The Watchtower, December 1, 1912
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VOL. XXXIII DECEMBER 1 No. 23
A.D. 1912--A.M. 6041
CONTENTS
The Retributive Character of Divine Law...........367
Retributive Justice the Basis of Divine
Law.........................................368
Operation of Retributive Law Natural..........369
Love Not the World................................370
Selfishness the Spirit of the World...........370
The Creation of Things Mundane....................371
"Let There Be Light"..........................372
"God Created Man In His Own Image"................373
A Fall, Not An Evolution......................373
"By One Man's Disobedience"...................374
Discipline (Poem).................................374
Wisdom For Hard Times.............................374
Your Good Hopes--1913.............................375
The Ending of the Gentile Times...................377
Our Consecration is Unto Death................377
Advice to Pilgrims, Good for All..................378
Suggestions for Berean Classes....................378
An Interesting Letter.............................379
Berean Questions in Scripture Studies.............379
PUBLISHED BY
WATCH TOWER BIBLE AND TRACT SOCIETY
CHARLES T. RUSSELL, PRESIDENT
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INTERNATIONAL BIBLE STUDENTS ASSOCIATION MEETINGS AT WHICH BROTHER RUSSELL WILL BE PRINCIPAL SPEAKER
FRIENDS FROM NEARBY PLACES ARE CORDIALLY INVITED.
CINCINNATI, OHIO, DEC. 8
Praise, Prayer and Testimony meeting and discourse for the interested, in The Odeon, Elm street, at 10 a.m. Public lecture at 3 p.m. in the Emery Auditorium.
BUFFALO, N.Y., DEC. 15
Praise, Prayer and Testimony meeting and discourse for the interested, at 10:30 a.m., in Fraternity Hall, Jefferson near North streets. Public lecture at 3 o'clock in the afternoon in the Star Theatre, corner Pearl and Genesee streets.
LANCASTER, PA., DEC. 22
For particulars see December 15th TOWER.
LOUISVILLE, KY., DEC. 29
Morning Rally and Discourse for the interested at 10:30 a.m. in the I.B.S.A. Hall, 528 S. Sixth street. Afternoon public meeting at 3 o'clock in Macauley's Theatre, corner Fourth and Walnut streets.
WASHINGTON, D.C., JAN. 5, 12, 19
WORCESTER, MASS., JAN. 26
CLIPPINGS FROM NEWSPAPERS, MAGAZINES, ETC.
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BETHEL HYMNS FOR JANUARY
After the close of the hymn the Bethel Family listens to the reading of "My Vow Unto the Lord," then joins in prayer. At the breakfast table the MANNA text is considered. Hymns for January follow: (1) 34; (2) 305; (3) 110; (4) 208; (5) 291; (6) 316; (7) 301; (8) 224; (9) 295; (10) 87; (11) 299; (12) 109; (13) 10; (14) 129; (15) 32; (16) 105; (17) 108; (18) 101; (19) 273; (20) 14; (21) 145; (22) 12; (23) 57; (24) 332; (25) 240; (26) 204; (27) 67; (28) 160; (29) 107; (30) 39; (31) 293.
SYMBOLIC BAPTISM IN WATER.
On Sunday morning at 10 o'clock, January 5, at the Brooklyn Tabernacle, an opportunity will be given for symbolic baptism in water. Robes, etc., will be provided. Any desiring to symbolize will please give us timely notice.
THE RETRIBUTIVE CHARACTER OF DIVINE LAW
"Be not deceived: God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap."--`Gal. 6:7`.
THE APOSTLE PAUL here, addressing the Church, announces a principle of Divine Law which is applicable not only to the Church, but to all men everywhere. Hosea expresses the same truth, saying that if we sow to the wind we shall reap the whirlwind. (`Hos. 8:7`.) Solomon says, if we sow iniquity, we reap vanity. (`Prov. 22:8`.) St. Paul says, if we sow sparingly, we reap sparingly, and if we sow bountifully, we reap bountifully. (`2 Cor. 9:6`.) This is equally true, whether we sow wild oats or good wheat.
It is in view of the harvest of the world's sowing, that we are informed that "the eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good" (`Prov. 15:3`); that "God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil" (`Eccl. 12:14`); and that "there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed, neither hid that shall not be known"; that "whatsoever has been spoken in darkness shall be heard in the light"; and that "spoken in the ear, in closets, shall be proclaimed upon the housetops [openly]." (`Luke 12:2,3`.) And again we read "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay, saith the Lord."--`Rom. 12:19`.
But when will this reckoning time come? for now, as saith the Prophet `Malachi (3:15`), men "call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered." With the Psalmist (`Psa. 94:3,4`) we inquire, "Lord, how long shall the wicked triumph, and all the workers of iniquity boast themselves?" The Apostle Paul answers that the Lord "hath appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom He hath ordained,"-- The Christ. (`Acts 17:31`.) And "then," says the Prophet Malachi to those who fear the Lord and whom He hath chosen as His jewels, "shall ye return and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth Him not."--`Mal. 3:18`.
But take heed. The same Prophet raises a suggestive question, which all would do well to ponder. He asks, "Who may abide the day of His coming? and who shall stand when He appeareth? for He is like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap...And I will come near to you to judgment, and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, and the widow and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not Me, saith the Lord of hosts."--`Mal. 3:2,5`.
The reference of these Scriptures is to the great judgment of the Day of the Lord--the day of trouble with which this Gospel Dispensation is to close--variously described as a day "of wrath," "of vengeance," "of recompense," and as a "time of trouble such as was not since there was a nation."
But while this great judgment will have to do with the world in general--with nations and corporations and all civil, social and religious organizations of men; and while it will touch the cases of all the individuals living at that time, we naturally inquire where retributive justice came, or is to come in, in dealing with all the generations of the past?
