The Watchtower, July 15, 1909
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SEMI-MONTHLY
VOL. XXX JULY 15 NO. 14
A.D. 1909--A.M. 6037
CONTENTS
Views from The Watch Tower........................211
Evolution and Character.......................211
An Unsectarian Presentation...................212
"I Will Call for the Grain and Increase It".......212
"My Grace is Sufficient for Thee".................213
Heroism (Poem)....................................215
Wresting the Scriptures...........................215
The Things no Longer Seen.....................216
The Blood of the Covenant.....................217
The Dual Feature in Rachel........................219
Proper and Improper Statements....................220
Like Unto Jannes and Jambres......................221
"Weep Not for Me," but "Watch and Pray"...........222
Abraham's Three Wives.............................222
Samples of Interesting Letters....................223
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VIEWS FROM THE WATCH TOWER
EVOLUTION AND CHARACTER
IN his book on "The Wonderful Century," published ten years ago, Alfred Russel Wallace, the distinguished scientist and co-discoverer with Charles Darwin of the theory of Evolution, asserted his conviction that, in the matter of mechanical discovery, the human race had made more progress in the nineteenth century than in all the preceding eighteen centuries. It is somewhat difficult to reconcile this statement with the attitude he takes in his latest article on "Evolution and Character" in The Fortnightly Review. He has evidently grown more pessimistic. He declares now that it is doubtful if there has been "any considerable improvement in man's average intellectual and moral status during the whole period of human history"; and he says further:
"In comparing a savage with a civilized race, we must always remember that the amount of acquired and applied knowledge which we possess is no criterion of mental superiority on our side, or of inferiority on his. The average Zulu or Fijian may be very little lower mentally than the average Englishman; and it is, I think, quite certain that the average Britain, Saxon, Dane and Norseman of a thousand years ago--the ancestral stocks of the present English race--were mentally our equals. For what power has been since at work to improve them? There has certainly been no special survival of the more intellectual and moral, but rather the reverse....When we consider further that the effects of education and the arts are not hereditary, we shall be forced to the conclusion that we are today, in all probability, mentally and morally inferior to our semi-barbaric ancestors!"
The Romans and the Greeks, Mr. Wallace reminds us, looked down on their ancestors with just as much contempt as we look down on Kaffirs and Red Indians. It is quite superficial to conclude that because people are in a savage or barbarian state as regards knowledge and material civilization, they are necessarily inferior intellectually or morally. "I am inclined to believe," says Mr. Wallace, "that an unbiased examination of the question would lead us to the conclusion that there is no good evidence of any difference in man's average intellectual and moral status during the whole period of human history at all corresponding with differences in material civilization between civilized and savage races today.... There is good reason to believe that some of the lowest savages today (perhaps all of them) are the deteriorated remnants of more civilized peoples."
MENACE OF YELLOW JOURNALISM
One of the severest and keenest indictments of yellow journalism ever written has lately appeared in The American Magazine from the pen of Prof. W. I. Thomas, of the University of Chicago. He takes the ground that the yellow papers published and spread broadcast in our American cities today are "a positive agent of vice and crime," making for all kinds of immorality. Our failure up to the present time to regard the yellow press as an immorality and to take steps to exterminate it is due, he thinks, in part to the fact that we have been reluctant to lose a time-honored faith in the printed page, and in part to the slowness with which we carry generalizations into practice. In connection with this last point he writes:
"Moral exactions never, in point of fact, reflect the most advanced states of consciousness. Our practices run behind our judgments by a generation or two, but that we do slowly and surely carry our generalizations into practice is indicated by the fact that society has since the beginning been constantly changing the content of its commandments, and practices which at one time were not the objects of moral judgment (slavery, polygamy, blood-vengeance) have come to be classed as immoral. At the present moment there is a focus of consciousness containing commandments in the making. In it are located questions of political graft, monopolistic manipulation, the tyranny of labor, patent medicine fakes, impure foods, the race question, the woman question, and the question of the yellow journal. These are now being agitated and revalued by public opinion and the legitimate press, and when we have made our reconstruction we shall have some new commandments and some new crimes; and among them will be: Thou shalt not have the perversion of truth for a gainful occupation."
Professor Thomas' first and fundamental objection to yellow journalism is based on its appeal to what he calls the "hate attitude" in men. This attitude exists in all
of us. It dates back to the days when human beings spent most of their time killing animals or fighting with their fellow creatures. It partakes of the nature of impulse or appetite, and is almost as blindly elemental as hunger itself. During centuries of civilization this hate instinct has been modified and controlled, but under the surface it slumbers yet. A murder trial, a prize fight, a slanderous bit of gossip, an exciting game, have still the power to call it into play.
In the light of these facts, says Professor Thomas, it becomes plain that the yellow journal owes its existence to the persistence in men of a primitive feeling of essentially anti-social character, and to the fact that a revival of this feeling brings a sense of pleasure. He continues:
"Pleasurable shocks may be classified with some reference to their social significance. We have, first, the emotional interest of the reflex type represented by the whole gamut of competitive games from marbles to chess, which are pleasant, recreative and valuable--to the child,
in developing a normal organism, and to the adult (in a society where the division of labor prevails), in taking the strain off certain overworked nerve centers and equilibrating the organism. A second form of shock is associated with horrors, misfortunes, detractions and slanders. Railroad wrecks, fires, murders and domestic scandals are types of this interest, which, as in games, is primarily of the nature of a blind reflex. Artistic presentations, of which tragedy is an example, are conflict situations of a generalized and reflective type, presented with such technique and perspective as to give an added significance to life. Scientific and business 'pursuits' are really of the hunting pattern of interest, involving the same emotional strains as the chase, though the emotion is subordinated to the reflective processes involved."
