The Watchtower, October 1, 1887

VOL. IX. PITTSBURGH, PA., OCTOBER, 1887. NO. 2.

Zion's Watch Tower

AND

HERALD OF CHRIST'S PRESENCE.

PUBLISHED MONTHLY.

TOWER PUBLISHING COMPANY, PITTSBURGH, PA.

BUSINESS OFFICE: No. 151 Robinson St., Allegheny, Pa. C. T. RUSSELL, EDITOR.

The Editor recognizes a responsibility to the Master, relative to what shall appear in these columns, which he cannot and does not cast aside; yet he should not be understood as endorsing every expression of correspondents, or of articles selected from other periodicals.

TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION.

TERMS:--FIFTY CENTS A YEAR, POSTAGE FREE. Including special number (Millennial Dawn, Vol. I., paper bound) seventy five cents. Remit by draft, P.O. Money Order, or Registered Letter, payable to C. T. RUSSELL.

FOREIGN TERMS.

Three shillings per year. Including "Special Number," four shillings. Remit by Foreign Postal Money Order.

TAKE NOTICE.

This paper will be sent free to any of the Lord's poor who will send a card yearly requesting it. Freely we have received and freely we would give the truth. "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters; and he that hath no money, come ye, buy and eat-- yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price." And you that have it--"Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labor for that which satisfieth not? Hearken diligently--and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness."--`ISAIAH 55:1,2`.

THE MISSIONARY ENVELOPES.

These were mentioned in last TOWER for the first time, and we already have more orders than will be supplied by the first lot of fifteen thousand. Those who have ordered, among whom are several brethren in business who can use quantities, express themselves as highly pleased with the plan. It is both a cheap and an unobtrusive way, of preaching the good tidings of great joy to many.

The appearance of these envelopes has been generally approved as neat, and we expect you will all want them. It is written of this time: "His lightnings enlightened the earth;" and these as one of the agencies of the truth, the light, have their mission to perform. How like the lightning they will be, as borne on "Fast Mail" trains they rush hither and thither over the entire civilized world, unobtrusively putting before the eyes of intelligent business people and friends and their families, pointed Scripture texts which set forth our hopes; calling their attention also to the DAWN. Those who might refuse to hear you, or whom you could not approach in conversation or in any other manner on these themes, will be led by their curiosity to listen to your representative --to hear this preacher's message.

We repeat the price, postage prepaid by us: One hundred 35 cts., three hundred $1.00, one thousand $3.00. Those who order two thousand for $6.00 (or more at same rate) can have their business card printed on the corner without extra charge. Order only in quantities here specified, (Do not therefore order 50 cts. worth, nor 150, nor 200, nor 500,) as we get them put up in packages thus and cannot spare the time to prepare special quantities. For this reason also we charge one cent each for quantities less than one hundred.

Address as above. --TOWER PUBLISHING CO.

THE FIFTIETH THOUSAND.

Still they go, you will be glad to learn. MILLENNIAL DAWN VOL. I. is now in its fiftieth thousand. Forty thousand have already gone out, and ten thousand more are now being printed and bound.

This was our first proposition--the hope first expressed--that before 1888 fifty thousand copies of DAWN would be in the hands of the people. Three months yet remain of this year and we want to suggest what is possible through still further faithfulness of the harvesters. It is possible to have twenty-five or fifty thousand more out by Jan'y 1st. 1888. How?-- By the Colporteurs who are selling DAWN continuing their present averages, or increasing them as the cool weather will permit; by more of the brethren and sisters entering this branch of the "harvest" work; and by all others of the readers of the TOWER doing what they CAN.

What can the others do? They can each sell from four to twenty copies, or can use that number for loaning, though to sell is better, because people are almost sure to use what they pay even a small price for. So then, God knows and we know the possibilities; and as the New Years' TOWER comes to you, all will see how faithful the servants have been as a whole. Some we are sure can do no more than they are now doing, though some others we fear are "slothful servants." But the "View" in the September TOWER has seemed to awaken and quicken many previously asleep, or overcharged with the affairs of this world, for which we thank God.

A CHINAMAN'S VIEW OF CHRISTIANITY.

The following extracts from a paper in the North American Review by Wong Chin Foo, a Chinaman, and evidently a graduate of one of our New England colleges, gives his reasons for preferring the religion of his fathers to Christianity. True Christianity and its teachings he of course does not comprehend and against it his pointed sarcasm has no power; but against much, very much, nay, against the generality of what is called Christian it strikes a sharp blow which should have some good effect in stimulating thought on the part of many who feel that their religion only must be an unreasonable matter. And yet we know that this educated heathen man voices the sentiment of thousands of sensible thinkers, who, merely because they have less moral courage than he, do not express themselves. How much need there is, then, to "Lift up a standard for the people"--the truth--and how energetic all should be who have been entrusted with the honor of being standard bearers in this time "when the enemy shall come in like a flood."

Wong Chin Foo says:--

The main element of all religion is the moral code controlling and regulating the relations and acts of individuals toward "God, neighbor, and self;" and this intelligent "heathenism" was taught thousands of years before Christianity existed or Jewry borrowed it. Heathenism has not lost or lessened it since. Born and raised a heathen, I learned and practised its moral and religious code; and acting thereupon I was useful to myself and many others. My conscience was clear, and my hopes as to future life were undimmed by distracting doubt. But, when about seventeen, I was transferred to the midst of your showy Christian civilization, and at this impressible period of life Christianity presented itself to me at first under its most alluring aspects; kind Christian friends became particularly solicitous for my material and religious welfare, and I was only too willing to know the truth. But before qualifying for this high mission, the Christian doctrine I would teach had to be learned, and here on the threshold I was bewildered by the multiplicity of Christian sects, each one claiming a monopoly of the only and narrow road to heaven.

