newly-built city of divine construction. Nor should we think with some others that Abraham was looking for the New Jerusalem to come down from heaven—a city built of literal precious stones with gates of literal pearls. No, Abraham knew nothing about that city, for nothing respecting it had yet been revealed.

A city, in olden times, stood for and represented a fortification, a government, a rule of authority. Abraham realized that the earth was full of sin and violence and out of harmony with God. He knew that Enoch, his ancestor, a man of God, had already prophetically declared that Messiah would come, the representative of Jehovah, and establish a Government, a Kingdom, a City of Righteousness. He longed for that righteous government and realized that its foundation of righteousness would be deeply laid, and that it would be an everlasting Kingdom. He knew that occasionally a monarch came to an earthly throne possessed of good intentions and partially able to exercise these, but that soon his throne, his kingdom, crumbled and passed to others.

Abraham, therefore, was not in sympathy with any in his day, nor since, in looking for an earthly kingdom, but he was looking beyond all these for the Kingdom of God’s dear Son—the Millennial Kingdom. His eye of faith looked down and beheld Messiah and the exaltation of Israel and the blessing of all the families of the earth during the Millennial day. Our Lord Jesus attested this, saying, “Abraham rejoiced to see my day (the Millennial day of Christ’s reign) and he saw it and was glad.” The Jews misunderstood our Lord to mean that he had been with Abraham. Others misunderstand him to mean that Abraham saw by faith his work of sacrifice. It is true that our Lord did appear to Abraham. It is true that in a certain sense Abraham foresaw the sacrifice of Christ in the typical sacrifice of Isaac, but it is also true that “the Day of Christ” is the Millennial day for the world’s blessing and that it was that which Abraham saw and which gladdened his eye of faith.

We also see the same; and, sharing the same faith, we share the same joy and gladness of hope and expectancy. We indeed discern still more clearly than Abraham of what that city or Kingdom consists—that our Lord will be the great King, the Head over the Church his Body (his Members, his Bride) and that this Bride, the Lamb’s Wife, is pictured symbolically in the New Jerusalem, whose foundation stones in glory will be “the twelve apostles of the Lamb.” (Rev. 21:2,11-14.) We see more clearly than did Abraham (because guided by the holy Spirit through the Word) that the Ancient Worthies will be the earthly channels or agents through which this Heavenly City will send forth its blessings to Israel and to all the families of the earth. As it is written, “Ye shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the Kingdom.” Christ and his elect spiritual Bride will not be seen by men except as we now see our Lord, with the eye of faith.

“SHE JUDGED THE PROMISER FAITHFUL”

We are glad that Abraham’s wife is specifically mentioned in this list of faith heroes. It helps us to thoroughly grasp the Apostle’s thought that the distinction of sex does not operate to the disadvantage of either male or female in connection with the Divine promises. Perhaps it cannot be said that Sarah’s faith did not falter, but if it wavered for a time it certainly was recovered. Although she was past the age of motherhood she believed God. “She judged him faithful who had promised.” Thus she was counted in with the noble list of whom the Apostle says, “These all died in faith, not having received the promises (the things promised), but having seen them afar off (with the eye of faith) and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were pilgrims and strangers in the earth.”

Ah, yes, here is an important feature. It is not sufficient that we see glorious things of the Divine purpose, not sufficient that we believe them, not sufficient that we rejoice in them. We must be willing also to stand the test of being strangers and pilgrims in the present time. Those who cannot stand this test will not be accounted worthy of a share in those glorious things. Those Ancient Worthies, unsatisfied with any of the earthly prospects, sought the heavenly—not in the sense that we are seeking the heavenly, the spiritual things—in the sense of hoping for the completion of a change of nature from earthly to spiritual. They sought or desired the heavenly in the sense expressed in our Lord’s prayer. They wished God’s Kingdom to come, to be established in the earth—a heavenly rule of righteousness, a heavenly city or government. “Wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he hath prepared for them a city”—he has planned such a heavenly Kingdom or dominion as they hoped for. That Kingdom, the Scriptures assure us, will eventually be the “desire of all nations.”—Hag. 2:7.

ISAAC, JACOB, JOSEPH, MOSES

We pass along the aisles of the hall of faith-fame and note the pictures to which the Apostle calls our attention—of Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses. Each one has distinctions, characteristics and peculiar traits; but the quality of faith foundation in them all is that which makes them the people of God—those he is well pleased to acknowledge and to whom he has already promised blessings in the future because of their faith. If anything would inspire God’s people to a cultivation of the grace of faith

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it surely would be a walk through this portrait gallery of the Faith Heroes of the past.

Isaac showed his faith in the Abrahamic promise in that he conveyed with full confidence the Abrahamic blessing to his son Jacob; and none the less did he manifest faith in that promise when he gave a blessing also to Esau, realizing that under that original promise all the families of the earth to be blessed must include the family of Esau also. Jacob, exercised by faith in the promise made to his grandfather Abraham, manifested it in the ordering of all of the affairs of his life. Especially was it manifested on his death-bed when, after giving special blessings to the sons of Joseph, he worshipped God, leaning upon the headpost of his bed (translated staff in the common version). He recognized that the blessings that were to come to his family were all under Divine supervision and all included in the original promise made to Abraham. He further signified his faith by giving directions respecting his burial, that it should not be in Egypt, but in Canaan, the Land of Promise, which was Israel’s by faith only.

Joseph gave many manifestations of his faith in God. Not only as a boy, but also while in Egypt he clearly demonstrated his faith in the promise of God that Israel was to be the blessed people through whom the blessing of the Lord would eventually, in co-operation with Messiah, reach all the nations of the world. By faith he gave direction that when Israel would leave the land of Egypt for Canaan they should not forget to take with them his bones. This does not necessarily imply that he thought the bones and the dust that had once constituted his entity would be necessary to God in his resurrection, but it does signify that he would thus testify his faith in a resurrection of the dead—his faith that he would participate in the blessings that would come to Israel through the Messiah.