--Current Literature.
TURKEY ASKS JEWS TO COME
Offers to Confer Full Citizenship Upon Immigrants on Arrival.
"They shall bring all your brethren for an offering unto the Lord out of all nations."--`Isa. 66:20`.
The Jewish Morning Journal gave out recently a special cable dispatch from Constantinople saying that the Turkish Government had invited the Jews of Russia and Roumania to settle in Turkey, agreeing to remove all restrictions and to grant full citizenship to them. Here is the text of the cablegram:
"Ahmed Riza, President of the Chamber of Deputies visited to-day Hahm Pasha, the ritual head of the Jews in Turkey, and on behalf of the Turkish Government extended an invitation to the Jews of Russia and Roumania to migrate to Turkey. As proof of the good faith of the Turkish Government Ahmed Riza informed Hahm Pasha that the Government would abolish all restrictions against Jewish immigration, and, what is still more significant, will confer full citizenship on Jewish immigrants immediately on their arrival in Turkey."
AN UNSECTARIAN PRESENTATION
Dr. H. S. Pritchett, President of the Carnegie Foundation for the advancement of teaching, speaking recently on Leadership in the Colleges, said:--
"Church membership is no test as to whether a man is a religious man or not; nor is it any criterion by which religious men may be chosen. The constant use of this criterion has served to impose upon young men both in and out of college the idea that the obligations of the religious life are binding only on those who have assumed membership in religious organizations. No more unhappy impression could have been created. The obligations of the religious life are the same upon every human being. The idea that he can escape the working out of the great laws which the Maker of the Universe has set up by declining to belong to a human organization is a grotesque one, and yet this is an idea common among young men. I believe, therefore, that the man of sincere religious life, outside any formal organization, has a notable opportunity today for religious leadership in college, and that he escapes some of the limitations which lie in the way of his brother who is part of a definite religious organization. No man has the right to evade the duties of leadership or of service by reason of his belonging to, or of his not belonging to a religious organization. To advance such a claim is like insisting that a man is not an American unless he belongs to the Republican or the Democratic party."
"I WILL CALL FOR THE GRAIN AND INCREASE IT"
--`EZEKIEL 36`.--
OURS is the "day of God's preparation" for the glorious abundance of the Millennium and its blessings. Fresh proofs of this come to us daily. The electric light has superceded the tallow dip; the steamship, 1000 feet long, has succeeded the canoe; the railway train has succeeded the pack-mule and the stage-coach. Already we live in a new world, which, in many respects, would be Paradise were it not for our fallen condition--our mental, moral and physical imperfections--our dying state. Still, however, the necessities of life require labor, toil, sweat of face; but how great a blessing is in this fact few seem to appreciate. Without necessity, idleness would soon breed vice and crime still more abundantly.
Statistics tell us that the wood supplies of the world are running short and that already there is little to spare for fuel. They tell us also that the coal supply will last only about one hundred and fifty years more. They wonder whether or not mankind will soon freeze to death. God's people, however, looking from the standpoint of the Divine promises, may have full assurance of faith that the Divine foreknowledge has provided for every emergency. Already we know that the air that we breathe contains the very elements necessary to supply us adequately with heat, if we could but learn how to separate its component parts. Science has long been striving to accomplish this end. Faith tells us that when the Father's due time shall have arrived the problem will be solved simply enough, furnishing oxygen for fuel and nitrogen for the enrichment of the soil.
Similarly scientists tell us that the earth cannot much more than provide food for its present number of inhabitants. They are in trepidation as to what kind of farming will be necessary to feed the world five hundred years hence. Through the Word of God the eye of faith may see that the time for human productivity is drawing to an end, that soon after the inauguration of the Millennium, conditions will change gradually--until finally human propagation will cease entirely. Still, however, according to the Scriptures, the world will gradually become filled with people; as our Lord's words declare, "All that are in their graves shall hear the voice of the Son of man and come forth." "Every man in his own order," says St. Paul.
There will be an abundance of room for all of this population, but where their food supply will come from would be an astounding proposition to scientists. The child of God, whose eye of faith has already seen some of Jehovah's mighty power, may rest assured that he who planned all this has made necessary provision for the successful carrying out of its every feature.
In the light of God's Word the eye of faith has assistance, and perceives that humanity's present fallen condition involves a great waste of food, which will be rectified as the race rises out of its imperfection and learns more thoroughly how to use blessings which are now comparatively wasted. Then again the eye of faith sees in the divine promise at the head of this article, and in other assurances of the Scriptures, that "the earth shall yield her increase"--sees the Divine provision for the needs of humanity. Already we have evidences of how these Scriptures may be fulfilled. In the once arid deserts of the United States artesian wells and irrigating canals are causing "the wilderness to blossom as the rose and the solitary places to be glad." Similar developments will doubtless later on extend to other desert lands. Contrariwise the marshes are being drained, and the eye of faith can see how the world will eventually be made all that is implied in God's promise of Paradise restored; that Jehovah "will make the place of his feet [his footstool] glorious."