I looked into Presbyterianism only to retreat shudderingly from a belief in a merciless God who had long foreordained most of the helpless human race to an eternal hell. To preach such a doctrine to intelligent heathen would only raise in their minds doubts of my sanity, if they did not believe I was lying. Then I dipped into Baptist doctrines, but found so many sects therein of different "shells," warring over the merits of cold-water initiation and the method and time of using it, that I became disgusted with such trivialities; and the question of close communion or not, only impressed me that some were very stingy and exclusive with their bit of bread and wine, and others a little less so. Methodism struck me as a thunder-and-lightning religion--all profession and noise. You struck it, or it struck you, like a spasm,--and so you "experienced" religion. The Congregationalists deterred me with their starchiness and self-conscious true-goodness, and their desire only for high-toned affiliates. Unitarianism seemed all doubt, doubting even itself. A number of other Protestant sects based on some novelty or eccentricity-- like Quakerism--I found not worth a serious study by the non-Christian. But on one point this mass of Protestant dissension cordially agreed, and that was in a united hatred of Catholicism, the older form of Christianity. And Catholicism returned with interest this animosity. It haughtily declared itself the only true Church, outside of which there was no salvation--for Protestants especially; that its chief prelate was the personal representative of God on earth; and that he was infallible. Here was religious unity, power, and authority with a vengeance. But, in chorus, my solicitous Protestant friends beseeched me not to touch Catholicism, declaring it was worse than heathenism-- in which I agreed; but the same line of argument also convinced me that Protestantism stood in the same category. In fact, the more I studied Christianity in its various phases, and listened to the animadversions of one sect upon another, the more it all seemed to me "sounding brass and tinkling cymbals."

[The following portion shows the great evil of calling things what they are not --of calling civilized nations Christian nations and calling the worldly, unbelievers and the unconsecrated Christians, because they outwardly respect religion and draw nigh to God with their lips while their hearts are far from him.]

"Call us heathen, if you will, the Chinese are still superior in social administration and social order. Among 400,000,000 of Chinese there are fewer murders and robberies in a year than there are in New York state. True, China supports a luxurious monarch whose every whim must be gratified; yet, withal, its people are the most lightly taxed in the world, having nothing to pay but from tilled soil, rice and salt; and yet she has not a single dollar of national debt....

Christians are continually fussing about religion; they build great churches and make long prayers, and yet there is more wickedness in the neighborhood of a single church district of one thousand people in New York than among one million heathen, churchless and unsermonized. Christian talk is long and loud about how to be good and to act charitably. It is all charity, and no fraternity --"there, dog, take your crust and be thankful!" And is it, therefore, any wonder there is more heart-breaking and suicides in the single state of New York in a year than in all China?

The difference between the heathen and the Christian is that the heathen does good for the sake of doing good. With the Christian, what little good he does he does it for immediate honor and for future reward; he lends to the Lord and wants compound interest. In fact, the Christian is the worthy heir of his religious ancestors. The heathen does much and says little about it; the Christian does little good, but when he does he wants it in the papers and on his tombstone. Love men for the good they do you is a practical Christian idea, not for the good you should do them as a matter of human duty. So Christians love the heathen; yes, the heathen's possessions; and in proportion to these the Christian's love grows in intensity. When the English wanted the Chinamen's gold and trade, they said they wanted "to open China for their missionaries." And opium was the chief, in fact only, missionary they looked after, when they forced the ports open. And this infamous Christian introduction among Chinamen has done more injury, social and moral, in China, than all the humanitarian agencies of Christianity could remedy in 200 years. And on you, Christians, and on your greed of gold, we lay the burden of the crime resulting; of tens of millions of honest, useful men and women sent thereby to premature death after a short, miserable life, besides the physical and moral prostration it entails even where it does not prematurely kill! And this great national curse was thrust on us at the point of Christian bayonets. And you wonder why we are heathen? The only positive point Christians have impressed on heathenism is that they would sacrifice religion, honor, principle, as they do life, for--gold. And they sanctimoniously tell the poor heathen: 'You must save your soul by believing as we do!'...

We heathen are a God-fearing race. Aye, we believe the whole universe-creation --whatever exists and has existed--is of God and in God, that, figuratively, the thunder is His voice and the lightning His mighty hands; that everything we do and contemplate doing is seen and known by him; that he has created this and other

worlds to effectuate beneficent, not merciless designs, and that all that He has done is for the steady, progressive benefit of the creatures whom He endowed with life and sensibility, and to whom as a consequence He owes and gives paternal care, and will give paternal compensation and justice; yet His voice will threaten and His mighty hand chastise those who deliberately disobey His sacred laws and their duty to their fellow-men.

'Do unto others as you wish they would do unto you,' or 'Love your neighbor as yourself,' is the great divine law which Christians and heathen alike hold, but which the Christians ignore. This is what keeps me the heathen I am! And I earnestly invite the Christians of America to Confucius.

What can the nominal Christian Church answer to this charge and arraignment of heathenism? Nothing; they themselves have counted in under the name Christian, millions of the unregenerate, wholly opposed to the true principles of the doctrine taught by the Founder of Christianity and his apostles. They have with pride acknowledged all the civilized nations of earth as Christian nations, even going so far as to speak of them as Christendom (Christ's Kingdom); and hence to be consistent they must bear the Chinaman's reproach as against Christianity, for the nefarious acts of these kingdoms which the Scriptures declare to be beastly and subject to the machinations of the devil, the prince of the power of the air who now worketh in the children of disobedience, but is to be dethroned, bound, and finally destroyed by the true kingdom

of Christ, when he shall take his great power and reign.

How pointed, too, are the thrusts of this heathen man: He agrees with Paul who says--While one saith I am of Paul, I of Apollos, I of Peter, etc., are ye not carnal? So the Chinaman wants to know whether the various sectarian claims--I am of Wesley, I of Luther, I of the Pope, I of Calvin, Knox, etc., etc., does not imply gross carnality among Christians to-day.

And how well merited are this heathen's strictures upon what has come to be the fundamental doctrine of "Christendom?" --that all but a small handful of humanity are on their way through a world of sorrow, pain, disappointment and tears, to a place of untold and everlasting agony, prepared for them by a God of love, whose unerring wisdom saw this to be their fate and portion before they were born.