“THE REPROACH OF CHRIST GREATER RICHES”

In various ways did Moses testify his faith in God, but in none of them, perhaps, in a more remarkable fashion than in renouncing the privileges of the throne of Egypt, to which he was by adoption the heir. He chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of the Abrahamic promise than to dwell in luxury with the others. The people of Israel were the people of the Messiah, the people of Christ; hence in associating himself with them he was showing his esteem for the reproaches of the Anointed. Indeed, faith marks every step of the progress of Moses in Divine favor and service.

“He endured as seeing him who is invisible.” How graphically this describes the matter and how true it is to-day as well as then that the endurance of trials and testings is only possible to those who have the eye of faith—to those who can see invisible things, things invisible to others: especially those who can see the invisible King of glory and his, as yet, invisible Kingdom! It was through faith also that he instituted with Israel the Passover and the sprinkling of the blood, though we have no reason to suppose that to any considerable extent it was possible for him to comprehend the real meaning of the passover and the antitypical significance of the blood and its sprinkling. His faith again was demonstrated in the passage of the Israelites through the Red Sea. His obedience matched his faith in all these matters.

While we stand in awe at the presence of so great faith, nevertheless we are encouraged thereby, because we realize that perfect faith is possible to us, although perfect works are not. Let us, then, hold fast by faith to the Divine promises and continue to walk by faith and not by sight, until, by and by, our change shall come and we shall enter into the realities of which now we have only the promises.

“BY FAITH THE HARLOT RAHAB”

It is incomprehensible to the world, and an astonishment to the saints, that in so many ways the Scriptures show that God is no respecter of persons—that he has not been choosing out exclusively the great or the wise or the good, but, on the contrary, has been choosing the sincere, the honest, the faithful, notwithstanding lowliness of birth, natural blemishes and imperfections. Truly does the Lord say, “My ways are not as your ways, nor my plans as your plans.” And truly did our Redeemer say that publicans and harlots should go into the Kingdom in preference to faithless, self-righteous Pharisees. How glad we are that in God’s providence the Apostle mentions Rahab and her faith, and how the Lord appreciated it and rewarded it! Surely there is a lesson here that should be well marked and inwardly digested by every one of us, not only for our own encouragement, but also for our guidance in respect to others. It is in full conformity with the Apostle’s statement that God is choosing some of the “mean things of the world” in the present time to ultimately confound some of the greater and mightier and less faithful and obedient.

After giving us this wonderful galaxy the Apostle seems to realize that he has only well begun the list. He declares that time would fail him to mention other faithful characters which have had God’s approval, such as Gideon, Barak, Sampson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets, who through faith won victories, wrought righteousness, secured promises, etc. In every case the faith was tried, sometimes by cruel mockings and scourgings and sometimes by bonds and imprisonments. Some were stoned. Some were sawn asunder. Some were homeless wanderers, desolate of earthly comforts, afflicted, tormented—of whom the world was not worthy.

“NOT PERFECTED WITHOUT US”

After pointing us to these glorious heroes the Apostle intimates that they are a different class from ourselves, the disciples of Christ of this Gospel Age. They all died in faith, not receiving the things promised them, because God had provided something still better for us and had arranged that they could not get their blessing until we should first have received ours.

What is this wonderful thing that belongs to us, separate and distinct from what belongs to them? We answer that our blessing, like theirs, is a faith blessing and reward and not a reward of works. Our blessing is superior to theirs because Jesus the Messiah has come, has given his life, has been highly exalted—and because we are now being called to membership in his Body, the Body of Christ, the Body of the great High Priest, the Body of the King of kings and Lord of lords, the Body of the Mediator between God and mankind. This matter of our call to another plane of being as the associates of the great Messiah is the “hidden mystery” not previously revealed. It is indeed “some better thing for us“—as much better as the heavenly inheritance is better than the earthly one. The Ancient Worthies, whose glorious career we have been considering and praising, must wait until the spirit-begotten class shall be born from the dead in the First Resurrection; then they shall receive their blessing of resurrection to the earthly plane, to be the earthly representatives of the Heavenly City, Heavenly Kingdom, and to share in a very particular way in the bestowment of God’s blessing to Israel and to all the families of the earth.

They all through the fall were imperfect and hence “children of wrath, even as others,” and so are we. But they and we are willingly and intentionally and at heart in accord with the Lord and his righteousness as the majority of mankind are not: hence they and we have been enabled to hear God’s voice, speaking peace and blessings to the willingly obedient. The Ancient Worthies responded to the extent of the privileges and blessings that were then tendered, proffered, available. And we of this Gospel Age have heard and responded to the still higher blessings and privileges of the high calling of this Gospel Age.

JUSTIFIED BY FAITH

The Ancient Worthies were not justified by a Covenant nor by a Mediator. Neither were we. Both they and

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we are justified by faith. They with ourselves come under the Abrahamic Covenant, which had no mediator and needed none, because made only with those of similar faith and heart desires to those of father Abraham. Although some of these heroes lived during the Jewish Age they were not justified by their Law Covenant but by their faith, for the Law Covenant made nothing perfect because of the inefficiency of its mediator; neither were any of them justified by Israel’s New (Law) Covenant, for it has not yet been inaugurated.

The selection of the members of the Mediator of Israel’s New Covenant is now in progress. The Anointed (Christ, head and members) is the Mediator of the New Covenant. The Law Covenant was between God and the one nation of Israel, which it was proposed should first be blessed and made holy and granted eternal life and then become the channel of blessing to all other nations who would come into harmony with God by an acceptance of Israelitish obligations. That Covenant failed because its mediator Moses was unable to give life to anyone except in a typical sense temporarily. The New Covenant is to be between God and Israel and the world—between God and men. The Mediator is spiritual, but he does not mediate between God and a spirit-begotten class. He is a mediator for men with God. Hence the Church has no mediator, needs none, for the Church is not composed of those who are of human nature, but only of those who are begotten of the holy Spirit and members of the New Creation. These are Members of the Mediator that need no mediator. Because of their imperfections of the flesh, because they cannot do the things that they would, they need an Advocate, and they have one, “Jesus Christ the Righteous.”