Our Lord answers the question when He says, "The hour is coming in which all that are in the graves shall hear the voice of the Son of Man and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection by judgment." (`John 5:28,29`; see R.V. and Diaglott.) The whole Millennial Age is thus set forth as a "day" of reckoning, of trial, of judgment. In that searching judgment there will be a reckoning, even for every pernicious word (`Matt. 12:36`); and by submitting and learning obedience under those judgments, the masses of mankind who will to obey are to be gradually raised up to perfection of being, as well as of knowledge.
RETRIBUTION VS. FORGIVENESS OF SIN
But here a philosophic and important question arises as to the extent to which the justification of a sinner, through faith in the precious blood of Christ, and his full consecration to do the Father's will, may intercept the course of the Law, that a man must reap what he has sown. In other words, Will his new relationship to God save him from a miserable harvest of a former sowing of wild oats?
We answer, Yes; in one sense it will. The just penalty for all sin is death--the severest penalty that can be inflicted. And from this penalty his justification freely exonerates him. His past iniquities and sins will no more rise up in judgment against him, demanding their just penalty--death; for "blessed are they whose iniquity is forgiven and whose sin is covered; blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute [reckon] sin." (`Rom. 4:7,8`.) All who by faith in Christ's sacrifice for sin and by consecration of heart and life to God's service come under the Robe of Christ's Righteousness are thus blessed.
The iniquity, or legal sentence, of such is passed altogether or forgiven; and while the results of their sins, the harvest of their misdeeds sown before they came to a realization of the exceeding sinfulness of sin, or to an appreciation of God's mercy in Christ, are still painfully with them, yet they are assured that these are covered; that God does not regard them as they really are, but imputes their sins to Christ, who already has paid their penalty, and imputes of His worthiness to their account. They are further assured that God's provision for them is that they may some day be healed, or cured, of the weaknesses brought on them through sin and now reckoned as "covered" from the Divine eye.
With the Church these sins, or actual defects, are to be blotted out or wiped out when the Times of Restitution shall arrive, at the Second Advent of Christ. (`Acts 3:19`.) The result of this blotting or wiping out of sin will be new bodies, new beings--free from sin, from imperfection and every consequence and evidence of sin. With the Church, this cleansing and blotting out process begins with the present life, and will be completed early in the Millennial Day (`Psa. 46:5`) by a share in the First Resurrection.
The world's cleansing time will be the entire Millennial Age, or "Day of Judgment," when those who then shall accept Christ and the New Covenant may gradually be cleansed and healed. At the close of that Age, if faithful to their opportunities, they may be presented blameless and perfect before God, needing no further healing nor cleansing, but each being, as was Adam, a human image of the Divine Creator--a perfect man.
The Scriptures, as well as observation, assure us that our justification before God does not remove at once and without our co-operation all the results of previous transgressions. The harvest is like in kind to the sowing; but the penitent and forgiven one has the promise of grace to help in the battle with his inherited as well as cultivated weaknesses; and so we read (`I John 1:9`), "God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." It is in this cleansing process which follows vitalized justification that the consecrated believer must of necessity suffer from some of the baneful results of a past course of sin--reap the reward of his former sowing. While the Lord will be very merciful in dealing with him, nevertheless, as a Wise Physician, He will not spare the necessary experience to eradicate the deep-seated evil propensities of long cultivation in the past.
RETRIBUTIVE JUSTICE THE BASIS OF DIVINE LAW
Here the retributive character of Divine Law is especially noteworthy. Men often make a distinction between the law of nature and the moral law, calling the one natural and the other Divine. But the fixed principles of both are of Divine origin, and accomplish the Divine will in their operation. Both operate on the basis of retributive justice. All Divine Law, whether of nature or of morals, is but the operation of certain fixed principles of righteousness, having for their object the peace and happiness of all intelligent creatures under its jurisdiction. Obedience to this Law brings its reward of happiness, while any interference with it incurs its certain penalty.
If you hold your hand before the fire, it will be warmed, and your comfort and happiness will be thus ministered to; if you put your hand into the fire, it will be burned, and you will suffer pain. Thus the law of nature, which was designed to comfort and bless us, is also prepared to punish us if we violate its proper use. And not only so, but it is prepared to grade its penalties in proportion to the aggravation of the offense against it.
If you put your hand into the fire for a very short time, it will be scorched; persist a little longer, and it will be blistered; and a little longer still, and it will be consumed. Applied properly to the cooking of your food, fire will reward you with a savory meal; but applied improperly, it may render the food undesirable or unfit for use. Water, also one of our greatest blessings, becomes, if the law of nature be disregarded, an agent of death and destruction. So throughout the laws of nature we might trace retribution.
In the realm of moral law, the case is the same. If you violate the principles of righteousness, you deface the image of God in your being. Impure thoughts write in clearly legible signs upon the countenance the dark lines of a bad character; while pure, just and noble thoughts illuminate the countenance and render the pure character transparent to beholders. And the operations of moral law are as sure and reliable as are those of natural law.
The fact that the retribution--the reward or the penalty--is often delayed is frequently presumed upon by the foolish, who vainly think they can sow their crop of wild oats and never realize their harvest. Both individuals and nations have long presumed to act upon this hazardous and vain hypothesis; and well indeed would it be if they would even now hearken to the Apostle's warning: "Be not deceived; God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap."
The operations of this law are most manifest upon classes and nations--first, because their prominence gives them world-wide publicity; and second, because their judgment must of necessity be in the present life, since beyond the grave the present order of society will have no existence. A glance at the pages of history reveals the fact that all the nations of the past have reaped a bitter harvest, and amid harrowing scenes have breathed their last. They had their rising, their struggling periods, and their flourishing eras; and then "pride and fulness of bread" caused them to rest in fancied security, and to sink in the scale of morals, until their decline was followed by their fall. They reaped what they had sown.
Just now, all the nations of the world are fast approaching the most terrible crises of their national existences. In a great time of unparalleled trouble, which is even now imminent, they are about to reap what they have sown. They have sown to the wind the seeds of selfishness, and now they are about to reap the whirlwind of terror and the destruction of all law and order, and of national and social organization.