Oh! what blasphemy upon the wisdom, love, justice and power of our Creator. What a terrible misrepresentation of his gracious plans. It is creditable indeed to the fairness and justice of the heathen world, that they spurn such--bad tidings of great misery, to all people. It is a shame, a disgrace to the intelligence of the civilized world to-day, that such an unreasonable, cruel misrepresentation of God and his plan finds credence among them, and has their millions for its support and spread. Even if the real plan of God were not seen by them, the civilized mind like that of its heathen brother, should be able to recognize such a hideous distortion, and should regard the teachers of such things, as would the heathen-- "as insane, if not liars."

But the fact is that the majority of the intelligent people of "Christendom" do not believe in this doctrine, that God's chief work is to create men by the billion for eternal torment. The trouble is that they are not honest, not righteous, not upright. They are willing to sail under false colors, from selfish motives. They are lovers of self more than lovers of God, and hence are willing to join in this blasphemy of his character and plan. They, like Baalam, love the reward of unrighteousness, and hence practise deceit to get that reward. Verily, they have their reward!

Oh! for more noble men and women whom Satan cannot rule by either fear or favor. Honesty is a pre-requisite to growth in grace and knowledge; for "Light [truth] is sown for the RIGHTEOUS and gladness [such as comes from confidence, inspired by the true plan of God] for the UPRIGHT in heart." Since the truth is only for the upright, the honest, is it any wonder that so many morally dishonest people of intelligence fail to find the truth? How can they believe who seek honor one from another and seek not (exclusively) that honor which cometh from God only?

EXTRACTS FROM INTERESTING LETTERS.

Akron, September 25th, 1887.

DEAR BRO. RUSSELL:--I am thankful for many things! I am grateful for the September TOWER! I am so glad for Brother Hickey's excellent (anniversary) letter, so comforting to you and all the dear saints. I like the Sabbath article and yet believe that because it robs religionists of the Sabbath they love so much and regard so little, that it tends greatly to make your prediction of hindrance to our free teaching of truth, brought out in the View--a fact.

I was at Kent part of Friday and Saturday delivering DAWNS previously sold. A large proportion of them are in good hands. Although the necessity and glory of the work I do in selling DAWN is a compensation, yet I can scarcely tell you how much your letters are to me. You mention that some of mine are timely, and my words and deeds helpful to encourage some, especially you and Sister Russell, and that knowledge is a great joy and encouragement to me. How often Brother Tackabury must, now that he is himself helpless, look back joyfully upon the record of his faithfulness.

A little coterie of Henry George's adherents are warm friends of DAWN and June TOWER View; they sold many books for me. The headquarters is in a store owned by a McGlynn Catholic.

I suppose TOWER readers who consider DAWN selling to be preaching the Word, if they hear that for the last two weeks I fell below 200 names per week, will be surprised. The chief reason is that the main industry here has been suspended for several months; and it is natural that when house after house pleaded poverty, the colporteur should make his talks longer, even to debating the matter of the book sale with the people. I am more than ever convinced of the folly of this course. Our strength should be taxed less and not more at each house when sales are slow. And the able colporteur who is always sure to make his canvass interesting is the party who must guard most against delay from this cause. We should be sure not to stay so long that our greeting at parting will be less cordial than when we introduced ourselves.

But to-day in another section I made my old record of 50 names, so that a few days in this neighborhood will be apt to raise me to 500 names for 2-1/2 weeks work. I made no long talks to-day, having learned by my late experience that lesson, I was forward to teach to others, and had not learned thoroughly myself, viz., Do not preach, nor debate, nor indulge in long talks of any kind while selling DAWN --be brief and to the point.

In close affection, and fellowship, joined by Mrs. A. Yours in Christ,

J. B. ADAMSON.

Sept. 20th, 1887.

BROTHER RUSSELL:--Mr. Tackabury has regained strength to quite an extent, being able to walk about the house and sit up most of the day. His lungs show great power of resistance to the advance of the disease, much to the surprise of all, but he is scarcely more than a skeleton. He wishes me to remember him to you and Sister Russell with much love.

We feasted on the contents of the last TOWER. Mr. T. said he thought it one of the best he had ever read. We find many things in the Bible that we would like to hear you talk about. Almost every reading reveals something new, something that throws light on the grand plan which God has designed for a lost world's recovery. How it all increases our love and gratitude to our heavenly Father!

Write us whenever you can spare time from your numerous duties. Your sister in Christ, MRS. S. T. TACKABURY.

Clear Water, Neb.

MRS. C. T. RUSSELL, MY DEAR SISTER: --I received a number of April TOWERS and have a good many loaned out. I do hope and pray the Lord will hear and answer my prayer, that the eyes of their understanding may be opened that they may behold God's wondrous plan of Salvation. I received a very interesting letter last week from a lady whom I have never seen and know only through the glad tidings preached in MILLENNIAL DAWN. I think it will interest you and Brother Russell, so I enclose it. May the Lord continue to bless you and make you a blessing to others still more, is my daily prayer.

With love and respect to Brother Russell and yourself, I remain your humble Sister in Christ, J. A. M__________.

[We publish the letter referred to, that it may encourage all to further efforts.--ED.]

Willow Valley, Neb.

