Bible Students Monthly, May 1911

Download: PDF — Bible Students Monthly, May 1911

Vol. III. BROOKLYN. N. Y.

Religious and Scientific Gleanings

INTERNATIONAL ARBITRATION.

Enthusiastic Support.

When the balance-sheets of history are finally adjusted, it will probably be found that the statement made by the President of the United States in December last has had the greatest effect upon the trend of modern thought, on the ultimate well-being of mankind, and as the starting-point in the evolution of a new basis in international ethics. We, on this side of the Atlantic, will have nothing to reproach ourselves with in regard to the part which our statesmen and our people have taken. The recent utterances of our Foreign Minister have riveted the attention of the civilized world, and the governments and the press have, with but a few trivial exceptions, united in a consensus of approval.

Feeling in America.

Reference was made in our issue of last week to the speech by Sir Edward Grey in favor of full arbitration between this country and the United States of America, and extracts from expressions of hearty approval from all parts of the kingdom and from all classes and denominations of Christians were added. Since then, the agitation in favor of obligatory arbitration has gathered enormous momentum on both sides of the Atlantic. In the States, Mr. Carnegie, who has recently returned from Florida to New York, is working most zealously in the cause of peace, and his energy seems to have aroused everybody to a fuller sense of the tremendous possibilities involved. America, from coast to coast, is thoroughly awakened on th© subject.—British Exchange.

A French Treaty.

Already wre hear from Washington that the President and the French Ambassador have had an informal conversation regarding a forthcoming arbitration treaty between the United States and France along the lines of the Anglo-American negotiations. It will be remembered that when President Taft made his now famous speech in December last, the French Ambassador, who was sitting next him. delighted him by remarking that he was quite sure that France would gladly embrace an opportunity for negotiating for a treaty which aimed at the submission of every issue, irrespective of subject, which could not be settled by the ordinary diplomatic exchanges.

A Word of Warning.

Little is heard, or is likely to be heard, of open opposition to the substitution of arbitration for war. Few would dare to advocate the settlement of national disputes by bloodshed in preference to reason, but at the same time there exist subtle influences at wrork which will need to be carefully watched and guarded against. The growing wealth and power of the contractors who supply governments with stores and armaments have to be reckoned with. Therefore, it behooves all lovers of peace to be vigilant.

Mr. Birrell on Arbitration.

Mr. Birrell, speaking at a great arbitration meeting at Whitefield’s Tabernacle, London, referred to the proposals for a treaty of peace between Great Britain and the United States, and said: “It is a. family affair that we are beginning with. It is not an offensive and defensive alliance. It is peace between kinsfolk. Let us pursue it to the end. When carefully examined,” he added, “the German Chancellor’s recent speech really meant no more than that, in his opinion, some antagonisms might hereafter arise even between England and America of so agonizing a character that the terms of no treaty could keep us from each other’s throats—kill each other we must. Well,” said Mr. Birrell, “if we must, we will. But surely, as the Chancellor admitted, there could be nothing but good in trying as long as possible to keep us from doing anything of the sort.”

AEROPLANE AT OXFORD-CAMBRIDGE BOAT RACE.

Some sensation was caused among the crowds who lined the river banks to watch the Oxford and Cambridge boat race quite recently, for no fewer than six aviators visited the scene by aeroplane. Five of them started from Hendon. These were Mr. C. Grahame-White, who took up Mr. Patterson, the well-known Northern aviator, as a passenger in his Farman biplane; M. Hubert, also on a biplane, and three pilots of Bleriot monoplanes— Mr. G. Hamel, Mr. C. H. Greswell, and M. Pierre Prier. Leaving Hendon soon after two o’clock, they reached the river at Kew, and then followed the river’s course to the Ranelagh Club, where they hovered about for a time, making several circuits, and finally landing in the club grounds much to the amazement of the many members who had attended to witness the ’Varsity contest. When the race was over Mr. Grahame-White telephoned the result to Hendon, where a large crowd awaited the return of the aviators.

QUEEN AND CITY WORKING GIRLS.

A message from the Queen was given to the congregation of working girls which assembled as usual at All Hallow’s Church, London Wall, on Thursday morning. This is the only church in London, if indeed not in the country, which is used in the early mornings as a place where women and girls can take rest and shelter whilst waiting for the opening of the offices or other places of business where they are engaged. Addressing the women and girls, Mrs. Fowler, the rector’s wife, said that the Queen took a great interest in the work being carried on, and sent materials for them to make garments of. Her Majesty had sent a very handsome donation, which amounted to practically double what she had graciously sent before. Mrs. Fowler added that she had received a letter from Buckingham Palace, enclosing 12 copies of a pamphlet describing the work of the London Needlework Guild, of which the Queen was patroness. All the garments made by the women and girls attending th© church are sent direct to the Queen.

TO SHORTEN THE TEN- COMMANDMENTS.

Advices from London note that the highest counsels of the Church of England are considering the advisability of modifying and shortening the Ten Commandments—especially the second, fourth and tenth.

Those who admit that God gave those commands must be egotistic in the extreme to attempt to correct the Almighty!

Those who disbelieve in the Divine authorship of the commands would better repudiate them entirely and make new ones to their own pleasement and properly credited to their own wisdom.

God’s consecrated people, guided by His Word in the New Testament, realize that the law is just and good. But they see also that it was given to the Jew and not to the Christian “new creatures in Christ.”

These latter are Spirit-begotten and are under the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ—a superior Law—a Law which requires love to God supremely and love for our fellow-creatures as for ourselves. This Law of Love includes all of the requirements of the Mosaic Law and more.

But God is not judging these “new creatures” as flesh beings, but as spirit beings. They are being judged according to their minds, their hearts, their intentions. Thus “the righteousness of the Law of God is fulfilled in us, who are walking, not after the flesh, but after the spirit.”—Rom. 8:1.

WHAT IS THE SOUL?

A postal-card request will secure for you a free copy of this paper in which this interesting subject is treated in a manner that will satisfy the most exacting.