THE OPERATION OF THE LAW OF RETRIBUTION IN INDIVIDUAL
CASES
The operation of this law in individual cases, though not so prominent, is none the less sure. Every thought harbored, every disposition exercised and cultivated, becomes a component part of individual character; and this character, which is more or less tender in early life, becomes fixed in the course of years. If the cultivation of character has been along the lines of righteousness and truth, according to the light possessed--whether of conscience merely, or of revelation also--the ripened fruit of an established, right-preferring and benevolent character is a blessed harvest in comparison with others, the reverse. If the cultivation has been along the lines of depravity, self-gratification and degradation, the terrible fruits are a fearful penalty.
Even though such a one be freely forgiven upon repentance and faith in the Redeemer--fully absolved from legal condemnation through Christ, who bore its Divinely pronounced penalty, death--nevertheless, the fruits of his
sowing are manifest in his character. Evil propensities must all be rooted out and a proper character formed at a considerable cost of painful, but valuable experience; for God is just, not only to forgive us our sins, but also to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. The eradicating of these evil dispositions, propensities and appetites, deep-rooted and long-cultivated, will cause great disturbances of the soil in which they have grown; and pain as well as joy will attend their removal, and their replacement with the graces of the Spirit.
The Lord, as a Wise Physician, will be as merciful and tender with His patient as the necessities of the case will permit. All will be shown their need of His aid, but no patient will be treated further except with his own consent and co-operation. With the Church this treatment takes place in the present life and is a treatment of the will rather than of the body; for although the body will be greatly helped by the treatment, it is not the Great Physician's purpose to cure these marred bodies, but to give to this class perfect spirit bodies early in the Millennial Day. In these the consecrated will is being transformed and renewed to perfect harmony with the will of God, the mind of Christ. The "overcomers," the true Church, passing through difficulties and cleansing and trials of faith and afflictions now, and being approved of the Lord, will not come into the judgment (trial) of the Millennial Age (`I Cor. 11:32`); but, with the Redeemer, their Lord, will be Kings and Priests of God, who shall judge the world and recompense to them good or evil, impartially, under the terms of the New Covenant.--`I Cor. 6:2`.
JUDGMENT DAY EXPERIENCES HEART SEARCHING
Another feature of retribution upon the world during the Millennial trial will be the publicity which will then be given to the reaping and to the deeds of the past. Our Lord has so intimated, saying, "There is nothing covered that shall not be revealed; neither hid that shall not be known," etc. (`Matt. 10:26`; `Luke 12:2,3`.) This also will come about in a natural way, when in that day all that are in their graves shall come forth. Then the murderer and his victim, the debtor and his creditor, the thief and his dupe, the defamer and the defamed, must face each other and the facts, which, with even the secret motives, will be discerned. The terms of their reconciliation to each other and to the Judge will be equitable, and will be known to all.
Past history will have proclaimed to the world the character of many a Nero; but additionally, there will be the necessity of their seeing the former victims of their ignoble cruelty, and facing them in the light of a new and healthy public sentiment, which will manifest crime in all its horrid deformity. Truly such "shall awake to shame and lasting [Heb. olan] contempt," even in their own eyes; for as the renewed manhood of the race begins to assert itself, they will the more fully realize the depth of the pit of degradation whence they were digged; and even the generous forgiveness of formerly injured and outraged fellow men will be a great humiliation. It will truly be, as the Scriptures suggest, the heaping of coals of fire on their heads (`Prov. 25:21,22`; `Rom. 12:20`), so great will be their shame and confusion.--`Jer. 20:11`.
It should be borne in mind, too, that the only standard of judgment in public sentiment at that time will be character. None of the false standards--wealth, noble birth, or aristocracy of power, by which men are often measured now, and under which cloaks the wicked often take shelter--will then avail anything; for under the New Dispensation men will come forth shorn of all their former possessions. They will have neither wealth nor power; and in the light of that Age, heredity will be nothing whereof to boast.
The same conditions which will thus expose the evils of the past life and thus, in the natural operations of moral law, bring about a measure of retribution to the evil-doers, will also make manifest the good deeds of the righteous, so that even the slightest favors done for others, deeds which at the time blessed the characters of the doers, will then be recognized and appreciated.
OPERATION OF RETRIBUTIVE LAW NATURAL
In this view of the matter we can see how, in a perfectly natural way, a man must reap the harvest of his sowing of wild oats, even though he has been freely forgiven, absolved from guilt and its penalty, death, and legally justified through faith in Christ. He will reap it, not only in the difficulties he will have piled up for himself in the hardening of his own character, making the steps up to perfection more painful and slow, and requiring severer discipline, but also in the just disapproval, or indignation of a righteous public sentiment in that Millennial Day of Judgment.
Such will be the natural and inevitable results of present wrong-doing. One consolation, however, will be the fact that this humiliation, in some measure, at least, will be shared by all; "for there is none righteous [none perfect], no, not one" (`Rom. 3:10`); and all must pray, "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive others." It will indeed be a time for melting and mellowing all hearts. Thus the Lord will take away the stony heart and give to all who under the New Covenant shall become His people (typified by Israel) a heart of flesh, according to His promise.--`Ezek. 36:22-28`.
In some instances a portion of the reaping is experienced in the present life; and in some it will be in the life to come, as the Apostle intimates in `I Tim. 5:24,25`. So also good works are sometimes manifest now, and rightly appreciated and rewarded. But whether now or hereafter, our Lord's assurance is that even the gift of a cup of cold water to one of His disciples, because he is His disciple, shall have its reward (`Matt. 10:40-42`); so minute will be the Lord's cognizance of character and works, and His rewards therefor; and they will be none the less His rewards because accomplished in the natural operation of retributive laws.