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As soon as all the Body members of the great Mediator Christ shall have been called and chosen and found faithful; then will come the time for the blessing of the Ancient Worthies, to whom will come the privileges and blessings of Abraham’s seed according to the flesh. Through them God’s blessing of the New Covenant will proceed, during the Millennial Age, to every creature: granting to all the fullest opportunities of reconciliation and eternal life.

Throughout the Millennial Age those Ancient Worthies, as the earthly representatives of the heavenly Mediator, will in a sense be deprived of the bliss which would properly belong to those tried and found worthy. For a thousand years they will serve the imperfect race as rulers, instructors, uplifting priests, in contact with imperfect humanity, assisting them back to harmony with God and to all that was lost.

Is it asked what reward will be granted to these Ancient Worthies for the labor accomplished during the Millennium in the uplifting of the world? We reply that the privileges of such a labor for mankind would of itself be quite a sufficient reward; but certain things in the Scriptures seem to imply that these Ancient Worthies will at the close of the Millennium receive a still further blessing, namely, that they will be changed from human to spirit nature.

This is not distinctly stated in the Bible, but merely may be inferred. We have already seen that these faith heroes who preceded this Gospel Age were typically represented by “the red heifer” which was burned without the camp and whose ashes served to sprinkle the unclean. We have also seen that as a class these were represented as members of the tribe of Levi. In other words, the household of faith, as typified in the tribe of Levi, was represented in times past as well as now. And it was from that “household of faith” that during this Gospel Age the antitypical priests are being called, chosen and found faithful. We have seen that all who will constitute the “Royal Priesthood” and all who will constitute the “great company” were originally represented in this “household of faith,” typified by the Levites.

We have seen that the “little flock” and the “great company” both make consecration with a view to becoming sacrificing priests, but that only the few who have lived up to the terms and conditions of self-sacrifice will win the prize of membership in the High Priest’s Body—membership in The Christ—membership in the Mediator of the New (Law) Covenant. Of the remainder, some will draw back completely and die the Second Death, while others, neither drawing back into perdition nor going forward into voluntary sacrifice, will be developed, proven, tested by the judgments of the Lord and be found worthy of life on the spirit plane as conquerors with palm branches, but not as “more than conquerors” with crowns. The justified who fail to go on to consecration pass back and become part of the world, while the consecrated who fail to go on to voluntary sacrifice nevertheless maintain their justification as New Creatures because in their testing they prove true.

Thus the “great company” of this Gospel Age and the faith heroes of preceding times still remain members of the “household of faith,” the antitypical Levites; while the “little flock” of crown-wearers, belonging to the same household of antitypical Levites, passes on to the position of “royal priesthood” in glory. During the Millennium some of those antitypical Levites (the “great company”) will serve on the spirit plane, while others, the Ancient Worthies, the faith heroes of ancient times, will be serving on the earthly plane. What is more reasonable than to suppose that when their service upon the earthly plane shall have ended the latter class also will be received to the heavenly plane? This thought is confirmed by the fact that the typical Levites were granted no inheritance in the land—the earth. Thus in advance God intimated that they were to have no earthly inheritance—but a spiritual one.

In Revelation 20:7-9 we are informed that at the close of the Millennial Age Satan will be released from restraint and permitted to bring temptation upon the restored world; and that some of mankind under his false teaching will become rebellious against the Divine authority and “go up and encompass the camp of the saints and the beloved city.” This camp of the saints seems to symbolically tell us that even at the close of the Millennial Age, when all mankind shall have reached perfection of human nature (or, failing to do so, shall have been destroyed in the Second Death), there will still be a distinction between this camp of the Holy Ones and mankind in general? Why the distinction when all are perfected? Because, we believe, the Divine intention was to show that even when mankind shall have reached perfection the Ancient Worthies will still in some sense be separate and apart from the remainder of the perfect race. It is at that time that we understand the Ancient Worthies will be changed from earthly to heavenly organism.

“SO GREAT A COULD OF WITNESSES”

The moral of our lesson is summed up in the first verse of Hebrews 12th chapter, in which the Apostle says, “Wherefore, seeing that we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses (martyrs), let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.”

What a grand exhortation! Let us heed it! Let us give faith its proper place. Let us feed our faith upon the Word of God and upon all the Divine providences of our experiences in life as they daily come to us! Let us thus follow in the footsteps of our great High Priest, the Captain of our salvation, our Leader, our Forerunner, whose sacrifice is the foundation for our faith and whose power in glory is to be its consummation, when he shall receive us unto himself in the First Resurrection, “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye.”

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QUESTIONS ON THE COVENANTS

Question—(1) From Exodus 24 th it appears that it was the blood of the peace-offerings and of burnt-offerings (not of sin-offerings) which sealed the Law Covenant. Should we not understand the same to hold in regard to the New Covenant?

Answer—The sin-offering, burnt-offering and peace-offering evidently pictured the same sacrifices, but from different standpoints. In every case we would understand the bullocks to represent our Lord Jesus and the goats to represent the Church, the under-priesthood. The sin-offerings represented the sufferings of Christ and of all who walk in his footsteps as respects their relationship to the Lord, “Outside the camp,” and their course as New Creatures inside the holy and ultimately beyond the second vail in the most holy. And it shows the merit of the sacrifice eventually applied on the mercy-seat, and for whom applied—the blood of the bullock first, for the Church; the blood of the goat afterward, for all the people.

The burnt-offering shows the same sacrifices but from a different standpoint—that of Divine acceptance. It shows that the offering was made to God and accepted by God as a whole, even though, as shown in the sin-offering, the sufferings were inflicted by men and the services rendered unto men.

The peace-offering (Lev. 3) would appear to be another view or picture of the same sacrifices, representing the willingness of the individual who sacrificed—that nothing was of compulsion, so far as God was concerned; and that there was peace between God and the sacrificer, so that the offering was not made for his own sins.

So then, it seems very appropriate that, as described in Exodus 24, it was the blood of peace-offerings and burnt-offerings that sealed the Law Covenant. The sin-offering feature has to do with the satisfaction, but the burnt-offering and peace-offering imply that the sacrificers voluntarily lay down their earthly rights in the interest of those who will be blessed under the New Covenant and that God accepts these sacrifices as sealing that New Covenant—entirely aside from the Atonement for Adamic sin, accomplished by the same sacrifices, viewed from the standpoint of the sin-offering.