When God Was Alone

From everlasting to everlasting, Thou art God.” (Psalm 90:2.) “I am Jehovah, that is My Name, and

My glory will I not give to another.” (Isaiah 42:8.) "To us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things.” (I Cor. 8:6.) "Hear, O Israel, the

Lord our God is one-

THESE and other Scriptures tell us of a personal God, the Father or Life Giver of all, the Great One who inhabiteth Eternity. St. Paul declares that to the heathen “there are lords many and gods many, but to us there is but one God, the Father,” and one appointed Agent of His in dealing with humanity—one Lord Jesus Christ—. “and that every tongue shall confess that Jesus, Messiah, is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”—Phil. 2: 11.

The Scriptures tell us of “the beginning of the creation of God,” hence there was a time before that beginning of creation, when Jehovah God was alone—“He that inhabiteth Eternity.” Not even the great Michael was with Him, the great Messiah, whom He hath so highly honored and whom He declares He will still further honor throughout a glorious eternity. He was not with the Father before the beginning of creation, because He Himself was “the Beginning of the creation of God—the First-Born of every creature.” (Rev. 3: 14; Col. 1:15.) He was the first expression or manifestation of the Divine attributes.—John 1:18.

This mighty God, Jehovah, self-centered, self-contained, is ours, the same yesterday, to-day and forever, He changes not.

Divine Attributes Glorious.

Every attribute of the Divine character was the same millions of years ago that it is to-day, but that character was unrevealed. Every step of creation was tended to display the Divine character more and more, and each successive step and development of creation has brought forth new creatures capable of comprehending the Eternal One. We deem it not unreasonable to assume that Jehovah’s creative power will continue to be exercised throughout all coming time.

Astronomical photography now reveals nearly 125,000,000 suns, around which circle systems such as the one which circles around our sun, and of which our earth is a part. We deem it not unreasonable to assume, from the Scriptures, that the great work of ordering all these hundreds of millions of planets stretches forward into eternity, and that the j^ork .of.. Divine grace, begun on the planet “Earth,” will be continued throughout’ the Universe, not only in conjunction with th© planetary systems we can discern, but probably with millions of planetary systems too far removed from us to be discerned even by photography.

Doubtless Divine methods in connection with other worlds and their inhabitants will display the manifold wisdom of God. For instance, we understand the Bible to indicate that while the permission of evil in the earth was wise, it will not necessarily be wise nor expedient for any reason to permit a similar reign of Sin and Death in any other of the millions of worlds, in connection with their ordering or development and their peopling with glorious creatures who will show forth the praises of the great Creator without passing through experiences with sin and death such as have been permitted in connection with the humanity of earth.

The Permission of Evil.

Can we not see a broad reason for the permission of evil on the earth— for the permission of the reign of Sin and Death, which for six thousand years has apparently disgraced the Creator, degraded humanity, astonished the angels and constituted our race a groaning creation? Only when we discern that Messiah’s Kingdom will surely bring order out of this confusion, do we begin to get the proper focus upon our subject and realize something of the greatness of our God.

From the standpoint of the completion of the Divine purposes in connection with humanity, and from that standpoint alone, can we see illustrated Divine Wisdom, Justice, Love and Power. The primary lesson was

■Jehovah. ”—Deut.6:4.

Justice—that sin brings suffering and eventually death.

The second lesson was that of Divine compassion, sympathy—Love. This lesson was manifested in the sending of the Redeemer and in His subsequent reward of exaltation, and in His gathering of an “elect” Church to be His associates in glory and in the blessing of the redeemed race. Th© reign of glory, the reign of Messiah, soon to be introduced, will lift up poor humanity from sin and sorrow, from degradation and death, and give to each arid all the fullest opportunity to return to human perfection and to Divine favor and everlasting life.

In all that work of human restitution, which will include the awakening of mankind from the sleep of death, the one great lesson will be the greatness of the Divine Power which will be exercised through Messiah, the Godlike One, the Prince of Life, “the Prince of Glory,” the Redeemer, the Regenerator of Adam and his race.

And finally, from the standpoint of the completion of Jehovah’s great purposes and dealings with man, will stand revealed the foreknowledge and Wisdom of God, who knew the end from the beginning and who foresaw how even the permission of a reign of sin and death could be made eventually to work out to His own glory and to the blessing and instruction ‘ of His creatures on both the human and the angelic planes. Then will be revealed to all the glorious character of their Creator, and the necessity for His requirement of absolute righteousness and perfection.

Surely, the result eventually will be, as the Scriptures declare, that all shall learn righteousness, and hate iniquity, and that every creature in heaven and in earth and under the earth shall acclaim both Jehovah, who sitteth upon the Throne of the Universe, and the Lamb, the Redeemer, forever.

Were we to allow ourselves to speculate respecting the future—respecting the Divine purposes in relation to the millions of worlds around us, our speculations would run thus: Those instructed and used of Jehovah in conjunction with the initial development of the Divine Plan in. the earth will thereby be fitted and prepared to be the Divine Agents to other worlds. The Great Redeemer and His “elect” associates, after dealing with humanity for their uplift out of sin and death conditions, will surely be quali- ' fled for further service in other worlds: j to “show forth the praises of Him who I called them out of darkness into His . marvelous light.”

And what shall we say of humanity when perfected at the end of Messiah’s glorious reign? Will not all be well prepared, not only to approve righteousness! in themselves, but to tell in other worlds, to other races, the story of the fall and of the reign of Sin and Death resulting; and of the redemption accomplished by God’s love; and of the great restitution; and of the lessons thus learned?

The Unchangeable One.

The qualities of the Divine character which we have just considered—Wisdom, Justice, Love and Power—belonged to our Creator in the great eternity preceding creation. But there was no one at that time to appreciate God—it requires a full view of the perfected Plan of the Ages to. make known to any and to all the glory of the Lord. As we have just seen, thus far the secret of the Lord and the glories of His character are known only to His “sons,” begotten of His holy Spirit. But the time nears when “the whole earth shall be full of the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the great deep.” He nd His glorious Government will then be “the desire of all nations;” "The glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.”—Hag. 2d; Isa. 40:5.

(Continued on 2d page, 2d column.)

(The ItfrU S’htiii'iitfi iKnittirly

PUBLISHED AT

13-17 HICKS ST.. BROOKLYN, N. Y. C. W. HEK, Editor.

j Monthly—12 cts. a year. Single copies, 1c.