MIRACLE WHEAT--MIRACLE CULTIVATION
A year ago we called attention to the miracle wheat, which was developed in Virginia, seemingly by accident. We know not to what extent it has been sown elsewhere, nor whether any wonderful results have been obtained. However, it gives to the eye of faith a suggestive lesson
as to how God could "Call for the wheat-corn and increase it" many fold. Now we learn of some wonderful experiments which have recently been made by the Russian Government, which serve to show that in soil that is at least twenty inches deep a new method of cultivating wheat, gives promise of almost miraculous results. Even if only one-tenth of the results claimed can be obtained the advantage seemingly would be considerable. Even if the method be at present found impracticable for any reason, the suggestion to the eye of faith would be valuable everyway as showing God's people something of the hidden powers Divine, which are held in reservation for man's time of need.
PLANTING WHEAT INSTEAD OF SOWING IT
The new method of cultivating wheat, based upon these experiments, is the making of pits or trenches, twelve to twenty inches deeper than the surface level and forty-two inches wide. One grain of wheat planted at the bottom of each pit or forty-two inches apart in the trenches is
covered lightly with two inches of soil. Every three weeks the covering process is repeated about two inches more each time, until ten coverings have been put on. The grain gives forth three shoots with the first covering. With the second covering each of these shoots "bushknots" and gives forth three more shoots, so that with the final covering the total amounts to 59,049 stalks or heads of grain.
The ten coverings will require about thirty weeks or less, according to the climate. It is said that this method of cultivation requires no watering, that the air, having free access to the roots, provides the moisture and gases necessary for the growth of the plant. It is difficult to believe all this--that a single seed could thus produce seventy pounds of grain, and that at the same ratio an acre of land be made to produce forty-five tons of grain. Assuredly, as our text suggests, when the Lord's time shall come he will be well able to call for the increase of the grain for the benefit of the world of mankind, whom he so loved as to redeem and for whom the blessings of restitution are shortly to be made available.--`Acts 3:19-21`.
"MY GRACE IS SUFFICIENT FOR THEE"
--`ACTS 19:23`; `20:1`.--AUGUST 22--
Golden Text:--"And he said unto me, my grace is sufficient for thee; for my strength is made perfect
in weakness."--`2 Cor. 12:9`.
FOR two years and three months St. Paul had actively engaged in the service of the Truth at Ephesus, the Gateway or Eye of Asia Minor. He was about ready to leave and had already sent word to the Churches enroute, which he had established, informing them of his journey and of the fact that a famine had recently prevailed in Palestine and that he purposed taking to the Christians at Jerusalem a present of money from their fellow-believers in the Gospel and fellow-members in the Body of Christ in Gentile lands. However, the Lord was pleased to permit the great Adversary to stir up persecution and riot against the Truth and especially against the Apostle just on the eve of his departure. As the Apostle declares, "We know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to the called ones according to his purpose;" hence, we may be sure that God saw some good that could be accomplished by permitting this panic of persecution and that otherwise he would not have permitted it.
"FAITH MAY FIRMLY TRUST HIM, COME WHAT MAY"
Ephesus was one of the greatest cities of that time. This may be judged from the fact that just at the entrance of the harbor stood one of the "seven wonders of the world," an immense statue of "Diana of the Ephesians"--the deity of Ephesus and indeed of Asia Minor. To her shrine thousands of people came, as opportunity offered, believing that they received a special blessing from her, which affected favorably the prosperity of their homes. Her blessing was supposed to greatly increase the flocks and herds and the birth of children. Unlike the other (virgin) Diana, this one was represented to be the mother of all things living, fecundity being her special blessing. Of course, the fame of this great idol attracted general attention, and those who could not go to Ephesus to worship at the shrine of this image were pleased to purchase from merchants certain charms or amulets, which consisted of small copies of her shrine wrought in silver. The business of making these shrines grew as the people of that region learned to desire her blessing and to offer her worship. In the Apostle's day the business of making these shrines of various sizes out of silver was immense, employing hundreds, perhaps thousands.
A man named Demetrius was the representative or head of a silversmith's guild or union. He, becoming incensed against the propaganda of the Apostle and the early Church at Ephesus, aroused his fellow-craftsmen by a stirring speech, in which he pointed out the great prosperity of their city through this idol, and how they themselves had prospered by the making of her shrine. Then he painted a black picture of how the prosperity would shortly die, as a result of the preaching of this man Paul. He called attention to the fact that it was not merely at Ephesus that this new religion, opposed to the worship of Diana, was spreading, but that it prevailed throughout all Asia Minor amongst people who might be expected to place orders with them for shrines. With a wonderful cunning, he combined with this thought of the duty of supporting their city religion that of the duty also of looking out for their pocketbooks. Who can think of stronger grounds of argument with people in general? That he was successful in arousing the prejudices and creating a riot causes us no wonder. The whole city was in an uproar in the very tenderest spots, religion and worldly prosperity.
The Adversary, no doubt, helped on the matter, with the result that the people were shortly in a frenzy of despair, as though the feared collapse for their religion and their prosperity were already upon them. The home of Paul was known; so thither the mob rushed, seeking the chief factor in the impending troubles. In the Lord's providence St. Paul was absent. Aquilla and Priscilla, who kept the home, were there and, although not arrested, evidently were loyal to the Apostle and to the cause to the very last degree. Thus the Apostle, subsequently writing respecting them, remarked that they endangered their necks for the sake of the Truth. As working people and home-keepers they were not molested; but two assistants of St. Paul found in the home were taken by the mob. They hurried them to the theatre, or place of public entertainment, whose capacity, we are told, was 56,000 persons, indicating that Ephesus must have been an immense city. St. Paul, learning of the commotion, would have courageously entered into the thick of the trouble in defense of his friends and, above all, in defense of his Master and his message. But wiser counsels prevailed and St. Paul remained away. The brethren suffered him not, believing that his presence would have accomplished nothing with people in so unreasonable a state of mind and St. Paul agreed with them, because no other course would have been the wise or proper one.