DEAR MRS. M.:--You will doubtless be surprised at receiving a letter from a stranger, but I want to let you know that you have been instrumental in bringing to me such joy, peace, and rest, as I had not thought it possible to possess in this life. Our mutual friend, Mrs. L., gave me MILLENNIAL DAWN and several copies of ZION'S WATCH TOWER to read. As soon as I had looked them over, I saw that I had received them in answer to my prayer for a better understanding of God's Word, if so be I should use that knowledge aright. That book proved to be the key for which I had long been searching. And Oh! the rich treasures of God's boundless love and mercy to this sin-stricken world, it opened up to my view. No wonder, Paul could say, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. I shall esteem it a blessed privilege to preach this gospel to every one with whom I come in contact. I have already been able to interest several, though I have only had it a few days myself. In looking over the letters of the "Little Flock" to Brother Russell, I noticed that there seemed to be a great scarcity of "this world's goods" among them, and I thought, what a poor little flock it is, to be sure,--and it made me feel rather sad for a moment, thinking of the multitudes of truth-hungry ones needing food. Then I remembered the multitude of hungry ones that were following Jesus. How he satisfied their hunger with the seven loaves and a few small fishes, which he blessed and brake and gave to his disciples to be distributed among them. And I knew that that was intended for a lesson for us now. We are to give him what loaves and fishes we possess, and it shall be sufficient to feed the hungry multitude who are now following him; and not only that, but we will have more for ourselves than we had in the beginning; for "they took up of the fragments seven baskets full." Then let us go forward in the full assurance of faith, knowing in whom we have put our trust. All the honor and riches of this world seem now as "filthy rags" compared to that which I see by faith "beyond the vail." Now I know what it means to "be dead to this world." May the Father give me strength to never "look back," for I know full well that the flesh is weak. I am a farmer's wife, and do my own work, so of course my time is pretty well occupied with the necessary duties of this life. But this I know, If we make the best use we can of the opportunities given us, it is all God requires of us. If our heart is really in any work, we can and will find many opportunities for engaging in it; for instance, while my hands are busy with household work, my mind is devising ways and means for spreading the truth, or studying the meaning of some text of Scripture, for it nearly all has a new meaning to me, since I have the key.

I hope the knowledge that you have been the means of helping me to see the truth, will encourage you to persevere. I shall be pleased to hear from you if convenient. Sincerely yours, O. E. S__________.

A CHINA MISSIONARY WRITES.

Chefoo, China.

MY DEAR MRS. RUSSELL:--Many thanks for your kind letter, and for the copies of MILLENNIAL DAWN and the WATCH TOWERS. It is such a comfort to know that Jesus calls us his "friends" and is making known to us "all things that he heard from his Father." (`John 15:15`.) In the far away days of my youth, and the not so far away days of my orthodoxy I, thought I knew it all, but now I see how blindly I read my Bible. And how I thank God for having compassion on me, and touching my eyes, and giving me sight. May I follow Him as did those of old whose eyes were opened.

I am giving away and lending my copies of MILLENNIAL DAWN and my papers, and any time you can send me extra copies of the WATCH TOWER I can use them to advantage. I expect to see a good many missionaries from other parts of the country during the summer, as this is a health resort, and I shall scatter my TOWERS, and lend MILLENNIAL DAWNS. The last bound copy I gave away before taking the wrapper off.

Wishing you abundant success in your efforts to spread "the everlasting gospel," the "good tidings which shall be to all the people." I remain Yours in Christ,

C. B. D__________.

Lebanon, O.

MY DEAR BROTHER RUSSELL:--I have probed the mystery of selling MILL. DAWN and find that I can sell it with some success. Day before yesterday I went to a village of several hundred inhabitants, and in about three hours worked about one third of the place and took twenty orders. Tomorrow I am going back to finish. I am not certain but that I may put the greater portion of my time, the next year, to this work, if my affairs will permit. If I could turn my whole attention to it, I believe I could sell six or seven thousand in the next twelve months. However I am pleased to do what I can, be it much or little, feeling that every book I sell is a footprint in the sands of time to guide some discouraged, disheartened fellow-mortal to the fount of truth at no far distant day. I wish I could flood the world with it. I am surprised at myself in this work; it seems that I am particularly adapted to it.

A week from next Sunday I go to Miamisburg or near it to preach. Bro. Van Hook filled my pulpit last Sunday morning. Yours in faith and service, J. P. M.

In a later letter the same Brother says:--

This Sabbath afternoon finds me at leisure to write you a few lines. I am quietly leaving my hold go on secular business and as quietly laying it on the Lord's business, and within the next six months I expect to be able to turn my attention largely to canvassing. The harvest is a big one, and the laborers are few. I think the Lord will have us go on until every country, where the Bible is read, will be canvassed for MILL. DAWN. I have only canvassed our little town, and have taken 40 orders. I am confident I can make a living for my family at it, and therefore I shall drift into it as fast as circumstances permit. Of course the world thinks me foolish, but that is just what I think of the world; so no difference as to that, I am free.

I do not talk much in canvassing, only explain how much the Chart of the Ages facilitates Bible reading; speak of the book in a general way, showing its qualities of workmanship, leading them to expect it to be a tolerable high priced book, and then tell them the price of it a quarter; some have actually taken a long breath on hearing the price, and have me repeat it, for fear they misunderstood me.

It sells; it is bound to; but Oh! what a commotion it will create! how it will dig into their former belief! What a struggle! and how many of them will wish they had never seen it; and yet how they will return to it again and again, until, at last, the conflict over, how they will rejoice in their freedom! Lord haste the day when all shall know. J. P. M__________.

YOUNG'S CONCORDANCE now $3.50 to our subscribers. See notice on eighth page.

SUPPLEMENTS this month, order freely.

MY SHEPHERD.

"He leadeth me!"

And so I need not seek my own wild way

Across the desert wide;

He knoweth where the soft, green pastures lie,

Where the still waters glide,

And how to reach the coolness of their rest,

Beneath the calm hillside.

"He leadeth me!"

And though it be by rugged, weary ways,

Where thorns spring sharp and sore,

No pathway can seem strange or desolate

When Jesus "goes before."

His gentle shepherding my solace is

And gladness yet in store.

"He leadeth me!"

I shall not take one needless step through all,

In wind, or heat, or cold;

And all day long he sees the peaceful end,

Through trials manifold.

Up the far hillside, like some sweet surprise,

Waiteth the quiet fold.

--Selected.

THE SPIRIT OF ANTICHRIST.

While the world and its spirit are quite contrary to Christ and the Spirit of Christ, and might therefore without impropriety be termed anti-Christ (against Christ), yet this term as used in Scripture is never applied to the world, but always to professed Christians who have turned aside from the truth, and who, by becoming advocates of error, are in Christ's name opposing him, his followers, and his doctrines.