An Independent, Unseetarian Religious Newspaper, Specially Devoted to the Forwarding of the Laymen’s Home Missionary Movement for the Glory of God and Good of Humanity.

Six Hundred Thousand Books Burned.

Perhaps the greatest loss in connection with the burning of the New York Capitol is the complete destruction of the State Library, containing 600,000 volumes, among them the most valuable genealogical work in the United States. There also perished in the flames relics and priceless documents, some of them dating back to the Revolutionary War of 1776. The Assembly and Senate libraries were stored with thousands of volumes of law and code books, and also a number of historic documents and manuscripts were likewise wiped out. The total value of the three libraries defies computation, but it was certainly over £500.000.

Terrier Tackles the Census Paper.

At least one census paper narrowly escaped destruction immediately after delivery last week. The householder for whom it was intended possesses a very intelligent terrier, who has made it his duty, whenever he hears the letter box rattle, to rush to the door and carry off the communication in triumph to his basket. Usually some member of the family manages to rescue it in time, but the census paper showed plain marks of business-like teeth when it was retrieved. A delay of a minute or two would have made the paper uselss for official purposes.

The Value of the Al (-British Shopping Week.

"Some curious questions have been put to us during this week,” said one departmental manager of a large drapery firm recently to a “Morning Post” reporter. “Customers were not content with our assurance that certain articles were British-made, both as to material and workmanship. They wanted demonstrative proof, because their impression was that the articles were of foreign origin. In such cases we gave the towns of origin and produced photographs of the factories and the operatives at work in them. This is where the educative value of the displays comes in. In future, buyers will be able to associate certain articles with certain towns.”

How a French Artist Obtained a Royal Commission.

M. Georges Scott, the French artist of Scottish descent, whose equestrian portrait of the King will be one of the features of the forthcoming Salon, has been telling an interviewer how he came to paint the picture. He attended the funeral of King Edward as special artist for “L’Hlustration,” and a sketch he made of King George was afterward exhibited at a London gallery. To this His Majesty’s attention was directed by one of his secretaries who visited the gallery. This resulted in the artist having an audience of His Majesty at Buckingham Palace, and the portrait then begun is now nearly completed. It represents the King mounted on his favorite charger, Kildare, in a field-marshal’s uniform.

Queen Victoria and the Creation of

Peers.

The Royal prerogative with regard to the creation of Peers, says the “Westminister Gazette,” was one which Queen Victoria considered of great importance. The authors of “Piccadilly to Pall Mall” tell how once, on the occasion of a Liberal Ministry being returned to office, Her Majesty remarked to a lady of the Court, “I wonder what appointments for my household Mr. Gladstone will advise me to make?” “Oh,” replied the lady unthinkingly, “I suppose they will make several new Peers.” “They!” echoed the Queen indignantly.

I The Rich Man in Hell;

Lazarus in Abraham’s Bosom

This greatly misunderstood parable made plain in Vol. I, No. 4, of PEOPLES’ PULPITi Send for free sample copy.

(Continued from first page.)

St. Paul assures us that every feature of the Divine Plan which we see in process of execution was known to Jehovah from before the foundation of the world. He declares that these things God purposed in Himself before the foundation of the world. The creative processes, which have been operating for thousands of years, were all surely elaborated in the mind of Jehovah before the creative work began. In that purpose angels had a part—of how many grades we may not surely know, but they are variously designated in the holy Scriptures as “angels, principalities and powers.” Later came the creation of man, “a little lower than the angels” and crowned with earthly honor, dignity and power, in the image and likeness of his Creator’s glorious power.

These creations varied not in degrees of perfection and imperfection. Each was perfect on its own plane. Each intelligent creature was a free, moral agent, and hence, whether on the angelic or human plane, was crea-ated in the likeness of God, unblemished. but with different capacities and abilities. Almighty God, infinite in Wisdom, Justice, Love and Power, purposed the orderly exercise of His infinite attributes, as a great Father, desirous of giving life and happiness to his creatures.

These intelligent ones were designated “Sons of God” so long as they maintained their attitude of perfect loyalty to Him, their Creator and Father. Not only was it the Divine intention thus to give pleasure to millions of creatures to be created, but it was also the Divine will to manifest to His creatures His own greatness and the perfection of His own goodness that they might enjoy Him and He enjoy them everlastingly.

We are not to understand that Almighty God was lonely in that great Eternity before creation began. On the contrary, human loneliness is largely because of human deficiency. What we lack we seek Tor in others. But the great Jehovah lacked nothing; He was complete in Himself; He needed not companionship to complete or to supplement His happiness. It was His pleasure to create, that His creatures might have joy by reflecting as a whole His Divine qualities implanted in their constitutions.

The wreck of the human race produced by sin He well foreknew. Nor did this wrecking of human hopes defeat, nor was it in danger of defeating, the Divine purpose. It merely demonstrates to angels and to men the graces of the Divine character and shows unto all the more fully the qualities ■ of God proper to be appreciated and copied.

The Seven-Sealed Scroll.

When God would illustrate to us His own great Personality, when He would show to His creatures how He is working all things according to the counsel of His own will, He pictured it symbolically in the Book of Revelation. In that vision the Throne of the Eternal One is graphically portrayed as the Seat of Divine power and authority for the Universe, with angels as ministering spirits. Then is described a Scroll, in the right hand of Jehovah— in Divine power and keeping. That scroll, written inside and outside, was "sealed with seven seals,” representing the complete secrecy of the Divine purposes related in that scroll. From before the foundation of the world it had been in the hand (in the power) of the great Eternal One. He had given hints respecting it and had caused it to be symbolized in the Law and to some extent to be described by the -Prophets. But still it was a Hidden Mystery, because the Prophets understood not the things which they wrote; nor could any understand them until the Father’s “due time,” which He had purposed in Himself.

Not only was the Divine Program thus sealed and safely secreted, but it was the Divine determination that it should be given only to the One who would demonstrate His worthiness to be Jehovah’s honored Agent for the carrying out of those purposes predestinated before the world was. To become the honored Agent, the Representative of Jehovah, to carry out the Divine purposes, should be given only to the One who would demonstrate His worthiness to be the great Messiah, the great Deliverer, the great Prophet, Priest, Judge, King of Israel.