Question—(2) The children of Israel, whom God called his firstborn, his own people, etc., had and needed a mediator. Should we not correspondingly expect that Spiritual Israel would require a mediator?

Answer—The children of Israel, from God’s standpoint, were a typical people—they represented typically all who would ever become Abraham’s seed, on the heavenly and the earthly planes. Thus it is written, “I have made thee a father of many nations.” All who will ultimately be saved to relationship with God out of many nations were well represented in the many tribes of Israel.

God took one of those tribes, the tribe of Levi, and separated it from the others for his own special use and as a channel for the blessing and instruction of the other tribes, which represented all the families of the earth. That tribe of Levi, as we have already seen, typified the “household of faith”—all those who will be brought into harmony with God through the Sarah division of the Abrahamic Covenant. These all, as a household of faith, are together styled the firstborn and are developed under the Faith or Grace Covenant, and not under the New (Law) Covenant.

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The tribe of Levi itself was divided, a priestly class being selected, and the remainder of the tribe assisting or serving under them. So in the antitype—a “little flock,” a priestly class, is selected for the pre-eminent position and constitutes “Abraham’s Seed” on the highest plane, the Divine nature. This class, The Christ, is composed of Jesus, the Head, and the Church, his members. As the center of the Divine blessing this Royal Priesthood, of which the Redeemer is the Head, has a variety of titles and of offices—King, Priest, Judge, Law-Giver, Mediator, Father—and each of these titles indicates a special feature of its service as the Seed of Abraham in blessing all the families of the earth, represented by the remaining tribes.

The other tribes of natural Israel did need a mediator and the mediator was in the specially set apart tribe, Moses represented the entire priestly class and the tribe of Levi in his various functions as mediator between God and the nation.

It is true that God did sometimes speak of natural Israel as his first-born, and similarly Ishmael was the first-born of Abraham. The Apostle Paul calls our attention to this very matter, telling us that natural Israel corresponds to Ishmael, the son of Hagar, who represented the Covenant of bondage. Spiritual Israel constitutes the Church of the First-Born, the Body of Christ, and was never in bondage, being a child of the free woman, “the Heavenly Jerusalem, the mother of us all.” The Covenant of Grace was represented by Sarah. It had no mediator and needed none. Why does it need no mediator? Because those chosen under this Covenant of Grace are all at heart loyal to God, lovers of righteousness and haters of iniquity. These the Father was pleased to receive into his family, in response to their faith and consecration. They became members of the Body of the Mediator, who, during the Millennial Age, will represent God to mankind, enforcing his laws and in his name uplifting the willing and obedient.

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HE HATH PERFECTED THE SANCTIFIED

—HEBREWS 10:1-14—

ST. PAUL in this Scripture seeks to show the Hebrews that the sacrifices of bulls and goats enjoined for a time have come to an end; and that the Jewish Priesthood has been supplanted by a higher one—Christ and his members, a “Royal Priesthood.” He pictures our Lord as addressing the Father in respect to the matter, saying, “Sacrifices and offerings of bulls and of goats Thou wouldst not (these do not satisfy the demands of Thy Law as the redemption price of sinners), but a body hast thou prepared me. … Lo, I come to do thy will, O God.” There, says the Apostle, he taketh away (or pusheth aside) the first or typical sacrifices of the Law Covenant (bulls and goats) that he may establish or bring into place the second—the antitypes of those sacrifices.

As the Father prepared a special body for our Lord Jesus, that was holy, harmless and undefiled and suitable as our sin-offering, so he has provided also a Body of Christ in the flesh, on a larger scale, for sacrifice; by providing for our justification through his blood. As the Apostle says, “Being justified freely by his grace we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” And then he adds, “By which also we have access into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.”—Rom. 5:1.

We get into this grace—into this sharing in the glory of Christ in his Kingdom, in his nature, by reason of the opportunity which our justification gives us of becoming members of the High Priest, sharers in his sacrifice. St. Paul refers to this elsewhere, saying to the justified ones, “I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God (your justification), that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, and your reasonable service.” (Rom. 12:1.) Here we have the declaration that we are participants in this sacrifice and that our sacrifice is acceptable to God and counted of him holy because of our faith in and relationship to the Great High Priest who has adopted us as his members and is sacrificing us as members or parts of himself. In harmony with this we read with our text, “By the which will we are

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sanctified (set apart as holy and consecrated joint-sacrificers with our Lord) through the offering of the Body of Jesus Christ.”

The Apostle’s argument is that by one offering Christ has perfected forever them that are sanctified. Through his merit there is naught against us now and nothing to hinder us from accepting the gracious invitation to suffer with him as his members, presenting our bodies as living sacrifices through the merit of his sacrifice.

Under the New Covenant God will remove the sins of Israel and Judah and all that come into relationship with him under that Covenant and when that remission of sins shall come it will be an evidence that the sin-offerings of the Atonement Day are at an end, as the Apostle stated in verse eighteen. The remission of sins has not yet come for Israel and the world, because the offering for sins is not completed—Christ is still offering up himself. The great Day of Atonement is not yet closed, though nearly so.

In this connection let us note the Apostle’s words that, having confidence in the merit of Christ’s sacrifice for us, “we may have boldness (courage) to enter into the holiest.” Who entered the holiest in the type? The high priest alone, once every year on the Day of Atonement. Who in the antitype will enter the Most Holy in the end of the antitypical Day of Atonement? The antitypical High Priest—Jesus the Head and the Church his Body. It is because of our faith and obedience along this line that we are accepted as members of the High Priest’s Body, whom he is sacrificing, that we have hope to enter in ultimately into the Most Holy as his members; and thither we are already entered by faith.

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FAITHFUL OVER FEW

“O Blessed Lord, how much I long
To do some noble work for thee!
To lift thee up before the world
Till every eye thy grace shall see;
But not to me didst thou intrust
The talents five or talents two,
Yet, in my round of daily tasks,
Lord, make me faithful over few.