The Lord, however, did not neglect the two brethren who were arrested, Gaius and Aristarchus. The town clerk came to their assistance and with words of wisdom dispersed the mob. This official was not interested in the Gospel of Christ and its service, but he was interested in the doing of his duty as an officer of the city. He pointed out to the mob that they had become unduly excited; that they and everybody knew the greatness of Diana, and that one Jew or many Jews could not injure her great fame. And then he concluded, Seeing that these things cannot be
gainsaid, ye ought to be quiet and to do nothing rash, for ye brought hither these men, which are neither robbers of temples nor blasphemers of our goddess. If, therefore, Demetrius or his companion have any matter against these men, the law courts are open. Let them accuse one another. In other words, let us mind our own business and not allow ourselves to be unduly excited over a matter of no moment. Besides, he pointed out to them that, while there were lawful assemblies provided for them, the present one was an unlawful one, which if it were reported to the Government at Rome, might bring disrespect to the city and perhaps cause it to lose some measure of its eminence. With this he dismissed the assembly.
PRINCIPLE AND LACK OF PRINCIPLE
Notice the contrast between the chief actors in the account of this lesson and those mentioned in the preceding one. In that case many people, realizing that they had been working in conjunction with the powers of evil-- of demons--brought their books of magic, etc., and burned them, as a result of the influence of the Gospel message upon their hearts. They not only stopped the practice of the black art; they not only refused to use the books of magic; but they refused to sell them to others, lest they should do injury to them. They were willing, glad, to suffer financial loss and be thought foolish by their neighbors, rather than to do injury to others, after they had come to a true realization of the situation. On the contrary, the chief actors in this lesson were moved to a frenzy and to riotous conduct by their love of money--their fear lest they should suffer loss. Evidently it was not their respect for religion, but their love for filthy lucre which prompted their actions. Moreover, the religion of this goddess was a demoralizing one. Hence we see the stronger contrast between those who raised a riot in order to perpetuate idolatry and sensuality and to bring money to their own purses and those, on the contrary, who are ready to sacrifice their earthly interests rather than do harm, and in order that they may do the more good. Verily there is a power, a wonderful power, in the religion of Jesus, our Redeemer.
It is to be noted that the Apostle and his co-laborers were not guilty of the charge of which they were accused --blaspheming the goddess of Ephesus. Here we have a point of importance and a valuable lesson. St. Paul elsewhere said, "Let none of you suffer as an evil-doer nor as a busy-body in other men's matters." It was not necessary for the Apostle to say one unkind word in reference to the goddess Diana. His commission was to preach the good tidings of great joy--not to quarrel with false gods, or their worship. The persecution was therefore for right-doing. There is a lesson here for us, too. It is not necessary
for us to do or say a single unkind word or act towards our friends in Babylon. It is not necessary for us to tirade against their systems or doctrines. We have plenty to do in setting forth the Gospel message. Of course, the Apostle did not fail to call attention to the fact that Diana was merely the work of men's hands and not, as claimed, a divinity. So we may properly enough set forth to our friends that there is but the one true Church, which was organized by our Lord, established at Pentecost, and that all other churches, therefore, are merely human systems. But it is not our privilege to tirade against these churches, as we learn some of the dear friends are inclined to do. The command, "Speak evil of no man," may properly be applied also to religious systems. Particularly those who recognize the foundation of Christianity in the redeeming merit of the death of Christ, and that favor and teach morality, if nothing more, should be let alone by us. In Divine providence the appointed hour will come, the Scriptures assure us, when everything which can be shaken will be shaken and overthrown in the great "time of trouble." Against that evil day we warn men that they repent and develop meekness and righteousness; "it may be that they shall be hid in the day of the Lord's anger." Undoubtedly the Lord has permitted sectarianism for some wise purpose, even as he has permitted the Gentile governments to hold sway until the end of the times of the Gentiles. Let us not interfere with the fulfillment of the Divine purposes. Let us be content to fulfil our mission of assisting the brethren, building them up in the most holy faith and telling the good tidings to the meek and such as manifest an ear to hear.
THE LESSON OF OUR GOLDEN TEXT
This is a wonderful text. Our Lord's words therein expressed applied, we may be sure, not only to St. Paul, but to all of us who are of the one Body and energized by its one spirit. Doubtless St. Paul's experiences in connection with his thorn in the flesh were given to him and recounted in the Scriptures largely for the benefit of ourselves and of all who, from his day until now, have been suffering under peculiar experiences, trials, whose necessity and value were not clearly discerned.
When St. Paul, blinded by the great light which accompanied his conversion, finally received the Lord's forgiveness and the restoration of his sight in considerable measure, he doubtless bore patiently with the continued weakness of his eyes, considering it a proper chastisement for his wrong course as an opponent of the Anointed One and an injurious person in respect to the Body of Christ, which is the Church. The measure of his afflictions which remained helped the Apostle, doubtless, to appreciate very distinctly how close is the relationship between the Church and her Lord, as members of the one sacrifice, as explained in the Lord's Words, "Why persecutest thou me?"