High as the Redeemer stood in the Divine counsels and fellowship before He came into the world to be man’s Redeemer, it was not then granted even to Him to know all the mysteries of the Divine Program. But by virtue of His high station, His perfection, His obedience, the privilege was given to Him first to become man's Redeemer, at the cost of personal humiliation and death, and then, if faithful in this redemptive work, it should be His reward to be glorified, exalted to the Divine nature, and to execute the Divine Program to its completion.

First. He must manifest His devotion and loyalty to the Father, ere He could be trusted even with the knowledge of the Divine Program.

“Worthy Is the Lamb.

All this is declared in the account. (Rev. 5.) The proclamation, was made, Who is worthy to receive the scroll and to break its seals and to execute the wonderful purposes of God? None was found worthy! Finally, One demonstrated His worthiness—He left the courts of glory, He humbled Himself, He “was made flesh.” More than this, being found in fashion as a man, He consecrated His all to the doing of the Father’s will, even unto death, the death of the cross. Wherefore, says the Apostle, “God also highly exalted Him” and gave Him a standing, a rank, a title above all others. (Phil. 2:7-9.) He commissioned Him to execute all the Divine purposes and to Him he handed over the Scroll with the privilege of opening its seals and comprehending to the full its message.

In the symbolic picture John saw a freshly slain lamb at the same time that the angelic messenger declared that the Lion of the tribe of Judah had prevailed. Jesus proved Himself worthy and therefore the privilege of understanding the things of the Divine Plan, and the privilege of executing them, rightfully belonged to Him. The Lamb slain represented the work of Jesus from the day He was thirty years of age. and made His consecration. There He became dead to self and to the world. When He successfully finished this great contract, He

“Love Casteth Out Fear”

“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear; because fear hath torment.”—1 John 4:18.

Better translated could have been the thought of the text by saying, “There is no dread in love.” We do not dread that which we love. In one sense, however, the more ve love, the more we fear. We would not be so careful about pleasing a person whom we do not thus love. This is not the kind of fear, however, that the Apostle wishes us to cast out. On the contrary, it should be much enhanced. Consequently, the word dread would more accurately express the thought of our text.

The Scriptures speak of some who have “no fear of God before their eyes.” (Rom. 3:18.) Evidently these are unregenerate. Often, among men, there is a thoughtlessness in respect to God and the future. The Apostle in this text does not intimate that all hearts have fear; but that if any heart has fear, perfect love will cast it out. As the knowledge and love increase, the fear diminishes. We may say that those of the world who have a reverential fear are such as are in a preferable attitude of mind; they are in better condition than the thoughtless. In life, certain conditions which surround us call for reverence; and man’s brain is so constituted that reverence will be a part of his mental attitude if he be not depraved. Hence, the Scriptures say that “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” (Prov. 9:10.) The fear of the Lord, the reverence of the Lord, will bring a blessing. This fear of the Lord rather increases as the child of God comes to know His Maker; but it is a gradual process.

There is a certain kind of fear which comes as .the result of imperfect knowledge. We do not credit the Adversary with producing all the evil thoughts of the human mind, yet we believe he has very much to do with the evil influences which surround our race. People may be without fear of God and we think that even after they have come to the Lord, and are learning to reverence Him and to know something about Him, they may lack the right kind of fear. Then the Adversary’s plan will be to plant dread in their minds.

So we find with all heathen peoples. As soon as they have any knowledge of God, the Adversary seems to conjure up slavish fear which crowds out love, and produces dread. We read that “The god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not.” (2 Cor. 4:4.) We think that this evil influence is accountable for many of the things which seem so remarkable to us. It explains the fact that the heathen have devilish doctrines mingled with dread of God; and that all the worldly who have knowledge of God, both Jews and Christians, have fear also—dread. Yet Christians have much greater light upon God’s character than have others, and so should have correspondingly less fear than the heathen.

A Certain Kind of Fear Proper.

Evidently our text is not intended to signify that a Christian should have no sense of fear. This fact is shown by the experience of the Son of God, our dear Lord Himself, in the Garden of Gethsemane. He there feared, as the Apostle tells us in speaking of this occasion, and He was heard in that He cried on Calvary, “It is finished!”

This glorious Victor was then acknowledged by God and by the holy angels to be the worthy One to whom the Father would entrust the execution of every feature of the Divine Program: “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive glory and honor, dominion and might.” He has not yet completed His great work there and then entrusted to Him. The Father glorified Him and set Him at His own right hand—the place of Divine favor—-when He finished His demonstration of loyalty even unto death. As yet He has only begun His great work. The blessing of the Church as “the Bride, the Lamb’s Wife,” is the first step in the glorious Program, and it is not yet completed. Following it will come the blessing of the world, all the families of the earth, not only the living but the dead. His declaration to those now called to be His Bride is, “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me in My Throne, even as I overcame and am •set down with My Father in His Throne.”—'Rev. 3:21.

“To us there is one God,” says the Apostle. All wisdom and power are His. Recent electrical inventions assist us greatly in apprehending His greatness. What man can do limited-ly with the telephone and wireless telegraphy merely hint to us of the infinite resources of the Eternal One— from everlasting to everlasting, God. But our knowledge of the Divine Justice and Love satisfies our hearts— our Great Creator becomes “Our Father, who a,rt in heaven.” feared. He offered up strong cryings and tears to Him who was able to save Him out of death. (Heb. 5:7.) If the Master feared, so should His followers. The Apostle says, “Let us, therefore, fear lest, a promise being left us of entering into His rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.” (Heb. 4:1.) How shall we harmonize these fears with our text? The text is evidently not intended to contradict the great lessons otherwise taught. Our Lord Jesus appealed to the Father who. He knew, loved Him; but He knew also, that the Father was absolutely perfect, righteous, just and He feared lest He might have come short in fulfilling some of the requirements.

So with us. Let us know that “God is love” (1 John 4:8), but let us fear respecting ourselves, and have such a carefulness, such a desire to please God, that we should feel fearful lest in any degree we should come short. Ignorance begets fear; but love for God will enable us to cast out that fear, and will also enable us to come to God with great confidence. So let us “Draw nigh unto God” (James 4:8) with full confidence that He will bless us. This thought is the very opposite to that in the heathen mind. Their conception of a god is that of a demon. The Christian, on the other hand, who is walking in the footsteps of the Master, learns to love his God and to wish to do the Father’s will only. Nothing is acceptable in the nature of a sacrifice that is not prompted by that love. “The Father seeketh such to worship Him as worship Him in spirit and in truth.”—John 4:23, 24.