We are well aware that many regard it in a contrary light,--considering the term antichrist as belonging to worldly opponents of all who profess Christ in any manner--infidels, heathens, Mohammedans, etc. That this view is incorrect we can prove readily by citing here every text in the Bible containing the word antichrist, and pointing to some statement in the context which unmistakably fixes it upon some professing to be Christ's followers. This is an important point, as it overthrows completely a wide-spread belief, and opens our eyes to look for antichrist in a quarter in which many may not have thought to look hitherto. In fact, the prefix anti, signifies more than against, it contains the double thought of instead and against.

The word antichrist occurs five times, `1 Jno. 2:18,22`; `4:3`; `2 Jno. 7`. The class meant is easily discerned from the general tenor of John's epistles and from the following pointed statements: "They went out from us, but they were not of us." They are [really] of the world [though professing otherwise], therefore speak they of [or according to the spirit of] the world, and the world heareth them." (`1 Jno. 2:19`; `4:5`.) Other scriptures mention and describe the same class, but by different names. Paul in `2 Thes. 2:3`, following the same vein of thought as in `Rom. 6:6`, personifies the system of error which he saw would arise, and speaks of it as the "Body of Sin," counterfeiting and opposing the "Body of Christ," naming it here as an organized body, "The man of Sin." He makes no reference to a sinful individual; for there are and have been in the past, and were in and before Paul's day, horribly depraved creatures of the human race, than whom worse could scarcely be conceived of; and the Apostle was not passing all these by to speak of some individual pre-eminently vile and vicious. No, he sees and tells us of a system of evil and error, the embodiment of evil, the opponent and counterfeit of the Body of Christ,--the antichrist Body. But only those who have learned that the true church is the "Body of Christ" can appreciate how the counterfeit nominal system, the "Man of Sin," is the antichrist. But we refer to this merely to note the fact that the Apostle Paul mentions that this "Man of Sin" system arises in the church, and professes to be in and of the true temple --the Church of the living God (Compare `2 Thes. 2:4` with `1 Cor. 3:16,17`; `Eph. 2:21`.) and not of the world. He declares this to be an apostasy, a falling away from the truth.

But it is not our purpose here to discuss antichrist: this we have done heretofore and may again, but now we simply call attention to one point of antichrist's erroneous teaching which is very injurious as a source of many other errors. This point of error is particularly pointed out to us by John, the Apostle who specially represented us who are alive and remain unto the parousia (presence) of our Lord (`John 21:22`.); and he tells us that it is common to every theory and class claiming to be Christ's followers and soldiers of the cross, who are really opponents to and counterfeits of the true body of Christ. Remember that the individuals in these great counterfeit systems, and bound by their errors, are not all of them, and do not all properly belong to them, and hence it is, that by the truths now being uncovered and presented to such, as "meat in due season," God is calling his people out of those systems to which they do not really belong, saying "Babylon is fallen! Come out of her, my people."

But what, you inquire, is this one notable point of error upon which all antichrist systems agree, and which blinds many to other truths, and opens the way to errors? Surely, we answer, it is a point long and deeply covered under hoary traditions which are esteemed venerable and sacred. The adversary buried this first and deepest, realizing the necessity for keeping the truth out of sight and of arousing prejudice against it. This being the case, prepare yourselves to find it a test which you would never have thought of had the Apostle not pointed it out, but which, once clearly seen, proves to-day, to be an oracle in the light of which every system of doctrine may be quickly tried, whether it be of the spirit of truth or of the spirit of error, the spirit of antichrist.

The passage to which we refer is found in `1 John 4:3`, which in the oldest and the most correct, the Sinaitic MS. reads thus:

"Every spirit [theory, doctrine] that confesseth not that Jesus the Lord is come in flesh, is not of God: and this is the spirit [theory] of antichrist, whereof you have heard that it cometh; and even now already is it in the world."

Ah! you say, that is not a test, for all Christians and all theories, even the worldly, confess that. Not so, we answer; you do not get the depth of the Apostle's statement; your view of his words would make them and him foolish indeed. The world does not confess Jesus to be "Lord;" so that shuts the world out; and as we examine closely we will find few of the professed Christian systems ready to confess that Jesus, our Lord, came in flesh. To do so, would contradict their creeds old and new. it is the general view, that the real man is not flesh, but a spirit being which lives for a while in a body or house of flesh; hence by such the flesh is no more recognized as the person, than the garments put on and off. Moreover it is claimed by many, that in our Lord Jesus' case, he was really and truly the Father, Jehovah, who thus for a time appeared in flesh, but that he himself was not flesh; that he appeared to be tried and tempted in all points, but was not really tried at all; that he appeared to suffer and die, but did not actually suffer, nor did he really die for our sins, but merely dropped the flesh as a garment remaining really alive as before, for, they say, God is immortal and cannot die, and their claim is that in leaving the glory which he had with the Father before the world was, he did not become flesh or "come in flesh," but still remained a spirit being and came into a flesh body and only appeared like men, like the seed of Abraham, though all the while really was the almighty immortal Jehovah. They say that it was the God Christ Jesus who appeared to or pretended to die for our sins, and contradict the Apostle's statement that it was "the man Christ Jesus" who gave himself a ransom, a corresponding price [Greek, antilutron] for all. (`1 Tim. 2:6`.) Yet we see some go to a further extreme and hear them sing--

"Well might the sun in darkness hide

And shut his glories in,

When God the mighty Maker died

For man the creature's sin."

But in this poetic slip only a few can recognize the inconsistency. Some even going so far as to deny God's immortality, claim that it required the death of a God to atone for the sin of man, not seeing that this is contrary to scripture which demands not a God's life for the life of a man, but a perfect man's life, as a ransom or substitute for the forfeited life of the first perfect man--a corresponding price.

Still others, anxious apparently to get away from the straightforward, simple doctrine of ransom, figure the dying out of their way by saying that the real, spiritual Christ died to sin, and let his flesh body die as an example of how we should do the same. They do not stop to account for the uselessness of such an example, to those who cannot avoid dying.