“I may not stand and break the bread
To those who hunger for thy Word,
And ‘midst the throngs that sing thy praise
My feeble voice may ne’er be heard;
And, still, for me thou hast a place—
Some little corner I may fill,
Where I can pray, ‘Thy Kingdom Come!’
And seek to do thy blessed will.

“A cup of water, in thy name,
May prove a comfort to the faint:
For thou wilt own each effort made
To soothe a child or aid a saint;
And thou wilt not despise, dear Lord,
My day of small things, if I try
To do the little I can do,
Nor pass the least endeavor by.

“To teach the wise and mighty ones
The weak and foolish thou dost choose,
And even things despised and base
For thy great glory thou canst use;
So, Lord, tho’ humble be my sphere,
In faith I bring to thee my all;
For thine own glory bless and break
My barley loaves and fishes small.”

—F. G. Burroughs.

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QUARTERLY REVIEW

—JUNE 20—

Golden Text:—”With great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.”—Acts 4:33

THE lessons of the quarter may be reviewed by each according to his preferences of method. The Golden Text seems to embody the principal features of all the lessons; for each one discussed some feature of the great work of the Church, namely, the witness for Christ. We considered the witness given at Jerusalem, at Damascus, at Antioch, during the missionary journey in Asia Minor, and finally Paul’s witness at Rome respecting the Heroes of Faith. All this witnessing was to the point. It all testified that Christ died; that his death was not for his own sins, but as man’s Redeemer.

The witnessing also specially related to our Lord’s resurrection as stated by the Golden Text, because a dead

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redeemer would be powerless to become the Messiah and to establish the Divine Law amongst those whom he had purchased with his blood. “Jesus and the resurrection” was the general theme of the early Church, to which was added the hope of glory—the Second Coming of Jesus to receive his Bride to himself, to change her to his own nature, to associate her with him in his Kingdom glory and then to begin the Millennial reign of righteousness, to bring all mankind to a knowledge of God. And all this was based upon the precious sacrifice finished at Calvary.

Our text tells us that this witnessing was done with power, great power. It was not made secondary to politics, to social questions, to evolutionary theories or higher critical dissertations. It, and it alone, constituted the apostolic theme. And so it should be with us. The resurrection of the Lord and its value and signification to the Church and the world through the Divine Plan should be ever prominent in our witnessing.

Not only by their words and logical presentations did the apostles witness, but their lives were witnesses. As the Apostle said, “Ye are our epistles, known and read of all men.” The lives of the early Church were the special witness to the Lord. Without the consistency of their lives and their consecration to the Lord and to the Truth, it is evident, the message would have had no such import as it bore. So it is with us to-day. It is well that we preach the Word. It is still more important that we live in it. But it is the ideal thing to both preach and live the Truth. “Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”

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MEEKNESS, GENTLENESS, PATIENCE, CHARACTER

NEVER was there a more important moment for the Church than now, as respects the above listed elements of the Lord’s spirit. When the great Enemy has special power because it is “the hour of temptation which shall try all them that dwell upon the face of the whole earth,” every soldier of the Cross must be more alert than ever. But let us put character and principle first, then patience, gentleness, meekness. As St. Paul wrote to Timothy, “In meekness, correcting those who oppose themselves.”

Our love for the brethren, coupled with our knowledge of the testing strain they are under, will supply the needed incentive for the exercise and cultivation of the graces named. And let us remember, that this is our

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testing hour no less than theirs. The test to some may be false teachings; the test to others may be their positiveness and character in dealing with the error, or their love for the brethren and the gentleness with which they will seek to do all in their power to rescue them, even though they feel the task a hopeless one.—Heb. 6:3.

If we fail of love we are failing on the most important point of all. Hence it is important to each of us to take our stand for the right and against the wrong, but lovingly, gently, firmly. For instance, in the matter of the Vow: it is quite proper to explain its Scripturalness, to show that its every provision is in fullest accord with the teachings of the Bible, and to point out its advantages and its blessings to your own heart; but it would not be just or loving to do more than this. Leave the matter for the Lord to deal with by his spirit and providences. If the act be not a voluntary one it loses its value in God’s sight. Do not allow the Vow or any other voluntary matter to cause a division amongst the members. Should the division come along other lines it would be different. We must do all in our power to maintain “the unity of the spirit in bonds of peace.”

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YEARLY REQUESTS FOR PILGRIM VISITS

AT this season each year we ask that those desirous of Pilgrim Visits send in formal requests therefor, preferably on a post-card. We keep these on file and arrange the Pilgrim routes accordingly. We desire these yearly, because frequently conditions change greatly within one year.

Remember that no charge is made for these services. The Society pays all the Pilgrims’ traveling expenses, etc., and takes up no collections. The cost is borne by the general fund, to which many of you are or have been contributors.

It may be too late to include your place if you write when you see that a Pilgrim is headed your way, therefore, cooperate please by at once sending a 1909 post-card request, answering as many of the questions below as possible:

(a) How many Bible students reside in your vicinity?
(b) Are weekly meetings held?
(c) How many are usually in attendance?
(d) Where do you now meet? (Give full street address.)
(e) At what hours are the Sunday meetings held?
(f) Was a vote taken on the “Pilgrim” invitation?
(g) How many voted for the invitation to be sent?
(h) How many, if any, voted against the invitation?
(i) Would a suitable place be found for a public meeting?
(j) What attendance do you think could be secured for the public session by such notification and advertising as your class would give?
(k) Would a suitable place be found for semi-private meetings for the interested?
(l) Have the members of your class chosen leaders in accordance with DAWN, Vol. VI., chaps. 5 and 6?
(m) Give full names and full addresses of the two (2) to whom notices of a coming “Pilgrim” should be sent, and notify us as to any change or removal.
(n) If your town is not on a railroad give the name of proper railroad station at which to stop.
(o) How many miles from station is meeting place, and which direction from station?
(p) Would “Pilgrim” be met at station?
(q) If not, how could “Pilgrim” get from said station?
(r) Give writer’s full name and address.
(s) Any additional remarks.

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WESTERN CONVENTION TOUR

UPON learning of the Western Convention Tour a number of friends inquired as to our willingness to have company, and whether or not a Convention Party could be arranged to travel together in a Tourist Sleeping Car.