PASTOR RUSSELL’S SCRIPTURE STUDIES.

These volumes deserve a careful study by all who are not thoroughly satisfied with the Bible interpretations of the “dark ages.” They can be bought for a trifle or borrowed free. Address us.

Respecting the first volume of this work “The Atlanta Constitution” says editorially:

"It is impossible to read this book without loving the writer and pondering his wonderful solution of the great mysteries that have troubled us all our lives. There is hardly a family to be found that has not lost some loved one who died outside the church—outside the plan of salvation, and, if Calvinism be true, outside of all hope and inside of eternal torment and despair.

“This wonderful book makes no assertions that are not well sustained by the Scriptures. It is built up stone by stone, and upon every stone is the text, and it becomes a pyramid of God’s love and mercy and wisdor ?. There is nothing in the Bible that the author denies or doubts, but there are many texts that he throws a flood of light upon that seems to uncover its meaning.”

The set of six volumes, cloth, 3,000 pages, is supplied by the BIBLE AND TRACT SOCIETY, NO. 17 HICKS ST., BROOKLYN, N. Y., for the usual price of one such volume, namely, $2. This includes postage or expressage to your home, anywhere.

The Beginning of God's Creation

In the beginning was the Word (Logos') and the Word (Logos) was with the God and the Word (Logos) was a God. The same was in the beginning with the God. By Him were all things made

"■nd without Him was not anything made that was made.”—John 1:1, 2.

LONG before man was created, or our earth was brought from its chaotic condition, long before angels and Cherubim were created, Divine power brought forth a Son on the spirit plane ^-Jehovah’s First-Begotten—glorious,

perfect, beautiful, His own image and likeness.

This glorious One is in our text

that they should all become of one mind, of one heart, of one disposition through their loyalty and obedience to the Word and to the Spirit of God. And this oneness, He declared, was the kind which subsisted between the Heavenly Father and Himself.

Leaving the simplicity of the teachings of Jesus and of the Apostles, some went to the extreme of declaring

designated the Logos, the Word, the T

Message, the Expression of God. In that Jesus was His own Father; that — — • — ..... the terms Father, Son and Holy Spirit

the Old Testament He is symbolically referred to as “Wisdom” in the words, “Jehovah possessed Me in the beginning of His way, before His works of old. * * * Then I was by Him, as one brought up with Him, and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him. ’—Prov. 8:22-30.

This mighty One, personified as Wisdom, is declared by St. Paul to be “the First-Born of all creation.” (Col. 1:15-18.) The Psalmist similarly refers to Him as Jehovah’s “First-Born, higher than the kings of earth.” (Psa. 89:27.) Jesus thus refers to Himself as One who had a prehuman existence, saying, “Before Abraham was, I am.” (John 8:14, 23, 42-58.) The glorified, ascended Christ, in Apocalyptic vision, declared the same great truth, that He

was “the beginning of the creation of God.” (Rev. 3:14.) And again He declared. “I am the First and the Last.” —Rev. 1:17; 2:8.

All of these Scriptures fully corroborate the statement of our text that He who subsequently became the world’s Redeemer was long before the primary Son of God. He ranked first, not only in seniority, but also in honor, dignity and station, above all other sons of God, not one of whom was like Himself—the direct creation of Jehovah: “For all things were made by the Logos, and without Him was not one thing made that was made.” He was not the Creator in the primary sense of the word, but in the secondary sense. He was the active Agent of Jehovah in all of His subsequent creative work; thus He was not only the First-Born of all creation, but, individually, He was also the last of Jehovah’s creation. To this agrees the word of St. Paul, “All things are of the Father and all things are by the Son.”

Surely many have failed to appreciate, not only the Divine personality of Jehovah, but also the greatness of Him who is styled “The Son of God.”

all applied to one Person who manifested Himself to mankind in three different ways, corresponding to these names—one God in three manifestations. Others took a still different view and claimed that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit were three Gods who operated as One. In proportion as these unscriptural human theories were received, they produced confusion. And when asked how three persons could logically be One Person, and how One Person could be three persons equal in glory and power, of course no answer could be given. Then the subterfuge was raised, “This is a great mystery which nobody can explain.”

It should not surprise us from what we know of the structure of human nature that these extreme views were opposed by others of the opposite extreme, some claiming that Jesus was a mere man; that He was born as are other men; that Joseph was His father, etc. Thus we behold the danger of any variation whatever from the precise teachings of the Word of God.

It should be needless to sfiy to Bible Students that there is nothing in the Bible which declares a Trinity of Gods. There is just one passage of Scripture quoted in proof of the Trinity (I John 5:7), and it is never quoted by scholars, because all scholars know that it was tampered with, several words having been added in

the glorious work of eternity in further creations in world after world.

But, as the Master declared, these things the Father had kept in His own power—in His own hand. He divulged them not to the angels, nor even to His dearly beloved “Only Begotten Son.” We have seen how this Divine secret, Divine purpose, was symbolically represented in the Scroll in the hands of Jehovah, as pictured in Revelation 5:1. We have seen that this revelation was delivered to the Lamb, the Only Begotten One, after He had been slain—after His consecration at Jordan, and in its fulness after His death at Calvary, when He ascended up on high, glorified at the right hand of the Father’s majesty.

But before the Logos was made flesh, before He undertook to be man’s Redeemer, the Heavenly Father set before Him the glorious proposition: He informed Him that He had a scroll, a Plan, and that the execution thereof was to be given to one who would prove himself worthy, by demonstrat-

ing his loyalty to the Divine will.

We read that God sent His only gotten Son into the world, but we not to understand from this that came under Divine commands the fusal of which would have meant

be-are He re-Di-

vine displeasure and His own degrada-

would very properly apply to the Heavenly Father and the Heavenly Son, in full accord with our text. “Without Him (the Logos) was not anything made that was made.” The word elohim signifies, literally, the

mighty, Surely it consider powerful Almighty

the powerful, the great, would be strictly proper to the Logos. mighty, great, as the active Agent of the One, Jehovah.