A murderer may be one who has little or no knowledge of God, whose hereditary disadvantages may be great and whose environment may be very unfavorable. He may meet with a just recompense for his crime at the hands of his fellow men, and yet in due time come forth from his grave unto [the privileges and opportunities of] a resurrection [lifting up--all the way up] by judgment [trial, discipline]. If obedient, he may reach the height of perfection and life everlasting, although the sins of his past life may have made mountains of difficulties in his character for him to clamber over during that Judgment Age.
On the other hand, one may be a moral man, who has "tasted the good Word of God, and the powers of the Age to come" and who has been made a partaker of the spirit of holiness through faith in Christ; yet he may permit envy and strife to take possession of his heart; and he may hate his brother, though he outwardly violates no law and is esteemed among men. Such a one is a murderer at heart (`I John 3:15`), though restrained from outward violence by respect for the opinions of others or by fear of the consequences. Who will deny that such a one, because of light enjoyed, may have even greater difficulties to overcome in the reformation of his character than the grosser, but ignorant, murderer? To whom much
is given in the way of knowledge, opportunity, etc., of him much will be required. (`Luke 12:48`.) That judgment will be according to knowledge and ability to do right--a just recompense of reward.
SEQUENCE THE DIVINE ARRANGEMENT REGARDING
RETRIBUTION
Only the idiotic and the insane are in total darkness. All others have had at least a conscience, and few have been without some hope of reward in following its dictates, though, as St. Paul says, they had no hope and were without God in the world. They were without the only real hope--the Gospel. (`Eph. 2:12`.) Previous to the announcement of the Gospel hope of everlasting life, and its foreshadowing in Israel, the hope of the world in general was only for the present rewards of righteousness. And no other hope was clearly held out, even to Israel, although there were hints and foreshadowings to them of the Gospel hope, as there was also in the promise given in Eden-- that the Seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head. These gleams of hope were doubtless treasured up and reasoned upon by the more thoughtful minds; but the masses of men discerned only the simple lesson that honesty, righteousness, was the best present policy.
But when Christ came, He "brought life [everlasting] and immortality [clearly] to light through the Gospel." (`2 Tim. 1:10`.) Since then, proportionately as men have come directly or indirectly in contact with that Gospel, their responsibility has been increased, whether they accepted or rejected, opposed or ignored it. As it is written, "This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil."--`John 3:19`.
The Divine arrangement regarding retribution seems generally to be that of sequence, so that under it rewards and punishments follow naturally, as the results of obedience or disobedience to law. Yet in the cases both of rewards and of penalties God sometimes steps beyond this order; as for instance, when He exalts the Church with Christ, their Head, to the Divine nature, Kingdom and glory; and when He brings upon Satan and his followers swift destruction at the end of the Millennial Age. His extraordinary methods have also been occasionally manifested in the past; viz., in the destruction of the world by the flood, in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, in the confusion of tongues at Babel, and other instances of minor note. But these are special and exceptional exhibitions both of His wrath and of His grace.
A just estimate of the Lord's dealings in the future judgment of the repentant of the world may be approximated by a careful observance of His dealings with His justified and consecrated children now. Though justified, we are not liberated from all the consequences of our past ignorance or waywardness. If in youthful ignorance and waywardness bad habits were contracted which have impaired health and weakened moral and physical powers, we have all the difficulties to struggle against now, though we realize the Divine forgiveness and assistance.
This is our judgment day; and the judgment of the world will proceed upon the same general principles. They will first be brought to a knowledge of the Truth, and will then be judged according to their use or abuse of that knowledge after they receive it, as worthy or unworthy of life. The good and bad actions of their first life, previous to their knowledge of the Truth, will enter into this judgment only in the natural order of the retributive character of moral Law.
LOVE NOT THE WORLD
"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him."--`1 John 2:15`.
IN THE TEXT, "Love not the world," we do not understand the term "world" to mean either the human race or the planet on which we live. The thought of the text seems to be more particularly the present order of things, for the Greek word here translated world is kosmos, signifying arrangement. We are to appreciate the beauties of nature. We are to love the human family, whom God also loves, though not in the sense in which He loves the Church of Christ. We read, "God so loved the world that He gave His Only Begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."--`John 3:16`.
St. John cannot therefore be understood to refer to the world of mankind, when he says, "Love not the world." For them we should have sympathy similar to that which the Heavenly Father has for the fallen race. The Scriptures inform us that the present order, or arrangement, of things on earth is entirely out of harmony with God's will, or purpose; for the world is ruled by selfishness. The Divine arrangement is that love shall be the rule among God's creatures. "God is Love...He that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God."--`I John 4:8,16`.
The world operates along lines different from those of love. Each one strives selfishly to heap together treasure for himself, even if meantime his neighbor goes destitute. Many live in luxury, while realizing that there are others who lack the necessities of life. Many seek for power to control men, not with the thought of their uplift, but with a view to using them for selfish ends and motives. This spirit of selfishness belongs to the present order of things. We see it in operation everywhere.
The spirit of the world lays hold of all the forces of nature and seeks to control these, to adapt them to its own selfish interests. It is true that much good has resulted indirectly from this spirit of selfishness. For instance, a man with a great amount of the vain-glorious spirit may for his own selfish purposes benefit others. A general might have so much pride in his service that in order to win praise for himself he would care for his soldiers and have them well dressed. Some of our great captains of industry have done the world good service, and incidentally have blessed many, while carrying out their own designs.
SELFISHNESS THE SPIRIT OF THE WORLD
If all of the great worldly enterprises were undertaken with a view to the betterment of mankind, the spirit of these would not be selfish. We know, indeed, that much is done to help those who are needy, and that where there is a motive of this kind, it is often misinterpreted and misjudged to be selfish. But "the Lord looketh on the heart." (`I Sam. 16:7`.) Those who have the selfish heart, the selfish intentions, will continue to love the things of the world. In proportion as such may be shown that there is a new order of affairs coming, in that proportion the selfish-minded will not be in sympathy with the change of dispensation.