However, as weeks and months and years passed, and the Apostle found his defect of vision a great burden, he doubtless wondered why the Lord should permit any measure of the ailment to continue. Well did he know that it would be as easy for Divine power to give him perfect sight as not. Indeed, he had evidence along this line continually--the power of God in healing the sick-- so that handkerchiefs and napkins which he had blessed were sent for from far and near, and carried with them Divine blessing and healing. Evidently the Apostle reasoned that after he had suffered awhile in this affliction it would be removed. He may even have surmised that God wished to bring him to the point of humbly asking for its removal.
St. Paul explains to us that he did request healing--the removal of this grievous affliction or "thorn." He tells us that he did this three times. There is a point in connection with the matter which apparently up to that time he had not discerned clearly, namely, that the healing of his eyes would be so much of restitution blessing. But St. Paul, like the others of us, had been called of the Lord not to restitution, but to sacrifice; as he himself explained the matter to others, "I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service." (`Rom. 12:1`.) Knowing that the blessings of God were passing through him to others, he wondered that some might not have been for himself. He had yet to learn that the gifts conferred to him were for the worldly and not for the saints, who had consecrated to sacrifice. He had yet to learn that, if permitted of the Lord to take back his consecration to sacrifice, it would mean his letting go proportionately of the spiritual blessings and favors which God bestows upon us when we sacrifice earthly things.
TWO WAYS OF ASSISTING US
It would not have been right for St. Paul to have been encouraged in a wrong course, in harmony with his prayers for healing. Hence, those prayers were refused. True, the Lord has granted similar requests from many who knew no better than to ask such favors. But with the great Apostle the matter was different. Like his Lord he was an example to the flock and hence it was not appropriate to grant his petition. However, what God did do not only furnished a lesson to St. Paul, but a blessed lesson to us, his brethren, throughout the Gospel Age.
While it was not proper to remove the burden from the Apostle in answer to his prayer; while God saw a special way in which this thorn in the flesh would be specially
helpful to him in the development of the holy Spirit, nevertheless his prayer could receive an answer still more effective, still more blessed, in a different way. Instead of removing the difficulty, the Lord promised the more grace, the more strength, the more endurance to meet the difficulty, to overcome it, to compensate for it. This was really much better for St. Paul in every way than if his prayer had been answered. We do not know, neither did he know, how necessary to the preservation of his humility and usefulness in the service was that "thorn in the flesh." We may know assuredly, however, that the giving to him of more grace was the greater blessing; because the grace of the Lord is helpful in all things, in all of life's interests, while the taking away of the thorn would have been merely a relief in the one line. No wonder the Apostle, when he understood the situation, cried out, "Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me."--`2 Cor. 12:9`.
There have been blessed lessons for all of the Lord's dear people throughout the Gospel Age in these experiences of St. Paul. We have various thorns in the flesh, various difficulties, various trials; some of them mental; some physical; some well understood by others; others unknown except by ourselves. What a comfort it has been to many to have the Lord's assurance that what trials and difficulties he does not remove from us, he permits for wise and loving purposes. These, he assures us, will all work together for our good. Of these he declares, "My grace is sufficient for thee; my strength is made perfect in weakness."
Taking this, the Apostle's viewpoint, dear fellow-servants of the cross, let us take all of our experiences in good faith, realizing the truth of these words, that our weaknesses, our imperfections, our frailties, so far from working injury to us, will, under the Lord's supervising care, enable him to supplement the more our willing endeavors with his strength.
HEROISM
It takes great strength to train
To modern service your ancestral brain;
To lift the weight of the unnumbered years
Of dead men's habits, methods, and ideas;
To hold that back with one hand, and support
With the other the weak steps of new resolve!
It takes great strength to bring your life up square
With your accepted thought, and hold it there,
Resisting the inertia that drags back
From new attempts to the old habit's track.
It is so easy to drift back--to sink--
So hard to live abreast of what you think!
It takes great strength to live where you belong
When other people think that you are wrong;
People you love, and who love you, and whose
Approval is a pleasure you would choose.
To bear this pressure, and succeed at length
In living your belief--well, it takes strength--
Courage, too. But what does courage mean
Save strength to help you face a pain foreseen;
Courage to undertake this life-long strain
Of setting yourself against your grandsire's brain;
Dangerous risk of walking alone and free,
Out of the easy paths that used to be;
And the fierce pain of hurting those we love
When love meets truth, and truth must ride above.
But the best courage man has ever shown,
Is daring to cut loose, and think alone.
Dark are the unlit chambers of clear space
Where light shines back from no reflecting face.
Our sun's wide glare, our heaven's shining blue,
We owe to fog and dust they fumble through;
And our rich wisdom that we treasure so,
Shines from a thousand things that we don't know.
But to think new--it takes a courage grim
As led Columbus over the world's rim.
To think--it costs some courage--and to go--
Try it--it taxes every power you know.
It takes great love to stir a human heart
To live beyond the others, and apart;
A love that is not shallow, is not small;
Is not for one or two, but for them all.
Love that can wound love for its higher need;
Love that can leave love though the heart may bleed;
Love that can lose love, family and friend,
Yet steadfastly live, loving to the end.
A love that asks no answer, that can live
Moved by one burning, deathless force--to give!
Love, strength and courage; courage, strength and love--
The heroes of all time are built thereof.
--C. P. S. Gilman.
WRESTING THE SCRIPTURES
"They that are unlearned and unstable wrest...the Scriptures to their own destruction."--`2 Pet. 3:16`.