This word elohim not only is used in. respect to the Heavenly Father and His Heavenly Son, but it is also used in respect to angels as the messengers of God and of Christ, mighty to the doing of the will of God. (Psa. 8:5.) “Thou hast made man a little lower than the angels” (elohim). Still fur- .. ther notice that this word elohim is used in respect to men; when Divinely appointed and active as God’s agents they were mighty, or elohim. Thus we read of the seventy judges of I'wael appointed by Moses, “The m^ter shall bring him to the judges (elohim).”

The Father Highly Exalted Jesus.

We have given a very literal rendering of the text at the top of this article, showing the fine distinction of the Greek original in a way that our

English version does not show it. As

tion. On the contrary, we understand ------------ —— ---- -~

the matter clearly when we hearken Bible students we have not in the past

to the Apostle’s statement: He declares that Messiah left the glory, which He had with the Father before the world was, and humbled Himself to take upon Himself man’s form and then consecrated Himself even unto death—all because of the joy that the Father had set before Him.

The joy set before the Logos was (1) That thus He might serve the Heavenly Father’s gracious purposes.

(2) That He might recover mankind from the state of sin and death into which all were plunged by father Adam’s one act of disobedience.

(3) Additionally, He was promised the honor and distinction of the Messianic Kingdom by and through which mankind would be blessed and uplifted.

(4) He was promised a special Bride class to be selected from among the

been sufficiently critical in our study

the seventh century, which are not ,■ , - - ,----------

found in any New Testament manu- redeemed race of men—a class having

script added whole

of earlier date. And those words make the statement as a foolish.

His own disposition of loyalty to God

If you will turn in your Bibles to this passage, you may strike out the spurious words as follows, iri verse

and to righteousness, and faithful unto death—which like Himself, would be exalted in the chief resurrection from the earthly- to the heavenly con-

dition, far above principalities, powers

seven: “In heaven the Father, the and name that named

Word and the Holy Ghost, and these He was promised that His own three are one,” and in verse eight the Personal distinction would be to all - ..... -■ .... eternity a participation m the qualities

In the Dark Ages.

There was a time when God’s people did not possess the Bible in their own language, and when education to read It was extremely limited, and when nobody possessed such wonderful Bibles (with references and concordances) as are common to-day. It should not surprise us that in that far-off time confusing errors crept into the traditional faith of the Church. The contention of the Jews was that Jesus of Nazareth was an impostor and that His mighty works were done under the influence of the fallen angel, Beelzebub. Should we think it strange that in the heat of discussion some of the followers of Jesus would make extravagant claims for Him in their endeavor to oppose the theory that made of Messiah a mere sinful man?

It does not surprise us, therefore, that early in the third century claims were put forward in the name of

words, “and there are three that bear witness in earth.”

After thus eliminating the spurious additions, after thus removing ^rom the precious ointment this “dead fly” of falsehood which was inserted for the very purpose of deceiving, and because no Scripture could be found to give color to the doctrine of the Trinity—then you will be able to read that portion of the Word of God in its purity and simplicity. Then the “mystery” part will be gone from it forever. It will be in full accord with the entire Bible in declaring, “To us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things and we by Him” (I Cor. 8:6). How absurdly the passage reads in our common version, stating that the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are bearing witness in heaven that Jesus is the Son of God!

The pure Word of God presents simply and beautifully the fact that the great Creator, the Father of all mercies, is Jehovah God, and that He

of the divine nature; He would possess, not only glory and honor, but also inherent life, deathlessness, immortality.

For these joys, He left His glory, He was made flesh. He sacrificed His earthly life and, being raised from the dead, He entered into His promised joy. Since then He is waiting in expectation for the completion of the Church. His Bride, the members of His Body, assured that then the Father will give Him “the heathen for an inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for His possession,” that He may bind Satan, put down sin and uplift the sinner and bring everlasting order out of earth’s confusion by destroying the wilfully wicked.

A God but Not The God.

As all Bible scholars know, the word elohim in the Old Testament Hebrew is of plural form, somewhat like our English word sheep. Thus we read in Genesis, “The elohim (Gods) said, let Us make man in our image.” This

of God’s Word, but now, in Divine providence, it is possible for those even who have practically no knowledge of the Greek and Hebrew to understand the Scripture presentations thoroughly.

Our text in the common English version misrepresents the true thought of the original, but as we have rendered it the matter is so simple and clear that a child may understand. Jehovah God is from everlasting to everlasting and had no beginning. The Logos had a beginning—He Himself was the beginning. “In the beginning was the Logos and the Logos was a God”—He was a Mighty One, the beginning of creation, the first and the last creation of the God, the Almighty One—“of Whom, by Whom and through Whom are all things.”

All honor and majesty and worship belong primarily to the great Father of Lights and to Him Jesus directed the attention of His followers, saying, “After this manner pray ye—Our Father Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name.” It is eminently proper that our petitions should ascend to “the Father of Lights, from Whom cometh every good and perfect gift.”

It has pleased the Father to so honor His First Begotten Son, and to so reward His faithfulness unto death, and to so make Him the Head in all things over the Church which is His Body, that it is eminently proper that, in the language of the Master, “All men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father.” (John 5:23.) They should not honor the Son instead of the Father, however, for the latter declares, “My glory will I not give to another.” The exalted Christ is to be honored, yea, worshiped, because the Father has highly exalted Him and given Him a n$me above every other name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow and every tongue confess to the glory of God the Father.”—* Phil. 2:8-11.

And with the world in the future^ throughout Messiah’s reign, this wifi be equally proper, because then He will be the world’s Mediator, standing between God and men, until by His Mediatorial Kingdom He shall have lifted

mankind from sin and degradation and death, back to actual justification

harmony with God.

and

Christ and His Apostles which neither He nor they ever authorized. The Apostles rightly declared Him to be “the Son of God with power” and that He was “holy, harmless, undefiled and

has an Only Begotten Son who is yet to be the Savior or Deliverer of all of Adam’s race willing to accept the grace of God provided in Him; and that there is one Holy Spirit, “the spirit of

Guided By God's Eye

separate from sinners.” (Heb. 7:26.) truth,” “the spirit of wisdom,” "the The Master Himself declared, “My spirit of a sound mind,” the spirit or Father is greater than I.” “He is power, energy, will, mind of the above all;” “He sent me;” “I came to Father—which is also the spirit of the do the will of My Father in heaven Son, and which must be also the and not Mine own will;” “I delight to spirit, disposition, mind, will of all do Thy will, oh, My God; Thy law is those who now come unto the Father written in My heart.” as sons through the adoption which Id

True, He also declared, “I and My in Christ Jesus.