But all these, with their various shades of difference, stand firmly, shoulder to shoulder, on the one point mentioned by the Apostle--they deny that Jesus the Lord "came in flesh" or "was made flesh," as the same writer elsewhere states it. (`John 1:14`.) That his body was flesh and bones cannot be denied directly, hence their claim that the spirit being came into the flesh, but was always separate and distinct, and not flesh. But this does not fit: the Apostle does not say into [Greek eis] flesh, but "in [Greek en] flesh" and "was made flesh" [Greek sarx egeneto--literally, "became flesh."] (`Jno. 1:14`). So we see that the test of believing that Jesus the Lord came in flesh, i.e. became flesh, would draw the line outside of so called "Orthodox" doctrines. The theory of Universalists and Unitarians, as generally held, is likewise opposed to Jesus being "made flesh," for they generally claim that our Lord had no existence before, and that he was born after the ordinary manner of men: these, then, make no confession which would imply a pre-existence of our Lord in order to be made flesh or to come in flesh. Swedenborgians, Spiritists, etc., etc., all come in on the same side of the question--all deny that the Lord Jesus was "made flesh," "came in flesh"--became flesh.

Next notice that all these are not only without Scriptural sanction for their theories, but are positively and directly contradicted by the Apostles. We need not again quote the many passages in which our Lord and the Apostles declare that the Father and the Son are not the same person, etc., but notice the fact that the death, even the death of the cross, was the death of the real person, and not a pretended death of a body, while the real person or being slipped out alive and watched the proceedings. Every text touching on the subject, in both the

Old and the New Testaments, treats it in the most positive manner, declaring that our Lord made his soul (his being, himself,) an offering for sin (`Isa. 53:10`), that he poured out his soul (being, existence) unto death. (`Isa. 53:12`.) They declare that his soul was in hades (the state or condition of death) three days and not left there longer; that he died, that he was dead, and that on the third day he was raised to life by the Father's power. Our Lord himself said that he came into the world to give his psukee (being, existence,) a ransom, a price, for all [for the psukee, the being, or existence, of all men]. Speaking of what he gave for the life of the world, he represents himself in a parable as giving all that he had to purchase the field (the world) with its treasure--all those whom he will bring back into harmony with God, chief and a first fruit, forever pre-eminent, being his Bride.

The Apostle Peter declares that he was our price, that he redeemed us, purchased us back out of death. Paul assures us not only that we were "bought with a price," (`1 Cor. 6:20`,) but in `1 Tim. 2:6`, he tells us all about the purchase, saying "There is one God [not three] and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus." It was something that this man did that mediated between the race of sinners and God, something that no one of them could do for another because all were sinners, and as such, each one himself condemned to death. As a spirit being, as our Lord was before being "made flesh," he could not have mediated between God and men, because under God's arrangement a ransom, a CORRESPONDING price for the first sinner who precipitated the trouble, was the only way out of the difficulty. Neither an angel nor an arch-angel could give what he did not possess. They could not give a human nature in exchange for that which Adam had forfeited, for they had not human, but angelic, spiritual nature. So then, our Lord also a spirit being, with the Father in glory and honor before coming into the world, could not give the price of our redemption. In order to be able to give the price he must become flesh, must be a man: not imperfect and sinful as the fallen race has become, but perfect and sinless as the original of our race was before he sinned. Hence he "came in flesh"--"was made flesh"--"became flesh," in order, as the Apostle expresses it (`1 Cor. 15:21`), that "as by man came death, by man also should come the resurrection of the dead." He became flesh (holy, undefiled) in order to pay the price or penalty against us, --death. The Apostle urges (`Phil. 2:7,8`) that though the obedience implied in becoming a man, in being made flesh, was great, yet the trial was severer still when our Lord found himself man and learned that the divine plan by which he was to prove his entire submission to the Father's will would lead him to death as and for the sinner--even the ignominious death of the cross. But he was obedient even to the full, and died for us as our ransom: Wherefore God hath highly exalted him, giving him station, dignity and authority far above angels, and far above the glory and honor which he had with the Father before the world was created.

What our Lord gave is clearly stated by Paul; for continuing the above quoted testimony, that "There is one God and one Mediator, the man Christ Jesus," he tells us how he mediated, what he gave for us. He says--"Who gave himself a

ransom for all." This settles the matter that our Lord was flesh, a human being, and a perfect one at that, for as usual with Paul he expresses himself in unequivocal terms. He uses the Greek word antilutron which signifies a corresponding price, where in English we have the word ransom.

Now consider well the import of this, and you will see that it contradicts every antichrist system; for Paul shows that before sin entered the world there was no death, (`Rom. 5:12`) hence the one (Adam) who first sinned was a perfect human being, and if our Lord gave a corresponding price, he must have been a perfect human being when he gave himself for Adam and all who shared in Adam's sin and penalty.

John recognized the tendency or spirit of antichrist in his day. Though the system had not organized, some were already going out from them because not of them, denying Jesus "in flesh," claiming, with the heathen, an impersonation, that the real one was inside the seen one, and preparing themselves by this error to deny their Lord, their Master, the man Christ Jesus who gave himself a ransom for all. To-day, after centuries of triumph over the words of our Lord and of the Apostles, and over reason and common sense, this doctrine or spirit of antichrist known as that of the Trinity, is so firmly intrenched in the hearts of many, that they prefer to deny the Master's words --"The Father is greater than I," and the Bible teaching that Christ came in flesh and gave himself a ransom--prefer to deny anything rather than this theory of antichrist, which twists and disjoints every truth of Scripture, so long as it is held.

Note then the test of every spirit or doctrine, the test which will prove whether or not any faith is well founded, surely founded on the ROCK, the true and only basis of faith, of which the Apostle declares "Other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, Jesus Christ." This test is given in few words, as we have seen, and can be easily and quickly applied to every doctrine or spirit with which you may come in contact. If it will not stand this God-given test you may be sure it is error and at once set it aside. If it agrees with this test you have proved it to be on the right foundation, and you may go on proving all its details. This test, `1 Jno. 4:3`, in the oldest and most exact Greek MS., the Sinaitic reads:--

"Every spirit [theory, doctrine,] that confesseth not that Jesus the Lord is come in flesh [become flesh] is not of God: and this is the spirit [theory,] of antichrist, whereof you have heard that it cometh; and even now already is it in the world."