We replied that we certainly would be pleased to have the company and find that the Tourist and Kitchen-car arrangement is feasible. The figures below include the use of the car for twenty-five days and nights and three plain, substantial meals per day with an allowance of 35 cents each for meals not taken. The longer excursion would start from Chicago and take in all of the Convention’s stops noted in The Watch Tower except the first and the last named—Piedmont, Ala., and Aberdeen, S.D. Others might join the party in Texas and California at a slightly increased cost for the round trip. All the details of this arrangement are in the hands of Brother L. W. Jones, M.D., No. 2024 Washington Boul., Chicago, Ill. Applications for space on these cars should be made not later than June 15, accompanied by a deposit of not less than fifty ($50) dollars.

Arrangements are being made for a long and a short Western Convention Trip.

THE LONG TRIP

This route will take in all the Conventions mentioned in the Tower, with the exception of Aberdeen.

One or more special cars will be used, and meals provided if desired, as follows:

Option No. 1— This means an entire section in the

sleeper for 25 days, and three meals per day. $96.25
(A refund for meals not eaten on train, 35c.)
Railroad fare from Chicago and return…………. 77.25
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$173.50

Option No. 2— This means an entire section in the

sleeper for 25 days and nights, but occupied by two persons, with three meals daily for each person. Thus Option No. 2 would cost each person…. 61.25
(A refund for meals not eaten on train, 35c.)
Railroad fare from Chicago and return…………. 77.25
_______
$138.50

THE SHORT TRIP

This route would take in Seattle, Spokane, Butte, Denver and St. Joseph. The round trip railroad fare from Chicago will cost $62.50. Sleeper for round trip would be about $15, but this could be cut in half if two persons occupied a berth.

All meals on this short trip would be extra, as would also the hotel accommodations while at the conventions. About $100 ought to cover the expenses of this short trip.

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SAMPLES OF INTERESTING LETTERS

DEAR BROTHER RUSSELL:—

We are sending you a list of names to be recorded as having taken the Vow. This list is our entire class. We enjoyed Brother Sullivan’s visit very much. All the class seems to be growing in knowledge and love.

Your brethren in Christ,

CLASS OF TWENTY-FOUR AT BOAZ, ALA.

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DEAR BRETHREN:—

I want to tell you that the colored Ecclesia here, numbering fourteen in all, partook of the emblems of our dear Redeemer’s flesh and blood. We felt it a very solemn occasion, more especially as we looked at the shortness of the time when we shall drink it new with our dear Redeemer in our Father’s Kingdom.

Pray for us, as we do for you, that we may be found faithful. We are receiving untold blessing by reading the Vow along with the HEAVENLY MANNA. With much love in our dear Redeemer,

Yours in the blessed hope, P. W. LEMONS.

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DEAR BROTHER RUSSELL:—

We gladly improve this opportunity of expressing our deep appreciation of your progressive work along the lines of Present Truth.

The illumination of the entire Plan has been intensified by the clearer light on the Covenants. The Vow has proved especially helpful.

“Meat in due season,” “things new and old” from the storehouse are indeed served through your sermons, WATCH TOWER and magazine articles to those who hunger and thirst after righteousness and a knowledge of the Divine program.

We rejoice with the dear ones abroad, joyfully anticipating your presence with them the coming month. Greet for us “those of like precious faith.” “God be with you till we meet again.”

May the dear Lord richly bless you and “Bethel” family in your new field of labor, is the daily prayer of thousands, including your brother and sister,

W. W. GOODWIN AND WIFE,—Pa.

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DEAR BROTHER:—

In sending you this list of brethren and sisters who wish to signify their appreciation and approval of the Vow as a means of drawing them closer to the Lord and to each other—as well as those of our class who have previously sent in their names—we thought you would be pleased to know that the attitude taken toward the Vow and toward each other from the first has been of such a happy character that all have taken the Vow, except one, without the slightest sign of friction over differences of opinion regarding it. And the one who did not sign it refrained from doing so, not because he was opposed to it, but merely because he thought he was not ready, as yet, for the advanced position he seemed to think the Vow implied. This fortunate outcome has been accomplished by the wisdom and tolerance of those who first took the Vow, in that they did not wish to press their convictions on the others. The others, noting this, were led to a closer and more favorable attitude of mind toward the Vow and toward those who took it. We believe if this attitude had been taken by classes generally much needless friction would have been avoided.

Sincerely yours in the Master’s service,

CLASS OF FIFTEEN AT MEAFORD, ONT.

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DEAR BROTHER RUSSELL:—

I am sure you will allow one who loves you to intrude a little on your time. How I would love to have an hour’s talk with you. I would have told you long ago of my sympathy in the siftings of late, but knew your time was fully occupied.

I want to say that I stand by you with my sympathies, and mention you at least twice each day at the throne of grace. I hope I shall never forget what the Lord has done for me and thousands of others at your willing and faithful hands. My own bodily condition is expressed fairly well in Job 7:3,4.

I have been receiving scores of letters and cards from the dear friends from all parts, and would be glad to answer them all if I could spare the time to do so, but I can do so little in the way of work, that it seems to require about all of the time I can put in to accomplish the little.

I am glad to say that by the Lord’s kind favor I have been, and still am, able to earn as much as is needful. I want to tell you also that I still take my stand by “the Vow,” and fail to see how any brother or sister in the Truth can find any reason to oppose; also your articles on the Covenants. I am sure you remember me in prayer. May the Lord’s blessing ever be with you.

Yours in “the best of bonds,”

HAYDEN SAMSON.

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MY DEAR PASTOR:—

I am writing to assure you that for the last year, or year and a half, the dear heavenly Father has continued to manifest his love toward me by one scourging after another, and now I realize at last what his lesson is for me. The rod has been applied harder and harder until at last the wisdom from above is beginning to penetrate this old, thick head of mine. On my bed of sickness I plead earnestly for instruction. And thank God and the dear Saviour the instruction came.