AN instance in point is found in the columns of a journal, the editor of which was once an earnest co-laborer with us in the promulgation of the Harvest Truth. While still assenting to the fact that we have been in the Harvest for thirty-five years and that it will shortly end, he tells his readers that he apologizes to God that for nearly eighteen years he has been preaching what he now believes to be serious error, namely, that the Church of Christ has a share in her Redeemer's sufferings, a share with him in his sacrifice as members of his Body, filling up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ--suffering with him that they may also reign with him, becoming dead with him that they may also live with him on the spiritual or heavenly plane.
This Editor now calls all this darkness, and evidently thinks that just at the close of the Harvest he has struck the match and lighted a fresh lamp which shows that the path he was previously traveling was a wrong one and the light which previously shone on his pathway was of the Adversary. He has not yet given up all of the beautiful Harvest Truths, but we may reasonably expect that with this repudiation of the foundation of all spiritual hopes he will shortly conclude that everything that he saw on coming out of Babylon was a delusion, and that he will return fully to the "outer darkness" of Babylon. "If the light that is in thee become darkness, how great is that darkness," said our Master.
Said Editor seems to have become sour towards us personally, for some reason unknown to us. The alienation or bitterness of spirit presumably led to a desire to find fault with us. And since our personality is sunk in the service of the Truth, personal antagonism finding no other course led to an attack upon the truths which we present. How much the Adversary had to do with twisting and warping of judgment we do not know. How much others may be responsible by reason of over-encouragement or evil suggestions we do not know. But
we do believe that the Lord will not allow any outside influence to separate from himself and his Truth any whose hearts are loyal to him.
This case is not parallel to the one of which our Lord said, "Forbid him not: for there is no man which shall do a miracle in my name, that can lightly speak evil of me. For he that is not against us, is on our part." (`Mark 9:39,40`.) This is a case of direct opposition--a direct attack upon the Harvest Work, which he had been serving for years--a direct attack upon the very doctrine which, next to the Ransom, lies close to the foundation of our hopes. This erstwhile Brother is now seeking to disrupt the Harvest Work to the best of his ability. He would have the Lord's people everywhere follow him into outer darkness under the delusive cry, "We were all blinded and misled by 'The Watch Tower;' but now, Eureka! I have fortunately found the true light which
the Lord was anxious to give us earlier in the Harvest but did not succeed in getting to us until now near the close."
But, dear readers, we need have no fear of any disruption in the Lord's work from that quarter, or from any other. If this Harvest message and its service be of God it cannot be overthrown. If it be not of God we would be glad to have it overthrown, that we and others might be delivered from error. Oh, how the Adversary would like to convince us that our present Lord had served us with poisonous food and that we should straightway leave his table and go elsewhere to satisfy our hunger and thirst for righteousness and Truth. These and other efforts will be successful merely to the extent of sifting out those not worthy of the Truth. The others who remain will be stronger than ever, by reason of the agitation of the subject of the Covenants, Sin-offerings, etc.
THE COMMUNION CUP
Twenty-nine years ago we were publishing some features of Present Truth respecting the Second Coming of our Lord, the time of Harvest, the Millennial Age, the Times of Restitution; but up to that time we had been in a measure of confusion, darkness, respecting the heavenly and the earthly promises. We saw that the Church had promise of heavenly and spiritual nature and glory. We saw also that the promises to the world were seemingly of an earthly nature, that they would build houses and inhabit them, plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them, etc. We had not fully discerned why this distinction of natures and were inclined to wonder why we could find nothing in the Scriptures to intimate that at the close of the Millennium the world would be granted the heavenly nature.
It was about that time, 1880, that the Lord drew our attention to other features of his plan previously unseen by us and, so far as we are aware, unseen by others since the days of the Apostles. We realized that this further light was Harvest light for the ripening of the wheat, and by no means an evidence of greater wisdom or ability in Bible interpretation on our part. The due time had come and the unfolding came with it. The Master who had already been serving us brought forth from the storehouse "things new and old," respecting the Covenants and the Atonement sacrifices. We were astonished at the length and breadth and height and depth of the Divine Plan and set them forth in a pamphlet entitled Tabernacle Shadows of the Better Sacrifices.
It was through those Tabernacle Shadow blessings that the Lord showed us how and why the Church of this Gospel Age has been called to heavenly glory while the Divine purpose respecting mankind in general is restoration to human perfection with everlasting life to all the willing and obedient--to be granted to the faithful in the close of the Millennial Age, when they shall have reached human perfection and the "paradise restored" shall have been extended to the whole earth.
We then understood for the first time the meaning of the Apostle's words respecting the "Hidden Mystery," namely, that close, intimate relationship between Christ and his faithful followers, the "more than conquerors." It was then that we understood the Apostle's words, "God hath given Christ to be the Head over the Church, which is his Body," and "We are members in particular of the Body of Christ." "This is a great mystery; but I speak concerning Christ and the Church." Oh, yes, this is indeed a hidden mystery--that the Church is completely separated from the world and offered a great prize of glory, honor and immortality, the Divine nature. But we came to see, also, that this prize was offered on certain sacrificing conditions--not merely upon condition of faith, though faith is the basis of all our hopes. This "high calling" proffered is justification from sin as the reward of faith, but it additionally held out the promise to the justified that if they would suffer with Christ as his members, they should also be glorified together with him in his heavenly Kingdom and be with him and sit upon his throne and share his glory.