If a man conducts a large enterprise for the benefit
of those who would have opportunity to share such blessings, that man would rejoice that there is a better time coming. A man who would truly rejoice to have a better arrangement of affairs, would not have the spirit that dominates in the present order of things. He would have the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Love, the spirit that will dominate the New Order of things, that will control during the thousand years of Christ's reign.
Many are in the attitude of mind which would say, "My employer is rich. Whenever I get the opportunity to help myself to some of his money, I will do so and get as much as possible." Such people love the present order of things, whether they be rich or poor. A great many poor love the things of this world, and hope some day to get their share.
There are people who say, "Oh, I do not love the world and its selfish spirit! From the crown of my head to the soles of my feet I am opposed to it. Sometimes I say to my husband, 'This is a very selfish world, John.' Then he replies, 'Yes, Mary, it is. Everywhere people are seeking for everything that will gratify self and selfish desires. But while you condemn the ways of the world,
yet you delight in the good things of life provided by my industry--the automobile, the pleasant home, etc.' And I must acknowledge that he is right. I fear that I could not be happy without them." Such a person certainly loves the things of the world, even while making good use of them.
It seems to be a serious charge to say that any one who is in that attitude of mind which loves the world and the things belonging to it, has not the love of the Father in him. We do not understand, however, that such a one has no love for the Father or that the Father has no love for him. The Apostle seems to be addressing this message to the Church. Those who have been adopted into God's family must continue to love Him or they would not be counted as members of that class.
What, then, is the full import of this expression-- "The Love of the Father is not in him"? To us it would mean that the Love of the Father had not gotten full control of his heart, and this would mean that ultimately-- unless he should gain a victory over his selfish disposition --he would not be accepted as a son.
Everywhere about us is this spirit of selfishness. Every child of God should be on guard against it and against willingness to participate in the things of this world. We should strive to be in that condition which is pleasing to the Father. We are to try to rid ourselves of the spirit of the world and to be filled with the Spirit of the Father. This would not mean that we are not to appreciate beautiful things, or that we are not to like to see others striving to benefit the world; but that we should not be satisfied with any of these things, so far as we are concerned.
TWO KINDS OF MOTIVES
Whatever talents we possess we should use for the good of humanity in any kind of work that would be for the glory of God. Even a good work could be engaged in from the spirit of the world rather than from the Spirit of God; that is, it might be done for what we could get from others in the way of money, honor or influence; or, on the other hand, it might be for the good we desired to do for others.
The highest of all services is that of the ministry of the Word of God. Even this noble service might be pursued from either of two motives--the Love of the Father or the love of self. Apparently there are some engaged in the ministry purely for the sake of the loaves and fishes, for the honorable position it gives them in the world, or because they do not know of anything that would serve them better.
Again, there are those, no doubt, who have entered the ministry, not for selfish reasons, but because they desire to serve God, to serve the Truth, to serve His people. The Lord alone knows what has induced any one to enter the ministry. But since we are living in the day that will try every man's work, God will prove what sort it is--will show what motive is behind the deed.
Those who are serving merely from the worldly spirit will be vexed with everything that is making for Truth; and in proportion as their earthly interests suffer, they will be angry. Those who are of the right spirit, however, will rejoice in everything that will be helpful to humanity, in everything that is to the glory of God, in everything that will make the Bible more easily understood.
In fact, we may suppose that the real testing, so far as the Church is concerned, is the making manifest whether we love the world--the things of the present time--or whether we love God supremely. As time goes on, it will be even more impossible to harmonize the spirit of love and the spirit of selfishness. Those who love God will be fully out of harmony with the spirit of the present evil world.
"Love not the world!
He in whose heart the love
Of vanity has found a place, shuts out
The enduring world above.
"Love not the world!
However fair it seem;
Who loveth this vain world--the love of God
Abideth not in him."
THE CREATION OF THINGS MUNDANE
--JANUARY 5.--`GENESIS 1:1-31`; `2:1-3`.--
"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was waste and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep."--`Gen. 1:1,2`. (R.V.)
IN THE past, Bible students have not been sufficiently critical in studying God's Word. Today's lesson illustrates this. The Genesis account does not begin with the creation of the physical earth, as was once supposed. "The beginning" refers merely to the work accomplished by Divine Power in bringing the waste and lifeless earth into condition for man's use.
The earth was already in existence, and had been created by Divine Power before the time mentioned in the Genesis account. Read our text several times until this is clearly seen. Higher Critics (would go back millions of years to) discuss various theories respecting how the mass of earth was formed, and they attribute millions of years to this. Bible students may well content themselves with the record that the earth already was at "the beginning," of the Genesis account.
The Bible mentions days of various lengths; for instance, "the day of temptation in the wilderness"--forty years (`Heb. 3:8,9`); "A day with the Lord is as a thousand years" (`2 Pet. 3:8`); our Lord's "day," etc. (`John 8:56`). While God could have accomplished the great work of ordering the earth in six 24-hour days, or in
six minutes, for that matter, there is no reason to think that such short days are meant, as we shall see later.
God arranged a great Week of Seven Days for His great work of bringing man to perfection. Six of these Days prepared our planet to receive Adam as its lord and earthly king, an image of his Creator. The Seventh Day, which there began, is not yet completed--it lacks a thousand years of completion. During that period, the Bible tells us, Earth will be brought to a Paradise condition and man will be restored by his Redeemer to God's image.
Six great Thousand-Year Periods or Days have passed since Adam was created, according to Bible chronology. We are now in the dawning of the great Seventh Day or Sabbath Day of human experience. God has promised that this Seventh Day of a thousand years will be very different from the preceding Six Days, in which mankind has experienced a reign of Sin and Death. The Seventh Day of a thousand years is Scripturally called the "Day of Christ," and by many it is styled the Millennium. In it Satan and Sin are to be overthrown, righteousness is to be established by the Redeemer, and mankind, purchased by the precious blood at Calvary; are all to have full opportunity for arising from present degradation to re-attainment of the image and likeness of God, lost in Eden by Adam's disobedience.