I am very weak yet, and can scarcely pen this, but I am so glad that the precious privilege and joy of contributing to the spread of the harvest message, has not been taken from me entirely, as my lack of appreciation of it deserved. And now, dear brother, I am enclosing you a draft payable to the Tract Society. I desire that this be used in any way that your judgment may deem best, guided by the Lord, as I know you are. Dear brother, I attribute the precious blessings I am receiving, first of all to my God and my dear Master, and then to “the Vow.” Praise God, may I be able to sing as never before, “None of self and all of thee.”

I humbly ask your forgiveness for the harsh things I have said and written of you. I regret them from the bottom of my heart. I know the dear Master delights to honor you. Surely I can do no less. I can write no more this time. God bless you. M. D. HARPER.

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DEAR BROTHER RUSSELL:—

It is my privilege once more to write you concerning the celebration of the Memorial Supper. Seven of us met last night in a quiet room apart from the world, to meditate upon that eventful night, nearly nineteen hundred years ago, when the great sacrifice was offered up to Justice—”Christ our Passover, slain for us”; and we rejoice that we are still “in the house” and that the blood is upon the door-posts. The preciousness of the “Lamb of God” grows upon us and we delight to feed upon it, even though it means that we must also swallow some of the bitter herbs of persecution and sorrow. “Soon the shadows, weary shadows, will forever pass away.”

We were impressed also with the thought of our being broken with him as part of the “one Loaf,” and of our covenant to drink of the cup of which he drank, “filling up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ,” and willingly and gladly renewed our vows to be “dead with him,” for our experience with the blessed Lord has taught us that to follow him means gain a “hundred fold,” even in this present time, and a calmness and serenity of spirit. His peace, “My peace I give unto you.”

Often the flesh shrinks when we come to the bitter part, but it is our earnest desire that the mind of the

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flesh have less and less control of the new man—that the “same mind may be in us which was also in Christ Jesus.”

We remembered you in prayer, dear Brother, and all the family of God, “scattered abroad,” and yet drawn very closely together by the “tie that binds.”

Our loving sympathy is ever with you, beloved Brother, in all your many trials and straining of tender ties, and we are so grateful that in it all you continue to bear us (the Lord’s people in general) upon your heart, and are so concerned for us, that no harm comes to us. God keep you, dear Brother, and strengthen you unto the last. Your sister in the Lord,

BESSIE LOCKERBIE HENDRICKS,—Mich.

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DEAR BROTHER RUSSELL:—

Have just arrived home, after a precious little season together with others of the Lord’s consecrated—”In remembrance” of our dear Saviour’s sacrifice on our behalf.

Thirteen of the dear friends “assembled themselves together,” and one brother, who was ill, was served at home, making fourteen in all participating. Our hearts were saddened as we remembered what “Christ our Passover” endured “for us,” and were filled with joy at the other thought of “That day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s Kingdom.” How this event increases in importance to us as we near the Kingdom, and very properly so, as the light of the dawning day sheds its radiance more and more clearly on the path of the just.

Some, whom we loved dearly as brethren in Christ, who have assembled with us in former years, did not meet with us this year, and this fact lent an added tinge of sadness to the occasion, but with our dear Saviour, we say, “Thy will be done.”

We cannot help but feel that they missed a wonderful privilege, which in the very near future they will regret. We thank our heavenly Father, that another year finds us still loving the Truth, and with desires to be in harmony with it, and with our God. We thank him also for the precious little “Vow.” We know that we have been blessed by taking it, but just how much it may have aided in keeping our hearts in a condition of loyalty and sympathy and obedience to the Truth, we may not know this side the vail. We do know, however, that Satan has gotten the advantage of some who have not taken it, and we learn the lesson of humility and watchfulness and prayerfulness, lest the great Adversary trip us, and stumble us, over some such plain, reasonable and simple requirements as are contained in this “Vow.”

I fear that if the “Vow” had been a vow to do some “great work,” some of those who have stumbled would have been eager to take it, but since it was a “Vow” to prayer and watchfulness of thought and word and action they stumbled because of its very simplicity. If the dear Lord can use this little “Vow” to make manifest the heart condition of some of these who claim to be his; what may the next test be? Perhaps it may be something seemingly more simple and of less importance than the “Vow,” and who shall be able to stand? And the Psalmist answers, “He that hath clean hands and a pure heart.” The “heart” is the all important thing. “Keep thy heart with all diligence.” “Let us fear, lest a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you, should seem to come short of it.”

Pray for us, dear Brother, that we may never let any “root of bitterness” spring up in our heart, and defile either ourselves or others.

We are glad to say that we are striving daily to keep every feature of the “Vow,” and this means that we remember you and all the Brooklyn Bethel family at the throne daily. With Christian love to all,

Your Brother in Christ, R. H. BARBER.

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DEAR BROTHER IN CHRIST:—

I have been rejoicing in Present Truth since March, 1908, and would have written you sooner had not the greater part of my thirty-six years been spent in the

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newspaper, printing and publishing business, which enables me to draw a fair idea of your burdensome duties while serving the Lord in so many different capacities. However, I am impressed that it would be unwise on my part to further delay writing you, hence this letter.

We have a small class here which elected me teacher. Will you and the Bethel family remember me daily at the throne of grace? I want more of the holy Spirit and the spirit of a sound mind. I want to teach with understanding.

Fifteen years ago I joined my wife and the Methodist Church. I knew at the time my wife was the principal magnet, although I firmly believed the Lord would come my way and in due time make me as happy as my brethren professed to be. My blessed Redeemer did not give me the sweet assurance I expected, and after two years I withdrew with more noise and confusion than I commenced with. I resolved to never enter the building again and that resolution has not been broken. I took up Darwin, Hume and Ingersoll. These were later discarded for Confucius, Buddha and Mohammed. None of these things satisfied my hunger for Truth. Then came the Book of Mormonism, which I read with considerable enthusiasm and finally passed it up to a Baptist preacher. About this time Mrs. Eddy made her little bow in my community, beginning with my wife’s mother, a very bright and well-disposed lady, whose wealth and social prominence added no little to the Eddy Idea at this place. I studied the proposition hard, but was not permitted to see the point. One day one of the Lord’s faithful, Bro. C. S. Livingston, of Enterprise, asked me if I would take pleasure in the Truth if I knew it was Truth. I told him I would. Then he gave me Volume I and asked me to go to my closet and pray for help to understand that book. If there was a God I wanted to know it. Besides I was in the middle of a campaign for an important county office and the election was only six weeks ahead, and I wanted to please Brother Livingston and get his vote. I went on to my closet and tried to pray. It was the first time I had tried to communicate with the Lord in ten or twelve years. My petition was short and remarkably stupid, but the Lord certainly looked at the spirit in which I approached him and not the eloquence or multiplicity of words. One week later I retired from politics forever, thank the Lord. My friends urged and threatened, but I retired from the race. Five weeks later I had read the six volumes, Tabernacle Shadows and several WATCH TOWERS. I went out on the streets and wrangled with every preacher and Sunday School teacher I could find. I thought I was going to be a power among my friends and political followers. But alas, it is sad to relate. They say, and believe, “Much study has wrecked his mind, for a truth he has paresis!”