Now we began to understand why the way during this Gospel Age should be made so "narrow," so difficult, while the Lord promised to make the way to eternal life a broad, "high way" during the Millennium. Ah, yes! all is clear from this standpoint, and the Apostle's words were full of meaning to us as we read, "I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service." (`Rom. 12:1`.) Now we saw the two steps; first, justification by faith, and secondly, an entrance into this grace of the "high calling" by being begotten of the holy Spirit. As expressed by St. Paul, "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God," which is to be revealed in our Lord and in us as his members in his Kingdom. Now we know why St. Paul was so anxious to fill up a measure of the afflictions of Christ and we were stimulated also to follow his example, filling up a share of Christ's afflictions, which he left for us. Now we know what St. Paul meant when he said, "Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach."--`Heb. 13:13`.
We perceived from this last text that he referred to the sacrifices of the Day of Atonement mentioned in the context and in which he says that the bodies of those beasts whose blood accomplished sin atonement were burned outside the camp. The type shows that the first of these sacrifices was the bullock and the second the Lord's goat (`Levit. 16`); that the priest first killed the bullock provided by himself, and afterward killed the goat provided by the Congregation of the Children of Israel. We saw clearly enough that the bullock represented our Lord's sacrifice and that the only other sacrifice burned outside the camp was the goat, and hence that the Apostle must have referred to us, the Church, the members of the Body of Christ.
This has been the basis of our presentations to the Church for these twenty-nine years. We consider it the only key to all the wonderful harmonies of the Divine Word, as they are now in our possession by the Lord's favor. We have no doubt whatever that our great Adversary would like to take from us this valuable key to the Divine Plan, which alone explains the "mystery" of this Gospel Age, which is the Church and her special call --to the privileges of sacrifice now and the privileges of glory by and by. The Apostle made no mistake.
Not anything of the merit belongs to us. Now, and first and last and all the time we have shown that the merit belongs to our dear Redeemer, who, by reason of the "body prepared" for him for the sacrifice of death, was able to become the justifier of all who trust in him. Our justification came by faith in his blood, and hence any merit and all merit would be his, not merely on that account, but also because our begetting of the holy Spirit was based upon our full consecration to be dead with him.
THE THINGS NO LONGER SEEN
These are the things said Editor tells us that he no longer sees--that our sufferings as members of the Body of Christ are part of His sufferings. All this he now claims is a mistake. That we are to reign with him because we suffer with him is claimed to be an error. Some day if he will tell us we shall be glad to know any other reason why we do suffer and with whom else we suffer; what we do sacrifice and for what we sacrifice and what useful purpose our sacrifice will ever accomplish. Possibly some may find ways of applying these Scriptures, but we are sure they will find no interpretations satisfactory to our minds other than that we have already found connected with the "mystery." Our friends in the nominal churches have wrestled with these Scriptures for centuries in a kind of hazy bewilderment, not knowing
how to intelligently apply them and not understanding the "mystery," because the due time for its unfolding did not come prior to the Harvest.
THE BLOOD OF THE COVENANT
This erstwhile co-laborer now assaults us and charges that we have committed the sin unto death, in connection with this application of the Scriptures--because we claim that we suffer with him; that we share in his sufferings (Christ's) and not some other suffering. If this position is true we have been under the Second death condemnation for twenty-nine years and this co-laborer has been under it for eighteen years. Yet those years were the most blessed of our experience and, we presume, also of his. And this doctrine during these years has been the "key" to the "Mystery of God," which has brought more Christians to a full and deep consecration to the Lord than anything else ever known since the Apostle's day.
There certainly is plenty of inconsistency connected with the position of this Brother, and with that of all others who ever leave the light of Present Truth. For instance, the Scriptures intimate clearly enough that any who ever commit this sin unto death cannot be renewed
unto repentance, seeing that they have crucified the Lord afresh and put him to an open shame. (`Heb. 6:6`.) If, then, this doctrine of the Church's participation with our Redeemer in his sacrifice as his "members" is the "counting of the blood of the Covenant an unholy thing," how could this Brother claim that, after eighteen years of such delusion and Second Death worthiness, he has now escaped such a condemnation and obtained a special blessing from God and a special privilege to light a new torch and to call the Lord's sheep in an opposite direction?
But let us examine the ground of this serious charge respecting which this Editor waxes eloquent, saying, "We do not know any consideration on which we would occupy their position. Oh, that we had ten thousand trumpet tongues to warn those who accept this latest of the last-day delusions. It is a test! Who will be on the Lord's side?" We agree that it is a test and that it will fully discover those who are on the Lord's side; those who will share of his cup, share in his sufferings--none others will share in his glory.
Notice the Scriptures which this new light-bearer assures us condemn all who have been believing that they were sharing the sufferings of Christ as the condition by which they might hope to share his glory future. It reads, "If we sin willingly after that we have received a knowledge of the Truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment, and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses; of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the Covenant wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace."-- `Heb. 10:26-29`.
This marvelous exegete lifts his hands in horror and, pointing at this Scripture and then at us and the thirty thousand or so who similarly believe, he intimates that he has gotten out of this Second Death condition and that he is willing to help all of us out, if we will follow him, and subscribe for his Journal. On the contrary, the very Scripture he quotes tells that there is absolutely no hope for the class described in these verses, because "there remaineth no more sacrifice for their sins." They consumed their share in the merit of Christ's sacrifice.