Remember that many good people, many of God's children, have been blinded by the errors and sophistries of Satan, and while not anti or opposed to Christ at heart, have been beguiled by the great deceiver's falsities, promulgated even in the Apostle's days and fully headed up and brought to a climax in Papacy and only partially gotten rid of by the Reformation. Now, in the "harvest" of this age, God causes the light to shine more clearly, for the reason that he is making the truth his "sickle" by which he will separate wheat from tares completely and finally. Therefore, put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand--that you be not among the thousands to fall in this time of trial.--`Psa. 91:7,11,12`.

"BE CONSTANT in what is good, but beware of being obstinate in anything evil; constancy is a virtue, but obstinacy is a sin."

REASONS FOR EXPECTING TOLERATION

IN THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.

A Brother, the Editor of a contemporary Journal, publishes his reasons for expecting toleration in the Presbyterian Church as follows:--

1. It resides in the very idea of the church that there must be growth in divine knowledge until her ultimate unity and perfection are attained. To this end there must be room for the free operation of the Spirit of God in unfolding the truth. This requires opportunity for reverent investigation and discussion. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

2. Because of confessed obscurity in the whole of the church's teaching concerning the last things. Our wisest teachers admit that the Reformed Theology left many of these problems unsolved, and that a fuller investigation of them is a duty put upon the church in these last days by the Spirit and Providence of God.

3. Because a new era of investigation at points even more essential than this is coming upon the Presbyterian Church, which it is both unwise and impossible to resist. Whatever evils may result from this spirit of free inquiry, the evils of its suppression would be far greater.

4. Because a wide diversity already exists between the views of future punishment current among us, and as presented from our pulpits, and the statements of our Standards that both before and after the resurrection, "the wicked are to be punished with most grievous and unspeakable torments, without intermission, with the devil and his angels in hell-fire forever." If fidelity to these statements is to be the test by which our right to remain in the church is to be determined, then we ask our brethren to honestly ask before God whether they are so free from sin in this respect as to have the right to cast a first stone at us.

5. Because we honestly believe that we have taken up this line of testimony in obedience to the Spirit of God, and from motives of sincere love for the whole church, which needs this larger, better view of God's great plan of grace before it can be unified; and specially in the interest of the Presbyterian Church to whose welfare we have devoted a life-long ministry, and which greatly needs relief from the incubus of monstrous views of God's sovereign justice which obscure her own constant testimony to His fatherhood and grace.

Full of love for blinded brethren, this brother earnestly desires to carry the entire Presbyterian Church into the light, and so desires of it toleration, that is, permission to stay in its company and to anoint all their eyes as his own have been anointed--with the truth. What this brother desires to do for those with whom he spent so long a bondage, we desire to do for all the sects into which the great adversary has seduced God's children.

But we see what he evidently has not yet seen, viz: That the light which ultimately shall be to every creature, can as yet reach and be appreciated only by a "little flock," the true church, which is the body of Christ.

If the Presbyterian Church were the real, true Church whose names are all written in heaven, this brother's expectations of opening their eyes would be justifiable. But he should be able to see that this is not the case; none of the sectarian systems, great or small, are the Church which is Christ's body; though members of his "body," members of the heaven-recorded Church are probably still in bondage in every sect.

It is because these sect-systems are not the true Church, and because we have reached the "harvest" time of separation, that the Lord gives present light, and meat in due season, and calls on all of his people to "come out" into the light, the truth, the liberty proper for children of God.

God not only saw our day and knew how it would be, but he had it written in his Word for our learning; and it is not written that the tares growing with the wheat may be changed into wheat, but that the two classes may be separated.

Our Brother evidently is in heart free already from the shackles of the Presbyterian Creed; but he should be entirely free. Why help to uphold in any degree slavery to a creed and get others under it who have not the moral strength to free themselves even in heart? Why stay in a human organization of any sort, where our company is not desired, except at the cost of stifling our convictions of right and truth? Why not, on the contrary, obey actually as well as mentally the Lord's command to separate, to "Come out" of all the Babylon bondage and confusion, and thus not only make straight paths for our own feet, but thus make foot-prints which may encourage and guide some weaker brother or sister out of the bondage of sects, into the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free to follow unhindered and untrammeled his word and example?

The brother is asking liberties and privileges granted only in the true Church where the spirit of the Lord is, and where the liberty of his Word is granted. Hence, one of two things is sure to happen--the brother will either abate his energy on the side of truth and liberty, (which we hope he will never do, but rather increase it,) or else he will get out of the sect and into closer fellowship with the true Head of the Church and with the "true Church which is his body." Like others, the Presbyterian sect never agreed to grant toleration, and never has shown any.

When a man joins that Church, it is on the same principle that people join other human organizations, partnerships, societies, etc., viz.: They agree to submit to the rules and by-laws as they are. And when this brother took upon him his Ordination Vows as a minister of the Presbyterian Church, though he was already a minister (servant) in the true Church and anointed, as all the members of that body are, with the Holy Spirit of the truth, he BOUND himself in the presence of witnesses that so long as he was a member and minister of Presbyterianism he would "not teach or inculcate anything opposed to the doctrines" of that organization; to which doctrines he there subscribed as representing his faith.

We are well aware that many, after changing their faith, still continue to hold membership and office in these organizations; and some, in violation of their vows, do teach and inculcate doctrines opposed to the doctrines of the sects to which they are pledged. But is this right? They generally excuse themselves by the claim that the denomination claims to uphold and believe the truths taught in the Bible, while they are sure they now have more truth and Bible support than the sect. But is this a sufficient ground of excuse for such a course? Is it doing by them as we would have them do by us if our places were changed? We think not.

The very spirit and intent of the ordination vow was to bind, to compel a man by his solemn pledge, not to use his office or influence inside the organization, against it as it stands--to compel any who might come to differ on any point, to first get out of the ministry of their sect, cease from professing the faith he no longer holds, before he could attack it.

To us it seems that a contract is not less binding on a saint, than on a worldling; and such a contract as Presbyterians, Methodists, Lutherans, Roman Catholics and others impose upon their ministers, should certainly be considered as binding as a note, or a bond, in the business world; and business honor would insist on a full compliance with both the letter and spirit of the contract--that when the faith changes, the minister or member should step down and out, before uttering a word of contrary teaching.