I have been zealous for the Lord and the doctrine of the Kingdom. On every suitable occasion I pour out all the hail at my command; but they won’t listen. If they can’t slip away they will try to change the subject—sing, do anything except listen. Not one grain of wheat can be traced to my energies. The real pillar of the Baptist Church at this place for twenty years, Brother J. J. Morris, accepted the Truth four months ago and Babylon charges me with his ruin and destruction. Would to God they told the truth, but they do not; as usual, they err; the Lord did it. And now, since he is not grinding at their mill, they say “he always did have cranky notions.”

Enclosed you will please find “the Vow,” our Vow. All the “Israelites indeed, in whom there is no guile,” will take the Vow. The more I see of it the more I am impressed that it is the Lord’s sieve.

Please send us a Pilgrim. The friends want an Alabama Convention at Texasville in the summer. Remember us daily at the Throne of grace.

Yours in the One Hope, W. M. BAILEY.

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PUBLIC MINISTRIES OF THE TRUTH

UNDER THE AUSPICES OF PEOPLES PULPIT ASSOCIATION OF BROOKLYN, N.Y.

—————

ONE-DAY LOCAL CONVENTIONS ADDRESSED BY THE EDITOR OF THIS JOURNAL AS FOLLOWS:

BROOKLYN, N.Y., JUNE 13

Morning Rally and Testimony Meeting at 10:30 o’clock.

Discourse by Brother Russell at 3:00 p.m. Evening meeting for the interested at 7:30 o’clock; this will be a Question Meeting. Visiting friends cordially invited.

All meetings will be held in the Brooklyn Tabernacle, Nos. 13-17 Hicks street. Convenient to all cars and ferries—close to the old bridge terminus.

NEW BRITAIN, CONN., JUNE 20

GLENS FALLS, N.Y., JUNE 27

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BROOKLYN TABERNACLE EVERY SUNDAY

—————

Preaching at 3:00 p.m. Praise service at 7:00 p.m.; Berean Bible Study at 7:30 p.m. Convenient to New York via Subway, and Jersey City via P.R.R. Annex Ferry.

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STUDIES IN THE SCRIPTURES “MILLENNIAL DAWN”

THESE STUDIES ARE RECOMMENDED TO STUDENTS AS VERITABLE “BIBLE KEYS.”
PRICES ARE NET AND BARELY COVER COST OF PRODUCTION, WHEN DELIVERED BY COLPORTEURS THE COST AND PRICE ARE INCREASED

SERIES I., “The Plan of the Ages.” gives an outline of the divine plan revealed in the Bible, relating to man’s redemption and restitution: 386 pages, in embossed cloth, 25c. (1s. 1/2d.) India paper edition, 75c. (3s. 1-1/2d.).

This volume has been published as a special issue of our journal—at the extremely low price of 5c. a copy, in any quantity, postage included. (To foreign countries, 9c.) This enables people of slender purse to herald far and wide the good tidings in a most helpful form.

SERIES II., “The Time is at Hand,” treats of the manner and time of the Lord’s second coming, considering the Bible Testimony on this subject: 370 pages, in embossed cloth, 25c. (1s. 1/2d.) India paper edition, 75c. (3s. 1-1/2d.)

SERIES III., “Thy Kingdom Come,” considers prophecies which mark events connected with the “Time of the End,” the glorification of the Church and the establishment of the Millennial Kingdom; it also contains a chapter of the Great Pyramid, showing its corroboration of the dates and other teachings of the Bible: 384 pages, in embossed cloth, 25c. (1s. 1/2d.) India paper edition, 75c. (3s. 1-1/2d.)

SERIES IV., “The Day of Vengeance,” shows that the dissolution of the present order of things is in progress, and that all the panaceas offered are valueless to avert the predicted end. It marks in these events the fulfilment of prophecy, noting specially our Lord’s great prophecy of Matt. 24 and Zech. 14:1-9: 660 pages, in embossed cloth, 30c. (1s. 3d.). India paper edition, 85c. (3s. 6-1/2d.)

SERIES V., “The At-one-ment Between God and Man,” treats an all-important subject—the hub, the center around which all the features of divine grace revolve. Its topic deserves the most careful and prayerful consideration on the part of all true Christians: 507 pages, in embossed cloth, 30c. (1s. 3d.) India paper edition, 85c. (3s. 6-1/2d.)

SERIES VI., “The New Creation,” deals with the Creative Week (Genesis 1 and 2), and with the Church, God’s “New Creation.” It examines the personnel, organization, rites, ceremonies, obligations and hopes appertaining to those called and accepted as members of the Body under the Head: 740 pages, in embossed cloth, 30c. (1s. 3d.) India paper edition, 85c. (3s. 6-1/2d.)

The above prices include postage.

IN FULL LEATHER BINDING, gilt edges, the set (6 vols.) $3.00, (12s. 6d.), plus postage, 60c. (1s.).

Is also published in foreign languages as follows: German, six vols., in Swedish Vols. 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6; in Dano-Norwegian, three vols.; in Greek, three vols.; in French, two vols.; Hollandish, Spanish, and Italian, one vol. each; bound in cloth, uniform with English edition, prices the same; in Polish, condensed edition, one vol., 10 cents.

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