Father are One;” but He showed in

what this oneness consisted—that it The Only Begotten Honored, was a oneness of will, of purpose, of

work. Because He had fully submitted Before the beginning of the creation His will to the Father’s will and had of God, before the Only Begotten of made the Father’s will His own, there- the Father became the Alpha of Crea-fore They were One. tion, the Father had wonderful pur-

The Master again illustrated this one- poses in Himself respecting all His ness when He prayed for His dis- great Plan for the everlasting future, ciples that “they all might be one, It included this world, and mankind* even as Thou, Father, and I are One.” and the permission of sin, and the re-(John 17:11, 21, 22.) Evidently the demption of man from sin and its Master did not pray that His disciples penalty, and the restoration to be ac-should all become one in person, but complished by Messiah’s Kingdom and

“I will guide thee with Mine eye.”—Psa. 32:8.

‘WHERE ARE THE DEAD?’’

This article was published in this paper in Volume one, Number 3. . The interest aroused, and the great demand for copies of it have been remarkable. A sample copy will be mailed to any one free. Address, Bible Society, 17 Hicks Street, Brooklyn.

T HE eye is one of the most important organs of the body with which to give expression to the feelings. Either anger or pleasure are usually expressed by this means. One thought which we may take from the text is that one may be so desirous of doing the Divine will that he will be continually on the alert to please, just as a dutiful child, being on the alert to do the will of the parent, would look at the parent’s eye, not waiting for the rod. So all of God’s dear children of the Church should be looking unto Jesus for the expression of the Father’s will concerning them. They look to Jesus as the Author of their faith and the One who shall be the Finisher of it. They look to Him as the great Counselor and Guide of life. As we sometimes sing: “Oh, let no earth-born cloud arise To hide Thee from Thy servant’s eyes!”

Another thought is that as the eye is the symbol of wisdom, so God guides all things in wisdom. He sees to it that His children receive the necessary counsel, the necessary aid. Since He is the All-Wise One, nothing can escape His attention. Still another

thought is that as we recognize the Divine purpose, the Divine will, the Divine outworking of that will, we see that in the present time God is not trying to save the world, but only “the called,” “the elect,” who are obedient in sacrifice. All who are of the First-Borns should seek to follow the same course as God, to be co-workers with Him. They should have no will of their own, but do the Father’s will.

One of the most important lessonS for the spiritual Israelite to learn is to look to the Lord for leading in all of life’s affairs—never to attempt any undertaking, either temporal or spiritual, without seeking to note th® will of the Lord concerning it. We are marching toward the antitypical Canaan and know that other experiences are due us and must be undergone ere we can inherit the promises^, The lesson for us is prompt and thorough obedience to the Lord’s leadings without murmurings—with joyfulness; and this can be expected only on *he part of those who have learn eu the lessons previously given them, and above all, the lesson of faith—confidence in the Lord’s power and good* ness and faithfulness.

JESUS NO LONGER A MAN

i “He was put to death in flesh, He was quickened

in Spirit.”—1 Pet. 3:18.

others, to be able to witness to the resurrection of Jesus. Of this he tells us, saying, “He was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve; after that He was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; after that He was seen of Janies;

and Lord of lords. And “He must reign until He shall have put all enemies under His feet”—the last enemy being death, Adamic death, the death introduced through the deceptive lie of “Satan, who was a murderer from the

TN THE PAST those 1 continued to believe

of in

us who the res-

mind and concerned

purpose and interests were

He was changed—a New

then of all the Apostles; and, last of all, He was seen of me also, as of one prematurely born” (1 Corinthians 15: 5-8).

In the ordinary course of events St. Paul would not have seen the Lord

urrection of the dead held some inconsistent theories respecting the matter which "served to make the resurrection doctrine the more absurd in the minds of those opposed. For Instance, we claimed that the Logos, : the Son of God, left the heavenly or spirit nature and, according to the Scriptures, was made flesh, and that He was resurrected from the dead a human or fleshly being and ascended to heaven with a body of flesh. In the same breath we acknowledged that human nature is a little lower than the angelic; and thus, while still wishing to honor the Redeemer and to see wisdom and love in the Heavenly Father’s Plan, we assumed that the Savior, since His ascension, has had a body inferior to that of the angels and out of harmony with His surroundings; and that this is to be to all eternity a part of the cost of human redemption.

How absurd! Do not the Scriptures particularly tell us that in His resurrection the Son was highly exalted by the Father, far above angels, principalities and powers and every name that is named? Do they not tell us that “flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God?” Do they not tell us that the elect Church, in order to be the Bride of Messiah and His associate in the heavenly Kingdom, must be “changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye,” in order that she may be made like Him, and because “flesh and blood cannot Inherit the Kingdom”? We have been too careless in our study of the Divine Word. On this subject, as upon others, we have assumed that our forefathers of the “Dark Ages” understood the matter thoroughly. We forgot that those who lost so much of the Holy Spirit that they could burn fellow-Chrlstians at the stake were quite likely to be more or less confused on all questions. But "the path of the just is as a shin- ayve in spirit a Spirit Being True Kingdom, when it snail be established,

Ing light, shining more and more unto He was also quickened by the Spirit, will, indeed, be a heavenly Kingdom,

the perfect day, and it is now our It waa the Father’s Spirit or Power a spiritual one. From this standpoint

privilege to learn the way of the Lord which raised Him from the dead as only can we see the force of the Apos-

Perfectly, in the light now shin- the Scriptures declare (Romans 8:11). - ^ontrast, when he pictures to us

mp- - indeed, as the Apostle reminds us, all Satan, ambitious and scheming to

the blessings of Divine providence are be the ,of world, took the

of the Father. From Him cometh patb cf, disobedience. He indeed gained his desire and is the “Prince of this

Creature, a spirit being; earthly things had passed away. The New Creature followed the instructions of the Divine Word and providences to the extent of mortifying the flesh—surrendering it fully for the accomplishment in it of the Divine will. “The cup which My Father hath poured for Me shall I not drink it?”