The Seventh Day of the Creative Week began with Adam's creation and has already lasted six thousand years, and is to be completed with the thousand years of Christ's Reign. The Seventh Creative Day will be seven thousand years long. Whoever sees this to be a reasonable deduction can easily suppose that the six preceding Days of the Genesis account were, likewise, seven thousand years each. Reckoned thus, the total period from the time that Divine Energy began to operate upon the waste Earth down to the time when the whole work of creation and Restitution will be fully completed, would be 7 times 7,000 years, or 49,000 years.
According to the Bible, that time will be a thousand years hence, when The Christ shall have accomplished His work for mankind to the full and shall deliver up the Kingdom to God, even the Father. At that moment the fiftieth thousand-year period will begin, with every creature in Heaven and on earth ascribing praise to Him that sitteth upon the Throne, and to the Lamb, forever. How appropriate this will be, especially when we recall that in God's arrangement fifty is the greatest climax of numbers! In Bible usage the number seven is symbolical of perfection, and 7 times 7 represents a completeness of perfection; and the fiftieth or Jubilee following is climacteric.
"LET THERE BE LIGHT"
We hold that the Genesis account is in full accord with all the facts known to science. There was no light in the Earth prior to the time when Divine Energy brooded on the surface of the waters. The account seems to suggest an electrical influence, and a light somewhat resembling the Aurora Borealis. The Earth was dark because shrouded with an impenetrable fog and an upper canopy of water, mineral water, etc. This thoroughly shut out the light of the sun, moon and stars, which did not shine in upon the Earth in any sense until the Fourth Day. The Jewish day, patterned after the Genesis account, began with the night. So the First Day of 7,000 years, under the Divine Energy, gradually increased this electrical light and prepared for the next epoch.
The work of the Second Day, or Epoch, was the establishment of a firmament, separating between the waters of the sky and the waters of the Earth. Doubtless the light had to do in a natural way with bringing about this secondary feature of the Earth's preparation. The establishment of the firmament began very slowly, but was completed with the end of the Second Day.
In the Third Day, or Epoch, under Divine direction earthquakes took place, mountain ranges were thrown up, and thus the waters of the Earth were gathered into seas, draining off a land surface in preparation for vegetation. Forthwith vegetation sprang up--grass, bushes, trees, with their seeds and fruits. The account does not say that God made so many different kinds of grasses and fruit, trees, etc. It declares that under Divine command the Earth brought forth these various kinds. Nothing in the Genesis account would interfere with an evolutionary theory as respects vegetation. Thus, under Divine supervision, the Third Day accomplished its purpose.
According to the Vailian Theory the Earth was once surrounded by rings and belts similar to those of Saturn and Jupiter, consisting of minerals and waters thrown off to a great distance when the Earth long previously was in a molten state. These rings, attracted to the Earth, approached her gradually, one by one. Held off by the firmament, they spread out like a great curtain, causing much of the darkness. Then, influenced by the motion of the Earth on her axis, they gravitated toward the poles, gradually becoming heavier. Finally they broke, one after the other, coming down as great deluges, burying vegetation, which later became coal beds, and depositing minerals of various kinds, which man has since been using.
Each successive deluge added minerals to the crust of the Earth and water to the seas, the weight of the seas creating further upheavals of mountains, etc. The last of these rings came down as a deluge in Noah's day. Previously, for centuries, it had been a great watery canopy. Through it the sun, moon and stars were visible, but not clear, as now. Under these conditions there were no storms, nor was there any rain. (`Gen. 2:3`.) The entire Earth under this canopy was like a greenhouse of equable temperature. This accounts for the vegetable and animal remains found near the poles, and long imbedded in ice, which formed instantly when the canopy collapsed as a deluge.
With the fall of several of Earth's "rings," the atmosphere became translucent, so that the luminaries of the sky could exercise their beneficial influences in respect to animal life about to be created. These luminaries have served mankind as a great clock, marking days, months and years. Thus the work of the Fourth Epoch-Day was accomplished.
On the Fifth Day the waters began to swarm with living, moving creatures. Next came fowl and great sea monsters. Here again a measure of evolution is suggested by the statement that "the waters brought forth abundantly" the various kinds, under Divine supervision. Only in the case of man does the Bible distinctly declare a personal creation.
The creation of land animals marks the Sixth Epoch-Day. Fish and fowl took precedence, as scientists agree. Again we read that "the earth brought forth," but we also read that the Lord directed the matter in the development of the different kinds or varieties.
It was at the very end of the Sixth Day that God created man. The earth did not bring him forth. He was created in his Maker's character-likeness, to be the king of Earth, to have dominion over the creatures of the land, the air and the sea. Another account seems to
imply that Mother Eve was taken from Father Adam's side, to be a helpmate on his own plane, in the beginning of the Seventh Day, for this was the last feature of creation. We read that God finished His work on the Seventh Day and rested. He has rested or ceased from His creative work during this Seventh Day, leaving the finishing touches to be accomplished by the Redeemer during His Messianic Kingdom, which will complete the Seventh Day--49,000 years from the time God said, "Let there be light."
"GOD CREATED MAN IN HIS OWN IMAGE"
--JANUARY 12.--`GENESIS 1:26-2:25`; `PSALM 8`.--
HOW DIFFERENT the statement respecting man's creation from that describing the creation of plants and the lower animals which the seas and the earth brought forth! Man's creation was premeditated. In advance, God designed man to be the king over the Earth, having dominion over fish and fowl and beasts, even as his Creator has the supreme dominion of the Universe. He was to be his Creator's image, not in physical form, but in moral and intellectual qualities. He was not to be of the Divine nature, but of human nature-- a fleshly being resembling his Creator, a Spirit Being. This intention of Deity was fully carried out in man's creation. As we read, "God created man in His own image; in the image of God created He him; male and female created he them." Not a word here can be construed as in any sense implying the evolution of man from the lower creatures.