The Apostle speaks of wresting or twisting the Scriptures and it may easily be surmised that a considerable amount of wresting and twisting of this Scripture needs to be attempted in the endeavor to make it serve this Editor's purposes. He lays all his stress upon the words, "Counted the blood of the Covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing." To serve his purpose he has twisted the Scripture thus, "Has counted the blood of the Covenant wherewith he was sanctified a thing shared by a number." The attempt is to prove that all who claim to have fellowship with Christ in his death or, as the Apostle says, "to be dead with him," "to be baptized into his death," thus participate in the blood of the New Covenant, which Jesus is sealing with his own blood and in which he invites us to be partners and share--all these are guilty, according to this indictment, based upon this Scripture, of "treading under foot the Son of God and counting the blood of the Covenant wherewith they were sanctified an unholy thing."
This expositor has lost his bearings altogether. The Apostle tells us that we were justified through faith in the blood of Jesus and he here speaks of those who had gone on after justification through the blood of Jesus to sanctification through the blood of the Covenant. What is the difference between justification and sanctification and between the blood of Jesus which justifies and the blood of the New Covenant which sanctifies?
We answer that there is a great difference--two distinctly separate transactions are thus brought to our attention. Nowhere in the Scriptures are we said to be justified by a New Covenant or by any Covenant; nor by the blood of the New Covenant; nor by the blood of any other Covenant. We are justified by faith--faith in the blood of Jesus as our Redeemer. Our justification comes as soon as we accept the great fact that we were sinners and that Jesus gave his life for our redemption and accept our share in that redemption by faith. It is only those who are thus justified by faith in his blood that are invited to become his disciples, his followers, his joint-sacrificers and his joint-heirs in glory, as members of the great Prophet, Priest, King, Judge and Mediator, who will come in power with great glory as soon as the last member of his Body shall have been perfected through a participation in the sufferings of Christ. Let us keep in memory the fact that only the justified are called to this "high calling," this great privilege of participation in Christ's Covenant, the blood of the New (Law) Covenant. This being true, it will be readily seen that the Apostle is referring to this consecrated class--"sanctified through the blood of the Covenant."
Get the thought that our Redeemer, "the man Christ Jesus," laid down his life that he might seal the New (Law) Covenant with Israel and through Israel with the world. He consecrated his earthly life and laid it down in death with this in view. His ignominy and death are symbolically called his cup, of which he drank. He offers a portion during the Gospel Age to justified believers, proposing that if they drink the cup with him, if they suffer with him, he will accept such as "members of his Body." The Father will beget them of the holy Spirit and in due time they shall be born from the dead in "his resurrection," as his glorious Body and sharers with him in the work of dispensing the New (Law) Covenant blessings to Israel and to the world.
All who accept his proposition are counted in with him as messengers of the Covenant or servants of the Covenant--those whose lives have been devoted, consecrated, sacrificed with a view to the establishment of this New (Law) Covenant, by which the Christ, including the Church, as the Seed of Abraham, will bless Israel and all the families of the earth. The Apostle says, "We are made able ministers of the New (Law) Covenant"--that is to say, qualified servants of that Covenant. Part of our service we perform at the present time in serving our great Head and the fellow-members of his Body, "edifying one another and building one another up in the most holy faith." (`Jude 20`.) But in a larger sense of the word we are being qualified or made able servants of the New (Law) Covenant by present experiences, which we shall put to effective service when the New (Law) Covenant shall go into force and the Millennial Age be inaugurated.
We trust that we have made clear the fact that our consecration, our sanctification, our acceptance of the Lord, our sacrificing with him, and our final glorification with him, are all in connection with the great Work
which he has undertaken, namely, the mediating of the New (Law) Covenant between God and mankind in general. We were called out from mankind in general, from the world, for these very purposes--that we might be made members of this "mystery" class, the Mediator's Body. Hence our sanctification was in connection with "the blood of the New (Law) Covenant." Had it not been for the New Covenant and our invitation to share in its mediation with our Redeemer, there would have been no present Call to glory and honor and immortality and joint-heirship in the Kingdom. Hence, when the Apostle is speaking of those who "count the blood of the Covenant a common thing," we should understand that he meant that some who desert the Lord, renounce his teachings, renounce their consecration, do disrespect to this special call to joint-heirship. The Apostle explains that this is because they do not sufficiently appreciate the value of this consecration, the value of this "blood," the privilege of sharing with Christ in his sacrifice. They count the statement, To be dead with him, an ordinary thing. They lose sight of its real value. They lose sight of what they really undertook to do when they made a consecration unto death. They lose sight of what it meant to present their bodies living sacrifices. Having changed towards the Lord, they no longer count their covenant to be dead with him as a sacred obligation, but rather as an ordinary matter, a common thing.
PROVING IT BY THE GREEK
The Brother whose inconsistency of argument we are criticising tells us that his contention is supported by the Greek text--that the Greek word rendered unholy in `Heb. 10:29`, koinos, really should be translated "a thing shared by a number." He would apply this to us and all who see with us; because we say that the blood of Christ, the cup of Christ, is shared by a "little flock" of Christ's disciples, who become dead with him, suffer with him during this Gospel Age. Our answer is that the Brother has not dipped deeply enough into the Greek. The Greek word which would have suited his purpose is koinonia, which signifies partnership, or literally, participation, as defined by Strong's Unabridged Dictionary. The same dictionary defines koinos to mean common, defiled, unclean. In other words, while the thought of participation is in both of these words, the one has the unclean thought connected with it, while the other has the clean and pure thought of partnership. Manifestly the thought we present of participation with Christ in the sufferings of this present time and his glory to follow is not the common or unclean thought of koinos, but the partnership and participation thought of the other Greek word, koinonia. This is our answer to the charge and to the misinterpretation of the Scriptures to support it.
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