The great Teacher Himself gives us the picture of a human birth as illustrating the experiences through which He passed and the similar experiences through which all of His faithful followers must pass in order to reach the plane of heavenly glory. This picture contains three distinctive views— (1) begetting—(2) quickening—(3) birth. These three steps were illustrated by our Lord’s own experiences. He was begotten of the Holy Spirit at the time of His consecration at bap-

beginning and abode not in the Truth” (John 8: 44).

St. Paul, according to the Greek text, institutes a comparison between Satan’s course and that of the Logos (Philippians 2: 6). He there implies

until His resurrection, when he himself, that Satan was ambitious and sought ' to grasp Divine prerogatives, but that

would come forth as a member of "the Church of the First-born.” He therefore describes his view of Jesus on his way to Damascus as being like that of one born before the time. In other words, St. Paul saw the Lord as He is and not as He was. He saw the Lord of glory, and not the man Jesus. The appearance was glorious indeed. In various parts of the Bible angels in their normal condition are pictured as bright-shining ones. Thus one of the Prophets fell as dead before an angel of the Lord, whose face shone as the sun. Thus John the Revelator, granted a glimpse of the glorified Christ, fell as dead before Him. The effect of this great light above the brightness

tism. He was quickened or energized of the sun upon the eyes of Saul of

by that Holy Spirit after

days’ experience in

the

when He began His active

“the Messenger of

the

ing upon the Bible through the’aid of

our wonderful concordances and other Bible study helps.

Begotten of the Spirit—Then Born.

Our difficulty on this subject arose from our failure to understand that

the Logos “did not meditate a usurpation tn be equal with God,” but on the contrary, humbled Himself and made Himself of no reputation. Nevertheless, eventually, in the outworking of the Creator's great Program, the One who humbled Himself will be the Exalted One, and the one who exalted himself will be abased. The Apostle urges the Church to follow the example of Jesus—“Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time” (1 Peter 5: 6).

Church of the First-borns.

As the Only-Begotten of the Fathef wa$ begotten of the Holy Spirit at the

His forty Tarsus was destructive and a miracle time of His consecration, as an embryo

wilderness was necessary for their repairment.

service as

Covenant,"

selecting His Bride, the Church.

When He finished His sacrifice at Calvary the man Jesus was dead, and the New Creature Jesus, spirit-begotten and quickened and developed, was three and a half years old. According to the Divine Program He slept in hades, the tomb, and on the third day was born from the dead, raised up by Divine power as a New Creature, being given a spirit body of divine nature— glory, honor, immortality: “Him hath God highly exalted” (Philippians 2:9). He did not lose His personality, His identity, and could therefore properly say, “I am He that liveth and was dead” (Rev. 1: 18).

“Now the Lord is That Spirit.” 2 Corinthians 3:17.

Thus the Lord identified Himself in glory with His former self, the man

Jesus. These lessons of the Lord should not have gone unheeded. We should not have thought of the glori

fied Messiah as a man. The the wrong thought has not clouded our appreciation of vior in glory, but has also

effect of only be-the Sa-confused

many respecting His Second Advent. It is safe to say that even yet the majority of those who are expecting the Second Coming of the Son of God and His establishment of His Messianic Throne are looking for Him as a glorified man, forgetting that He sacrificed Himself as a man, and that He took not back that sacrifice, but received

exaltation to the more excellent glory than that which He had left to become our Redeemer.

The proper thought respecting the resurrection of our Lord and His pres-

Thus was our Lord “put to death in -------------- -—--—-- ~ --;

flesh and quickened in spirit”—made glory shows us clearly that His

----- True, Kingdom, when it shall be established,

every good and every perfect gift.

He who thus ascended up on high, the Prince of glory and partaker of the

. , , ■ divine nature, is the same who first

human and spirit natures are distinct, descended to the earthly nature, yea, and that God has provided two dis- . ..

tinctly different salvations for mankind—-the salvation of this Age being exclusively spiritual, while that of the next Age will be exclusively human. We are not to think of these natures as blending, but, according to the Lord’s Word, we are to view them as distinctly separate. Whoever is of the human nature is earthly, fleshly,

whether perfect or degraded. Who

ever is of the spirit nature is heavenly, Whether perfect or degraded. Thus,

when “the Logos was made flesh and

dwelt among us,” He ’ was human, though unblemished. And the fallen angels are still spirit beings, although cut off from Divine favor and fellowship. In other words, human nature is not an Imperfect form of spirit nature, but a totally separate and distinct nature.

The Logos, the Only Begotten of the Father, “was made flesh” (John 1:14). He was not a spirit being incarcerated in a body of flesh and wearing it as a garment, or living in it as a house. He became like others of the race, except that “He was holy, harmless, separate from sinners,” while all others are sinners, imperfect. Like other men, the man Jesus was not a dual being—a spirit being living in a human frame. He was merely human.

But the Redeemer became a dual being When He received the begetting of the Holy Spirit, at the time of His

baptism, a half

Thenceforth, for three and

years,

He was dual.

until His crucifixion, The flesh was the same;

but the spirit-begetting received from the Father constituted Him a new Ego, a new person. He not only thereafter had new hopes, based upon Divine promises, but He had a new mind or new will, specially illuminated, quickened, enlightened by the Holy Spirit. From the time of His baptism His flesh (all that belonged to His human nature) was given up to die In the carrying out of the Heavenly Father’s purposes. Thenceforth the Spirit-begotten One waited merely for the accomplishment of His sacrifice according to the Father’s will, and for a new body, a glorious spirit body, in the resurrection—His completing or perfecting as a New Creature.

From this standpoint

tie’s contrast, when he pictures to us

who was humbled even unto death, even the death of the Cross, and went to the tomb as- the sinner’s substitute or ransom-price. The forty days which intervened between the Redeemer’s resurrection and His ascension taught two great lessons:

…