A FALL, NOT AN EVOLUTION
So far from teaching an evolution, the Bible teaches the very reverse, both in the Old and in the New Testament. St. Paul declares, By one man's disobedience sin entered into the world, and death as the result of sin. Thus death passed upon all men, because all are sinners. (`Romans 5:12`.) The Prophet David refers to this fallen condition and queries respecting God's mercy in providing for man a redemption and restoration to Divine favor, saying, "What is man, that Thou art mindful of him?" (`Psalm 8:4`.) He then proceeds briefly to picture man's glorious condition before he fell, saying, "Thou madest him a little lower than the angels. Thou crownest him with glory and honor and didst set him over the works of Thy hands." Later he describes man's dominion as related to beasts of the field, fowl of the air and fish of the sea.
In a word, the Bible represents man as the crowning masterpiece of mundane creation. The seal of God's Word is set to this in the statement that God pronounced him "very good." This is also implied in the statement that God created him in His image, for the Scriptures declare, "All His work is perfect." Nor could we for a moment esteem it just or right that any but a perfect being should be placed on trial for life or death everlasting.
NOT TWO CREATION ACCOUNTS
Higher Critics, anxious to discredit the Bible, claim that the Second Chapter of Genesis is another account of the whole creation written by a different person. They claim that it gives a different order of creation, showing man created first, and then trees, beasts, etc. To us this is all foolishness. Moses, having described creation in its logical order, merely emphasizes and particularizes some of his previous statements.
He declares (`Genesis 2:4`) that he has already described the generation or developments of things heavenly and earthly from the beginning, before there was any plant life. Incidentally he mentions that at that time there was no rain--before the flood. He again assures us that man was God's last creation, to be the king or supervisor of earth. Then, much to our satisfaction, Moses proceeds to give an account of the specialty of man's creation, so different from that of the lower animals and vegetation. He was not evolved, but was God's handiwork. He was not spirit, but flesh, formed of the dust of the ground. But still he had the spirit of life common to all the lower creatures, of whom he was the head or king. The Hebrew reads, literally, "In his nostrils the breath of lives"--the breath or spirit of life common to all breathing creatures.
Then a description of Eden follows, how God particularly supervised its preparation as the home of the king of earth, in which God placed him. Nothing in this implies that Eden was made after Adam's creation. On the contrary, we have already been informed that God's creative work ceased with the production of Mother Eve, and that since then He has rested or desisted from further mundane creation--leaving to His glorious Son, Messiah, the work of human redemption and restitution.-- `Acts 3:19-21`.
When we read (`V. 19`) that all animals that God had previously created were named by Adam, it would be foolish for us to suppose that the animals were a subsequent creation. This bringing of all creatures to Adam's attention implies his mastery of them all and leads up to the statement that in none of them was he able to find fellowship and companionship. God wished him to realize the need of a companion and wife before providing her.
MAN ORIGINALLY SEXLESS
The details of human creation imply that Adam lived in Eden some time alone and sexless. Some Bible students infer from the chronology that it was about two years from the time of Adam's creation until the expulsion from Eden under the death sentence. The cause for the division of Adam into two persons is stated; the earth was to be filled, populated with a race of his species, and amongst all the creatures none was suitable as a companion for him or fit to be his mate, and the mother of an offspring in his likeness.
Thus again is shown that Adam was distinctly different from apes and monkeys, and all the other creatures placed under his control. He was in the likeness of his Creator. Other Scriptures show us that after the earth shall have been filled with a population, it is the Divine purpose that the sex quality in humanity shall be dropped. Jesus' words are, "They that shall attain unto that Age (of perfection--future) will neither marry nor be given in marriage, but be like the angels of Heaven"--sexless. See `Luke 20:34-36`.
The division of Adam into two parts, male and female, left the headship with the male, but deprived him of some of his sympathetic qualities. His wife, predominating in the sympathetic tendencies, had in her perfection less of the masculine and aggressive traits; but the two were perfectly adapted to each other's needs and fulfilled each other's ideals. The fall from God's favor has affected
both sexes and has disturbed the original balance and harmony, producing extremes of coarseness and effeminacy, destroying perfection and robbing the marriage relationship of much of its ideal happiness.
The Restitution or resurrection of the willing and obedient, to be brought about by Messiah's Kingdom, will not mean the restoration of sex perfections, but rather the gradual perfecting of each individual in the image and likeness of God in personal completeness, such as Adam possessed before his division.
The sex attractions having passed away, man will not be alone, as Adam was originally; for the earth will be full of human brethren, all in the image of God and in fullest fellowship of spirit, enjoying the world-wide Eden. Such a condition of things can be appreciated only as we take the Divine standpoint and realize the superior perfection of God and the angels in their sexless condition-- though always spoken of as masculine.
"BY ONE MAN'S DISOBEDIENCE"
Note the consistency of the Bible theory which necessitated the division of one man into male and female. God purposed that the entire race must proceed from the one man. He foresaw sin and how He would permit it to flourish, and how He would provide for man's recovery. If two or more separate individuals had sinned and involved the race, it would have required just as many redeemers, according to the Divine Law, "An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth," a man's life for a man's life. (`Deut. 19:21`.) Because God from the beginning intended only one Lamb of God, one glorious Redeemer, therefore the entire race sprang from the one man Adam, that "as by a man came death, by a man" should come "the resurrection of the dead."--`I Cor. 15:21`.
SECOND ADAM AND SECOND EVE
We should not forget that Adam and Eve in some respects foreshadowed Christ and the Church. Jesus personally is the great Savior of mankind, whose death constitutes the Ransom-price for the sins of Adam and the entire race. He is to be the Great Life-Giver, or Father of mankind. During His Millennial Reign He will give back earthly life to Adam and as many of his race as will receive it--raising them gradually, more and more, out of sin and death conditions, up to perfection during that thousand years,--"the times of refreshing that shall come from the presence of the Lord,... the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began." (`Acts 3:19 to 21`.) This will be the glorious work of regenerating the world,--"whosoever will" may then drink the water of life freely.