In the case of Baptists, Disciples, and a few other denominations, the case differs a little, since some of these claim to have no creed or standard but the Bible. In such a case a minister or member is at liberty to teach all he finds in the Bible, and if interfered with, may, if he choose, insist on a trial of his case by the Bible. But with these, other means than a trial are generally resorted to, such as social ostracism, money pressure, etc., until a saint is glad to escape from so many "tares" to get a better chance for worship and study, "one [saint] with another," or where this is impossible, in private Scripture study alone.

But in the case of Presbyterians, Methodists, etc., they guard themselves, and do not even claim to accept the Bible as the only rule of faith and practice. They candidly and openly state, in so many words, just what they want all members and ministers to subscribe to as their faith; and when any are tried for heresy by these, the Bible is not brought forward at all, but (properly according to their organization or contract) "the standards" of their organization. The Bible is the standard, not in name merely, but indeed, to the true Church; but with the sects, each has its own "Standards," "Creed," dogmas, etc., to which, on joining, members subscribe; and surely their trial should be according to their contract, which they agreed to be bound by, and to which they are therefore responsible.

Any contract made with fellow-men is binding; and to violate it, even in the interest of truth, would be wrong. We must not do evil that good may result, but do right, and leave all results to God, who promises in due time to cause the righteousness of his saints to shine forth as the noon-day. If, therefore, a Christian finds himself bound to a creed and sect, he should at once look up the Faith he professed in joining them--the faith he agreed neither to add to, nor to diminish, so long as he remained one of them; he should see whether it fully and clearly expresses his present faith. If it does not, he should at once withdraw; for by any other course he violates his contract with his fellow-men. To refrain from teaching the truth fully and clearly, after God has brought us to a knowledge of it, would prove us unworthy of a place in the "body of Christ," would prove that we are not overcomers, and not worthy of a place among the Royal Priesthood, the true sanctuary, the Ambassadors for God before the world.

We would like to impress upon every reader that to teach or to believe anything different from a Confession of Faith to which by membership you profess to hold, is a wrong to God, to the sect whose name is borne, to yourself, and to the true members of the body of Christ. Whatever the difference between your faith and the Creed of the sect to which you are attached, to that extent exactly your course is wrong, dishonest, unsaintly, and hence ungodly; because, to that extent you are misrepresenting God's Word and plan, and hence displeasing him; to that extent you are misrepresenting the sect, and hence offending and wronging them, even if they would tolerate you; to that extent you are dishonoring yourself as a child of God, one of the children of

the light--the truth,--not only by the shackles of your denominational slavery, which are galling to all whom the Son makes free indeed, but by reason also of the deception and misrepresentation practiced daily, in outwardly, to saints and sinners, professing by the Creed you uphold, doctrines which you detest and which sometimes and under some circumstances you would deny as unscriptural and as misrepresentations of God's character and plans, and also misrepresentations of your honest belief. To the same extent also you injure the true body of Christ, especially the "babes in Christ," for you not only do not give the moral weight of your presence, and influence, and talent, and means, to further the cause of true liberty among the saints, and true union on true principles, but you give to the opposition the weight of your influence, means, talents and presence, and constitute one of the numbers whose support and names are bids to the world for its respect and alliance. Not only do you serve Babylon's purpose as a decoy for others, but possibly the weight of your influence keeps many of the "babes" and weaker brethren in bondage, not only hindering their development, but keeping their influence, and talents, and means away from the free fellow-members in the same

true body and adding these advantages to the false systems, the nominal church, to help perpetuate and draw others into the errors and bondage which galls you, and which misrepresents you even more than you misrepresent it.

Thus you become a false beacon-light to the poor world seeking the peace and joy of Christ, luring them into doctrines which, if honestly accepted and firmly held by them, will blind them and ensnare them, and prevent the peace, and light, and joy, and love of the real gospel. It was looking thus at the influence of sects in the time of the first advent, that our Lord said to the zealous Pharisees, "Ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, he is two-fold more the child of hell [destruction] than he was before." So now, it is far better to let the world alone, than to get them into sects which will only blind them to the truth and misrepresent to them God's character and plan. Far better; because when the light of the now dawning Sun of Righteousness reaches them, it will have far more influence upon them where they are, in and of the world, than if converted by the spirit of error into tares, in imitation of real wheat.

But when you come to examine the Creed to which you subscribed, Pastors generally say, "Oh, never mind! It matters little anyhow." And if you insist on seeing and pondering its professions, promises, and covenants, they will often unblushingly assure you that neither they, the pastors, nor a majority of the membership, believe all to which you and they subscribed; and that they never did believe or teach such and such portions. And they will try in every way to hold you in their sects (especially if you have money or influence--which few of the little flock have,--`Jas. 2:5`,) because naturally a professed field of wheat would not like to lose all its wheat and have only tares left.

Such Pastors may even resort to the specious misleading argument that you joined merely the local company of which he is the pastor; and claim that his faith is the measure by which the members of this local organization are to be judged, and not the written confession of faith, and the written Covenant to which you assented and subscribed. But both of these arguments are wrong; all local organizations (except such as have what is known as Congregational government) are parts of systems, so that in joining the Episcopal Methodists, for instance, your covenant is not merely with the local organization, but with the M.E. Church as a system; and the Pastor's faith, or his violation of his covenant with the organization, is no more an excuse for you, than the fact that other men violate business covenants would be an excuse for your doing so. Custom and numbers can never make wrong right. The fact is, a large majority of the membership of all denominations are really covenant breakers, whether they have given the matter sufficient thought to realize it or not. They either do not know or do not care what is the Creed to which they have subscribed, or else, knowing it, they believe it only in part, if at all; and yet by subscribing to it all, they act out an untruth before the world, before one another and before their families. The demoralizing influence of this double dealing is unmistakable in toughening and searing the conscience, tending to make such both unworthy of the truth and unable to readily accept it, as they get into the habit of thinking of others as being as insincere as themselves in their teachings and professions.

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