But before beginning His work of regenerating the world, God has arranged that first from the wound in Christ's side, figuratively, an Elect Church shall be formed to be His companion and joint-heir in His Kingdom-- the second Eve, on the spirit plane, as He, the Heavenly One, is the Second Adam.
The Church will not be the Life-Giver or Father, but she will be the mother, or care-taker of the regenerated hosts of humanity during the Millennium. Under her care the willing and obedient will retain the image of God in the flesh.
DISCIPLINE
The hammer of Thy discipline, O Lord,
Strikes fast and hard. Life's anvil rings again
To Thy strong strokes. And yet we know 'tis then
That from the heart's hot iron all abroad
The rich glow spreads. Great Fashioner Divine,
Who spareth not, in Thy far-seeing plan,
The blows that shape the character of man,
Or fire that makes him yield to touch of Thine,
Strike on, then, if Thou wilt! For thou alone
Canst rightly test the temper of our will,
Or tell how these base metals may fulfill
Thy purpose--making all our life Thine own.
Only we do beseech Thee, let the pain
Of fiery ordeals through which we go
Shed all around us such a warmth and glow,
Such cheerful showers of sparks in golden rain,
That hard hearts may be melted, cold hearts fired,
And callous hearts be taught to feel and see
That discipline is more to be desired
Than all the ease that keeps us back from Thee.
WISDOM FOR HARD TIMES
MANY PEOPLE are wasteful without intending to be so. They do not know how to economize. Economy is less important to the rich than to the poor, yet the poor usually know nothing about true economy. Economy does not signify always the purchase of that which is cheapest, nor does it mean to purchase in various small quantities sparingly. In view of the possibilities of the near future we believe that "a word in season" will be helpful. Our advice would be to keep a good supply of fuel ahead, as storms and accidents might interrupt the supply--not to speak of strikes.
But our particular message now is in respect to food. We advise a fair supply of staple goods which do not run into money--rice, beans, peas, oatmeal, potatoes, salt, sugar. What we have enumerated are staples. Bought in reasonable quantities, they are the cheapest, as well as the most wholesome food. The rice and the potatoes are rich in starch, while the beans and peas are richly nitrogenous and largely take the place of meats in support of the human system.
Meat in moderate quantities is wholesome and desirable, but not indispensable where beans and peas are used freely. However, certain portions of beef are sold cheap everywhere, the objection usually being that the cheap portions are tough. We want to give our readers a recipe, by the use of which they can always have tender meat, even though they buy the cheapest and toughest.
The recipe is the use of a small quantity of the best vinegar in the preparation of the meat. Press the tough pieces of meat tightly into a jar, and put just enough water on it to cover it. Note the quantity of water used, and allow two teaspoonfuls of vinegar to a pint of water --a tablespoonful to a quart, and in same proportion for larger quantities. Let this vinegar and water remain upon the meat over night. In the morning cook your meat in whatever way you may please, and it will be tender. The same treatment will make the toughest fowls tender. If the vinegar is not quite good and strong, a larger quantity will be needed. In frying steak, a teaspoonful of vinegar put into a large frying-pan will give the steak a spicy flavor and make it tender. WATCH TOWER readers need never have tough meat hereafter.
YOUR "GOOD HOPES" FOR 1913
[The plan here proposed we designate "GOOD HOPES," because nothing is actually promised--only your generous hopes expressed, based upon your future prospects as they now appear to you. The plan proved not only so beneficial to the cause of Truth, but also so blessed to the hopers, for some years past, that we again commend it to all as Scriptural and good. Those who desire to make use of this plan can fill out both of these memoranda. One should be kept for the refreshment of your memory; the other mail to us.]
--TO THE--
"WATCH TOWER BIBLE & TRACT SOCIETY."
Dear Friends:--I have read with interest of the openings for the STUDIES and Tract work in foreign lands and here at home. I need not tell you that I am deeply interested in the spread of the Glad Tidings of the lengths and breadths, the heights and depths of redeeming love expressed for us in God's great Plan of the Ages.
I am anxious to use myself--every power, every talent, voice, time, money, influence, all--to give to others this knowledge, which has so greatly blessed, cheered and comforted my own heart and placed my feet firmly upon the Rock of Ages.
I have been considering carefully, and praying to be instructed, how to use my various talents more to my Redeemer's glory and for the service of His people--those blinded by human tradition who are, nevertheless, hungering for "the good Word of God," and those also who are naked, not having on the wedding garment of Christ's imputed righteousness, the unjustified, who stand at best in the filthy rags of their own righteousness. I have decided that so far as my "money talent" goes, I will follow the rule so clearly laid down for us by the great Apostle Paul (`1 Cor. 16:2`), and will lay aside on the first day of each week, according to my thankful appreciation of the Lord's blessings during the preceding week. Out of this fund I wish to contribute to the several parts of the Lord's work specified on the back of this letter. Of course, I cannot in advance judge or state particularly what the Lord's bounty may enable me to set apart weekly, and hence you will understand the sum indicated to be merely my conjecture or hope, based upon present prospects. I will endeavor to contribute more than I here specify, and should I not succeed in doing as well, the Lord will know my heart, and you, also, will know of my endeavors.
My only object in specifying in advance what I hope to be able to do in this cause is to enable those in charge of the work of publishing and circulating the Tracts, etc., to form estimates, lay plans, make contracts, etc., with some idea of what I will at least try to do in the exercise of this, my highly appreciated privilege.
My present judgment is that during the coming year, by self-denial and cross-bearing, I shall be able to lay aside on the first day of each week for Home and Foreign Mission Work (to assist in circulating SCRIPTURE STUDIES in foreign languages, and in publishing the PEOPLES PULPIT in various languages, and in supplying these gratuitously to brethren who have the heart and opportunity to circulate them widely, and in meeting the expenses of brethren sent out as Lecturers to preach the Divine Plan of Salvation, and in general to be expended as the officers of the Society may deem best), the amount of__________per week.
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